Developer Nir Meir, who dreamed of leaving his mark on the Manhattan skyline, is now facing serious jail time after authorities accused him Wednesday of running a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.
Meir — whose luxury real-estate company HFZ Capital Group collapsed amid plans to build $2 billion luxury towers near the High Line — was set to be extradited to New York after being arrested in Miami earlier this week.
Four of Meir’s alleged accomplices were arraigned Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Roy Galifi, John Mingione and Kevin Stewart — executives with a construction company that worked with Meir — were accused of grand larceny, conspiracy and criminal possession of stolen property and falsifying business records, charges they denied.
Meir’s colleague Anthony Marrone was hit with the same charges and pleaded not guilty.
Meir, 49, is accused of orchestrating schemes that ripped off $86 million from investors, contractors and the city, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
An ambitious project to build a mega-development near the High Line allegedly warped into a hotbed of fraud and theft under Meir’s leadership of HFZ, where he was the managing director.
He allegedly used funds intended for the project covering a whole square block of Chelsea — from W. 17th to W. 18th Sts. and 10th to 11th Aves. — to shore up HFZ’s other struggling projects. Meir and his accomplices hid the fraud through phony invoices and forged bank statements, prosecutors said.
In all, $37 million was allegedly stolen as the project reportedly went into foreclosure in 2021. Other developers took over and opened it as One High Line last year.
Similar schemes played out involving projects from Midtown to San Francisco, according to Bragg’s office.
All told, the frauds entailed over $86 million in stolen funds, prosecutors said. That included $15 million in city property taxes that allegedly went unpaid.
Meir was reportedly arrested at a swanky Miami hotel on Monday.
It marked a stunning fall from grace for a man who’d stood out for his aggressive approach in the city’s cutthroat real-estate business, according to Curbed.
“These indictments depict allegations of widespread fraud within the real estate industry primarily spearheaded by one man: Nir Meir,” Bragg said in a statement.
Along with the six men, HFZ and an affiliate plus the construction company, Omnibuild, were hit with charges. The businesses pleaded not guilty.
“Even though Omnibuild is in the same indictment as HFZ, three counts of that indictment allege that HFZ stole from Omnibuild and others,” an Omnibuild spokesperson said in a statement.
“This is in addition to the three other indictments charging HFZ alone. We reiterate that Omnibuild is a victim of, and not acting in concert with, HFZ.”
The construction company previously filed a lien against HFZ saying it was owed $100 million in unpaid bills, according to The Real Deal.
Following Wednesday’s arraignments, Stewart, 48, was released without bail, Galifi, 62, paid $100,000 bail, Mingione, 54, coughed up $500,000 to be freed and Marrone’s wife promised to pay his $300,000 bail.
An additional defendant, former HFZ project manager Louis Della-Peruta, 69, was expected to surrender to authorities on Thursday.
Meir himself is set to appear in court later this month, prosecutors said.
