Disgraced lawyer Solny not sentenced yet for housing scams targeting Black New Yorkers

Sanford Solny, the disbarred attorney convicted of stealing 11 properties from predominantly Black and Brown homeowners facing foreclosure, appeared in a Downtown Brooklyn courtroom on Oct. 22, for his scheduled sentencing but he has not been sentenced for his crimes — yet.

- By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Sentencing was postponed until November 12. This latest delay is just one in a series of court holdups for Solny’s case, which has seen indictments linger in Queens and Brooklyn for more than a decade.

Solny, 68, is currently in custody for violating his probation in Queens, where he was convicted in 2018 for stealing 10 homes. His defense attorney tried to keep him from serving jail time by citing Solny’s age and health issues, and arguing that jailing him before the Yom Kippur holiday would be insensitive.

Deed theft victims who attended the Oct. 22 hearing said they were angry about Solny’s latest delay. They also voiced criticism of Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Joseph DiBenedetto for advising them not to appear in court because the case was going to be postponed. When they showed up at court anyway, Samantha Barrow, an advocate for deed theft victims, said they were “shocked to see the large number of people who had arrived to support Solny.”

Barrow, who is with the People's Coalition to Stop Deed Theft, said, “We needed to be here because [the victims] needed to be on record with [their] statement.”