Moche Halpern Is a Slumlord (Part 1)
He's no Daniel Ohebshalom, but based on the current lawsuits against him, don't count out Blooming Realty's Moche S. Halpern as a future contender for "Worst Landlord in New York."
For a guy who wants to turn his current home into a synagogue, Moche S. Halpern has certainly found himself caught up in some less than rabbinical behavior.
Which begs the question: What is this founding member of the local hate group up to in Washingtonville?
I think that hate group (United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove) is intentionally trying to bankrupt the Village and school district, but that’s just a hunch.
I can’t prove that beyond pointing to not one, but two, ongoing federal lawsuits the group is currently engaged in with the school district and village.
But here’s what I can prove about Mr. Halpern.
This November, Mr. Moche S. Halpern is going to turn 40. Whether he spends the rest of it in jail is too early to tell.
Since this is a multipart story, we’re going to start simply with 61 East Main Street in the Village of Washingtonville.
Then, we’ll take a look at the federal lawsuit Mr. Halpern is currently engaged in with the Village, and we’ll conclude by looking at the multiple lawsuits he finds himself in as a defendant.
And just to cover my ass legally: Merriam-Webster defines “Slumlord” as “a landlord who receives unusually large profits from substandard, poorly maintained properties.”
What I’m about to tell you concerning 61 East Main Street fits that definition perfectly. Hence, “Moche Halpern is a slumlord” is a thing you can safely say legally.
Additional evidence to support this claim can be found in SHULEM PAPLANOS v. SOROB HALPERN et al, VAJA DUMBADZE v. MOCHE HALPERN et al, and Peter Movrich v. Moche Halpern et al.
We’ll discuss those court cases in greater detail in part three. For now, let’s just focus on 61 East Main Street.
61 East Main Street
A fun fact about being Jewish is that you are genetically predisposed to have stomach problems.
So, it’s fitting that 61 East Main Street used to be the offices of John E Knipp, a local gastroenterologist. He’s since moved on to an office in New Windsor.
The office, and the home that surrounds it, dates back to the nineteenth century. I’ve been in touch with the Washingtonville’s Village Historian to get some more information on the building.
I can’t say much of its past right now, besides pointing out that a new shed was added to the building in the 1870s.
What I can say that the house is located in an area prone to flooding. This is a point we will get back to in Part 2.
On May 16th, 2001, Dr. Knipp sold the home for $0 to the John E. Knipp Trust. Almost fifteen years later, the trust would sell the home and office to Four Cousins LLC for $300,000.
I’ve come across Four Cousins LLC a few times when looking at real estate transactions in South Blooming Grove and Blooming Grove. Not much is available online concerning this company, but I was able to track down at least two of the four cousins: Robyn Scopteuolo and Matthew Scopteuolo. The company currently owns four properties in Blooming Grove, and an additional two under Robyn Scopteuolo’s name. (There is also another property owned by an Alexandra Scopteuolo but I can’t connect her to Robyn at this time.)
Four Cousins LLC sold Dr. Knipp’s office to 12 Dallas LLC for $325,000 in May of 2018.
Like Four Cousins LLC, I’ve come across 12 Dallas LLC more than a few times while investigating local land transactions.
Curiously, it’s owned by a Leiser Schwimmer.
This specific Mr. Schwimmer is related to Keen Equities LLC investor, Mendel Schwimmer.
But whether or not he’s also related to Lazar Schvimmer (who sometimes spells his last name as Schwimmer) is unclear at this time.
Mr. Lazar Schvimmer is Mr. Moche S. Halpern’s business partner at Blooming Realty. We know that conclusively.
And Mr. Schvimmer is also South Blooming Grove village employee Mr. Isaac Ekstein’s landlord at 2 Arlington. Mr. Ekstein and Mr. Joel Stern essentially run the village of South Blooming Grove.
So, if you’re following the saga of South Blooming Grove, there seems to be a connection between Mr. Ekstein and Mr. Stern (Village employees, also operatives of the local hate group), Ark Mortgage at 412 North Main Street in the Village of Monroe, and Mr. Halpen and Mr. Schvimmer’s Blooming Realty. (Mr. Halpen is also a member of the hate group.)
This is something law enforcement will have to look into, since I can only research so much of the financials before needing a warrant.
Speaking of conspiracy …
At this point in the life of 63 East Main Street, Mr. Halpern and his associates: Mr. Isaac Schwartz, Mr. Leiser Schwimmer, and the two Mr. Smilowitzs, conspired to convert this property into two apartment buildings.
Something that should give everyone pause given the claims made against Mr. Halpern, and honestly, these lawsuits should be grounds enough for Washingtonville to bounce his application completely.
If Mr. Halpern is putting residents of his buildings in danger already, why would you let him put even more future residents in danger?
Now can you understand why Mr. Halpern is suing Washingtonville claiming antisemitism?
Yeah. It has nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with the money he stands to lose if he fails to construct those apartment buildings.
We know this because a site plan was submitted to the Village of Washingtonville in 2018 for 61 East Main Street. (You can see all the posted documents here concerning this building.)
During the time this property had business before Washingtonille’s village government, Mr. Halpern and his associates continued to flip the property back and forth to each other.
For example:
Washingtonville’s Village Planning Board approves the Site-Plan for the two apartment buildings in December of 2018.
Mr. Leiser Schwimmer (12 Dallas LLC) then sold the home to Isaac M Schwartz for $655,000 on May 24th, 2019. That’s a profit of $330,000 for Mr. Schwimmer.
Isaac M Schwartz then sold it for $667,674 less than one month later on June 5th, 2019, to 61 East Main Street Assoc. LLC and netted a profit of $12,674.
61 East Main Street Associates LLC was a new company run by two more of Mr. Halpern’s associates, Efraim Smilowitz and Abraham Smilowitz.
Both Smilowitzs, would later find themselves as defendants in a lawsuit filed by the Village.
Basically, this group took a single family residence, which had an additional office, and turned it into an illegal boarding house that 17 people resided in.
One of those people was Peter Movrich, who was injured while residing there.
So, at this point, the house is intentionally turned into a slum, which the federal lawsuit Mr. Halpern filed against Washingtonville downplays as “The Village brought litigation against Plaintiffs in State Court in 2020 seeking to limit how Plaintiffs could use the Property”
Uh huh.
After Washingtonville took legal action to evict everyone from the building, 61 East Main Street Associates LLC sold the property on June 22nd, 2022 to Moche Halpern for $0.
United Wholesale Mortgage also provided Mr. Halpern a loan of $640,500 to coincide with this transaction. What he did with more than half-a-million-dollars is unknown at this time.
What we do know is that Mr. Halpern has acquired a number of properties in the area via this $0 transaction from LLCs. This includes 9 Dallas Drive, 279 Mountain Lodge Road, 443 Clove Road, and 7 Kingsville Drive.
For 9 Dallas Drive, Mr. Halpern also took out a loan for $371,250 from United Wholesale Mortgage on September 7th, 2021.
For 279 Mountain Lodge Road, Mr. Halpern and Mr. Schvimmer took out a mortgage for $375,000 from our friends at Ark Mortgage.
For 443 Clove Road, Ark Mortgage provided a loan to Mr. Schvimmer for $720,000 in February of 2022.
Mr. Schvimmer then sold this property back to 443 Clove LLC for $0 which then sold it to Moche Halpern, Schvimmer’s business partner.
For 7 Kingsville Drive, a company called NYRFP LLC provided Moche with a loan of $1.3M.
The Eviction
After 61 East Main Street Associates took possession of the building in 2019, they turned it into an illegal boarding house.
Given the age of the building (constructed in the 19th Century) and that it was only ever designed for one family, not 17 random people, the Village cited numerous instances of how this building and its use broke the law.
Like in most cases when the local municipality is accused of antisemitism, the Village bent over backwards to accommodate 61 East Main Street Associates. Plenty of warnings were given, as well as numerous requests to fix up the premises and get it right in terms of code.
This never happened.
In 2020, the Washingtonville Fire Department received an anonymous tip. They then followed up on the tip with the Building Inspector to find, yup, 17 people living there and no work done to address the concerns raised by the Building Inspector earlier in the year.
(How exactly is it antisemitism when you’re asked to provide a safe place of residence for people and you repeatedly fail to do so?)
When the Fire Chief investigated the building, he was accompanied by Mr. Halpern, whom he noted, did not have keys or access to any of the rooms in the home that had been converted into bedrooms.
Mr. Halpern also accompanied Washingtonville’s building inspector upon their visit in 2019, identifying himself as a representative of the owners. But like with the Fire Chief, this was a lie. As we know now, Mr. Halpern and his associates together owned the building. When the Building Inspector returned, Mr. Halpern was again present and begged for more time to bring the building up to code. This was in 2020, and despite being awash in money from loans, Mr. Halpern opted not to do anything to improve the health and safety of his tenants.
In the words of the Building Inspector:
The Defendants showed a complete disregard for both the Village Zoning Code and state building codes when they illegally converted the Premises into a boarding house absent any building permits, site plan approval or grant of a use variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals, and when they decided to allow numerous tenants to move into the Property, absent a Certificate of Occupancy. The Defendants' reckless disregard for its occupants' health and safety is evident by the multiple code violations that they have ignored from the beginning and continue to ignore
So, as I said, Mr. Moche S. Halpern is a slum lord.
Later, the court would ask that the building be cleared of any occupants so that it could be brought up to code.
That brings us to Part 2, and Mr. Halpern’s federal lawsuit against Washingtonville, wherein he accuses the entire village (and all its residents) of being antisemitic.