Henry Vargas has admitted to attempting to sell a building he didn't own to the running group New York Road Runners. MyFoxNY reports that Vargas pleaded guilty at the Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday to attempted grand larceny and forgery, which calls for a 5-10 year prison term.
Vargas had forged documents saying he was the owner of 21-41 Lenox Avenue, just north of Central Park, and claimed the real owner, Manuel Duran Jr., was just a 10% shareholder. He then got the New York Road Runners to pay $8.5 million for his fake 90% share in the building. Vargas was allegedly planning on fleeing to the Dominican Republic when a member of the Road Runners told another tenant about the sale, who then informed Duran of the scam.
Vargas has already spent a year in prison on previous forgery charges when he took out an $8.5 million mortgage on buildings his father owned without telling him. Vargas pocketed about $1.1 million from the scam.
