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Rensselaer man sentenced for selling property he didn’t own
ALBANY, N.Y. >> A Rensselaer man who tried to rent or sell properties he didn’t own in several area counties will spend as much as 12 years in prison for crimes committed in Albany County.
Zarak Ali, 43, was sentenced Friday in state Supreme Court to 4 to 12 years behind bars under a plea deal he agreed to in March under which he admitted to three felony counts of second- degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, according to the Albany County District Attorney’s Office.
Between Spetember 2015 and February 2016, Ali filed false deeds with the Albany County Clerk’s Office on several properties throughout the county that were either in bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings, then proceeded to rent or sell those properties without permission from the owners. He pleaded guilty to similar charges in Columbia, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Saratoga counties, admitting in February in Rensselaer County Court to forging deeds for five foreclosed properties in the town of Brunswick and the cities of Rensselaer and Troy between January and March 2016, filing them with the Rensselaer County Clerk’s Office and again renting or selling the properties.
In that case, Ali admitted to felony counts of second- degree forgery and first- degree falsifying business records under terms of a plea deal that would result in his being sentenced to 3 to 9 years in prison.