A man who owns multiple properties in Canarsie and Flatbush allegedly lied about his income so he could receive Medicaid benefits for himself and his three children, and could face 15 years in jail for welfare fraud, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said this week.
Prosecutors said that Jean-Claude Elizer, 46, was bilking the system for nearly six years. The accountant, who lived in Suffolk County, owned three Brooklyn properties and collected rent ranging from $15,000 to $30,000 a year. He also owns a tax office that brings in $1,000,000 a year.
But Elizer never said he ran the business, according to court records. Instead, he said he rented one he and merely worked at the business, claiming that he earned about $400 a year, Hynes said.
“This defendant pretended to be a Brooklyn resident in order to steal from those individuals truly in need of the help and services that the city’s Human Resources Administration provide,” Hynes said in a statement.
Court records show that Elizer purchased a home in Suffolk County in 2007 for $540,000. In 2011, he made out checks totaling $14,000 to a Suffolk County landscaper.
Attempts to reach Elizer’s attorney were unsuccessful.
Ballot bounce back
State Sen. David Storobin won a legal challenge to remain on the November ballot for Brooklyn’s new so-called super Jewish district in Midwood and Borough Park, after his major challenger — former Councilman Simcha Felder — claimed that the Republican bribed people to sign his petitions, forged signatures, and provided fraudulent addresses.
Felder’s attorneys filed the petition challenge with the city’s Board of Elections on July 24.
Yet Storobin (R–Brighton Beach) argued that — despite Felder’s challenges — more than 1,000 petitions he collected were authentic. The panel agreed, allowing Storobin, who just won disgraced state Sen. Carl Kruger’s seat in a special election, to remain on the ballot. — with Alfred Ng
