Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), announced the guilty pleas of a former Bronx County prosecutor, her brother, and her mother to fraudulently obtaining affordable housing in Manhattan. The defendants obtained housing for which they were ineligible, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits, by providing false information on applications to rent and own affordable housing units. DOI investigated this matter with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, which prosecuted the case.
DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “New York City’s affordable housing is a precious resource and it is only available to those who qualify. When ineligible applicants falsify housing applications they steal from the City and from fellow New Yorkers in true need, and they will be held accountable, as these defendants are today. I thank HPD for bringing this matter to our attention, and District Attorney Bragg for his office’s partnership in protecting our City’s affordable housing.”
Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, Jr., said: “In a housing crisis, every affordable unit counts, and we will not tolerate fraud from ineligible applicants. Thank you to Commissioner Strauber and DOI, as well as HPD, for their partnership in ensuring integrity in New York’s affordable housing.”
JENNIFER JACQUES, 42, her brother SAMUEL JACQUES, 35, and their mother MARIELLE JACQUES, 67, each of New York, N.Y., were charged in December 2023 and, each of these defendants pleaded guilty:
JENNIFER JACQUES, 42, pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony; and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, both class E felonies. As part of her guilty plea, this defendant will be required to admit in documents filed with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (“HPD”) that she violated the residency requirement of a City-funded affordable mortgages and subsidies. From September 2008 to September 2013, JENNIFER JACQUES, an attorney licensed to practice in New York State, worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office and is currently in private practice. As a result of today’s conviction, her license to practice law is revoked by operation of law. She is scheduled to be sentenced on April 3, 2025, and faces five years’ probation plus 500 hours of community service.
SAMUEL JACQUES, 35, pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony; Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony; and Attempted Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class A misdemeanor. As part of his plea agreement, this defendant vacated the affordable apartment he recently occupied. He is scheduled to be sentenced two years after the date of his plea and has a court appearance scheduled on August 14, 2025. If he completes 500 hours of community service, and has no new arrests for two years, he may withdraw his guilty pleas to the felony charges and will receive a sentence of three years’ probation on the remaining class A misdemeanor.
MARIELLE JACQUES, 67, pleaded guilty to Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor on January 16, 2025. She was sentenced that day to a conditional discharge as part of her plea agreement.
According to the investigation, the defendants applied for a unit within an HPD-sponsored affordable housing development located on West 42nd Street in October 2017. The defendants’ application, along with subsequent recertifications, contained forged ADP payroll records for SAMUEL JACQUES. The application also falsely represented that SAMUEL JACQUES would live in the West 42nd Street apartment; in fact JENNIFER JACQUES, who was ineligible to rent an affordable housing unit due to her ownership of an affordable apartment in Manhattan, resided there. While JENNIFER JACQUES occupied the West 42nd Street apartment, she rented out an apartment in Harlem that she owned, purchased in part with City subsidies that required her to reside in the unit for 15 consecutive years. From 2021 through 2022, SAMUEL JACQUES and two other members of the Jacques family applied for another HPD-sponsored apartment on West 43rd Street. Several application documents submitted by JENNIFER JACQUES and SAMUEL JACQUES contained false information; JENNIFER JACQUES also notarized some of those documents. That application was referred to DOI for investigation by HPD staff responsible for reviewing housing applications.
At DOI, the investigation was conducted by Special Investigator Eric Tyszka in DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for HPD and was supervised by Inspector General Michael Morris, Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan, and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.
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