NEW YORK — Victor Quimis, 40, of Queens, pleaded guilty on November 5, 2026, to stealing the Kew Gardens Hills home of Renuka Bherwani, an elderly widow who was receiving end-of-life hospice care in the house she had owned for nearly 40 years — the first conviction under New York's criminal deed theft law, Attorney General Letitia James announced. Investigators with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that Quimis and Deepa Roy, 69, of Manhattan, forged Mrs. Bherwani's signature on documents transferring ownership of her home to themselves, then forged a second deed moving it to a company Quimis owned, against which he took out a $552,500 mortgage.
Source: New York Attorney General Letitia James (official release, Nov 5 2026)
Quimis pleaded guilty before Judge Leigh Cheng in Queens County Supreme Court to two counts of Grand Larceny in the First Degree and one count of Residential Mortgage Fraud in the Second Degree. Under the plea, both forged deeds will be vacated and Mrs. Bherwani's home will be returned to her family; the Attorney General's office will also seek to void the mortgage taken out on the home. Quimis is due back in court for sentencing on January 15, 2027, and will be sentenced to one and a half to four and a half years in state prison.
A home owned since 1986
BACKGROUND: Mrs. Bherwani had owned the Kew Gardens Hills home since 1986 with her late husband, Mohan Bherwani. In 2020 she began receiving in-home care from health aides, and in March 2021, as her health declined, she granted her son and daughter-in-law, Kamal and Sabita Bherwani, full power of attorney to manage her affairs. Around the time Mohan passed away in 2022, investigators say, Roy began visiting Mrs. Bherwani at home, telling her aides she was a friend. In the summer of 2024, Roy tried to persuade the aides to let her live in a spare room in the house; Kamal and Sabita rejected the request.
Two forged deeds and a $552,500 mortgage
In October 2024, according to the Attorney General's investigation, Roy and Quimis forged a deed bearing Mrs. Bherwani's signature that transferred ownership of her home to themselves for free. Her signature was notarised with a forged signature and an incorrectly dated stamp from a Nassau County licensed notary, investigators found, and the forged signature was also used on other required transfer documents, including a New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) registration form for water and sewer billing.
In December 2024, Quimis and Roy allegedly used a second forged deed — again bearing a forged Nassau County notary signature — to transfer the home to Hunter Studios & Developer Corp., a corporation owned by Quimis. Quimis used that deed to obtain a mortgage of $552,500. He used the money to pay off Mrs. Bherwani's remaining mortgage and liens, which were now in his name, and then, investigators say, laundered the rest by transferring the remaining $312,037.57 into Hunter Studios' bank accounts, which he used for his personal benefit. Roy received at least $15,000 for her alleged role, paid by bank cheque from the stolen proceeds with a memo line stating, "Per agreement." The charges against Roy are allegations: she has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The theft surfaced by accident. In December 2024, while opening mail at the home — where Mrs. Bherwani still lived and was receiving care — Kamal and Sabita found a letter from the DEP addressed to Quimis congratulating him on becoming the "new owner" of the home and telling him how to set up an online account to pay bills. They reported the deed theft to the Attorney General's office that month. Mrs. Bherwani passed away in June 2025, before the case reached court.
"My mother lived in that house for nearly forty years, and she was in hospice care in it when her home was stolen out from under her," said Kamal Bherwani, Mrs. Bherwani's son and the executor of her estate. "Attorney General James and her team took this case seriously from the day we reported it, and today's conviction returns my mother's home to her family and holds the man who stole it accountable. I am grateful to the Attorney General and to the investigators, auditors and prosecutors who built this case. Deed theft targets the elderly and the vulnerable, and I urge any family that sees something wrong with a deed to call the Attorney General's office immediately."
"Deed theft is a malicious crime that robs families of their homes, their community, and their financial security," said Attorney General James. "Victor Quimis preyed on an elderly woman at the end of her life to steal the home she owned for nearly 40 years. As a result of today's conviction, Victor Quimis will be held accountable, and Mrs. Bherwani's home will be returned to her family. My office will continue to combat deed theft and keep New Yorkers in their homes." Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. called the crime "exactly the kind of crime the state's new anti-deed theft law is intended to deter," and State Senator Leroy Comrie said the plea "sends a clear message that stealing someone's home through fraud carries real consequences."
Source: EIN Presswire syndication of the Attorney General's announcement
Background: the first case under the deed theft law
BACKGROUND: This was the first deed theft case brought under New York's criminal deed theft law, championed by Attorney General James, which created a specific crime of deed theft and gave her office original jurisdiction to prosecute it; state lawmakers enacted stronger deed-theft protections and enforcement tools in 2023. Quimis and Roy were first charged on August 7, 2025. At that stage Quimis faced four counts of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, two counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, Residential Mortgage Fraud in the Second Degree, Money Laundering in the Second Degree, two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree — a maximum exposure of eight and one-third to 25 years. His guilty plea resolves the case against him for a fraction of that exposure, in exchange for the home going back to the family.
Source: Attorney General's August 2025 indictment announcement (via LongIsland.com)
Why this matters for South Asian homeowners in Queens
Kew Gardens Hills and the surrounding Queens neighbourhoods are home to one of the largest South Asian communities in the United States, including many Punjabi families whose parents bought homes decades ago and still hold them in their own names. Deed theft targets exactly that profile: an elderly owner, a house with most of its mortgage paid off, and family members who may live elsewhere. The warning signs in this case were ordinary paper — a utility letter addressed to a stranger as the "new owner." The Attorney General's office urges any New Yorker who believes they may be a victim of deed theft to call 1 (800) 771-7755, email deedtheft@ag.ny.gov, or file a confidential complaint with the office.
What happens next
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Quimis returns to Queens County Supreme Court on January 15, 2027, to be sentenced to between one and a half and four and a half years in state prison; at that sentencing both deeds will be vacated, the home formally returns to the Bherwani family, and the Attorney General will seek to void the $552,500 mortgage. Deepa Roy's case is separate: she has pleaded not guilty, is presumed innocent, and is scheduled to go to trial on February 8, 2027.