A sprawling Forest Hills home tied to two brothers who helped finance a massive international counterfeit-money operation is hitting the auction block — with Uncle Sam opening the bidding at $900,000 — just $50,000 more than they paid for it more than two decades ago.
asserted
they → tie → it
The five-bedroom Colonial at 110-37 69th Ave. will be sold in an online federal auction on Oct. 23, according to the US Treasury Department, more than a decade after brothers Eduard and Arkadiy Bangiyev were arrested in a sprawling racketeering case involving tens of millions of dollars in fake US currency.
uncertain
Colonial → sell → currency
The 3,572-square-foot Queens home, built in 1930, has 4½ bathrooms, an enclosed porch, a finished basement with an additional bedroom and bathroom, a sauna and a detached two-car garage.
asserted
home → build → bedroom
The home is currently valued at a whopping $2.455 million, according to Redfin.
uncertain
home → value → Redfin
The property sits on a roughly 5,000-square-foot lot and will be sold “as is,” according to the government auction listing.
uncertain
property → sit → listing
But behind the leafy Forest Hills address is a tangled history of counterfeit cash, an alleged $1 million jewelry fraud and years of litigation over who actually owned the property.
asserted
who → allege → property
Eduard and Arkadiy Bangiyev bought the home in 2003 for $850,000 with a $750,000 mortgage, according to a 2023 ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
uncertain
Bangiyev → buy → Circuit
Beginning in 2004, the brothers participated in a criminal enterprise that manufactured and distributed enormous quantities of counterfeit US currency, according to federal prosecutors and court records.
uncertain
that → begin → prosecutors
The operation produced high-quality counterfeit notes in Israel and the US and smuggled them into the country concealed inside shipping containers carrying machinery.
asserted
operation → produce → machinery
At its peak, the organization was bringing as much as $3 million in counterfeit currency into the US every three months, according to the Justice Department.
uncertain
organization → bring → Department
More than $80 million in counterfeit currency was ultimately passed or seized around the world in connection with the operation, prosecutors said.
asserted
prosecutors → pass → operation
The Bangiyev brothers, who operated a retail jewelry store on Long Island and later a gold-refining business in Manhattan’s Diamond District, helped finance the enterprise and distribute its counterfeit currency, according to federal authorities.
uncertain
who → operate → authorities
Both pleaded guilty in January 2015 to participating in a RICO conspiracy involving counterfeiting and money structuring.
asserted
Both → plead → counterfeiting
Arkadiy was sentenced that September to nine years — 108 months — in federal prison, while Eduard received eight years, or 96 months.
asserted
Eduard → sentence → years
As part of their plea agreements, both also agreed to forfeit property derived from or traceable to their racketeering activity.
asserted
both → agree → activity
The Forest Hills house became one of the assets caught up in that forfeiture.
asserted
house → become → forfeiture
But the property’s legal history was complicated by another alleged fraud that was separate from the counterfeit-currency conspiracy.
asserted
that → complicate → conspiracy
According to the Fourth Circuit, a federal district court found that money used to pay off the home’s mortgage and home-equity lines of credit in 2012 came from a scheme devised by the brothers to defraud a jewelry customer out of $1 million.
uncertain
money → accord → million
That alleged scheme was “unrelated to the RICO conspiracy” underlying their later criminal convictions, the appellate court stressed.
asserted
court → underlie → convictions
It instead prompted the federal government to bring civil-forfeiture proceedings in New York in 2009 against the 69th Avenue home and another Forest Hills property.
asserted
It → prompt → home
The government dismissed that earlier case in 2011 in exchange for a $662,500 settlement signed by the brothers and their sister, Ilana Bangiyeva, according to the court.
uncertain
government → dismiss → court
Years later, the ownership of the 69th Avenue home became the subject of another lengthy court fight following the brothers’ RICO convictions.
asserted
ownership → become → convictions
Before their convictions, the deed divided ownership three ways: Arkadiy held one-third; their sister Ilana held another third; and Eduard and his wife, Irina Alishayeva, jointly held the remaining third, according to the Fourth Circuit.
Ilana argued that she had legitimately acquired interests in the home and other assets using proceeds from a gold investment she said she made with her brothers.
uncertain
she → divide → brothers
But the district court rejected that account, finding insufficient evidence to establish that the claimed gold investment had produced the money used to acquire the assets.
asserted
investment → reject → assets
The Fourth Circuit later upheld that finding.
asserted
Circuit → uphold → finding
The district court ultimately determined that the Forest Hills property provided a “source of influence” over the brothers’ racketeering enterprise and ordered it forfeited.
asserted
it → determine → enterprise
The government wound up with a two-thirds ownership interest in the property, while Alishayeva retained a one-third share.
asserted
Alishayeva → wind → share
Initially, a federal judge allowed Alishayeva — whose primary residence was the Forest Hills house — to remain there for the rest of her life as long as she remained married to Eduard, leaving the government effectively unable to sell its majority stake.
asserted
she → allow → stake
Federal prosecutors appealed.
asserted
prosecutors → appeal → ?
In 2023, the Fourth Circuit sided with the government, ruling that the lower court did not have the authority to prevent the government from exercising the property rights that came with its two-thirds ownership stake.
asserted
that → side → stake
The appeals court vacated that portion of the forfeiture order and sent the case back for further proceedings.
asserted
court → vacate → proceedings
Bidding begins at $900,000, with a $150,000 deposit required to participate.
asserted
deposit → begin → 900,000
The Treasury Department has scheduled public inspections for Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 ahead of the Oct. 23 online sale.
asserted
Department → schedule → sale
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