It was the ultimate challenge: how to steal a $2 billion dollar building in less than 90-minutes. Well, reporters from the New York Daily News found out just how easy it is to scam your way into stealing property right out from under the noses of the owners and with full cooperation of the city:
"The News swiped the 102-story Art Deco skyscraper by drawing up a batch of bogus documents, making a fake notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property.
Some of the information was laughable: Original "King Kong" star Fay Wray is listed as a witness and the notary shared a name with bank robber Willie Sutton.
The massive ripoff illustrates a gaping loophole in the city's system for recording deeds, mortgages and other transactions.
The loophole: The system - run by the office of the city register - doesn't require clerks to verify the information.
Less than 90 minutes after the bogus documents were submitted...the agency rubber-stamped the transfer from Empire State Land Associates to Nelots Properties LLC. Nelots is "stolen" spelled backward."
Too bad they didn't have ePropertyWatch.
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