BY M. JUNAID ALAM
Shih Sian Shawn Liao, the 31-year-old owner of Hydra Buildings, with offices in Manhattan, London and Hong Kong, was charged with trying to scheme 54-year-old Fanny Kwan Lam of 63-25 Douglaston Parkway through a series of elaborate lies.”Mortgage fraud and identity theft are quickly emerging as among the fastest-growing white-collar crimes in the country today,” Brown said in a statement. “In this particular case, the defendant is accused of perpetrating an elaborate scheme to drain the equity from his mother-in-law's Queens condo — allegedly going so far as duping her into believing he knew someone on the Manhattan district attorney's office who could help her when she became a victim of the mortgage swindle.”A spokesman for the 111th Precinct said he did not have any details on the case. Liao was arraigned Jan. 31 in Queens Criminal Court, where Judge Gene Lopez charged him with second-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, first-degree identity theft, first-degree falsifying business records and third-degree unlawful possession of personal identification information.Held on $100,000 bail and relieved of his passport, Liao faces up to 15 years in prison and will return to court on Feb. 14.Lam, the victim, first noticed trouble when, in December 2006, she received a letter from Chase Home Finance saying her payment was due for a $360,000 mortgage she never took out, the Queens DA said.When she informed her son-in-law, he allegedly pointed her to an e-mail address containing the letters “DA” that he said belonged to the Manhattan DA's office.The e-mail address actually belonged to the defendant, the Queens DA alleged in his statement.Reach reporter M. Junaid Alam by e-mail at malam@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 Ext 174.
