Mavis Samuel, 40, and Carlyle Ebanks, 53, are charged with Grand Larceny in the First Degree, Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Insurance Fraud in the First Degree, Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree.

The case against Ebanks and Samuel originated with an investigation into a string of arsons that occurred in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, in early 2006.

They are charged with selling one building, 1162 Pacific Street, twice, to two different straw buyers. The building was burned down between the two sales.

The defendants are charged with approaching a straw buyer and offering him $2,000 to buy the building for $440,000, in September 2004. Though the straw buyer held the deed, Ebanks and Samuel maintained control of the building. When the straw buyer was recovering from a traumatic brain injury in spring 2005, Samuel convinced him to deed the property back to her, according to the indictment.

Samuel and Ebanks are also charged with forging the straw buyer's name on an insurance claim, after the building was burned in February 2006, and then illegally collecting his benefits.

Then, in November 2006, Ebanks approached a friend and offered him a business opportunity, according to the indictment. Ebanks told him that if he bought the building, they would make him a partner in his and Samuel's real estate investment company. The defendants are charged with illegally inflating the "partner's" income and savings account balance on a $1 million mortgage application, to buy 1162 Pacific Street for that price.

With that "sale", they paid off the mortgage on the original straw purchase, pocketed between $200,000 and $300,000, and maintained ownership, according to the indictment.

Grand Larceny in the First Degree, the top charge against all three defendants, carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

DA Hynes also thanked the NYPD Arson and Explosion Squad and Detectives Michael Cummings and Kevin Parrett, who worked on the arson investigation, under the supervision of Lt. Dennis Briordy and Sgt. Steven Alu.

Assistant District Attorney Laura Neubauer is prosecuting the case against Samuel and Ebanks. Michael Vecchione is Chief of the Rackets Division.