FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Gravesend Bookkeeper, Two Accomplices, Indicted for Stealing More than $1.1 Million Through Fake Payroll and Check-Cashing Scheme
Defendants Allegedly Created Fake Jobs and Inflated
Salaries to Cash Fraudulent Paychecks
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a bookkeeper and two accomplices have been arraigned on an indictment charging them with stealing more than $1.1 Million through a long-running fraud involving fake jobs, inflated salaries and business checks. The defendants allegedly used a former Brooklyn realty company to generate fraudulent payroll checks, which they deposited into accounts they controlled. They then used the stolen funds to pay personal expenses and debts.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant, along with two accomplices, allegedly carried out and coordinated an extended scheme to steal over a million dollars through lies and manipulation. By exploiting trust and fabricating work arrangements, they were able to siphon off money to cover personal expenses and business debts. We will now seek to hold them accountable for their alleged actions.”
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Maya Roytlender, 44, Ihor Dubno, 61, and Michael James, 33. The defendants were arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Phyllis Chu on an indictment in which Roytlender is charged with one count of first-degree grand larceny. Dubno and James are each charged with one count of second-degree grand larceny. The defendants were released without bail and ordered to return to court on August 13, 2025.
According to the investigation, between 2015 and 2020, Maya Roytlender, while working as an office manager for D. Malek Realty, LLC, allegedly orchestrated a scheme in which fraudulent payroll checks were issued to her co-defendants Michael James and Ihor Dubno, among others. James was placed on the company’s payroll despite never having worked there, and received salary payments to which he was not entitled. Dubno, who did work for the company, allegedly received inflated paychecks in excess of his actual compensation.
The checks were drawn from the company’s business accounts and deposited into accounts controlled by the defendants or their associates. The stolen funds were allegedly used to pay credit cards, auto lenders and other creditors — including Roytlender’s Capital One and Chase accounts, and toward Michael James’ personal debts.
The District Attorney thanked Supervising Financial Investigator Vincent Jones, Chief Financial Investigator Ludwig Sanchez and Intelligence Analyst Veranika Basak for their assistance in the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Joseph DiBenedetto, of the District Attorney’s Frauds Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Gregory Pavlides, Bureau Chief, and Assistant District Attorney Michel Spanakos, Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the Investigations Division.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt