BROOKLYN, NY — The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, in coordination with the New York City Department of Investigation, has indicted Luzmila Corbin, 56, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, for grand larceny involving approximately $157,000 in Section 8 rent subsidies. The indictment alleges that over a decade, Corbin used another person’s Social Security number to hide her income and employment from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) while collecting rent assistance for a two-bedroom apartment in Crown Heights.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez stated that Corbin’s actions deprived low-income New Yorkers of essential housing resources. He emphasized the significance of the case in the context of Brooklyn’s affordable housing crisis.
Corbin was arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Riviezzo on charges including first-degree identity theft, second-degree grand larceny, first-degree falsifying business records, and 17 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. She has been released without bail and is scheduled to return to court on February 7, 2024.
The investigation revealed that Corbin, who started receiving Section 8 vouchers in February 2001, falsely claimed unemployment in her annual affidavits to NYCHA while working as a food services aide, earning between $34,000 and $59,000 annually.
This fraudulent activity led to her significantly reduced rent payments, with NYCHA overpaying $157,493 in subsidies on her behalf from February 2021 to October 2022.