A sham real estate mogul is heading to prison for at least five years after admitting today that he tried to pocket a $1 million deposit from the organizers of the New York City Marathon for the sale a Harlem building he didn’t actually own.
Henry Vargas, 36 — dubbed a “seasoned fraudster” by Manhattan DA Cy Vance — admitted he’d phonied up enough documents and architectural models two years ago to trick the New York Road Runners into thinking he owned a 90 percent stake in the building, located just north of Central Park on Lenox Ave.
Vargas, a convicted check forger and the son of a legitimate Harlem developer, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court to forgery and attempted grand larceny.