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GYM RAT BACK IN BIZ

A crooked gym owner who scammed hundreds of Brooklyn customers out of their money is back in business, even though he has been ordered never to operate a fitness facility, The Post has learned.

The bodybuilding exploits of owner John Suarez are documented in photos all over the lobby of the new Edge Fitness gym on South Third Street in Williamsburg — but the 2007 court ruling requiring Suarez to refund $172,000 to customers he stiffed isn’t nearly as prominently featured.

Neither is the deal he made with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo promising never to operate a health club in the state again.

The facility occupies the ground floor and basement of a chic five-story residential building, but, according to city records, the basement isn’t zoned for a business — much less a kickboxing and aerobics classroom — and there’s a stop-work order posted on the building.

“I can’t own another gym, but I’ve got to make a living,” Suarez calmly explained. “I’m able to work in and manage a gym. I had a mistake six years ago. Everyone in the neighborhood knows me. I’m trying to start a new life. I have to feed my kids. It’s not like I was scamming anybody.”

But the muscle-bound Suarez wasn’t nearly as measured Saturday, when he went berserk on Post photographer Theodore Parisienne, tackling him to the ground and damaging his camera. Suarez was hit with a slew of charges, including assault, menacing and harassment.

He later told The Post: “I’m not allowed to talk about it. Things happen. I did what I had to do. And he did what he had to do.”

Cuomo’s office went after Suarez in 2004 after nearly 1,000 people paid upfront membership fees for CORE Health & Fitness, also based in Williamsburg. The gym never opened, and Suarez vanished with the money.

The scammer settled with prosecutors, promising to pay everyone back and stay out of the gym business forever — but then filed for bankruptcy.

The attorney general got a ruling from the bankruptcy court that Suarez couldn’t escape the debt.

Edge Fitness customers who had paid the $29 monthly membership fee appeared so impressed with the price that they weren’t too worried by Suarez’s sordid past.

“Everybody has skeletons in their closet,” said Wendy Torres, 27.

“Maybe it’s something he’s trying to fix.”

alex.ginsberg@nypost.com