Former Nassau County co-op president Juan Alayo has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $26,700 from the community he was entrusted to serve and defend, marking the conclusion of a betrayal-based conspiracy. According to the New York Attorney General’s office, Alayo entered a plea to charges of petit larceny and grand larceny in the fourth degree. Alayo consented to repay the stolen money and complete 210 hours of community service as part of his plea agreement, according to the statement issued by Attorney General Letitia James.
Attorney General James said, “Juan Alayo’s neighbors elected him to oversee their building, and Mr. Alayo violated their trust to line his own pockets,” underscoring the seriousness of Alayo’s dishonesty against a whole community, especially one made up of Spanish-speaking immigrants. According to the New York Attorney General’s office, Alayo, who was elected president of the Marlboro Owners Corporation in 2016, committed a dishonest act by using his position to write checks to himself and his cleaning business, A&J Cleaning Services, that the co-op board had never authorized.
During Alayo’s term, which ran from 2016 until 2023, about $30,000 in co-op money were purposefully embezzled.According to the Attorney General’s announcement, Alayo concealed the misappropriation by fabricating business papers to show that checks made out to “TRAGAR,” an oil company, for valid services were really transferred to his personal business account.
The financial disparities were discovered by Alayo’s replacement and the co-op’s board only after he left his job and home in 2023. Following an inquiry into the mismatched financial documents, the case was brought to the Attorney General by the Nassau District Attorney’s Office. Before selling his unit and leaving the building, Alayo was able to commit a hidden theft. As part of his plea, Alayo now faces a possible one-year jail sentence if he doesn’t make amends and finish the community work that was mandated.
Alayo’s case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Jimei Hon., who was overseen by a number of authorities from the Division for Criminal Justice’s Public Integrity Bureau. Attorney General James thanked them for their cooperation with the Nassau District Attorney’s Office. Detective Investigator Felix Krasnov, senior investigators, and the New York State Police were honored for their crucial roles in solving the case.
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