Are there two Ely Sakhai’s doing business in and around Great Neck?
There is an Ely Sakhai, who operates “The Art Collection” in Great Neck – an art gallery located at 39 Cutter Mill Road.
That Ely Sakhai is also listed by the state Department of State as the chief executive officer of the First Playhouse of Great Neck Corp., the owners of the First Playhouse Theater – the company that is seeking approval from the Village of Great Neck Estates to tear down the historic structure to replace it with apartments.
There is also an Ely Sakhai who pleaded guilty in 2004 in federal court to fraud charges in a 15-year art forgery operation that landed him a sentence of 41 months in prison and a $12.5 million fine.
State Department of State records list Ely Sakhai as the chief executive officer of The Art Collection Inc. at the same mailing address as the company’s at 10 Windsor Drive in Old Westbury. The indictment against Ely Sakhai said he was a resident of Old Westbury at the time.
But the Sakhai who operates the Art Collection in Great Neck said last week he is not same Sakhai who pleaded guilty to art forging.
“You have the wrong person,” said the Ely Sakhai of the Art Collection.
Sakhai confirmed he was the Ely Sakhai whose company was seeking to replace the First Playhouse Theater, but declined further comment.
The Village of Great Neck Estates trustees adjourned a public hearing on the proposed First Playhouse Theater project in September, saying the developer has not answered some of the trustees’ questions about the demolition.
Village of Great Neck Estates Mayor David Fox said he does not know who Sakhai is.
“No one does background checks [on the application], ever – they just don’t do it,” Fox said. “It’s not the policy of the village.”
Fox said he only knows Jan Soleimani, who has appeared before the board on behalf of First Playhouse of Great Neck Corp. and who is listed as vice president in the company’s application to the Village of Great Neck Estates.
Fox declined to say if the village’s decision would be influenced if a top executive for an applicant had been convicted of a felony.
The name Ely Sakhai does not appear on the First Playhouse’s application to the Village of Great Neck Estates. Soleimani signed the application made by First Playhouse of Great Neck Corp. in March 2013. He also signed the affidavit of the application and the affidavit of property owner.
Efforts to reach Soleimani were unavailing.
William Bonesso, attorney for the First Playhouse of Great Neck, said he has also never dealt with anyone named Ely Sakhai, and that he has only ever dealt with Soleimani.
A check for $2,500 was paid to the Village from the First Playhouse of Great Neck Corp. as a fee for an amended application, according to legal documents. That check was sent via UPS from a Secaucus company called Old Windsor Management, according to the documents.
Soleimani is listed as the CEO of Old Windsor Management Inc. with an address at 44 Hartz Way in Secaucus, N.J., according to state Department of State records.
State Department of State records, which list Ely Sakhai as the chief executive officer of First Playhouse of Great Neck Corp., give the company’s and Sakhai’s address as in care of Old Windsor Management at 276 5th Ave, New York, N.Y.
Plans for the First Playhouse Theater, which sits at the corner of Middle Neck Road and Maple Drive, have been up in the air for several months.
Fox, who has expressed anger in the many delays that have come with the project, gave the developer two months in June to complete the demolition application, but in August the deadline was extended to a September public hearing, which was adjourned indefinitely.
Bonesso said in January that the developers hope to appear before the Village of Great Neck Estates again in March after they receive traffic and environmental reports on the proposed project. He also said the developers are still planning to demolish the building.
The original plan for the project, was to keep the original façade of the building and renovate the inside of it, but that changed when engineers determined that it would be more cost-effective to demolish the building.
Many residents have criticized the plan to demolish the building, arguing the building is part of Great Neck history.
The Great Neck Plaza Preservation Committee asked Fox in September to preserve the original brick front of the building, which dates back to 1925, arguing that the historic building adds character to the area.
In its heyday, the playhouse attracted many leading acts, including Irving Berlin, the Marx Brothers and Oscar Hammerstein.
The Sakhai who was convicted or art forging would buy an authentic painting, mostly from artists of the Impressionist and post-Impressionist period, and have another artist copy the work so that it was indistinguishable from the original, including markings on the frame and canvas, according to a 2005 release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
This Sakhai would also forge certificates of authenticity for the paintings and make potential buyers believe Citibank was involved in the sale as well, according to the release.
Investigators first became interested in this Sakhai when Paul Gauguin’s painting “Vase de Fleurs (Lilas)” appeared at two different auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, according to a report by New York Magazine.
The auction houses flew both of the paintings to a Gauguin expert in Paris, who found that the Christie’s one was a fake, according to the report.
The FBI traced the origins of the two paintings and found that the source of both of these paintings was this Sakhai, according to the report.
In its story about the art fraud, New York Magazine said this Sakhai had emigrated from Iran 35 years ago, and “quickly established himself as a successful dealer in antiquities” and became known in the Iranian-American community of Old Westbury and a supporter of the area’s “ultra-Orthodox Chabad Jews, not least because he paid to build the Ely Sakhai Torah Center – a modest building that houses a few classrooms.”
