Moshe Silber filed for personal bankruptcy as creditors circle the imprisoned real estate investor.
Silber, who amassed a 10,000-unit multifamily portfolio by his early 30s, made the filing this month in New York’s Southern District. He claimed he owned no property, had no income and no assets.
Silber’s bankruptcy filing shows a drastically different picture than his financial statements showed just three years ago. Silber once flaunted items and investments worth millions, including luxury cars, jewelry and a private jet, alongside multiple homes in upstate New York. He also owned part of a bank in Westchester County.
The managers in charge of one of Silber’s former holdings companies, CBRM Realty, are seeking to move the case from New York to New Jersey, where CBRM’s bankruptcy is ongoing.
CBRM’s attorneys claim Silber filed for personal bankruptcy on the eve of CBRM’s plan to commence legal action against him. They claim that Silber mismanaged properties and “extracted tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions of dollars) of value from those properties for his own benefit.”
Silber’s personal bankruptcy blocks litigation in New York State Supreme Court, including at least three lawsuits from creditors seeking to pursue Silber for tens of millions of dollars over unpaid debts.
Silber, of Suffern, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year and was sentenced in March to 30 months in prison. It was part of a broader investigation into commercial mortgage fraud by the Department of Justice and the Federal Housing and Finance Agency.
Silber and his co-conspirators allegedly provided a fraudulent purchase price of $95.8 million for their 976-unit apartment complex in Cincinnati to obtain a $70 million mortgage from JLL and Fannie Mae. The judge presiding over the case noted Silber’s fraud was significant because of the “layers and labyrinth of chicanery.”
Once Silber pleaded guilty, he was effectively banned from managing CBRM and its 6,300-unit multifamily portfolio. He appointed an independent fiduciary, which was approved by CBRM’s noteholders. (Silber had obtained $200 million in financing from bondholders.)
But Silber and his co-conspirator Fred Schulman allegedly refused to give up the equity interests in the CBRM portfolio. This made it difficult to find financing for the bankruptcy or for the properties, according to a filing by CBRM’s lawyers.
Silber’s properties were mostly vacant and had negative cash flow. Some units were uninhabitable. He was being pursued separately by the Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney for taking money from his company’s apartment properties outside of Pittsburgh.
Under the direction of an independent fiduciary, CBRM filed for bankruptcy in May to stop a creditor’s attempt to sell the company, which controlled 6,300 multifamily units, at a sheriff sale.
CBRM is now trying to sell its properties through bankruptcy, including 1,512 units, in New Orleans. A portion of the proceeds will go toward funding litigation against Silber and Schulman.
CBRM said Silber has made life difficult for the restructuring managers. The firm’s lawyers tried to depose Silber this month in jail, but Silber asserted the Fifth Amendment to all substantive questions, according to a court filing.
Silber’s attorney declined to comment. CBRM’s attorney did not respond to a request to comment.
Silber’s attorney initially filed the bankruptcy as a Chapter 7, a liquidation of assets, but later claimed it was an error and he meant to file Chapter 11, a restructuring.
The bankruptcy petition also makes a number of other surprising claims, including that Silber has not lived anywhere else in the past three years. (Silber’s prison sentence started in early 2025.) It also claims he is not married, but at the time of Silber’s sentencing earlier this year, he claimed he was married.
The filing states Moshe Silber borrowed money from his father Zalman Silber to cover his bankruptcy legal fees.
Read more
Big chunk of Moshe Silber’s sprawling portfolio heads to auction
Mortgage fraud co-conspirator sentenced to “significant” 30 months
Judge says no more delays, sets sentencing date for Moshe Silber
