Crain’s New York Business reported in its May 7, 2008 edition that the N.Y. Attorney General,  Andrew Cuomo, is devoting more staff and funding to the Real Estate Finance Bureau, which was neglected under former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

In the article, entitled “Cuomo cracks down on NY real estate fraud,” Hilary Potkewitz reports that he has doubled the bureau’s enforcement staff in the last year, hiring four attorneys in January alone.

Pryor Cashman real estate attorney Jeanne Matase, counsel to the firm, told Crain’s New York Business that the Real Estate Finance Bureau is “really just getting the group off the ground. With more people, the bureau will also be able to speed up its review of new projects.  In previous years it was common for offering plans to languish at the AG’s office for six to nine months.  They’re supposed to respond to your initial filing within 30 days. Volume-wise, they were drowning.”

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