Feds arrest ex-Brooklyn judge on wire fraud charges

BROOKLYN (CN) – A former Brooklyn judge was behind the bar instead of on the bench Wednesday after being accused of defrauding real estate investors out of millions of dollars.

Edward Harold King, 72, appeared in Brooklyn federal court alongside his co-defendant, 37-year-old New York City real estate investor Sam Sprei, just hours after they were arrested on a wire fraud conspiracy charge that carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.

King and Sprei are accused of defrauding unsuspecting investors with bogus New Jersey real estate investment opportunities, including by having King illegally act as an escrow agent while he was still on the bench.

According to federal prosecutors in a criminal complaintSprei in 2024 presented two investors with an opportunity to purchase commercial real estate in Freehold, New Jersey, through a bankruptcy court auction. He told them that qualified bidders had to first show “proof of liquidity” by depositing funds in escrow — and touted King as a qualified escrow agent and a New York judge.

Investors deposited $6.5 million into an account belonging to King, who then transferred the funds to Sprei, the government alleges. When they demanded their money back, King and Sprei returned only $1.5 million, keeping the rest for themselves.

Assistant US Attorney Andrew Wang said in court Wednesday that this is “one of many schemes the government has investigated” against the two defendants.

“As alleged, the defendants stole millions of dollars from investors by cynically exploiting King’s position as an acting judge to lend false legitimacy to purported investment opportunities,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.

Harry Chavis, special agent in charge of Criminal Investigation for the Internal Revenue Service, New York, said in a statement that the duo’s alleged conduct “strikes at the heart of the public trust.”

“Today’s arrests send a clear message: Schemes dressed up as opportunities will not shield wrongdoers from accountability,” Chavis said.

Incumbent judges are prohibited from practicing law – including serving as bailiffs. King resigned earlier this year amid an investigation by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which notified him in late 2025 that he was being investigated for “various complaints against him.”

For a January press release by the commission, King was being investigated for allegations that he was “participating in a scheme to defraud investors and business enterprises by improperly receiving escrow funds as an unauthorized party, refusing to return funds deposited in his attorney escrow accounts, and transferring funds to unauthorized parties.”

The king denied the allegations at the time. Having previously served as a judge in the New York City Civil Court in Kings County, King was appointed a Superior Court judge in June 2024. He retired on December 31, 2025 and agreed never to seek judicial office in the future, subject to the ethics investigation.

He is also named as a defendant in a series of civil lawsuits in which he is accused of defrauding investors in a similar manner totaling more than $11 million.

King was released Wednesday on a $250,000 bond. Sprei, who federal prosecutors said has access to “substantial” financial resources, was released on a higher bond of $500,000 with a GPS ankle monitor.

In a white Henley shirt and black pants, King nodded at the defense table as Magistrate Judge Clay Kaminsky read the judge-turned-defendant his rights.

“You have the right to remain silent,” Kaminsky told the former lawyer.

Neither the man nor their lawyers commented as they left the court.

The two defendants have so far only been charged in a criminal complaint, not an indictment, meaning they did not have to plead Wednesday.