Two allegedly racist squatters who missed their mortgage payments for years and then claimed poverty and refused to leave their Long Island home when it was auctioned have paid $700,000 in cash for a new Florida home, records show.
Barry and Barbara Pollack, both 72, bought the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home in a Boynton Beach community for over 55s in January for cash, according to property records.
According to the listing on Zillow, the 1,782-square-foot home features a two-car garage, walk-in closets, new porcelain tile floors and a new washer-dryer.
The purchase was revealed in a new lawsuit filed against the couple by a family member who has been fighting for nearly two years to evict them from their two-story Nassau County home.
The Chawlas say they spent more than $200,000 on mortgage, taxes, insurance and legal fees while waiting for the Pollacks to move out of their 1,536-square-foot home in Jericho, which they finally vacated in January, leaving behind a smelly, filthy house.
The Nassau Superior Court lawsuit claims they also paid for movers, repairs and trash disposal.
“We believe he should be held accountable for his actions. He shouldn’t be allowed to go unpunished,” Bobby Chawla said.
“We lost a lot of money that we were not prepared for or expected, and then we found out he bought the house with cash. This was the ultimate scam. He stole from us. We want justice for ourselves and we want the justice system to change to help homeowners who are trying to make a better life for themselves and their families.”
“They’ve been unable to get on to this property for many years, and now they’re trying to get compensation for what they lost by trying to evict these people,” said Heath Burger, the Chawla family’s lawyer.
Barry Pollack was once caught on video telling Bobby Chawla, whose parents are from India, to “go back to Pakistan.”
The Pollacks bought their New York home in September 1990 for $255,000, but ran into financial difficulties 16 years later and ended up staying there through three court battles that lasted 17 years.
Records show the couple was sued for foreclosure in 2008 and the litigation dragged on for 11 years before the house was eventually sold at bank auction. One lawyer described the couple as “smart and cunning” litigants.
They then allegedly filed for a “skeleton” bankruptcy and a “frivolous” bankruptcy, which records show automatically suspended eviction proceedings and barred them from filing any further applications in bankruptcy court.
Barry Pollack declined to comment on the new lawsuit.
