Smoke on the Water

Luxury Miami condo association sues to evict chain-smoking fraudster

“Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.” – Fletcher Knebel, author.

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Pardon the quip in my last missive, bashing Florida as a refuge for scam artists, but here I go again, with another swampy tale.

Like so many other stories about white-collar wonders in Sunshine State, this one begins in New Jersey.

Here, an obscure real estate investor named Boruch “Barry” Drillman, 36, pled guilty in a $165 million mortgage fraud in December. Now he faces up to five years in prison.

So what does he do just two days after making his guilty plea? He splits to Miami’s renowned Bal Harbor and leases a $10,500-a-month condo.

His neighbors are complaining, not so much about his criminal record, but the relentless tobacco stench in their non-smoking building. The condo association is suing to evict Drillman for chain-smoking, a violation of his lease. But Drillman reportedly keeps spewing clouds in his pricey, two-bedroom crib.

He’s also been spotted spraying air freshener in the hallway, but he can’t hide his habit any better than his massive mortgage fraud. 

(Illustration: AI generated.)