Man returns to his family’s Connecticut property after five years to discover $1.4M home being built after South African scammer impersonated him to sell the property

• Daniel Kenigsberg had been passed down a parcel of land from his late parents that he intended to keep undisturbed
• To his horror, the property was sold from under him by a scammer who impersonated him and raked in $350k from the illicit sale 
• In a lawsuit, Kenigsberg is now asking for the property to be returned to him and to have a $1.4M home removed from the land that was erected since the fake sale

A man returned to his family’s Connecticut property after five years to find a $1.4m home being built after a scammer impersonated him to sell the land. 

Dr Daniel Kenigsberg has owned the piece of property in Fairfield, Connecticut, after his late mother passed away in 2007.

The 0.45 acre lot remained in covered in trees for seven decades after his parents Nathaniel and Esther bought an acre but only used half of it to build their home.

After selling the family home in 2011, Kenigsberg had plans to pass the empty lot, which is worth $350,000, down to his children and grandchildren.

In August 2022 however, the lot was sold without his knowledge and someone impersonating him signed a power of attorney to grant a solicitor to sign legal documents for him and move the property on to a real estate firm. 

The lot had remained empty until this $1.4 million home was built on it following the fraudulent sale 

Dr Daniel Kenigsberg, pictured here, had been passed down a parcel of land from his late parents that he intended to keep 

In a lawsuit, it is said that in October of last year a Connecticut firm called 51 Sky Top Partners bought the land for $350,000. 

A few months after this, they had a construction company begin building a four-bedroom house on the property with Kenigsberg completely unaware.

The 4,000-square-foot house appeared for sale on Coldwell Banker in March for $1,475,000.

It wasn’t until May of this year when a school friend called Kenigsberg to let him know that a fellow friend was receiving hospice care and mentioned the property.

When he eventually made the trip and saw the home that had been built, Kenigsberg had his attorney look into what happened. 

Kenigsberg told the Washington Post: ‘I was living my life normally until May 31st, and all of a sudden, this happened.’ 

According to the lawsuit, some unknown person from South Africa made a fake passport for Kenigsberg with an incorrect birthday, photo and address. 

This person then had Connecticut lawyer, Anthony Monelli execute the transaction after posing as Kenigsberg and appointing him as power of attorney. 

After his attorney informed 51 Sky Top that they hadn’t purchased the property from the correct owner construction stopped. 

In October of last year a Connecticut firm called 51 Sky Top Partners bought the land for $350,000.

In a statement to The Washington Post, owner Gina Leto said: ‘We, as buyer, had no contact with the party impersonating Kenigsberg.

‘We had no reason to believe he was an impostor. We would not have paid $350,000 for the property — nor would we have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars more in construction — if we had.’ 

Leto is also said to be filing a request for the company to be removed from the lawsuit.

Kenigsberg filed the lawsuit against Monelli and 51 Sky Top Partners on July 14 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. 

He has requested that he have the property returned to him, have all other parties involved to cease their activities on the land, and to remove the home they built. 

Fairfield Police are also investigating the transaction. 

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