CIG Realty Inc.

I'm a former worker (employee) at CIG Realty Inc. who worked at CIG under Keith Anthony, CIG's owner, and Anthony Podias, his partner at CIG, and along with several other former workers I'm still owed wages from last year. Currently, CIG and it's partners owe at least 8 or 9 former workers their pay from the hours each worked as well as the pay that was held back from each worker's first weeks working there (they held back at least each worker's first week, some more, because they only issued paychecks for the 15th and the 30th calendar days in the month so the exact pay held back depended on the day of the month each worker started). Some are owed more than $1,000, some over $2,000. A lot of this money owed to each former worker is also from bounced paychecks that were issued but returned unpaid by CIG's home bank, with all these checks signed by Keith Anthony. The entire bad/bounced paycheck issue is being handled, one by one, through the local District Attorney's office here in Nassau County, through the D.A.'s Criminal Complaint Unit, located at 272 Old Country Road, Mineola, NY 11501. This Nassau County D.A. office can also be found on the web if you type in the above name.

On top of all the trouble CIG and its partners have caused in the lives of all the former employees that unfortunately worked there, it also became pretty clear at a certain point by many there that CIG was not acting 'in good faith' toward buying houses for people that were really hoping and searching for them, especially since CIG (according to Mr. Podias) put ads out locally in community newpapers and on the local Craig's LIst for such people to see. CIG had a 'sales/marketing' area, a 'property locators' area and an 'administrative area' of a total of about 20-25 employees at any given time. Probably most of these employees thought they working toward connecting people with "the right house" that would supposedly fit into their budget so that CIG could then make an offer and buy to then finance back to them so they could "repair their credit" and get to live in a home they would one day own outright. Such houses were going to be bought on behalf of folks all around the country with bad or no credit. Recently, Channel 5, the local Fox TV station here in NY, aired a news segment called "Shame Shame Shame" that investigated CIG and it's partners. This video can be also be seen on the web if you search for it under 'Fox5NY, ShameShameShame' and then look for the CIG episode. But before this aired on TV, to myself and a few others it became more and more evident that Keith Anthony and Anthony Podias did not care if people didn't get a house bought/financed for them, as long as their deposit money was wired in to an account they had arranged. Most workers at CIG didn't have any knowledge of such details, although it's possible that some of CIG's longer-term workers did know more about such things. To the shorter-term worker like myself, we could only see signs of something not right and as these signs increased some workers began to speak out and even leave, especially when the paychecks started bouncing. When many workers did get together to talk and share some things they were seeing there, or did see there if they had left, it was pretty much believed by many that none of CIG's customers who wired deposit money in did actually end up getting a house bought for them that they could pay on and live in as CIG proposed all along. In fact, it was hard to find one worker or former worker that saw any home purchases for CIG customers. But, they did hear of deposits that came in and many requestrs for refunds, all of which were put off for different reasons by Mr. Anthony, Mr. Podias or their more trusted people there at CIG.

The good news: At this point there is involvement with several US State Attorney General offices, including New York State. The local New York State Attorney General's office here in Nassau County where CIG is also located can be found on the web by searching under their name. Their adress is: 200 Old Country Road, Mineola, New York 11501-4241. Their phone number may not post on this site but a contact there can be reached at (516) 248-3309. There is also recent involvement of the FBI office in New York CIty and a contact there can be reached at (212) 384-2482. If you cannot get your deposit money back from CIG or feel you have been frauded by them, these are two contacts you can make within New York State. You should also contact your state's Attorney General's office and they can then contact NY State and the FBI to coordinate their information and work toward your behalf.

I hope any of the above is helpful and that all those wronged by Mr. Anthony and Mr. Podias at CIG can be be made whole and paid back after the damages suffered due to them.

My best to all of you...