Two Men, Same Name, and a Legal Nightmare

MYFOXNY.COM - A  Brooklyn police officer could lose his house and life savings all because of his name. It's all about two men with the same name. One owes money, the other does not.

Fox 5's Barbara Nevins Taylor reports that bill collectors and lawyers on Long Island refuse to admit they are going after the wrong man's money.

Igor Groysman is a New York City police officer. He says for five years he has been hounded by legal summonses and judgments against him that really are all about another Igor Groysman, who also has a Brooklyn address.

Groysman says, "It's destroying my life and my family life."

In 2005, Groysman received a summons because an Igor Groysman and Ronald Gillerman owed money for renting a store in Nassau County.

It was a wireless phone business. That Igor Groysman and his partners also owed money to the supplier of the wireless devices. But police officer Igor Groysman never had a business like that.

Groysman says, "I figured somebody mailed it by mistake to me, and I threw it in the garbage."

Six months later, he got another notice and he called the law firm that was listed on the court papers to tell them they had the wrong guy. But he says no one at the firm listened.

After another six months he received another notice.

He says he called again, and this time he says he got the lawyer, John Macron, on the phone.

Groysman says, "I thought it was over, and I told him ‘find the right guy.’ And he said he would investigate."

But, in Nassau County Court, the lawyer kept the legal snowball rolling by receiving a default judgment against the wrong Groysman.

Groysman was told he owed about $600,000. Suddenly there was a lien on the Brooklyn house he shares with his parents, his wife and baby. And Citibank got a judgment to take $80,000 from a savings account he has with parents.

He hired Ilya Novofastovksy, of Novo Law Firm, to take his case.

Novofastovksy says, "He's a victim and we are trying to fight for his rights. But I didn't realize it would be this hard."

Igor Groysman and his attorney plan to ask a Nassau County Supreme Court judge to reopen the case. They hope that this time, the court and everyone else will realize they have the wrong Igor Groysman.

Since the story first aired, the real Igor Groysman that was involved in that failed cell phone business contacted Fox 5 News, and he claims he will try to help the police officer clear up the name and credit mix-up.