A Mineola architect who admitted to blindly signing off on renovation plans he never actually reviewed has settled with the New York Attorney General's office and will never again work with the New York City Department of Buildings. Kevin McCray struck the deal after investigators traced a fraudulent renovation scheme at a Williamsburg apartment building back to his rubber stamp, though he will not face criminal charges after cooperating with the investigation.
According to DailyVoice, McCray had permission to fast-track renovation applications with city officials through the Department of Buildings' Professional Certification Program, which under NYC Administrative Code § 28-104.1 requires that all certified documents be directly prepared or supervised by the registering professional. Instead, McCray made a deal with Basic Group, an architectural consulting firm listed at 174 Avenue S in Brooklyn, that used expediters to prepare submissions, per the Attorney General's settlement documents. Rather than drafting or seriously reviewing the paperwork himself, McCray agreed to blindly sign off on Basic Group's work, allowing building-code violations to pass city authorities undetected.
How the Scheme Reached a Williamsburg Building
The fraud unraveled at 191 Bedford Avenue, a Brooklyn building with 17 apartments and a single commercial space that BlueSky Management purchased in December 2021. The Attorney General's investigation found that Department of Buildings inspectors uncovered the scheme when they conducted a physical audit of the property and discovered unpermitted structural alterations that contradicted the approved filings.
The building was subject to a Certificate of No Harassment requirement. BlueSky wanted to change various aspects of 191 Bedford Avenue and, according to the Attorney General, sought to bypass those tenant-protection regulations. DOB rejected an initial February 2022 renovation filing for lacking that required certificate, prompting Basic Group to submit an altered second plan in October 2023 to secure approval while work proceeded under the rejected plan. A third, identical plan followed in October 2024, apparently meant to obscure the illegal construction from regulators.
A Prior Disciplined Engineer Made the Introduction
Investigators found that McCray was introduced to Basic Group in March 2021 by Nanik Massand, a professional engineer who had previously surrendered his own DOB certification privileges after multiple failed audits for major building code non-compliance, according to the Attorney General's assurance of discontinuance. Between March 2021 and June 2022, McCray filed 57 jobs through Basic Group.
Tenants and activists had already been criticizing BlueSky Management's building operations and construction plans by the time the scheme came to light. The Attorney General's office opened its investigation into BlueSky's operation and, in the process, uncovered McCray's arrangement with Basic Group.
Firm Dissolved, Owner and Architect Both Banned
Under the settlement announced Tuesday, Basic Group and its owner, Wing Huang, received lifetime bans from doing business with the Department of Buildings. Huang agreed to never deal with the department again, and Basic Group must finish its existing projects before dissolving as a company entirely, according to the New York Attorney General's office. Making false statements or submitting unverified professional certifications to DOB is a punishable offense under NYC Administrative Code § 28-211.1, and the city maintains a public database under § 28-104.2.1.4 listing all sanctioned design professionals.
The case builds on an earlier enforcement action against BlueSky Management itself. In December 2025, the Attorney General and the Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force secured a $672,578 settlement with BlueSky Management NY and owner Steven Kashanian over more than 3,000 housing and safety violations across 72 city buildings, as Hoodline previously reported. That earlier settlement covered BlueSky's broader portfolio of code violations across Brooklyn and beyond, well before investigators traced the Bedford Avenue paperwork trail back to McCray's rubber stamp.
