Photos from July 2020 by Stacie Joy
A personal assistant who was convicted of murdering his former boss in his East Houston Street home after embezzling $400,000 from him was sentenced on Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison.
Manhattan D.A. Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced the sentencing of Tyrese Haspil in the brutal July 2020 slaying of tech CEO Fahim Saleh in his condo on the SW corner of Houston and Suffolk. Haspil, 25, was also ordered to pay restitution for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from Saleh's companies.
Haspil was convicted on all charges, including Murder in the First Degree and two counts of Grand Larceny, in a New York State Supreme Court trial this past June.
Beginning in May 2018, Haspil worked as Saleh's entrepreneurial assistant, handling financial tasks. Over the following months, he executed a series of elaborate embezzlement schemes. By creating fake accounts and entities, Haspil stole increasing amounts of money, eventually totaling nearly $400,000.
Despite catching wind of one fraudulent scheme in early 2020, Saleh, showing mercy, offered Haspil a repayment plan instead of pursuing legal action. Haspil continued stealing and ultimately devised a plan to murder his boss to avoid facing criminal charges. (Press reports claimed that Haspil was worried his girlfriend would find out about the stolen money and leave him.)
On July 13, 2020, Haspil ambushed Saleh in his apartment after a planned attack involving a Taser and a knife. After killing him, Haspil attempted to cover up the crime by dismembering the body and disposing of evidence. His actions were discovered when Saleh's cousin, concerned after not hearing from him for a day, entered his apartment and made the grisly discovery.
Haspil was arrested four days later at an Airbnb, where he was celebrating his girlfriend's birthday. According to the DA's office, his PayPal embezzlement continued right up until his capture.
"While today’s sentence won't bring Mr. Saleh back, I hope it provides his family a sense of closure as they continue to mourn his painful loss," Bragg said in a statement.
Previously on EV Grieve:
I remember this case. I walk by that building all the time and saw the NYPD crime scene van in front of the building with a large NYPD uniform presence there and asked what was going on. It was a gruesome crime especially since the victim knew and trusted his attacker. Very sad but at least justice has been served in this case.
ReplyDeleteAs indelicate as it is... that building is going to forever be "that building where the guy got beheaded" to me (and probably other people)
ReplyDeleteWhat's more unimaginable are the individuals who now live in his previous dwelling. I am not religious, but if I was there, I'd hire someone who works in the spiritual realm to eradicate that malevolent dark energy from the premises ASAP. That poor, poor man. So terrifying how he died. May he RIP.
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