The Department of Investigation is looking into the actions of a city marshal who hauled in $1.7 million in net income last year by expanding his reach beyond the five boroughs to seize assets from debtors across the country, officials said Tuesday.
Vadim Barbarovich broke out of his geographic boundaries by targeting firms and individuals with no apparent connection to the Big Apple who had taken out loans they were struggling to pay back.
The seven-figure haul isn’t anything new for the 35 city marshals whose job entails towing cars with unpaid tickets, evicting tenants who haven’t paid their bills and seizing cash from delinquent debtors.
Marshals get to keep 5 percent of whatever they collect, plus additional fees.
That can add up quickly.
In 2006, The Post found that the top three city marshals earned between $2.1 million and $4.4 million the prior year.
But the seizure of out-of-state assets — first reported by Bloomberg News — for a job that was formerly confined to the city limits appears to be a more recent and questionable trend, observers say.
“I think it is outrageous and have been complaining [to the DOI] for more than a year now,” said Shane Heskin, a Philadelphia lawyer at White and Williams LLP who represents at least nine clients impacted by the out-of-state seizures.
One way that marshals have been able to target debtors nationwide has been by hitting up national banks with branches in New York.
City Hall officials said the administration is reviewing the industry’s practices and they’ve asked the DOI — which has oversight of the marshals — to do the same.
DOI officials said they’ve been reviewing Barbarovich’s “money judgments” and they’re investigating the issue of where marshals serve their judgments.
They didn’t respond to questions about Heskin’s September 2017 complaints, but noted there’s no law or regulation that prohibits marshals from seeking to seize assets outside the state.
“The only issue relevant to city marshals is whether the marshal has served an order issued by New York state courts to a bank or its registered agent within New York City,” said DOI spokeswoman Nicole Turso.
The marshals are independent contractors, overseen by DOI and appointed to five-year terms by the mayor. Mayor de Blasio has appointed only one new marshal — Edward Guida — while reappointing others whose terms expired.
Barbarovich didn’t respond to a phone message left at his Coney Island office.