The dark story behind ‘the most colorful house in Queens’

In a candy-land Queens property, a sour truth has emerged.

This house on 36th Avenue looks like a storybook exploded. Painted in pale yellow, with scarlet trim and scrolls of metallic vermilion flowers curling across the front gate, the for-sale Astoria property has been called “the most colorful home in Queens,” according to its marketing materials. 

But behind its Skittles-toned chandeliers and bubblegum-hued décor, federal prosecutors say, lies the residue of a million-dollar fraud that shook a tight-knit immigrant community, according to the New York Times.

In July, the three-story residence hit the market with a $3 million asking price — being billed by its listing brokerage for its prominent use of color — with its bright exterior standing in stark contrast to the muted brick Tudors that dominate the neighborhood. Referred to in press materials as “Château Couleur,” or the castle of color, the listing still describes the property as “A Custom-Designed Floral Fantasy.”

But interest in the listing surged for reasons beyond aesthetics. The seller’s husband, Rashidun Bokhari, had recently pleaded guilty to wire fraud after bilking fellow Bangladeshi-Americans out of more than $1 million, according to the Times.

Prosecutors say he preyed on community ties — and that the now-famous home may have been one of the things their money paid for.

Bokhari, 59, and his wife, Jasmin, are well known in Queens’ Bangladeshi community for their ostentatious tastes — expensive cars, designer handbags and a growing real estate portfolio that once inspired admiration. 

“I’ve known Rashidun since the ’80s,” Aslam Ansari, a 56-year-old real estate investor, told the Times. “Our families know one another from Bangladesh. I trusted him.”

Ansari said Bokhari approached him in 2015 about a $4 million auction property in Long Island City, proposing that they split a $200,000 down payment and ownership evenly. 

“He told me to be quiet about the deal,” Ansari said. “If we talked about it, he said, there would be a bidding war and we wouldn’t get it done.”

That trust would unravel years later. 

According to court records, Ansari gave Bokhari close to $1 million — but none of the promised properties were ever purchased. When Ansari’s lawyers investigated delays in closing, they discovered forged documents and nonexistent deals. 

Ansari filed a civil suit in Queens Supreme Court in 2021 and, a year later, Bokhari was indicted in federal court.

In 2023, Bokhari pleaded guilty to wire fraud. At his sentencing in June 2024, he acknowledged the pain he had caused: “They are with us more than any brother and sister,” he said of the Ansari family. “Outstanding people.”

Bokhari’s legal troubles didn’t end with Ansari. 

According to federal prosecutors, two other community members — Nazia Jamil and her mother, Aqsa Shams — gave him $191,000 after he promised to help them buy a modest two-family home in Jamaica, Queens.

“We lived in a small basement room for a while,” Shams told the Times. “We always hoped that one day we could have a house for all of us.”

Instead, delays mounted, and Bokhari blamed COVID-19. But in 2021, Jamil found Ansari’s lawsuit online and realized they weren’t alone. 

“That money was my mother’s life savings,” Jamil, 30, said. “He didn’t think anyone was going to help us.”

According to prosecutors, Bokhari used the funds to pay personal expenses, mortgages and to acquire an apartment in Woodside, Queens, under his wife’s name. 

Ansari told the court he believes the lavish renovation of the Astoria property was also funded by stolen money.

The Bokharis have bought, sold and transferred properties across Queens over the past two decades, often within their family and sometimes for no money at all. 

Public records show that homes were passed between Jasmin Bokhari, her sister-in-law Jubayda Aktar, and Tanny Fashion — a corporation the couple used for multiple real estate transactions.

“These are different pockets in the same pair of pants,” Mark S. Gottlieb, a forensic accountant, describing the strategy as a way to flood public records and obscure ownership, told The Times. 

Despite claiming in court that his family had “no interest” in the Astoria home since selling it in 2008, Bokhari’s wife has appeared on the deed multiple times since, most recently this April. 

Now, both the Astoria and Jamaica properties are under a $1.49 million lien placed by the US Attorney’s Office, equivalent to the restitution Bokhari was ordered to pay. The lien makes the homes difficult to sell without paying back victims.

Still, Jasmin Bokhari retains legal ownership and, because she hasn’t been criminally charged, faces no obligation to cover her husband’s debt. 

She dropped the Astoria home’s asking price to $2.5 million in early September.

“We allege that Rashidun has hidden the stolen money with houses controlled or supposedly owned by his family,” Neal Fellenbaum, one of Ansari’s attorneys, said. “We believe that the liens placed on these homes show that the government believes the same thing.”

Though only three victims were named in court, attorneys and community organizers believe the number may be far higher. The New York Times spoke with nine additional Bangladeshi New Yorkers who say they were defrauded by Bokhari in similar schemes — most too fearful to come forward.

“He told me, ‘I’m your uncle … you can trust me,’” one man said.

“There are pros and cons to being in these enclaves,” Rema Begum, a Queens-based community organizer, said. “When you add the layer of cultural understanding and a shared language, that builds trust among the folks targeted with the scheme.”

Bokhari is serving a federal prison sentence and is not scheduled for release until 2028. During his sentencing, he told the court: “I want to pay them back. How I’m going to pay them back, that’s the only question.”

Should the Astoria and Jamaica homes sell at current prices, his wife could walk away with approximately $5 million. But if the government enforces its lien, a portion could go toward repaying victims.