What started as a fraudulent purchases investigation by the Glendale Police Department has turned into a grand larceny indictment by a New York district attorney against a man who is alleged to have stolen more than $1 million using actor Kevin Hart’s credit cards.
In an announcement, the district attorney of Queens County, New York, said that a 29-year-old Long Island City resident was arrested and arraigned this week on grand larceny and other charges stemming from this investigation. The suspect, Dylan Syer, was accused of defrauding Hart both by transferring money from the actor’s credit cards to his own personal account and also using the cards for additional purchases.
According to GPD, the investigation began in February 2019 when the department’s financial crimes unit began probing a number of purchases to Hart’s credit cards through a six-month period. These transactions were made at a “high end” jewelry store in Glendale and also included various “high end” clothing purchases in the city.
Detectives determined that these purchases were all shipped to New York, mostly to Syer’s address, the department added, and GPD ultimately transferred the investigation to the New York authorities.
Hart, who led an all-star cast in 2004’s “Soul Plane” and in 2016 lent his voice to “The Secret Life of Pets” and its sequel as Snowball the pet rabbit, had previously used Syer’s personal shopping business, Sire Consulting LLC, to make a variety of purchases, according to the indictment. As part of the arrangement, Sire Consulting had access to Hart’s credit card information and was to use it only for authorized purchases.
Instead, per the indictment, Syer used his company’s credit card processing account to use Hart’s cards to flow around $923,000 into Syer’s personal checking account and made around $240,000 in purchases directly using Hart’s credit cards. Among the alleged purchases were five Patek Phillipe watches valued at around $400,000, 16 collectible Bearbrick dolls, five collective KAWS dolls, two Louis Vuitton Keepall Bandouliere bags and a Sam Friedman painting.
Many of these items are showcased prominently on Syer’s public Instagram page, according to the indictment. That page, @sireconsulting, indeed showcases the collectibles and watches, as well as a number of opulent getaways and special access to sporting events.
Hart began using Sire Consulting in 2015 and Syer’s fraudulent purchases were made between Oct. 12, 2017 and Feb. 25, 2019.
Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, said in her announcement that she also has filed an asset forfeiture suit against Syer in the amount of the allegedly stolen sum. At the time of his arrest Wednesday, authorities serving a search warrant on Syer’s home seized $250,000 in cash and other items.
“The defendant thought he was beyond reach and was living out his uber-rich lifestyle fantasies,” Katz said in her statement. “But my team uncovered the bogus purchases — from the credit card charges being processed by the bank, down to tracking FedEx packages delivered to Syer’s home and business. This should serve as a cautionary tale for everyone.”
Katz specially acknowledged Christopher Brewer, a detective with GPD, for his contributions to the case.
The 10-count indictment Syer faces includes charges of first- and second-degree grand larceny, first and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, identity theft and scheme to defraud, according to Katz.
City News Service contributed to this report.
