New York cops scale building to end 8-hour standoff with attempted jumper – Ian Mitchell, broke the window inside an apt within the 72-story condo building and attempted to climb out
Video shows NYPD scale building to end 8-hour standoff with attempted jumper on Wednesday morning
The suspect threatened to jump from a 20th-floor window of a Manhattan skyscraper Wednesday as the FBI attempted to serve a search warrant
Alleged fraudster Ian Mitchell, broke the window inside an apt within the 72-story CitySpire condominium building and attempted to climb out around 8:40 am
***Mitchell, 35, launched the shady scheme back in 2015
Mitchell was ushered out of the building covered in a white sheet and transported by ambulance to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Ian Mitchell, aka Ian Matalon, once passed himself off as an investor in order to dupe victims into giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars
A suave New York City conman who allegedly once posed as the scion of a wealthy Jamaican family threatened to jump from a 20th-floor window of a Manhattan skyscraper Wednesday as the FBI attempted to serve a search warrant, police sources said.
Ian Mitchell, 35, broke the window inside an apartment within the 72-story CitySpire condominium building in Manhattan and attempted to climb out around 8:40 a.m., the sources said.
Video from the scene shows Mitchell with his legs dangling from the window as people stand outside watching and filming.
After a roughly 8-hour standoff, an alleged conman and attempted sky-scraper jumper was yanked away from his post at the ledge of a shattered, 31st-story window.
Ian Mitchell was finally subdued after an NYPD Emergency Service Unit officer rappelled the outside of the 72-story CitySpire building and climbed into the suicidal man’s condominium.
Dramatic video shows the stealthy officer climbing a rope down from the apartment above Mitchell’s 31st-floor home.
Another ESU cop held the rope steady as the descending officer scaled the building and lept through the already-broken window, where Mitchell was seen dangling over the ledge throughout the day.
A team of hostage negotiators and officers from the NYPD and FBI were stationed in the hallway just outside Mitchell’s front door and had been talking with him in the hours before the NYPD’s breakthrough.
Mitchell was ushered out of the building covered in a white sheet. He was put in an ambulance and taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Police sources said Mitchell threatened to jump from the skyscraper around 8:40 a.m. as the FBI attempted to serve an arrest warrant for a “white-collar crime,” but did not elaborate further.
Police ended the standoff after one ESU officer rappelled into a broken window and into the condo
Mitchell had allegedly once posed as the scion of a wealthy Jamaican family in order to trick investors into forking over hundreds of thousands of dollars for his own personal gain, authorities told The Post in 2019.
Passing himself off as investment banker “Ian Matalon,” a relative of the wealthy Jamaican businessman Joseph Matalon, Mitchell duped at least three victims into investing in a fake hedge fund, cops alleged.
Ian Mitchell, a suave Manhattan con man posed as the scion of a wealthy Jamaican family to scam many investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, including through a scheme involving a Columbus Circle boutique hotel.
The crook allegedly stole half the life savings of an Air Force veteran and more than $158,000 from a businessman.
Mitchell, 35, passed himself off as “Ian Matalon,” a relative of the wealthy Jamaican businessman Joseph Matalon. He claimed to be an investment banker, authorities said.
“He was good at what he did. He painted the picture well. What can I say? He got me,” said Brett Steigh, 44, a restaurateur in Rolling Hills, Calif., who gave him $44,000 to invest in January 2018.
“He would tell stories about how he was buying a $15 million house,” said Steigh, whose ex-girlfriend lived in The Continental, the luxury Midtown high-rise where Mitchell also lived.
In 2015, the dapper crook allegedly told three victims, including an Air Force veteran, that they could have an ownership interest in a new bar at the Hudson Hotel on West 58th Street if they paid $33,000 for a liquor license.
The Manhattan DA’s Office was looking into the status of the investment scam cases Wednesday afternoon.
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