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Sam Eshaghoff

Sam Eshaghoff
Eshaghoff in October 2023
Born
Samuel Ezra Eshaghoff

(1992-07-30) July 30, 1992 (age 33)
Great Neck, New York, U.S.
EducationNew York University Stern School of Business (MBA)
Zicklin School of Business (BBA)
OccupationReal estate developer

Sam Eshaghoff (/'eʃæɡɑf/; born July 30, 1992) is an American real estate developer. He is the Managing Principal of West Egg Development, a real estate investment company known for development projects in New York.[1] Earlier in life, he was involved in a high‑profile test‑taking scandal that prompted reforms to standardized testing security.

Early life

[edit]

Eshaghoff was born in Great Neck, New York to an Iranian Jewish family.[2][3][4] His father Roland Eshaghoff was a home renovator and his mother Janet Esagoff is a real estate attorney.[5] He was raised in Great Neck and attended John L. Miller Great Neck North High School.[6] He attended the University of Michigan,[7] later transferring to Emory University.[8] He ultimately earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Zicklin School of Business in New York[4], majoring in finance and real estate. He later earned his MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business.[9]

Real estate

[edit]

Eshaghoff is the founder and Managing Principal of West Egg Development, a New York-based real estate company focused on residential and mixed-use development in the Greater New York City area.[1] The firm has completed projects in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and the Hudson Valley. In 2023, West Egg began construction on a mixed-use development at 215–20 Northern Boulevard in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens. The project was reported as the firm’s largest to date by The Real Deal. The project includes a mix of residential units, retail space, and sub-grade parking.[10] The project was designed by New York City architect Gerald Caliendo[11] and financed with a $16 million construction loan from Ponce Bank.[4]

Prior to founding West Egg, Eshaghoff held roles in acquisitions and development at several firms. He worked at Monarch Realty Holdings, focusing on multifamily acquisitions in Manhattan and the Bronx.[12] He worked with Arthur Bocchi on developing a 400,000-square-foot cold storage facility near New Jersey’s Port Newark and a 75,000-square-foot condo project in Downtown Brooklyn.[4] He also founded Surface Development, a fund that specialized in acquiring and repositioning residential properties.[13]

West Egg Development's first known project involved the ground-up construction of 2 multifamily buildings in at 710–714 Wortman Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, completed in 2018.[14][15] The project was financed through a combination of personal savings, contributions from friends and family, and a bridge loan.[4] This was Eshaghoff's first solo project.

Following that project, West Egg expanded its portfolio to include multiple mid-rise developments. These include a series of adjacent multifamily buildings on East 53rd Street in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, comprising a total of 36 units.[16] These initially began as the single development of 110 East 53rd Street.[17] The project was later expanded to include two adjacent lots.[18] Eshaghoff's firm is also developing 76 East 53rd Street[19] on the same block. The development was cited in New York Real Estate Journal’s “2020 Ones to Watch” list for its contribution to housing density in the neighborhood near Kings County Hospital.[2]

Other projects include the repositioning of a mixed-use property on Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens, of which The New York Times reported Eshaghoff's purchase in July 2020,[20] and several ongoing development work in neighborhoods such as Bedford-Stuyvesant and Rhinebeck.[21]

Recognition

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  • Eshaghoff was named in the "2020 Ones to Watch" by the New York Real Estate Journal[2] among "up and coming professionals as well as industry veterans across all areas of real estate".
  • Eshaghoff is known for having developed and sold the first $1 million dollar homes in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn.[22]
  • Eshaghoff's writing has been published in Crain's New York,[23][24] Commercial Observer,[25] and New York Real Estate Journal.[26][27]
  • Eshaghoff is cited as an expert development source in an article published by Bisnow.[28]

Test taking

[edit]

In 2011, Eshaghoff was discovered to have been operating a test-taking enterprise[29] while in high school whereby he charged students to take standardized tests, including the SAT and ACT, on their behalf.[7] Reports estimate that Eshaghoff had taken standardized tests for between 7[30] and 20[31] students, charging between $1,500[32] and $3,600[7] per exam. Eshaghoff consistently scored in the 97th percentile or better.[33]

Eshaghoff was arrested and charged by the district attorney of Nassau County for impersonation and falsification of business documents.[34][35][36] He was caught after prosecutors and ETS worked with school officials to compare students' SAT scores with their grade point averages, and conduct handwriting analyses.[7] Eshaghoff was represented by Long Island attorney Matin Emouna.[37] His operations caused the College Board and the Educational Testing Service to reform the way that standardized tests are secured and administered.[38][39]

Aftermath

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Eshaghoff and the district attorney’s office agreed to conditionally discharge the case. Eshaghoff withdrew his attendance from Emory University.

Community Service

[edit]

As a condition of his discharge, Eshaghoff was required to perform substantial community service[40] in the form of tutoring.[7] This tutoring included teaching SAT test-taking strategies to low-income students.[1] He tutored in an Educational Alliance program at the Manny Cantor Center, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.[41] He is the Chairman and President of the Board of The Brooklyn Bank, a nonprofit organization in Brooklyn.[42][43]

Test Reform

[edit]

In response to Eshaghoff's operation,[44][45] the College Board and ETS were forced to make radical changes to the administration and security of the SAT exam.[39] The College Board hired former FBI Director Louis Freeh[39] to oversee test security[46] and make substantial changes to test administration nationwide,[47][48] including a requirement that students upload photos of themselves into a database[47] and regulations on the types of permitted identification.[49] The ACT exam, administered by ACT Education also underwent a major security reform.[47] The College Board also began providing law enforcement and government agencies the names of people believed to be engaged in cheating.[50] They have also considered alerting schools when test takers will be coming from other school districts[38] and reducing the number of times the test is administered overseas.[50] The announcement was made at a hearing of the New York State Senate's subcommittee on higher education, and Eshaghoff's methods specifically influenced the new legislation.[51][52] The College Board has twice since made reforms[53][51] to improve test integrity.

Media

[edit]

Eshaghoff was interviewed for CBS’s 60 Minutes[54] in an episode titled "The Perfect Score: Cheating on the SAT".[54] The segment featured Kurt Landgraf, who was the President of the Educational Testing Service at the time,[55] and Kathleen Rice, who was the District Attorney at the time.[32] The interview was conducted by Alison Stewart.[54]

In 2013, the Lifetime network aired The Cheating Pact, a television film based on Eshaghoff's story,[56] starring Daniela Bobadilla, Laura Ashley Samuels, Laura Slade Wiggins, Max Carver, and Cynthia Gibb.[57]

The Rapid City Journal suggested that the premise of Suits character Mike Ross, who takes the LSAT for other students, echoed Eshaghoff’s widely publicized case, which had made national headlines shortly before the series debuted.[58]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Homepage". West Egg Development. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  2. ^ a b c "2020 Ones to Watch: Sam Eshaghoff, West Egg Development".
  3. ^ "Long Island Eye: The SAT Cheating Scandal Grows". International Business Times. 19 November 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e Cryan, Elizabeth (2025-08-21). "From SAT scandal to real estate developer". The Real Deal. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  5. ^ "Esagoff Law Group". esagofflawgroup.com. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  6. ^ "7 Long Island Students Charged in SAT Fraud Scheme". The New York Times. Associated Press. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  7. ^ a b c d e Applebome, Peters; Anderson, Jenny (2 December 2011). "On Long Island, SAT Cheating Was Hardly a Secret". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  8. ^ "Sam Eshaghoff, Emory University Student, Allegedly Took SAT For Other Students". Huffington Post. 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  9. ^ Reddy, Kriyana. "Not All Chinese Are 'Wealthy Cheats'". The Ledger. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  10. ^ Morris, Sebastian (2022-05-19). "Renderings Reveal Mixed-Use Building at 215-16 Northern Boulevard in Bayside, Queens". New York YIMBY. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  11. ^ "215-16 Northern Blvd". Caliendo Architects. 2023-03-18. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  12. ^ "About". Monarch Realty. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  13. ^ "Sam Eshaghoff, Managing Principal". West Egg Development. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  14. ^ "Million-Dollar Listings: East New York". Real Estate Weekly. 2018-10-12. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  15. ^ Morris, Sebastian (2018-10-08). "Construction Wraps on New Two-Family Homes at 710-714 Wortman Avenue, East New York, Brooklyn". New York YIMBY. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  16. ^ "Eshaghoff's West Egg Development expands in East Flatbush, Brooklyn". nyrej.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  17. ^ Morris, Sebastian (2019-08-15). "West Egg Development Debuts Renderings of 110 East 53rd Street in East Flatbush, Brooklyn". New York YIMBY. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  18. ^ Morris, Sebastian (2019-12-12). "Rendering Revealed for Three-Building Development at 106-110 East 53rd Street in East Flatbush, Brooklyn". New York YIMBY. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  19. ^ Londono, Vanessa (2020-07-06). "Permits Filed for 76 East 53rd Street in East Flatbush, Brooklyn". New York YIMBY. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  20. ^ June, Sophia (2020-07-28). "Recent Commercial Real Estate Transactions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  21. ^ "Select Projects". West Egg Development. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  22. ^ "First $1M Homes Have Arrived in East NY -- Is a Wave of Developers Next?". BKReader. 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  23. ^ "Op-ed: Food deserts need healthy restaurants too". Crain's New York Business. 2023-04-24. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  24. ^ "Op-ed: Renew tax abatement programs to refill new housing pipeline". Crain's New York Business. 2023-09-07. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  25. ^ Eshaghoff, Sam (2023-09-13). "NYC Must Incentivize Residential Development Before It's Too Late". Commercial Observer. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  26. ^ Sam Eshaghoff. "The domino effect of rent stabilization in New York". nyrej.com. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  27. ^ "NYC housing market: Renters are opting to renew leases - by Sam Eshaghoff". nyrej.com. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  28. ^ "More Heads In Beds Closing Grocery Store Gaps In Southern Dallas". Bisnow. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  29. ^ "N.Y. Authorities Arrest Seven Accused Of Running SAT Cheating Ring". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  30. ^ "7 Arrested in Long Island SAT Cheating Ring". NBC New York. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  31. ^ Sgueglia, Kristina. "Two more surrender, making 20 arrests in SAT/ACT scandal". CNN. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  32. ^ a b "'Hire' ed. cheating scandal". New York Post. 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  33. ^ Anderson, Jenny (30 September 2011). "After Arrest, a Wider Inquiry on SAT Cheating". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  34. ^ "7 students arrested in SAT cheating scheme". msnbc.com. 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  35. ^ "SAT Cheating Ring Busted in New York". ABC News. 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  36. ^ "SAT Cheating Ring Widens". ABC News. 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  37. ^ "Suspect in SAT scandal on '60 Minutes'". Newsday. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  38. ^ a b Anderson, Jenny. "After Arrest, a Wider Inquiry on SAT Cheating". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  39. ^ a b c Hu, Winnie; Anderson, Jenny (2011-10-25). "SAT Officials Vow Tighter Test Security After Arrests". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  40. ^ "Boasting may impact punishment in SAT case". Newsday. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  41. ^ @SamEshaghoff (2017-02-21). "#Volunteering for @EdAlliance at @MannyCantorNYC , who offers everything from #tutoring #students for the #SAT to #professional #development" (Tweet). Retrieved 2023-09-05 – via Twitter.
  42. ^ "NYREJ : The commercial real estate media source". nyrej.com. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  43. ^ "Leadership". Brooklynbank. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  44. ^ Anderson, Jenny; Hu, Winnie (23 November 2011). "More Students Charged in Long Island SAT Cheating Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  45. ^ "More Arrests Reportedly Imminent in New York SAT Cheating Scandal". Fox News. 2015-03-26. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  46. ^ Eltman, Frank (2011-10-25). "SAT officials: Former FBI boss to review security". Boston.com. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  47. ^ a b c "New SAT Security After Cheating Ring". ABC News. 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  48. ^ Anderson, Jenny (2012-03-27). "After Cheating Scandal, SAT and ACT Will Tighten Security". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  49. ^ "11 Surrender in SAT Cheating Ring". ABC News. 2011-11-22. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  50. ^ a b "Kids in Asia have an unfair advantage on the SAT. New security won't help, critics say". miamiherald. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  51. ^ a b "SAT officials say former FBI chief to examine security procedures after NY cheating scandal". www.freehgroup.com. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  52. ^ "SAT Security To Be Heightened; Testing Services Grilled At State Senate Hearing". 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  53. ^ Zhang, Fred. "New SAT vs Old SAT: Changes You Must Know". blog.prepscholar.com. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  54. ^ a b c "The Perfect Score: Cheating on the SAT". Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  55. ^ "Kurt M. Landgraf". www.washcoll.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  56. ^ "'The Cheating Pact' true story of Samuel Eshaghoff". article.wn.com. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  57. ^ The Cheating Pact (2013). Retrieved 2025-08-23 – via letterboxd.com.
  58. ^ "NIE Online Lesson - Internet Upgrade Just Around The Corner". www.rapidcityjournal.com. Retrieved 2025-08-23.