Andrew Farkas, who rose to prominence in New York real estate during the mid-1990s, by picking through the wreckage of commercial real estate.

Farkas is back as another crisis besieges commercial-property owners. His company, Island Capital Group, is negotiating to take over a unit of Centerline, one of the largest companies specialising in restructuring troubled mortgages that were securitised into bonds.

The deal marks the latest chapter in the career of Farkas. In 1997, Farkas's company was accused by the Department of Housing and Urban Development of making $7.6m in kickbacks. That suit, which ultimately was settled, was authorized by HUD's then-director, Andrew Cuomo, now New York's attorney general.

Wall Street Journal