N.Y. State Fin. Law § 156
If real property mortgaged to the state, or purchased for the benefit of the state, or for which a certificate has been given to a former purchaser, is sold by the comptroller or the commissioner of general services for a greater sum than the amount due to the state, with the costs and expenses of the foreclosure or resale, the surplus moneys received after a conveyance has been executed to the purchaser, shall be paid to the person legally entitled to such real property at the time of the foreclosure or of the forfeiture of the original contract.
On the sale of such real property by the comptroller or the commissioner of general services, the comptroller shall give credit to the mortgagor on his bond or to the original purchaser on his contract, for the amount at which such property has been sold, after deducting therefrom all the costs, charges and expenses of the sale. If interfering claims to such surplus moneys be made, they shall be referred by the comptroller to the attorney-general, whose decision as to the rights of the respective claimants shall be final and conclusive as to any claim against the state. The comptroller shall not pay any moneys authorized by this section to be refunded, except on satisfactory proof, by affidavit or otherwise, of the legal right of the person in whose favor such warrant is applied for.
N.Y. State Fin. Law § 156