Landlord’s new home – 1 rm., w/bars, free meals
FOR YEARS, notorious landlord Steve Croman has dodged accusations that he engaged in aggressive harassment campaigns to force rent-regulated tenants out so he could charge higher rents.
Early Tuesday, Croman finally faced the music when he was sentenced by a judge to a year behind bars on Rikers Island for multiple tax and mortgage fraud charges related to many of his 140 Manhattan buildings.
“Rikers ain’t the Ritz,” declared Justice Jill Konviser, who last month agreed to delay Croman’s sentencing during the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. “I hope that you spend your days thinking about the religious principles that this case was postponed for.”
Prison time for landlords is extremely rare, so the two dozen tenants who attended the sentencing in Konviser’s courtroom were elated when Croman was taken into custody to begin serving his sentence.
“Maybe others will stop operating with impunity and he will learn something,” said Croman tenant Carmen Guzman Lombert outside court. “We punish people because we want them to change their behavior, so maybe that will happen.”
Lombert, 55, endured two months without electricity after Croman bought her Hell’s Kitchen building three years ago. Her experience is similar to that of dozens of other tenants who have complained about Croman’s heartless tactics for years.
Much of the complaints have come from those who live in gentrifying neighborhoods like the Lower East Side and East Harlem, where Croman was hoping to charge much higher rents.
To force tenants to leave, Croman hired what he called his “secret weapon” — an ex-cop, Anthony Falconite, who entered apartments, poked through mail, and followed tenants to their jobs in an effort to prove they weren’t eligible for rent regulation.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s prosecutors investigated Croman for more than a year, and in May 2016 charged him with multiple counts of mortgage fraud and tax evasion.
Croman ultimately admitted obtaining $45 million in bogus loans by inflating the amount of rental income he was taking in by claiming market-rate apartments that actually were rentstabilized.
In June, Croman pleaded guilty to the mortgage fraud charges and agreed to pay a $5 million tax settlement. He also agreed to accept some jail time.
A separate civil suit filed by Schneiderman against Croman and Falconite remains pending.