[Image via the Croman Tenants' Alliance]
Back on June 6, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the guilty plea of Steve Croman. The landlord will be sentenced this morning by Justice Jill Konviser as part of that plea deal.
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Updated from The Real Deal:
Steven Croman will get to spend the Jewish holidays at home instead of behind bars.
At a sentencing hearing ... Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser postponed sentencing for Oct. 3.
Prosecutors in the office of state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman – who dubbed Croman the “Bernie Madoff of landlords” – opposed the motion, but Konviser granted it nonetheless
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Here's the original statement about the plea from the Attorney General's office...
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the guilty plea of Steven Croman, a major New York City landlord with more than 140 apartment buildings across Manhattan, for fraudulently refinancing loans and committing tax fraud. Under the terms of his plea, Croman would serve one year of jail time on Rikers Island and pay a $5 million tax settlement – marking a significant precedent in the effort to combat landlords who base their business model on the displacement of rent-stabilized tenants.
Rarely, if ever, has a landlord been sentenced to serve time in jail for engaging in these practices. The jail time and multi-million settlement announced today send a strong message to landlords that the Attorney General will pursue anyone who engages in these types of practices to the fullest extent of the law.
“Steven Croman is a fraudster and a criminal who engaged in a deliberate and illegal scheme to fraudulently obtain bank loans,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “He went to outrageous lengths to boost his bottom line – including falsely listing rent-stabilized units at market rates when his efforts to displace those renters had failed. Now Mr. Croman faces a year in Rikers and a $5 million settlement – and unscrupulous landlords are on notice that we’ll pursue them to the fullest extent of the law.”
The AG's office still has a pending civil case against Croman accusing him of forcing tenants from their rent-controlled apartments. His next court date for the civil case is now scheduled for Nov. 13.
Schneiderman first announced the charges against Croman in May 2016. Those charges included multiple felonies for his role in an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain several multi-million dollar refinancing loans between 2012 and 2014.
The civil lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan and the product of an independent investigation, alleges that Croman used, among other things, the illegal tactic of pressuring tenants into surrendering their apartments by repeatedly filing baseless lawsuits against them.
Croman's real-estate portfolio includes 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village.
Members of the the Stop Croman Coalition will be present at the sentencing, set for 9 a.m. at the New York City Criminal Court, 100 Centre St., Room 1333 (13th Floor).
Previously on EV Grieve:
Following eviction proceedings, Steve Croman's 9300 Realty has a new office
It appears to me that he has been found guilty and will be fined and serving time for "for fraudulently refinancing loans and committing tax fraud." The article mentions his evil landlord tactics but does not specify which laws he may have violated doing so and in regards to tenant harassment. So for any landlord who. practices intimidation and harassment of rent stabilized tenants please continue you will get a way with it but don't commit tax fraud and you will continue to reap the benefits of your evil ways.
ReplyDeleteNow if they can just get Jared Kushner into the national eye for some of the shit he's done to his tenants.
ReplyDeleteLet us all hope that the three major newspapers of New York City will carry this story on the FRONT PAGE. Landlords need to be sent this message loud and clear.
ReplyDeleteIn October he'll have converted to Islam and want to celebrate Ramadan at home, and it will go on and on ...
ReplyDeleteI was at the hearing this morning and even though the Real Deal is reporting that sentencing was postponed, what I witnessed was that Croman turning himself in was postponed (for the Jewish holidays--as if they didn't know when the Jewish holidays were back when he pled guilty) until 9:30 on October 3. He was wearing casual clothes in case the judge didn't agree to the postponement.
ReplyDeleteIf Steve Croman gets to spend the Jewish Holidays at home, he should have to spend that time living in one of the buildings he owns which has been slapped with violations in order to see how his tenants are suffering. It's a good thing for Steve that Jews don't believe in the concept of an eternal Hell, because that's probably where most landlords like him will be heading otherwise.
ReplyDeleteCroman should be sentenced to a year in jail for each and every one of his buildings....
ReplyDeletehmmmm...185 + buildings now that would protect the public from him.
I read the article and thought it was a joke-like the Onion or something. Is this for real? It's so ridiculous and wrong that it's almost funny. But not quite.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Croman can look into the October calendar for rituals in Tibet and a Disneyland event to keep him out of the slammer in November. Beyond ridiculous. Money buys everything.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they'll just end up asking Croman when it's convenient for him to go to prison, when he's not too busy with all his other "activities"?
ReplyDeleteSentencing used to mean something, but Croman is a great example of how hiring the right lawyers can make justice dance to the convicted man's tune.
Watch for the same to happen if Maria Hyrenenko ever gets brought to "justice". She'll argue that she's so traumatized by her son's "death" that she can't cope, needs more time, etc.
Justice delayed is justice denied!
Jill Konviser has presided over all of Croman's hearings, and thereby all his adjournments and granted requests for summer and holiday delays. Is anyone else fed up?
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