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NEW YORK (AP) - When the Kushner Cos. bought three apartment buildings in a gentrifying neighborhood of Queens in 2015, most of the tenants were protected by special rules that prevent developers from pushing them out, raising rents and turning a tidy profit.

But that's exactly what the company then run by Jared Kushner did, and with remarkable speed. Two years later, it sold all three buildings for $60 million, nearly 50 percent more than it paid.

Now a clue has emerged as to how President Donald Trump's son-in-law's firm was able to move so fast: The Kushner Cos. routinely filed false paperwork with the city declaring it had zero rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings it owned across the city when, in fact, it had hundreds.

While none of the documents during a three-year period when Kushner was CEO bore his personal signature, they provide a window into the ethics of the business empire he ran before he went on to become one of the most trusted advisers to the president of the United States.

"It's bare-faced greed," said Aaron Carr, founder of Housing Rights Initiative, a tenants' rights watchdog that compiled the work permit application documents and shared them with The Associated Press. "The fact that the company was falsifying all these applications with the government shows a sordid attempt to avert accountability and get a rapid return on its investment."

Kushner Cos. responded in a statement that it outsources the preparation of such documents to third parties that are reviewed by independent counsel, and "if mistakes or violations are identified, corrective action is taken immediately."

"Kushner would never deny any tenant their due-process rights," it said, adding that the company "has renovated thousands of apartments and developments with minimal complaints over the past 30 years."

For the three Queens buildings in the borough's Astoria neighborhood, the Kushner Cos. checked a box on construction permit applications in 2015 that indicated the buildings had zero rent-regulated tenants. Tax records filed a few months later showed the company inherited as many as 94 rent-regulated units from the previous owner.

In all, Housing Rights Initiative found the Kushner Cos. filed at least 80 false applications for construction permits in 34 buildings across New York City from 2013 to 2016, all of them indicating there were no rent-regulated tenants. Instead, tax documents show there were more than 300 rent-regulated units. Nearly all the permit applications were signed by a Kushner employee, including sometimes the chief operating officer.

Had the Kushner Cos. disclosed those rent-regulated tenants, it could have triggered stricter oversight of construction crews by the city, including possibly unscheduled "sweeps" on site by inspectors to keep the company from harassing tenants and getting them to leave.

Instead, current and former tenants of the Queens buildings told the AP that they were subjected to extensive construction, with banging, drilling, dust and leaking water that they believe were part of targeted harassment to get them to leave and clear the way for higher-paying renters.

"It was noisy, there were complaints, I got mice," said mailman Rudolph Romano, adding that the Kushner Cos. tried to increase his rent by 60 percent. "They cleaned the place out. I watched the whole building leave."

Tax records show those rent-regulated units that numbered as many as 94 when Kushner took over fell to 25 by 2016.

In Kushner buildings across the city, records show frequent complaints about construction going on early in the morning or late at night against the rules, improper or illegal construction, and work without a permit.

At a six-story walk-up in Manhattan's East Village that was once home to the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, the Kushner Cos. filed an application to begin construction in late 2013 that, again, listed zero rent-regulated tenants. Tax records a few months later showed seven rent-regulated units.

"All of a sudden, there was drilling, drilling. ... You heard the drilling in the middle of night," said one of the rent-regulated tenants, Mary Ann Siwek, 67, who lives on Social Security payments and odd jobs. "There were rats coming in from the abandoned building next door. The hallways were always filled with lumber and sawdust and plaster."

A knock on the door came a few weeks later, and an offer of at least $10,000 if she agreed to leave the building.

"I know it's pretty horrible, but we can help you get out," Siwek recalls the man saying. "We can offer you money."

Siwek turned down the cash and sued instead. She said she won a year's worth of free rent and a new refrigerator.

New York City Council member Ritchie Torres, who plans to launch an investigation into permit applications, said: "The Kushners appear to be engaging in what I call the weaponization of construction."

Rent stabilization is a fixture of New York City that can bedevil developers seeking to make money off buildings. To free themselves of its restrictions, landlords usually have to wait until the rent rises above $2,733 a month, something that can take years given the small increases allowed each year.

Submitting false documents to the city's Department of Buildings for construction permits is a misdemeanor, which can carry fines of up to $25,000. But real estate experts say it is often flouted with little to no consequences. Landlords who do so get off with no more than a demand from the city, sometimes a year or more later, to file an "amended" form with the correct numbers.

Housing Rights Initiative found the Kushner Cos. filed dozens of amended forms for the buildings mentioned in the documents, most of them a year to two later.

"There is a lack of tools to go after landlords who harass tenants, and there is a lack of enforcement," said Seth Miller, a real estate lawyer who used to work at a state housing agency overseeing rent regulations. Until officials inspect every construction site, "you're going to have this incentive for landlords to make life uncomfortable for tenants."

New York City's Department of Buildings declined to comment specifically on the Kushner documents but said it is ramping up its monitoring of construction, hiring 72 new inspectors and other staff under laws recently passed by the City Council to crack down on tenant harassment.

"We won't tolerate landlords who use construction to harass tenants - no matter who they are," said spokesman Joseph Soldevere.

Exactly how much money the Kushner Cos. earned from the buildings mentioned in the documents is unclear. Of those 34 buildings, only the three in Queens and a fourth in Brooklyn appear to have been sold. The company also likely made money by reducing the number of rent-regulated tenants and bringing in those who would pay more.

Jared Kushner, who stepped down as CEO of the Kushner Cos. last year before taking on his advisory role at the White House, sold off part of his real estate holdings as required under government ethic rules. But he retained stakes in many properties, including Westminster Management, the Kushner Cos. subsidiary that oversees its residential properties. A financial disclosure last year showed he still owns a stake in Westminster and earned $1.6 million from the holding.

Back in Queens, mailman Rudolph Romano was one of the few rent-regulated tenants who fought back.

He hired a lawyer who found out he was protected from the Kushners' 60 percent rent hike by law, something Romano did not know at the time. And his rent, which was set to increase to $3,750, was restored to $2,350.

Romano is still in the building where he has lived for nine years, with his wife, four children and his guests from the construction days - the mice.

"I still haven't gotten rid of them."

Edited by spin_dry

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  • Jimmy Snacks
    Jimmy Snacks

    I love how the kid that is still in his 20's and still partially on the teat is lecturing people and thinks that people living on the government nickel are "working class"....some are but the  vast ma

  • Angry ginger
    Angry ginger

    well lets see they were improving the buildings so i guess that would mean they aren;t slumlords   rent controls as anti american as it gets.  I am sure the owners are cheating the system bu

  • So it sounds like the city is at fault here...

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  • Gold Donating Member

I love how the kid that is still in his 20's and still partially on the teat is lecturing people and thinks that people living on the government nickel are "working class"....some are but the  vast majority are not.

  • Gold Donating Member
27 minutes ago, DAVE said:

Im not gay and ive never tried to kill myself....

You cant say that. :lol:

You don't know what is and isn't important Dave.

22 minutes ago, Ez ryder said:

no petty hate . I just live in the real world with close to 5 decades of real life interactions . and remember you can call me a cracker ass snowflake all you want wont change the fact this cracker has lived among the people you would rather be . have at it poor and decent lmfao few and far between I will give them 1 thing they know they system better than the people running it . funny how some can get off a boat with shit and 5 yrs latter be living in the burbs with people working for them . then others just master a system and pass that on for generations

You are dependent on your high horse. Your self esteem is obviously based on a false sense of superiority. Sleep tight.

  • Gold Donating Member
20 minutes ago, Jimmy Snacks said:

I love how the kid that is still in his 20's and still partially on the teat is lecturing people and thinks that people living on the government nickel are "working class"....some are but the  vast majority are not.

You believe this because you don't want me to be right.

  • Gold Donating Member
2 minutes ago, Wildboer said:

You believe this because you don't want me to be right.

I believe it because I'm right...you give yourself too much credit. 

29 minutes ago, Jimmy Snacks said:

I love how the kid that is still in his 20's and still partially on the teat is lecturing people and thinks that people living on the government nickel are "working class"....some are but the  vast majority are not.

Its sad...there are many like him. Hopefully they smarten up....or its going to be real tough for the generation after.

  • Gold Donating Member
6 hours ago, Jimmy Snacks said:

I believe it because I'm right...you give yourself too much credit. 

No, you're just a schmuck bro.

6 hours ago, DAVE said:

Its sad...there are many like him. Hopefully they smarten up....or its going to be real tough for the generation after.

:lol: 

9 hours ago, Jimmy Snacks said:

I love how the kid that is still in his 20's and still partially on the teat is lecturing people and thinks that people living on the government nickel are "working class"....some are but the  vast majority are not.

Yeah, I got that takeaway real quick from him.  No interest in playing intellectual ping pong when he doesn't even have a paddle. :lol: 

Where were the regulators that were supposed to be the watchdogs and stop this type of thing from happening?  Were they paid off?  Were they just collecting a paycheck?  What about the people in government office?  Drain the swamp so that this DOESN'T happen.  That's why trump was elected.  I see some still can't understand that.

15 hours ago, Wildboer said:

You don't know what is and isn't important Dave.

You are dependent on your high horse. Your self esteem is obviously based on a false sense of superiority. Sleep tight.

 not at all . am I some what proud of what I have done sort of . do I have sympathy for some person who had the same opportunity to bust up his body to make a  better life for his family but chose to suck off my taxes . fuck no no fucking pity . he'll I wish I had some one who knew shit to advise me along the way so I did not have to take 15 yrs to try to figure all this shit out  on my own . but again if I can make a decent  living any ass hole can .just have to be willing to bust ass and most important just show the fuck up to the game can't win it if you are not in it 

 

15 hours ago, Wildboer said:

You believe this because you don't want me to be right.

no because it is a fucking reality 

  • Gold Donating Member
8 minutes ago, Ez ryder said:

 not at all . am I some what proud of what I have done sort of . do I have sympathy for some person who had the same opportunity to bust up his body to make a  better life for his family but chose to suck off my taxes . fuck no no fucking pity . he'll I wish I had some one who knew shit to advise me along the way so I did not have to take 15 yrs to try to figure all this shit out  on my own . but again if I can make a decent  living any ass hole can .just have to be willing to bust ass and most important just show the fuck up to the game can't win it if you are not in it 

 

This mindset doesn't do society any good. "Bootstraps" logic is as wrong as it is self-righteous. You write off these people as trash with self inflicted problems, I consider that lazy and weak. The society you and I benefit from leaves people behind and exploits them. We neglect the poor, we neglect the mentally ill, we neglect children. It's naive to think otherwise.

7 minutes ago, Ez ryder said:

no because it is a fucking reality 

We can't be certain anything is reality, for all you know you're a brain in a vat.

Willy blower in a nutshell....

 

giphy.gif

16 hours ago, Ez ryder said:

no petty hate . I just live in the real world with close to 5 decades of real life interactions . and remember you can call me a cracker ass snowflake all you want wont change the fact this cracker has lived among the people you would rather be . have at it poor and decent lmfao few and far between I will give them 1 thing they know they system better than the people running it . funny how some can get off a boat with shit and 5 yrs latter be living in the burbs with people working for them . then others just master a system and pass that on for generations

You mean immigrants? :lol: 

On 3/18/2018 at 9:22 AM, Mainecat said:

Slumlords are the worst

well lets see they were improving the buildings so i guess that would mean they aren;t slumlords

 

rent controls as anti american as it gets.  I am sure the owners are cheating the system but thats no worse than the tenants who are subletting their places and live elsewhere thereby fucking the LL out of market rent thats rightfully theres as well  

On 3/18/2018 at 9:22 AM, Mainecat said:

Slumlords are the worst

well lets see they were improving the buildings so i guess that would mean they aren;t slumlords

 

rent controls as anti american as it gets.  I am sure the owners are cheating the system but thats no worse than the tenants who are subletting their places and live elsewhere thereby fucking the LL out of market rent thats rightfully theres as well  

  • Gold Donating Member
1 hour ago, DAVE said:

Willy blower in a nutshell....

 

giphy.gif

You're not even good at insults, it's almost sad.

57 minutes ago, Wildboer said:

You're not even good at insults, it's almost sad.

Sad .....is what you've done with your life so far. :bc:

  • Gold Donating Member
26 minutes ago, DAVE said:

Sad .....is what you've done with your life so far. :bc:

Dave, you know how fucking fun it is to not be afraid to live your best life? I've probably had more fun being a degenerate for 28 years than you have had being "successful" for what I'm assuming is at least 80/90 years. Idk how old you really are, I'm just guessing based off how antiquated your worldview is :lol: 

  • Author

This topic has gone from the trump and comany crooked ways, to government agencies being responsible instead, to being about a 20some year old. Does the trump’s ever have any culpability? :lol: 

40 minutes ago, Wildboer said:

Dave, you know how fucking fun it is to not be afraid to live your best life? I've probably had more fun being a degenerate for 28 years than you have had being "successful" for what I'm assuming is at least 80/90 years. Idk how old you really are, I'm just guessing based off how antiquated your worldview is :lol: 

If its been so fun....why the cutting and the failed suicide attempt? :lmao:

3 hours ago, Wildboer said:

This mindset doesn't do society any good. "Bootstraps" logic is as wrong as it is self-righteous. You write off these people as trash with self inflicted problems, I consider that lazy and weak. The society you and I benefit from leaves people behind and exploits them. We neglect the poor, we neglect the mentally ill, we neglect children. It's naive to think otherwise.

We can't be certain anything is reality, for all you know you're a brain in a vat.

bull fucking shit . there are many many was busting jobs out there that require nothing but the willingness to work and show up. in under 10 your you will be pulling close to 90k and they will have put you through the classes  needed .

fuck shit tons of guys are pulling 6 figures cutting grass . don't give me that pussy fuck bull shit . any one willing to bust ass can make a decent living if they just show up and work . fuck my #1 guy knew shit about anything he worked at a car wash.  but he was nice and showed every day and wanted to learn . he pulls 80k +  in under 8 yrs started at 10 bucks doing nothing but human fork lift and going to the store.

excuses are like assholes every one has one . grow the fuck up and get in to the real world .

1 minute ago, Ez ryder said:

bull fucking shit . there are many many was busting jobs out there that require nothing but the willingness to work and show up. in under 10 your you will be pulling close to 90k and they will have put you through the classes  needed .

fuck shit tons of guys are pulling 6 figures cutting grass . don't give me that pussy fuck bull shit . any one willing to bust ass can make a decent living if they just show up and work . fuck my #1 guy knew shit about anything he worked at a car wash.  but he was nice and showed every day and wanted to learn . he pulls 80k +  in under 8 yrs started at 10 bucks doing nothing but human fork lift and going to the store.

excuses are like assholes every one has one . grow the fuck up and get in to the real world .

Willy's mentality  is....why do it when someone  else will for me.

  • Author
8 minutes ago, Ez ryder said:

bull fucking shit . there are many many was busting jobs out there that require nothing but the willingness to work and show up. in under 10 your you will be pulling close to 90k and they will have put you through the classes  needed .

fuck shit tons of guys are pulling 6 figures cutting grass . don't give me that pussy fuck bull shit . any one willing to bust ass can make a decent living if they just show up and work . fuck my #1 guy knew shit about anything he worked at a car wash.  but he was nice and showed every day and wanted to learn . he pulls 80k +  in under 8 yrs started at 10 bucks doing nothing but human fork lift and going to the store.

excuses are like assholes every one has one . grow the fuck up and get in to the real world .

I know guys that make $100k plus and hate what they do. Spending my time doing something for the money has to be the biggest waste of a life that I can think of. 

15 minutes ago, spin_dry said:

I know guys that make $100k plus and hate what they do. Spending my time doing something for the money has to be the biggest waste of a life that I can think of. 

Ive never hated any job ive had....but to me work has always been something I did to have a great life away from work.

  • Gold Donating Member
1 hour ago, DAVE said:

If its been so fun....why the cutting and the failed suicide attempt? :lmao:

Mistakes were made in the teen years, shit happens Dave, it's how you deal with it.

1 hour ago, Ez ryder said:

bull fucking shit . there are many many was busting jobs out there that require nothing but the willingness to work and show up. in under 10 your you will be pulling close to 90k and they will have put you through the classes  needed .

fuck shit tons of guys are pulling 6 figures cutting grass . don't give me that pussy fuck bull shit . any one willing to bust ass can make a decent living if they just show up and work . fuck my #1 guy knew shit about anything he worked at a car wash.  but he was nice and showed every day and wanted to learn . he pulls 80k +  in under 8 yrs started at 10 bucks doing nothing but human fork lift and going to the store.

excuses are like assholes every one has one . grow the fuck up and get in to the real world .

Your head is deep in the sand. 

1 hour ago, DAVE said:

Willy's mentality  is....why do it when someone  else will for me.

No, I'm just a socialist Dave. I'll do it for myself AND people less fortunate than me. I don't need help keeping my life straight, I only want to get further in life so I can drag others upward with me.

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