Meyer Chetrit appeared in court docket briefly Tuesday morning, the place he and his brother Joseph are dealing with felony tenant harassment fees that would see the landlords serve jail time.
Meyer spent about quarter-hour in entrance of the decide at Manhattan’s Supreme Courtroom constructing, wearing a tan cardigan, brown pants and a blue scarf hanging across the again of his neck. Joseph’s look had been waived because of an infirmity.
The brothers had already pleaded not responsible a number of months in the past to 2 counts of tenant harassment. At Tuesday’s listening to, two of the LLCs concerned within the case entered not-guilty pleas, and the defendants signed a consent protecting order relating to the tenants.
Meyer gave a number of quiet, one-word replies when questioned by the decide, and some moments later the largely uneventful listening to was adjourned. The brothers are due again in court docket on April 29.
He was indicted in September by Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg’s workplace with two counts of harassment of a rent-regulated tenant within the first diploma. These fees are categorised as a category E felony and carry a most sentence of 4 years in jail.
Based on the allegations, Meyer had “waged a marketing campaign of harassment” towards two aged, rent-regulated tenants in Chelsea over a interval of 5 years, hoping they’d transfer out so the constructing may very well be bought.
The tenants lived at 117-119 West twenty sixth Road in Chelsea because the Nineteen Eighties. Chetrit bought the constructing in 2005 however allegedly failed to finish its conversion from business lofts to residential housing. The flats are categorised as “interim a number of dwellings” and overseen by town’s Loft Board.
Along with prolonged durations with out warmth and a ceiling collapse, the constructing has been with out an elevator since September 2023, the DA’s workplace mentioned. That yr, a part of the constructing’s unoccupied business part collapsed, prompting a partial vacate order.
“From winters with out warmth and unrepaired roofs inflicting leaks and ceiling collapses, these New Yorkers had been compelled to dwell in uninhabitable situations,” Bragg mentioned in a press release.
Joseph was indicted later in October and charged as a co-defendant.
The Chetrits’ arrest has develop into a lightning rod for tenant advocates.
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who represents the Higher West Facet the place the brothers personal the Park West Village on Columbus Avenue between West 97th and one centesimal streets, mentioned he launched a confidential survey to find out the scope of the issue.
Elected officers on the Higher West Facet have raised alarms about Chetrit’s management of the Park West Village, the place tenants there have accused Chetrit of pocketing metropolis lease subsidies with out crediting them to renters’ accounts, after which pursuing eviction.
“Meyer Chetrit’s indictment echoes the sample of harassment and mismanagement that tenants in my district have reported for years below his administration,” Hoylman-Sigal mentioned in a press release to The Actual Deal. “No landlord ought to take taxpayer funds, invoice tenants twice, and go away individuals in unsafe properties.”
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