A New York City council member launched an investigation into the Kushner Cos.' routine filing of paperwork falsely claiming zero rent-regulated tenants in its buildings, saying that the deception should have been uncovered long ago because the documents are online for all to see.
The Department of Buildings should have spotted the falsified numbers because they were contradicted by tax documents filed with another city agency, said Councilman Ritchie Torres.
The Associated Press reported yesterday that a tenants rights watchdog found that the Kushner Cos. had filed more than 80 documents for 34 buildings across the city stating it had no rent-regulated units in its buildings when, in fact, it had hundreds.
The falsified documents allowed the Kushner Cos. to escape extra scrutiny during construction projects between 2013 and 2016, when the family real estate developer was run by Jared Kushner, who is now senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump.
The Housing Rights Initiative, a watchdog group, said the falsified documents made it easier for the Kushner Cos. to harass rent-regulated tenants so that it could push out low-paying tenants out and replace them with higher paying ones.
One tenant of a Queens building once owned by Kushner Cos. said the company drove many of his neighbors to leave. "It was noisy, there were complaints, I got mice," said mailman Rudolph Romano, adding that he also bristled at a 60 per cent rent increase, a hike the Kushner Cos. contends was initiated by the previous landlord.
"They cleaned the place out. I watched the whole building leave." Torres said the city bears some of the blame.
"The scandal is not only the deception of Kushner Cos., the scandal is the dysfunction of the city bureaucracy," said Torres, chair of the city council's investigations committee. He added, "The right hand of city government didn't know what the left hand was doing."
The Kushner Cos said in a printed release today that "the investigation is trying to create an issue where none exists. Kushner Companies did not intentionally falsify DOB filings in an effort to harass any tenants." It added, "If mistakes or typographical errors are identified, corrective action is taken immediately with no financial benefit to the company."
The company had said in a previous statement that it outsources the preparation of such documents to third parties, and those are reviewed by independent counsel.
For its part, the New York buildings department said it disciplined a contractor who filed false documents while working on two Kushner buildings currently under investigation by a tenant-harassment task force.
It added that the department is also ramping up its monitoring of construction.
Housing Rights Initiative found the more than 80 applications for construction permits filed by the Kushner Cos. stating that there were zero rent-regulated tenants.
But tax documents show more than 300 rent-regulated units. Nearly all the permit applications were signed by a Kushner employee, sometimes by its chief operating officer. None were signed by Jared Kushner himself.
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.
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