A New Yorker efficiently lived within the iconic New Yorker Resort constructing for half a decade with out paying a single cent in lease — however the jig is up.
Prosecutors stated Barreto, who skirted lease funds by exploiting a little-known native housing legislation, tried to cost one other tenant within the constructing lease.
For the Manhattan district lawyer, it was the final straw.
“As alleged, Mickey Barreto repeatedly and fraudulently claimed possession of one of many Metropolis’s most iconic landmarks, the New Yorker Resort,” Alvin Bragg, Manhattan district lawyer stated in a press release.
Barreto’s residency on the lodge dates again to 2018 when he first discovered about New York Metropolis’s Rent Stabilization Code, which grants tenants who stay in particular person rooms in buildings constructed previous to 1969 the precise to request a six-month lease. Having purchased a room within the lodge for the night time, Barreto decided that he was, the truth is, a tenant.
Nonetheless, when he requested a lease from the lodge, he was promptly evicted.
Barreto sued the Holy Spirit Affiliation for the Unification of World Christianity, who purchased the lodge in 1976. Regardless of the preliminary denial by a choose, the case escalated to the state Supreme Courtroom. Ultimately, Barreto gained his attraction by default as a result of the constructing’s homeowners didn’t present up for the trial.
Whereas the lodge was ordered to present Barreto a key, the 2 events by no means agreed on a lease time period. As Barretto could not be evicted, he lived on the lodge till July 2023 with out ever paying lease.
The DA stated that through the years, Barreto has falsely portrayed himself because the lodge’s proprietor and tried to revenue from the constructing. This included registering the lodge beneath his title with the New York Metropolis Division of Environmental Safety as a part of an effort to switch the lodge’s financial institution accounts to himself, the DA stated.
In 2019, the Unification Church additionally sued Barreto for representing himself because the lodge’s proprietor on LinkedIn and importing a solid deed to a metropolis web site. The case is ongoing, and within the interim, Barreto has been instructed to abstain from asserting possession of the constructing.
Enterprise Insider reached out to Barreto by his firm, Mickey Barreto Missions, however didn’t hear again earlier than publication.
“I by no means supposed to commit any fraud. I don’t consider I ever dedicated any fraud,” Barreto told The Associated Press. “And I by no means made a penny out of this.”
When reached for remark by BI, the NYPD directed inquiries to the district lawyer’s workplace.
