We noted in a recent blog post the “still ongoing” civil case brought by state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman against a notorious NYC landlord.
Many of our readers know well about Steven Croman, given the magnitude of his “bad-faith and unlawful renter-focused practices” spotlighted in our November 8 post entry.
Some were perhaps personally affected by illegal profit-driven strategies aim at forcing renters from their rent-stabilized dwellings.
That would not be surprising. Reportedly, Croman and underlings working for him harassed and otherwise mistreated tenants in many of the nearly 150 residential buildings he owns across the city.
As we noted in the above-cited blog post, Croman paid a heavy criminal penalty for his misdeeds. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to several of the 20 felony charges he faced, and is now serving a one-year jail term on Rikers Island. Additionally, he was slapped with a $5 million fine for tax fraud.
And now, in the near wake of our November post citing to the pending civil case outcome, that matter has concluded.
It did not end well for Croman.
In fact, it put a major dent in his wallet. As stated in one recent news article detailing the case, it reportedly yielded “the largest-ever settlement with an individual in New York.”
Specifically, it resulted in an $8 million penalty that is slated to be paid back to tenants who were “both harassed and tricked into giving up their rent-stabilized apartments.”
For many of those people, the news undoubtedly put a positive spin on the holidays.
As for Schneiderman, he sternly pledges to take a similar stance in the future against metro landlords who unlawfully interact with tenants. He says that his office has “zero tolerance” for them.
