AP Exclusive: Kushner Cos. filed false NYC housing paperwork

abcnews.com ^ | 3/18/18 | bernard condon

[blueyon]

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.....

[lepton]

One might also note how silly the rent-control laws are in NYC. People bequeath apartments in wills.

The effect of rent-control is that people in place when they go into effect are basically unilaterally transferred a piece of the ownership of the apartment - and anyone who comes in later either has no place to live, or has to pay the difference on top of their own rent.

There is a reason that so many building owners have simply abandoned their properties that the city is the largest owner of these properties.

[Kid Shelleen]

I was banned by disqus as well. All I did was to post a question on a local news site asking how a state senator making 85K a year could afford to send TWO kids to private schools with tuition each at 30K a year and live in a million dollar home (all public records).

[Zhang Fei]

This is the NYC government looking for dirt on people close to Trump. Is there abuse of power here? Sure. But if Kushner had merely kept his nose clean, none of this would have come out. Doing construction when tenants are asleep, in order to drive them out, is ethically not good. However, it remains to be seen if NYC can punish Kushner for it. Assuming monetary liability, it is possible, given that the building was purchased in 2013, well within most statutes of limitation, that Kushner will be hit for heavy fines.

[M Kehoe]

But wait, ABC has more...

“While none of the documents during a three-year period when Kushner was CEO bore his personal signature, “

Sheesh.

5.56mm

[M Kehoe]

ABC’s Bernard condom.

5.56mm

[Jane Long]

You may not like Kushner and I may not like Kushner. However, this is nothing but an ABC anti-Trump hit piece.

Read the “article” again, slowly. This is an anti-Trump hit piece.

---

Exactly.

Every day, each “news” outlet dishes out their vile, DNC/Soros written and directed Trump hit piece.

They scrape the bottom of their hellish barrels to see who can generate the next attack against this once loved (by MSM/Libs) POTUS & his family.

Yet, the lying, criminal Clinton’s and Deep State politicos continue to tour the globe, carrying on their illegal acts against this nation and our President.

[9YearLurker]

The buck stops with him and the article clearly details how and why it is a common practice for landlords to flout the law, only later paying a minor fine if caught.

I so wish Jivanka would just go back to raising their family and legally boosting their net worth—without all these international introductions and government influence entanglements. Simply getting their liberal politics out of the WH would be a big step up.

[eyeamok]

If ABC is looking for shady deals involving greedy people, they should check out the Clinton Foundation,HSBC,Pelosi,Fineswine,Biden,Kerry,Obama...oh and McCabe amassing an $11 Million net worth as a Public Employee for 20 years sounds pretty good too.

[terycarl]

corruption in the New York realestate dominion.....whooda thought it

[shanover]

I think it will be with good certainty that they will eventually throw impeachment at the President. They are building as much momentum and mountain of BS as possible. Even if they know it would be impossible to convict, they want it that bad to stick it to the legacy.

[SunkenCiv]

IOW, all the tenants were in violation of the Rent Control Act, which prohibits subleasing. PARTISAN MEDIA SHILLS alert.

[NutsOnYew]

This is NBC reporting an AP story. Sounds reliable to me. /s

[DoughtyOne]

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[Iron Munro]

Mureller is going to nail Jared.

He’s got the goods on him.

Mueller has a witness who swears Jared pulled her pigtails and made faces at her in kindergarten.

[Wuli]

The “greed” is the political greed of the NYC “rent control” laws, which are in reality not terribly different than the use of the power of “eminent domain” - a “taking” of private property.

Because millions of tenants are protected by rent control - at what for most is far below current market rents - the supply of available “market rate” apartments is severely constricted, driving up the average market rate of the shrunken supply of available apartments. It works wonderfully for anyone grandfathered in to their rent controlled (or what they call “rent stabilized”) apartment, but it is a disaster for middle and lower income people who move or are just entering the NYC rental market. (a one bedroom apartment goes for on average about $4,000)

It is rules like those that create all the NATURAL reasons owners of rental apartments seek to get around them. Under the rules, their property has essentially been “taken” by the government and they are at best just landlords of government run housing. What can they get for their building and who will the buyer be? Is a buyer looking to get stuck with a building full of tenants protected/grandfathered into below market rents? No. So, owners of many of those buildings take one of two routes. Quit putting any more investment into the building, let it deteriorate and hope tenants leave on their own. And if they chose that option and it doesn’t work, they’ll save money by not paying the property taxes until the city finally claims the building for back taxes - then it’s their problem. Or, they’ll take the route of getting around the rules on “rent controlled tenants”, upgrading the building so the building is a good investment and earns a good income for the owner. Then it is a building a buyer may want.