You may recall that New York's top financial regulator launched an investigation of the Kushner Company last month, but now we have a better idea of what exactly they may be looking for.
We already knew the Kushner Company owns a significant number of low income apartments, but we didn't know the company has been hiding them from regulators.
According to the Associated Press, the Kushner Company has circumvented laws against kicking out low income tenants or harassing them until they leave by simply not reporting them.
NEW YORK (AP) — 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. [...]
In all, Housing Rights Initiative found the Kushner Cos. filed at least 80 false applications for construction permits in 34 buildings across New York City from 2013 to 2016, all of them indicating there were no rent-regulated tenants. Instead, tax documents show there were more than 300 rent-regulated units. Nearly all the permit applications were signed by a Kushner employee, including sometimes the chief operating officer.
The Kushner Company has responded by claiming a third party prepares their paperwork for them but, as the Associated Press reports, most of their applications were signed by company representatives.
If you believe them when they say they had nothing to do with this -- if you believe Jared Kushner had nothing to do with it -- then I've got one his shitty buildings to sell you. We can start with the cursed tower at 666 5th avenue. You know, the tower the Qataris refused to bail out possibly leading to the blockade of Qatar.