Manhattan prosecutors are moving against a pair of landlords accused of pushing out rent-regulated tenants through a relentless campaign of neglect and harassment. The DA's office has indicted Meyer Chetrit, 61, alongside an as-yet unnamed co-defendant and their companies, The West Paramont LLC and The Chetrit Group LLC. According to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, they face charges of first-degree harassment of a rent-regulated tenant.
Engaging in a disturbing pattern of harassment since September 2020, the landlords have been accused of deliberately keeping their Chelsea apartment building in a deplorable state. Residents, two older individuals in their 70s, have reportedly dealt with winters lacking heat and structural neglect leading to leaks and collapses. District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. said, "From winters without heat and unrepaired roofs causing leaks and ceiling collapses, these New Yorkers were forced to live in uninhabitable conditions." Forced to endure such conditions, the indictment suggests, the tenants were pushed to the brink to vacate their lifelong homes, as per the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Founded on a partnership between the District Attorney's Office and the Department of Investigation, the indictment follows a long history of alleged misconduct by the landlords. For over a decade, much of the building remained nearly empty, part of a strategy, prosecutors claim, to dislodge tenants and clear the way for redevelopment. In some buildings, all tenants had to leave due to a partial vacate order after a structural collapse in 2023, but the residential units were exempt. Shortly following this incident, tenants were reportedly met with notices threatening arrest if they didn't leave their homes.
These indictments are a testament to the efforts of the Manhattan D.A.'s Housing & Tenant Protection Unit, established in October 2022 with the mission of targeting patterns of criminal harassment by landlords. As stated by D.A. Bragg, "This is exactly the type of pattern of criminal harassment my Office’s Housing and Tenant Protection Unit was created to stop." The Unit's mission includes protecting the rights of tenants, ensuring landlords maintain habitable living conditions, and offering resources for victims to safely report crimes, as reported by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Assistant D.A. Hannah Stambaugh is leading the prosecution of this case, with oversight from various members of the Housing & Tenant Protection Unit and Financial Frauds Bureau. Investigations were bolstered by the assistance provided by the Investigation Bureau and the Forensic Accounting & Financial Investigations Bureau of the D.A.'s Office.
