A 48-year-old alleged fraudster has been charged with repeatedly filing false property records claiming ownership of the New Yorker Hotel, in which he lived rent-free for five years using a housing law loophole.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Wednesday announced the indictment of Mickey Barreto, who Bragg claims filed paperwork stating he owned the 100-year-old building and got so far as discussing proprietorship with the chain that operates the Art Deco masterpiece.
The saga began in June 2018 when Barreto, who had just moved to New York from Los Angeles, booked a room for a single night at the New Yorker, the D.A.’s office said.
Barreto then requested the hotel “enter into a lease agreement with him for the room pursuant to New York’s rent stabilization law,” the D.A. said.
Barreto’s boyfriend had reportedly informed him about a loophole in the city’s housing law that allows single-room occupants of buildings constructed before 1969 to demand a six-month lease. Barreto claimed that because he had paid for a night in the hotel, he should be considered a tenant.
The hotel declined that offer, reclaimed the room and returned the suspect’s goods to him. But after Barreto filed a wrongful eviction lawsuit, he was granted him use of room when lawyers for the building’s owners didn’t show up to court.
According to The Associated Press, Barreto lived in the hotel for free until July 2023, because the owners didn’t want to negotiate a lease but couldn’t legally kick him out.
But prosecutors say Barreto took things too far when in May 2019, when he allegedly uploaded fake property documents onto the New York City Department of Finance’s Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS). Those records reportedly included a manufactured deed claiming that the Holy Spirit Association Unification of World Christianity — a global religious organization that owns the prized real estate — had transferred the property to Barreto.
After that, he allegedly presented himself as the hotel’s owner and even attempted to collect rent from other tenants.
Baretto reportedly argued that the judge who granted him access to the room indirectly gave him ownership of the entire building because it had never been subdivided.
“Barreto also contacted the hotel’s franchisor, Wyndham, and began talks to have the franchise transferred to him,” Bragg’s office claims.
The New York County Supreme Court ordered the defendant to stop presenting himself as the hotel’s owner, which he allegedly ignored. Twice in 2023, he filed additional false documents onto ACRIS in an attempt to secure ownership of the property, according to prosecutors.
“As alleged, Mickey Barreto repeatedly and fraudulently claimed ownership of one of the city’s most iconic landmarks, the New Yorker Hotel,” Bragg said in a statement. “We will not tolerate manipulation of our city’s property records by those who seek to scam the system for personal gain.”
Barreto has been charged with 14 counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, and 10 counts of misdemeanor criminal contempt.
With News Wire Services
