New York Fines Kushner For Falsifying Documents

Proving once again that he is a worthy member of Donald Trump’s family of crime, Jared Kushner has been fined $210,000 by state regulators in New York City. The regulators imposed the hefty fine on Jared Kushner’s family real estate company on Monday after a lengthy investigation. The fine is due to the company filing 42 false applications for construction work on multiple buildings while Jared Kushner ran the business.

The report showed that by filing false paperwork the Kushners were able to avoid extra scrutiny which would have stopped them from using construction to make living conditions unbearable for low-paying, rent-regulated tenants.

The Kushner Cos. said it relied on “third party consultants” to prepare its applications for construction permits and the errors “have been corrected or will be.”

“In no case did the company act in disregard of the safety of our tenants,” said spokeswoman Christine Taylor. “We look forward to presenting the facts before an administrative law judge and until then no amount is due.”

The New York regulatory action came after an AP investigation several months ago which discovered that Kushner’s real estate company routinely falsified legally-required documents by claiming that it had no rent-regulated tenants in its buildings, despite having hundreds of such tenants.

The fraudulent filings were part of a strategy by Kushner’s company to force out tenants paying lower rents so he could convert the buildings into either higher-paying luxury apartments or lucrative condominiums.

The city’s investigation uncovered the fact that Kushner’s company greatly increased rents on tenants in order to attempt to force them out of rent-stabilized apartments. New York‘s Tenant Protection Unit launched an investigation into the Kushner Company following the AP probe.

In three Kushner buildings in Queens where false construction applications were filed, tenants said they thought the excessive construction noise, dust and leaking water were all part of a focused campaign to get them to leave their inexpensive apartments.

Many of the tenants were forced to do just that, and and this cleared the way for higher paying renters which made the buildings much more valuable. Kushner then sold the Queens buildings in 2017 for $60 million, nearly 50 percent more than he had paid for them two years earlier.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.