By Cynthia Chaffee & Mary Ann Miller
On Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 60 Centre Street, an historic consent decree was reached between the New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the lawyers for Steve Croman.
This decree included an unprecedented monetary restitution ($8 million), which the disgraced landlord must pay to his injured tenants. Plus, more than 100 buildings will be removed from Croman’s management and placed in the hands of an independent management agency for the next five years. Monitoring will go on for two years after that. Adding insult to injury, Croman will have to pay the operating costs of said agency, which is yet to be named.
The coverage of this outcome has been astounding. Articles have appeared in every major newspaper, including the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. There has also been extensive television and online coverage. Let’s hope that all of this deters other landlords. You will be caught and punished when you attack tenants the way Steve Croman has.
We believe that if Croman hadn’t defrauded the banks he would have gone on harassing tenants until he went to that great real estate agency in the sky. This must change: Harassing tenants should be a criminal offense. Hopefully, Eric Schneiderman’s proposed legislation will do just that.
The Stop Croman Coalition wants to thank the New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and his staff (especially Jessica Attie), for taking on this case and bringing about this historic outcome.
Cynthia Chaffee and Mary Ann Miller are the co-founders of the Stop Croman Coalition, which was established on Bastille Day, July 14, 2007.
