The New Yorker hotel is a historic part of the city, a 43-story building worth $189-million, standing proudly next to the equally iconic Penn Station, at 481, 8th Avenue. Mickey Barreto, 48, is a scammer who was arrested on Wednesday, February 14, for falsely claiming to be the owner of The New Yorker Hotel.
Barreto went as far as demanding rent from the street floor businesses. But he never owned that hotel, which in fact is owned by the Unification Church (the “moonies”).
Barreto faces several charges for falsifying property records about the ownership of the landmark hotel between May 28, 2019 and September 2023, according to the statement by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who stated, “As alleged, Mickey Barreto repeatedly and fraudulently claimed ownership of one of the City’s most iconic landmarks, the New Yorker Hotel.” He added, “We will not tolerate manipulation of our city’s property records by those who seek to scam the system for personal gain”, the announcement quotes.
In addition to attempting to evict the previous owner, Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, switching the hotel’s bank account over to himself, and demanding rent, Barreto contacted the New Yorker Hotel’s franchisor, Wyndham, to transfer the franchise over to him, too.
This story has been going on for years. The first time Barreto claimed the ownership was in June 2018, when he stayed for one night at the hotel and told the management he wanted to open a lease agreement through New York’s rent stabilization law, which provides certain protections to tenants, besides the limitations on the amount of rent increases.
The Holy Spirit Association kicked out Barreto, who brought the case to court and won it thanks to a loophole in the ACRIS law, together with a year of free rent. He went to the New York Finance Department and convinced the office workers that the judge had let him back in the building because he was the actual owner.
However, the real hotel owner filed a lawsuit against Barreto in New York County Supreme Court and successfully obtained an order forbidding Barreto from continuing the deception, making further false filings or representing himself as the hotel owner. Barreto appealed the decision and continued to represent himself as the owner of the building until the Law, and Alvin Bragg, caught up with him.
