“These developers allegedly abused a government program meant to provide New Yorkers access to desperately needed affordable housing. Not only did they illegally charge substantially higher market rents for years, but they did so while personally reaping the benefits of generous property tax abatements. When I announced our Housing & Tenant Protection Unit last week, I said that we would take a targeted approach to complex and pervasive criminal activity that diminished our already limited stock of affordable housing, and this case is an example of just that,” said District Attorney Bragg.

“Workers doing dangerous work should be afforded every protection possible, yet these city contractors misclassified their employees for financial gain. As a result, they put their workers at risk, while also undermining the integrity of the public bidding process,” said District Attorney Bragg.

“New York City is in the midst of a housing crisis, and that means tenants are particularly vulnerable to unscrupulous landlords,” said District Attorney Bragg.