N.Y. Attorney General to Meet With Tenants About Kushner Report

(Bloomberg) -- New York's top cop plans to meet with tenant representatives to discuss a report by a housing watchdog group that claims Jared Kushner's family real-estate firm under-reported the number of rent-regulated units in dozens of buildings to escape extra scrutiny of construction projects.

Kushner Cos. filed more than 80 documents for buildings across New York City stating they had no rent-regulated units when there were actually hundreds, the Associated Press reported on March 18, citing a study by the nonprofit Housing Rights Initiative. The filings from 2013 to 2016 allowed Kushner Cos. to raise rents and push out tenants who would have otherwise been protected if their presence had been documented, the AP said.

“We are very concerned about the allegations raised in the report and will be meeting with tenant representatives in the coming days,” Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, said Monday in a statement.

Schneiderman has frequently expressed concern about New York's tenant laws, arguing for example that the bar for evidence in criminal cases is too high. The attorney general has repeatedly clashed with Kushner's father-in-law, President Donald Trump, in unrelated legal fights. Kushner is now a senior adviser in the White House.

"If mistakes or typographical errors are identified, corrective action is taken immediately with no financial benefit to the company," Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for Kushner Cos., said in an emailed statement. "Kushner Companies did not intentionally falsify DOB filings in an effort to harass any tenants."

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider

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