In December of 2017, Steve Croman, a landlord charged with twenty felonies ranging from tenant harassment to document falsification, pled guilty to grand larceny and tax fraud, among other charges. Here are some of our findings on Croman’s portfolio indicating predatory behavior.

Strong indications of predatory equity: around 84%of buildings in this portfolio received a loan from a bank identified by the Public Advocate as supporting predatory equity (city baseline: 2%)

Strong indications of converting rent stabilized units to market rate: this portfolio experienced a 40% decrease in rent stabilized units between 2007 and 2016.

Strong indications of excessive evictions: 91% of buildings in this portfolio have at least one eviction reported between 2013 and 2017 (excluding 2016)

Strong indications of illegal misreporting: 25% of buildings in this portfolio are suspected of misreporting rent stabilized unit counts