then lived there rent-free for years. Now he could go to jail.
A man successfully lived in the iconic New Yorker Hotel building for half a decade without paying a single cent in rent — but the jig is up.
Police arrested Mickey Barreto in February and charged him with filing fraudulent property records after he attempted to claim ownership of the hotel, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
Prosecutors said Barreto skirted thousands of dollars worth of rent payments by exploiting a little-known local housing law and then attempted to charge another tenant in the building rent.
“As alleged, Mickey Barreto repeatedly and fraudulently claimed ownership of one of the City’s most iconic landmarks, the New Yorker Hotel,” Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's district attorney, said in a statement.
Barreto is facing 24 charges, including 14 felony fraud counts. If he's found guilty, he could be sentenced to several years in prison, The New York Times reported.
Barreto's residency at the renowned hotel — which in its heyday hosted many dignitaries and celebrities, including Muhammad Ali and John F. Kennedy — dates back to 2018 when he first learned about
New York City's Rent Stabilization Code. This law grants tenants who live in individual rooms within buildings built prior to 1969 the right to request a six-month lease.
In June 2018, Barreto checked into room 2565 with his partner, Matthew Hannan, for one night and was charged $200.57.
The following day, Barreto requested a six-month lease from the hotel and was promptly evicted.
Barretto — a California transplant with a penchant for conspiracy theories who also claims to be the leader of a tribal community he founded in Brazil, according to The New York Times — refused to take no for an answer.
Barreto was eventually caught in a web of lies
That July, he sued the building's owner, the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, in housing court. A representative for the church didn't show up, so the judge sided with Barreto, and the hotel had to give him the key.
The two parties never agreed on lease terms, and because he couldn't be evicted, Barreto lived at the hotel rent-free.
The Unification Church, which bought the New Yorker in 1976, sued Barreto for representing himself as the hotel's owner on LinkedIn and uploading a forged deed to a city website. Barreto was ordered by a judge to stop asserting that he owned the building, but he continued to live there.
Last year, Barreto again filed papers with the city claiming to be the building's owner, and that's when the district attorney's office stepped in.
Business Insider reached out to Barreto through his company, Mickey Barreto Missions, but didn't receive a response before publication.
“I never intended to commit any fraud. I don’t believe I ever committed any fraud,” Barreto told The Associated Press. “And I never made a penny out of this.”
$366,040,25 is what he saved staying rent free. That's not accounting for the fact that his stay was actually 5 years/4 months, which adds an additional $24,067,20 at the rate $200.57, which I'm somehow thinking increased periodically over those 6 years (just checked and his room goes anywhere from $229 on Sunday/Monday to $489 on peak days). I think he made quite more than a penny off of it.
- Mickey Barreto booked a one-night stay at the New Yorker Hotel in 2018 for $200.57.
- He stayed and paid no rent for five years thanks to a local housing law.
- Police arrested him in February. He's now facing fraud charges and possible jail time.
A man successfully lived in the iconic New Yorker Hotel building for half a decade without paying a single cent in rent — but the jig is up.
Police arrested Mickey Barreto in February and charged him with filing fraudulent property records after he attempted to claim ownership of the hotel, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
Prosecutors said Barreto skirted thousands of dollars worth of rent payments by exploiting a little-known local housing law and then attempted to charge another tenant in the building rent.
“As alleged, Mickey Barreto repeatedly and fraudulently claimed ownership of one of the City’s most iconic landmarks, the New Yorker Hotel,” Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's district attorney, said in a statement.
Barreto is facing 24 charges, including 14 felony fraud counts. If he's found guilty, he could be sentenced to several years in prison, The New York Times reported.
Barreto's residency at the renowned hotel — which in its heyday hosted many dignitaries and celebrities, including Muhammad Ali and John F. Kennedy — dates back to 2018 when he first learned about
New York City's Rent Stabilization Code. This law grants tenants who live in individual rooms within buildings built prior to 1969 the right to request a six-month lease.
In June 2018, Barreto checked into room 2565 with his partner, Matthew Hannan, for one night and was charged $200.57.
The following day, Barreto requested a six-month lease from the hotel and was promptly evicted.
Barretto — a California transplant with a penchant for conspiracy theories who also claims to be the leader of a tribal community he founded in Brazil, according to The New York Times — refused to take no for an answer.
Barreto was eventually caught in a web of lies
That July, he sued the building's owner, the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, in housing court. A representative for the church didn't show up, so the judge sided with Barreto, and the hotel had to give him the key.
The two parties never agreed on lease terms, and because he couldn't be evicted, Barreto lived at the hotel rent-free.
The Unification Church, which bought the New Yorker in 1976, sued Barreto for representing himself as the hotel's owner on LinkedIn and uploading a forged deed to a city website. Barreto was ordered by a judge to stop asserting that he owned the building, but he continued to live there.
Last year, Barreto again filed papers with the city claiming to be the building's owner, and that's when the district attorney's office stepped in.
Business Insider reached out to Barreto through his company, Mickey Barreto Missions, but didn't receive a response before publication.
“I never intended to commit any fraud. I don’t believe I ever committed any fraud,” Barreto told The Associated Press. “And I never made a penny out of this.”
$366,040,25 is what he saved staying rent free. That's not accounting for the fact that his stay was actually 5 years/4 months, which adds an additional $24,067,20 at the rate $200.57, which I'm somehow thinking increased periodically over those 6 years (just checked and his room goes anywhere from $229 on Sunday/Monday to $489 on peak days). I think he made quite more than a penny off of it.