The case against one of New York’s “worst landlords” got much clearer Wednesday.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced a wide-ranging indictment against Daniel Ohebshalom for allegedly letting some of his apartment buildings go to seed in order to harass rent-regulated tenants and force them to move out.
Ohebshalom, who is regularly called out on Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ annual worst landlords list, individually faces 40 counts, and shell companies to which Ohebshalom is linked that own five Manhattan properties face another 40 counts, according to the indictment.
“He forced his tenants to live in unthinkable conditions,” Bragg said in a late-afternoon press conference announcing the charges.
And the conditions, which include broken doors, collapsed ceilings and a lack of heat, including at a pair of hard-hit buildings on West 46th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, were allowed to fester all in the name of “huge profits,” he added.
The charges are familiar, as Ohebshalom has been previously cited for hundreds of code violations by city housing agencies. But they do seem to mark a serious escalation of the case against Ohebshalom, who has been serving a 60-day sentence on Rikers Island since late March for alleged violations at a pair of Washington Heights properties. But those charges involved the housing division of Manhattan Supreme Court, while Bragg’s indictment represents a broader criminal push.
Bragg added that it’s the first time that a landlord has faced criminal charges for harassing rent-stabilized tenants.
It is exceedingly rare for a controversial landlord to head to prison, though East Village owner Steve Croman did serve time after pleading guilty to tax fraud and other charges in 2017.
The buildings cited in Bragg’s case are two that landed Ohebshalom, who also goes by Daniel Shalom, behind bars: 705 and 709 W. 170th St., which have racked up nearly 700 violations.
Also named were 410 and 412 W. 46th St., which Ohebshalom later tried to sell for nearly $12 million, though city officials ultimately wrested the sites away to put them under third-party control. The other apartment building is 331 E. 14th St. in the East Village.
Some of the charges that Ohebshalom faces involve filing false documents to obscure his ownership of the buildings. Indeed, he apparently had employees of a business associate sign papers on his behalf in order to conceal Ohebshalom’s ties to the properties, according to Bragg. Ohebshalom could not immediately be reached for comment.
C. J. Hughes , 2024-05-02 00:21:27
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