Man who lived rent-free in New Yorker Hotel, then claimed to own it, pleads guilty

A New York City man who claimed to own a storied Manhattan hotel has pleaded guilty to fraud

NEW YORK -- A New York City man who attempted to claim ownership of the New Yorker Hotel has pleaded guilty to fraud, ending a lengthy legal saga involving an obscure tenant law that allowed the man to live rent-free for years in the storied Manhattan hotel.

Mickey Barreto entered the plea on Wednesday, admitting that he had forged property records in an effort to take ownership over the hotel. That effort was, at least on paper, partially successful.

In Barreto’s telling, he and his boyfriend paid $200 in 2018 to rent one of the more than 1,000 rooms in the towering, oft-photographed Art Deco hotel. Barreto then requested a lease, claiming his one night stay entitled him to protections under a city housing law that applies to single-room occupants of buildings constructed before 1969.

When the hotel rebuffed him, he took his case to housing court. After the hotel failed to send a lawyer to a key hearing, Barreto was awarded “possession” of the room.

But Manhattan prosecutors said Barreto then went a step further, defrauding the state by uploading a fake deed to a city website that purported to transfer ownership of the entire building to himself.

The property is currently owned by the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, which was founded in South Korea by a self-proclaimed messiah, the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The church did not respond to an e-mailed inquiry.

Barreto then attempted to collect rent from a hotel tenant and demanded the hotel’s bank transfer its accounts to him, according to prosecutors.

He was eventually evicted from the premises in 2024 and charged with multiple counts of felony fraud. He was later found unfit to stand trial and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.

As part of the plea, Barreto was sentenced to a six-month prison sentence that he has already served, along with five years of probation, according to a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney.

Brian Hutchinson, an attorney for Barreto, didn’t immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Barreto previously told the AP that the judge who granted him “possession” of his room indirectly gave him the entire building because it had never been subdivided.

“I never intended to commit any fraud. I don’t believe I ever committed any fraud,” Barreto said at the time. “And I never made a penny out of this.”

We have a local ne'er do well who was (once?) a druggie claim quasi ownership over an abandoned rooming house. The rooming house saw the beginning of the end when a few years back under different owners, a murderer sued the owners for a slip n fall on the snow/ice in winter. They soon sold the historic bldg after that to a local sLuMlord who did nothing with it.

The ne'er do well loves to confront the local town leadership and file FOIL requests constantly even though he's a lawbreaker himself (switching licenses plates etc) He wanted to make it into a drug rehab center (UGH). This is a small Rurban town in an agri district and the county seat.

Well the place recently burned down to the ground and they suspect "squatters" (like said ne'er do weller)

Although I hate losing historic buildings, it was better than have it turn into a druggie flop house.

“I never intended to commit any fraud. I don’t believe I ever committed any fraud,”

Reminds me a a neighbor that had his land surveyed and didn't like the result.

Told me and the guy on the opposite side he was claiming he owned our land because it was possessed by his property for more than 20 years. Mind you he had only owed the property for a few years.

Sooo I went to HD bought several thousand dollars worth of fencing and rented a bobcat with the fencing drill. Put the fence up using the survey line.

My problem was solved. The other guy fought him in court for 3 years and was awarded 56k for his legal fees for the frivolous claim.

Not making money doesn't mean the same as saving money I guess.