Help Me Fight The “Bernie Madoff of Landlords”!

Dear Donor,

Would you be so kind as to help a besieged victim of the “Bernie Madoff of Landlords”—as described by N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who sent him to Riker Island, today—fight back in court?

Unfortunately, legal counsel doesn’t come cheap. And, so brazen and intransigent is the Bernie Madoff of Landlords (a/k/a Mr Steve Croman) that, after the Attorney General announced his investigation, he would splash his tastless soirées across Page Six news, like a Hamptons celebrity. The Attorney General also alleged that Mr Croman continued to employ his “secret weapon”—an ex-NYPD detective to investigate, accost, harass or scare tenants out of their apartments—in defiance of the AG’s Cease-and-Desist order, in Mr Croman’s mad quest to unscrupulously amass a real estate empire, whatever the means, despite owning the most apartments in the East Village. (The ex-NYPD cop now faces the AG’s civil suit, but remains employed by Mr Croman.)

The Bernie Madoff of Landlords, in fact, served as inspiration for Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and the City Council to toughten city-wide regulations on residential building—forcing many good landlords to pay for the dirty deeds of a handful of bad actors. But, tenants have few recourses when construction is refashioned into a weapon—contaminating young and old with lead, dust and mold; collapsing their ceilings; dousing them and their belongings with leaking plumbing; and, countless other tricks up their sleaves—to push good tenants out of their homes. Even worse, reprobates like Mr Croman employ Housing Court as a means of intimidating good tenants, especially for those on fixed incomes or for immigrants.

So, would you be so kind as to join my legal battle? Then, when distant friends or family read, watch or hear of this international news, you can tell them that you took it upon yourself to join the fight—to help turn around this industry around—so that good property owners may prosper, instead of notorious cheaters, like The Bernie Madoff of Landlords.

Many thanks!
Your neighbor

ps: For obvious reasons, I left out specifics of my legal case, but would be happy to share details with donors or show my thanks with your own personal tour of a Croman apartment!