A very recent story about Jared Kushner that, so far, has received surprisingly little coverage, www.salon.com/...The property management subsidiary of Jared Kushner's family real estate company has agreed to pay a $3.25 million fine to the state of Maryland and to reimburse many of the tens of thousands of tenants in the Kushners' Baltimore-area apartment complexes for excessive fees and for rent they were forced to pay over the past decade despite serious maintenance problems in the units.
The 17 complexes they owned contained about 9,000 units.
This settlement came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Maryland attorney general, Brian Frosh. "This is a case in which landlords deceived and cheated tenants and subjected them to miserable living conditions," said Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, at a press conference announcing the settlement Friday morning in Baltimore. "These were not wealthy people. Many struggled to pay the rent, to put food on the table, to take care of their kids, to keep everybody healthy, and Westminster used its vastly superior economic power to take advantage of them."
Past investigations by the New York Times and ProPublica detailed how tenants often lived in squalid conditions, and have to deal with leaks, vermin, and mold. And Kushner’s company was aggressive in suing tenants even though in some cases, Kushner's firm knew they did not owe the money that was claimed in their suits. The firm also padded its profits by charging tenants bogus late fees.
Tenants had stories of mushrooms growing in their toilets and small ponds in their living quarters. While this may be small potatoes compared to some of the pending and potentially pending civil and criminal cases against Trump and his family, it is good to see some measure of justice meted out in this case.