Crane’s announced this afternoon that The Bronx Housing Court released a notorious slumlord from prison claiming he no longer owns the buildings he ran into the ground.
The magazine said a hearing is set for Monday, July 26, at which time the slumlord must provide documentation that shows a change in ownership. If Mr. Suzuki, who had been in prison since June 24, fails to provide proof, he could be sent back to custody.
Frankly, I don’t see why the sale of the property should have anything to do with letting a criminal out of jail. He wasn’t punished for harming a building. He was jailed for creating an unsafe, unhealthy and unlivable situation for his tenants. Selling the building doesn’t lessen his crimes against his tenants. A crumball like this will now only go out and buy another building and repeat the same behavior. I only hope some tenants hire top personal injury lawyers to go after this creep now that he’s out of jail.
According to Crane’s, last year Mr. Suzuki’s company, Hunter Property Management, took over six distressed building in the Bronx. The buildings had a total of 260 apartments. Shortly after he took over the buildings, a group of tenants filed a lawsuit against him to correct 97 violations throughout their individual apartments, including immediately hazardous violations. The five-story building has 691 open violations.
According to one Legal Aide Society lawyer representing one of the tenants, Mr. Suzuki’s attorneys in court said Suzuki refuses to reveal who the real owners of the buildings are “because of Japanese cultural business practice; if he revealed them his life would be in danger.”