Man Who Resided Rent-Free in New Yorker Hotel and Falsely Claimed Ownership Admits to Fraud Charge

NEW YORK – The saga of a New York City man attempting to seize ownership of the historic New Yorker Hotel has reached its conclusion. Mickey Barreto, who had lived rent-free in the hotel for years, has confessed to fraud, marking the end of a complex legal drama centered around an obscure tenant law.

On Wednesday, Barreto admitted in court to forging property documents in his bid to claim the hotel as his own. His audacious attempt was surprisingly effective, at least in the initial stages.

Barreto recounted that he and his boyfriend rented a room in the iconic Art Deco hotel for $200 back in 2018. He then requested a lease, asserting that his brief stay qualified him for protections under a city housing law meant for long-term occupants of buildings erected before 1969.

When the hotel refused his lease request, Barreto took the issue to housing court. With the hotel failing to send legal representation to a critical hearing, Barreto was awarded possession of the room.

However, according to Manhattan prosecutors, Barreto escalated his scheme by uploading a counterfeit deed to a city website, falsely claiming the entire building as his property. This bold move ultimately led to his downfall and subsequent guilty plea.

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.”