U.S. Calls $2M NYC Deal Largest Fair Housing Act Settlement Ever

The federal government has announced that a settlement with a New York City landlord will result in more than $2 million being paid to tenants who were sexual harassment victims.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced the deal Tuesday. He called it the largest recovery ever in a sexual harassment suit brought by the United States under the Fair Housing Act.

A 2010 lawsuit had blamed the building’s owner for failing to stop a superintendent from demanding sex in exchange for rent reductions. It said the superintendent withheld the delivery of mail and apartment repairs and threatened the tenants with eviction when his sexual demands were refused.

The lawsuit said the superintendent, a registered sex offender, had worked at buildings on the Upper West Side for more than eight years.