City Hall granted a deed restriction removal to a yeshiva run by an accused child molester, according to a report.
In 2015, the city received $150,000 in return from removing the restriction on the Yeshiva Chanoch Lenaar at 874 Eastern Parkway.
According to the New York Post, the city overlooked $2,885 in fines the building owners owed to the Department of Buildings.
Rabbi Yaakov Bryski, who runs the Yeshiva, has been accused by at least two young men of sexual abuse.
Following the deed restriction removal, Bryski sold the building to developer Simon Liani for $1.5 million.
City Hall spokeswoman Karen Hinton said the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which was responsible for the deed removal, was unaware of the accusations against Bryski.
The de Blasio administration recently came under fire for lifting a deed restriction on a nursing home at 45 Rivington Street in the Lower East Side in exchange for $16 million. The Allure Group, which had bought the building for a mere $28 million in early 2015, sold it to Slate Property Group and China Vanke for $116 million in February 2016. The buyers plan to turn the home into luxury condominiums.
According to the Post, at least eight deed restrictions have been lifted by the de Blasio administration. The properties were all sold to developers.
State Attorney General Preet Bharara, New York State attorney general Eric Schneiderman and New York City comptroller Scott Stringer are investigating the deed restriction removal, which netted Allure a $88 million profit. [NYP] — Konrad Putzier