The lifestyles of those with low rents fill us with envy?except for the ones that end in arrest. Like the case of concert pianist Antonio Fermin, who was arrested last week for hiding records of a $1 million home in the Hamptons so that he could receive Section 8 housing funds. He used those funds for a two-bedroom at Tribeca's Independence Plaza complex (which is itself in the middle of a rent deregulation controversy). Not only that, but he already had an apartment in the complex for which he paid $1,000/month, compared to a market value of about $3,400/month.
Fermin's arrest was part of a Department of Investigation, uh, investigation into Section 8 fraud, DNAinfo explains. He had purchased the Hamptons house with Maria Schon, to whom he was then married, and then placed the house solely in her name in 2010 after the couple's divorce. But Fermin had already filed three years of recertifications for Section 8 in which he didn't mention the Sagaponack property. Independence Plaza tenants had the chance to apply for Section 8 vouchers after the complex left the Mitchell-Lama program in 2004.
· Concert Pianist Hid $1M Hamptons Home to Get Subsidy for Tribeca Apartment [DNAinfo]
· Lifestyles of the Rent-Stabilized [Curbed]
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