Yat-Pang Au

Veritas Investments, GreenTree Property Management

Also known as VPI General Partner Ib LLC, VIC F GP LLC, VPI General Partner I LLC, and VIC Strategic Multifamily Partners D LP

San Francisco corporate evictor
Yat-Pang Au

Funded By

  • Goldman Sachs
  • JP Morgan Chase
  • Ivanhoe Cambridge
  • Baupost Group
  • Texas Permanent School Fund
  • Primary business address
    1 Bush St San Francisco Ca 900

    Active since 2007

    In an ownership network with

  • 499 businesses
  • 51 other owners

  • See Veritas Investments, Inc.'s portfolio

    “They wrote the most horrible set of rules and rights they could think of.” - Blake Gray

    As San Francisco’s largest and most notorious landlord with over 8,000 units, Veritas has a deep history of tenant harassment. Extending across the Bay Area and into Los Angeles, Veritas LLC–owned by Yat-Pang Au–controls hundreds of shell companies and multi-unit properties, managed predominantly by GreenTree Property Management.

    Veritas launched in 2007 and then widely expanded after purchasing 2,000 units from the former real estate giant, the Lembi family/CitiApartments, in 2011. While it has been hit by the pandemic, it nevertheless has continued to purchase apartments, purchasing dozens in 2022. 

    In January 2023, Veritas defaulted on a $443 million loan. Some have surmised that Veritas is “too big to fail” and will inevitably be propped up by lenders fearful of compounding effects on the market. By May 2023, Veritas was delinquent on over $1 billion in loans, and attempted to relinquish its hold on over 95 buildings to reduce its debt load. In August 2023, it was announced that Ballast (also one of SF’s worst evictors) would purchase 75 of its apartment buildings totalling 2,149 units and amounting to $940 million. 

    Veritas is infamous for skirting rent stabilization. Through its RentSFNow website, Veritas markets furnished apartments to transient renters, thus evading the rent stabilization associated with long-term community members. In 2020, 106 renters in San Francisco sued Veritas for harassment by construction and other tactics. Additionally, the Veritas Tenants Association (VTA) called for an end to Veritas’ passthrough rent increases. Later in 2021, VTA members in SF engaged in a five-month debt strike to win commitments from Veritas on rent and shadow-debt relief. 

    Veritas also weaponizes technology to surveil and harass their tenants. Such practices have expanded during the pandemic with the company switching to use Yardi, an online virtual rent-payment system, alongside its own RentSFNow technology, mandating tenants interact with them digitally. They have also installed “digital doorman” cameras created by the NYC-based Carson company.

    Hundreds of Veritas tenants in SF, Alameda, Oakland, and LA have joined the VTA, the statewide union of renters living in Veritas buildings. On June 1st, 2023, VTA members at two buildings began a strike to win the respect they deserve. The strike continues, with more and more members joining in. The Housing Rights Committee has been supporting the strike and featuring members’ stories and struggles. Brad Hirn, an organizer from the HRC, explained the VTA’s struggle in an interview with The Real Deal: “This strike is motivated by urgent issues going on in the buildings, and also an eye towards the building maybe changing hands … We need to have a seat at the table in terms of who the next landlords might be.”

    Greg MacDonald, Ryan Brewer, and others

    Ballast Investments, Brick+Timber

    Also known as Ballast Group LLC, Broad Street Principal Investments LLC, Goldman Sachs and Company, and Ballast G&r Holdco LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    Greg MacDonald

    Funded By

  • RBC Capital Markets, Deutsche Bank
  • Primary business address
    49 Powell St San Francisco Ca 6TH Fl

    Active since 2014

    In an ownership network with

  • 23 businesses
  • 5 other owners

  • See Ballast Investment, LLC's portfolio

    Ballast Investments, also known through its apartment leasing subsidiary Brick+Timber and SF Multifamily, is a self-described “property management company focused upon managing residential apartment properties in the Bay Area.” It is partnered with the Carlyle Group, one of the largest private equity firms globally. In 2021, the company faced hearings for legal violation of SF fire code in constructing accessory dwelling units, displacement through constructive eviction, and unlawful business practices related to construction and demolition.

    Other complaints by tenants at properties such as 530 Stockton St include: “Unit and building repairs are put off for as long as possible and often not properly fixed when addressed; tenants have been billed additional unexplained fees in addition to monthly rent; Demo and Construction often start at unreasonable hours in the morning; blaring music often lasts all day; Power and water shutoffs often happen without proper notice; Property owner refuses to address security issues.”

    Ballast is known to use several Delaware LLCs to obfuscate property ownership and accountability. Ballast was also one of many firms that took advantage of PPP loans meant for small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, pocketing $1-2 million in assistance despite custody of $38 million across 78 clients. In 2023, they put a 10-building multifamily portfolio on the market for over $75 million.

    In August 2023, it was announced that Ballast would purchase 2,149 units from Veritas in a deal amounting to $940 million. It purchased other buildings during the pandemic as well, including a $15.6 million acquisition in Russian Hill and a $8.8 million purchase in Pacific Heights. This means that it is now posed to compete with Veritas for being one of the city’s largest landlords.

    Ballast, under the name of Brick+Timber, also owns 13 buildings in Berkeley. One renter and Reddit user posted: “I've been a renter for decades, and I can say with complete confidence that Brick + Timber is hands-down, the WORST landlord I have ever had.” Other tenants have voiced concerns over excessive fees and repeated rent increases via short-term tenancies as a means to circumvent Berkeley Housing Authority regulations.

    Neveo Mosser

    Mosser Companies

    Also known as Mosser Funding LLC, The Swig Company LLC, Mosser Capital Management III LLC, and Go-mosser Oakland JV LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    Neveo Mosser

    Funded By

  • Berkadia
  • Silicon Valley Bank
  • First Republic Bank
  • Primary business address
    220 Montgomery St San Francisco Ca 2000

    Active since 2004

    In an ownership network with

  • 260 businesses
  • 38 other owners

  • See The Mosser Companies, Inc.'s portfolio

    “Tenants say the Mosser Companies use misinformation and fear tactics to manipulate them.” —Hannah Lamb-Vines and Marissa Seko, for the Majority.

    Mosser owns over 3,000 units across the Bay Area and Los Angeles. By its own description, the billion-dollar company, “owns and manages a collection of historic and beautifully renovated apartments in lively and vibrant neighborhoods.” Run by real estate mogul Neveo Ducraig Mosser, the company is also a serial evictor in both San Francisco and Oakland, known to be “both a driver and beneficiary of California’s housing and gentrification crises.” Mosser Capital, its private equity arm, is used to purchase buildings in gentrifying neighborhoods such as West Oakland and the Tenderloin. It also has been known to convert units to Airbnb rentals.

    Mosser companies are known to rely on “misinformation and fear tactics” to avoid tenant resistance, and that tenants are fed up with their superficial renovations, delayed and missing responses for maintenance, and aggressive rent hikes. In some cases, these rent hikes are just threats to get rid of tenants without a formal eviction — Angela Shannon, a Mosser tenant has reported that the company “sends tenants notices announcing a surprise rent hike, then later sends notices saying the hike is off – once the tenant may already be considering moving. However, if a tenant misses a rent payment, notice to quit is sent immediately and consistently.”

    Mosser’s history includes harassing tenants during COVID-19 by repeatedly entering their apartments under false pretenses (citing “pest control” or “cleaning”), failure to perform maintenance, and abuse of rent-hike laws to pass building costs onto disadvantaged tenants. In 2002, Neveo Mosser was sued by the city of San Francisco for “musical rooming,” or forcing hotel guests to leave after 28 days to prevent them from applying for residency rights.

    Walter Schmidt (CFO), and Amy Hull (COO)

    Trinity SF LLC

    Also known as SFLP Management Inc, Trinity Properties Inc, Trinity Management Services, and 1145 Market Street LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    test

    Funded By

  • First Republic Bank
  • Wells Fargo
  • Prudential Financial
  • Primary business address
    1145 Market St San Francisco Ca 1200

    Active since 2008

    In an ownership network with

  • 91 businesses
  • 17 other owners

  • See Trinity SF LLC's portfolio

    Angelo Sangiacomo (1924 - 2015) established Trinity Properties in 1949 to purchase and develop properties, particularly in the northern part of the city, from Outer Richmond to Nob Hill. Sangiacomo was notorious for steep rent increases in the 1970s - one of the factors leading to the passage of San Francisco’s rent control ordinance in 1979. By the early 2000s, Trinity Properties owned thousands of units and was considered one of the largest landowners in the city. In 2015, as San Francisco was at a high point for Airbnb conversions, the city sued Trinity Properties for illegally converting rent-controlled units into short-term rentals in a partnership with Lumi Worldwide. Over the decades, Trinity Properties has acquired apartments, hotels, and motels, operating the buildings with in-house property management, and then forcing considerable capital improvement costs onto tenants. Tenants and allies have organized to contest evictions and rent gouging in high-profile campaigns such as the Central City S.R.O. Collaborative, Trinity Plaza Tenants Association, and other community groups in the mid-2000s. 

    One of Trinity’s most recent developments at 1177 Market Street employs several forms of technology to surveil tenants. Based on the large cameras at the entryway and the building’s size, it maintains an extensive network of surveillance cameras monitored 24/7 through the multinational corporation, G4S, which manages various security networks globally and is implicated in human rights violations along the US-Mexico border and in Palestine/Israel. 

    Sergio Iantorno

    Golden Properties, LLC

    Also known as 130 Albion LLC, 421 Arguello Boulevard Homeowners Association, 615 Minna Street LLC, and Acme Studios LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    Sergio Iantorno

    Funded By

  • First Republic Bank
  • Primary business address
    2170 Sutter St San Francisco Ca

    Active since 2002

    In an ownership network with

  • 9 businesses
  • 6 other owners

  • See Golden Properties, LLC's portfolio

    “[Iantorno] buys small, partially empty, run-down properties and vacant land in up-and-coming neighborhoods. He typically keeps them for a while for rental income, with the goal of eventually selling them with the tenants in them, or else renovating them and selling them. He describes this as an act of noblesse oblige that benefits San Francisco by creating construction jobs, subsidizing tenants with rent control, increasing the city’s tax base, and renovating its housing stock. ‘If I don’t buy the building, the city will collapse,’ he said.”

    —Lauren Smiley, for The New Yorker.

    Sergio Castellucci Iantorno is the owner of Peninsula Realty, LLC, Realty West, LLC, and Golden Properties, LLC, and San Francisco Developers, LLC, is President of 421 Arguello Boulevard Homeowners' Association. He is notorious for his real estate speculation, numerous TIC (tenancy in commons) conversions via OMI evictions, Ellis Act evictions, and Capital Improvement evictions.

    Iantorno, who gained notoriety by 2000, gained further infamy by attempting to evict well-known and loved artist Rene Yañez from his home of 35 years in the Mission at 380 San Jose St. Yañez's family was included in the eviction. His friend and art colleague Guillermo Gómez-Peña articulated, “It’s an outrage, it’s tragic, and sadly, it’s all too common in this merciless city that seems to care nothing for those who’ve helped make it what it once wanted to be.” Rene’s son and artist Rio Yañez explained: “Rent control is what afforded my parents with the opportunity to live in this city and make art. Being an artist means they have no savings, no retirement, no health care. With elderly people like them, with limited income, this essentially makes them homeless. . . Cynthia could be in the process of dying or dead while they are in the process of moving.”

    One of Iantorno's tactics has been temporarily evicting people while repair work is being done on a building. To get people to move out for a short time, he tells tenants they have the right to return. Once the tenants are out of the building, he tells them that he is going to evict them if they do come back, and pays them small settlements to convince them not to return. He then turns the building into a TIC, or tenancy in common investment.

    Iantorno also has a reputation for harassing and intimidating his tenants. One tenant at 1353 Folsom described: "I received a letter in early December '12 from the landlords saying I had two options: I could either be bought out of my rent-controlled flat or be forced out through Ellis Act proceedings that would begin in January 2013.”

    Iantorno owes his former attorney, Duane Morris, a total of $210,581.37. Morris sued Iantorno for failure to pay legal services and fees agreed upon in their retainer agreement including obtaining entitlements for several properties in San Francisco. Iantorno has paid no part of the $210,581.37 and his trial is set for June 2023.

    In early 2023, a tenant filed a claim against Golden Properties LLC for taking more money than necessary from their security deposit. When the tenant tried to dispute the charges with Golden Properties, they responded by saying “they don’t meet with tenants and if [they] wanted to discuss the matter [they] would have to take them to court.”

    Selected oral histories from Iantorno tenants, collected by the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project:

    Dennis Flynn

    Flynn Development Group

    Also known as 1053 Bush LLC, 101 Sanchez Associates LLC, 200 Arguello Associates LLC, and 2323 Franklin Apartments LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    Dennis Flynn

    Funded By

  • JP Morgan Chase
  • First Republic
  • Primary business address
    2960 Van Ness Ave San Francisco Ca C

    Active since 2019

    In an ownership network with

  • 15 businesses
  • 6 other owners

  • See Flynn Development Group, LLC's portfolio

    “It was really traumatizing. I don’t want to have an acrimonious relationship with my landlord.” — Alicia Kester to the East Bay Express

    Russell (Russ) Flynn founded Flynn Development Group, which in self-description “owns and manages over 3,000 residential and commercial units in the San Francisco Bay Area.” Since Russell Flynn’s passing in 2020, ownership of the Flynn Development Group has passed to co-founder, Dennis P. Flynn.

    Historically, Russell Flynn received coverage for eviction of tenants to push up rent costs, manipulation of the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, and spending nearly $870,000 to defeat tenant-protective Proposition 10 and the Rental Affordability Act. The Flynn Development Group has been sued for false charges against tenants to justify eviction at locations such as 1918 Lakeshore Avenue, as well as a large 2013 eviction in which “tenants, mostly seniors, in 33 rent-controlled units were suddenly given eviction notices” at the Park Lane.

    Russell Flynn also purchased 1500 McAllister St after a devastating fire in 2015. Rebuilding, however, was delayed, with Flynn instead offering tenants a cheap buyout to convince them to leave the property; this allowed Flynn to resell at market rate.  In the meantime, many tenants were unable to move forward with insurance claims.

    Today, Dennis P. Flynn, Russell Flynn’s nephew and former mentee, appears to conduct the family business in a not dissimilar way. On the firm’s website, Dennis’ bio characterizes him as “not afraid to get involved with a policy on a civic or legal level to ensure the protection of owners and investors.”

    Thomas Iveli and Bob Sigmund

    406-10-12 Realty Corporation, Norcal Holdings

    Also known as 233 Arkansas LLC, 807 Haight LLC, Mare Island 6 LLC, and Williams 40 LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • Bank of America
  • First Founders Bank
  • JP Morgan Chase
  • Umpqua Bank
  • Primary business address
    101 Montgomery St San Francisco Ca 1600

    Active since 2000

    In an ownership network with

  • 5 businesses
  • 5 other owners

  • This evictor is associated with multiple ownership networks:See 406-10-12 Realty Corp.'s portfolioSee Baychester Shopping Center Inc.'s portfolio

    “These are the slumlords you've been warned about. You should operate from the presumption that they're acting in bad faith. They do not plan to return your security deposit regardless of circumstances. If you rent from them, document every payment you make and every piece of correspondence you receive.”

    — andy c., Yelp review

    In 1993, Sigmund and Iveli paid $42,000 in fines for illegally converting an S.R.O. into apartments as well as for construction without a permit, illegal occupancy and nuisance violations in the mid-1980s at 334-6 West 22nd Street. State Supreme Court Justice Bruce Wright wrote, "The various devices, tricks and ploys invoked and invented by the defendants to avoid judgment are patently transparent efforts to deter, delay and hinder due process."

    In October 2001, infamous landlords Thomas Iveli and Bob Sigmund of Baychester Shopping Center West, Inc. and 400 W. 22 St. Corp. were found guilty of multiple counts of tenant harassment in nine buildings in New York along the two blocks of West 22nd Street between Eighth and Tenth Avenues. The ten buildings they’d owned included: 327, 329, 331, 337, 400, 402, 406, 410, 412, and 442 West 22nd Street. The lawsuit lasted three years. They were subsequently barred from owning property in New York City following the case, originally filed by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal in 1998. They then moved to San Francisco where Iveli purchased and Sigmund managed a number of buildings. They have treated their tenants horrendously, as multiple Yelp reviews attest to. Most point to how much the slumlords neglect their buildings, and warn renters of the importance of documenting extensively. Iveli passed away in 2019.

    Robert Imhoff

    Landmark Realty

    Also known as 2057-65 Mission Street LLC, 3129-39 Folsom Street LLC, 3301 - 3311 Cesar Chavez Street LLC, and 515 D Street Apartments LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • California Pacific Bank
  • Wells Fargo
  • Pinnacle Bank
  • Bank of Marin
  • Avid Bank
  • Prudential Financial
  • JP Morgan Chase
  • Axos Bank
  • First Founders Bank
  • Banner Bank
  • Pacific Western Bank
  • Primary business address
    573 S Van Ness San Francisco Ca

    Active since 2003

    In an ownership network with

  • 10 businesses
  • 2 other owners

  • This evictor is associated with multiple ownership networks:See Landmark Realty, LLC's portfolioSee Jasmine Claims Holdings, LLC's portfolio

    “They will change the lease whenever they feel like… in the middle of the lease.”

    “Everyday I see roaches and bugs at every corner of this house, at night my kitchen area becomes a living hell.”

    — Landmark Realty tenants to the KC Tenants organizing collective.

    Notorious Mission District landlord Robert Imhoff owns hundreds of properties across San Francisco, as well as holdings in Kansas City. There, the Kansas City Tenants Union has been actively organizing against his abuse. Back in San Francisco, his history includes Ellis Act eviction notices at a 12-unit building on 3301-3311 Cesar Chavez Street, targeting Latino families and a tenant who has lived in their home since 1969; 1136 Guerrero Street buyout and Ellis Act evictions filed in 2009, impacting 5 units; three breach of lease evictions at 1000-1008 Guerrero Street in 2000 and 2001; and four 2701 Folsom Street Ellis Act in 2019, among others.

    More recently, Landmark Realty has gotten into short-term rentals (or STRs) and intermediary lease occupancies (ILOs). As of August 2021, it is behind 144 short-term rentals listed on Airbnb.

    Imhoff paid $4 million for 641 O’Farrell Street in 1988, and the property was found to have had at least 21 fire code violations since July 1989. Fires posed a persistent issue at the building, in one case resulting in a tragic death for Barbara Hersel, 38, who died on Jan. 3rd, 1997. Imhoff’s lawyer dodged questions from the San Francisco Chronicle in 1997 around the dangerous building conditions, instead suggesting that these were “social problems” that “need to be addressed by society as a whole.”

    Fergus O'Sullivan

    Fos Team, Inc.

    Also known as 1042 Golden Gate Avenue LLC, 1050 Fulton Street LLC, 1080 South Van Ness Avenue LLC, and 1086 South Van Ness Avenue LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    Fergus O'Sullivan

    Funded By

  • First Republic Bank
  • Primary business address
    530 Divisadero St San Francisco Ca 350

    Active since 2012

    In an ownership network with

  • 23 businesses
  • 4 other owners

  • This evictor is associated with multiple ownership networks:See Fos Team, Inc.'s portfolioSee 3140 16th Street LLC's portfolio

    “Many of the tenants in this six-unit building don’t speak English and are intimidated [by O’Sullivan]. Some tenants have been in their units since the mid-70s.” — A tenant writing to the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project.

    Fergus O'Sullivan owns O’Sullivan Construction and Building Inc. and is President at FOS Company.

    In 2006, a 24-foot wall on an O'Sullivan construction site collapsed and killed Union City resident Gregoria Custodio, who had been sitting in her parked car. O’Sullivan disputed all wrongdoing in this case. During the recession, O’Sullivan’s construction business struggled and foreclosed on a beachside property, forcing its renters into instability.

    O’Sullivan is notorious for using various tools to displace tenants to turn greater profits, including Ellis Act evictions, Owner-Move-In (OMI) evictions, eviction through construction, buyout evictions, and threats. In some cases these evictions have resulted in tenants becoming homeless, and a 95-year old grandmother died two weeks after O’Sullivan evicted her and her grandchild. In 2015, activists organized against O’Sullivan for his serial evictions and especially for his Ellis Act eviction of four units at 1142-1146 York Street.

    O’Sullivan is also notorious for his pattern of Airbnb conversions and “hacker hostels,” or short-term rentals that bring in much higher monthly rents for the landlord. At least one of the units he displaced tenants from and acquired via an OMI eviction is listed on Airbnb by O’Sullivan, and he has offered many of his properties as short-term rentals at other times. A tenant has reported becoming homeless after eviction by O’Sullivan on a property converted into an Airbnb “hacker hostel,” itself the subject of a 2015 investigation by KPIX 5 for overcrowding. KPIX 5 reported O’Sullivan had plans to convert at least three other properties into similar arrangements. Despite being the landlord of the property and responsible for the conversion, O’Sullivan denied any knowledge of what goes on inside the property and deflected blame to his tenant.

    Robert Rosania

    Maximus Real Estate Partners

    Also known as Maximus Sg Member LLC, Parkmerced Investors Properties LLC, Rar2 Maximus Sharon Green LLC, and The Albert Group LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    Robert Rosania

    Funded By

  • Barclays Capital Real Estate
  • Primary business address
    1 Maritime Plaza, Suite 1900 San Francisco Ca Ca

    Active since 2013

    In an ownership network with

  • 14 businesses
  • 8 other owners

  • This evictor is associated with multiple ownership networks:See Maximus Real Estate Partners Ltd's portfolioSee Parkmerced Owner LLC's portfolio

    Maximus has been behind multiple evictions in San Francisco, primarily in Park Merced. Maximus was also the proposed developer for a 16th & Mission Plaza Condo in San Francisco, poised to profit upwards of $1,000,000 per unit for their 351-unit development, a staggering sum totaling over a third of a billion dollars. As part of this development, Maximus LLC was behind the so-called “Clean Up the Plaza” campaign which has worked with the San Francisco Police Department to increase policing, surveillance, and harassment of the many low-income and homeless people who have nowhere else to go and use the plaza at 16th & Mission as public space. Maximus even hired notorious San Francisco political operative Jack Davis as a political consultant. That said, continued community organizing against “the Monster in the Mission” has resulted in a plan to convert the project to 100% affordable housing. It is currently being sold to Crescent Heights as an affordable housing complex.

    The principal behind Maximus, Robert Rosania, was previously co-founder and CEO of Stellar Management–one of the leading renovators of apartments in San Francisco but also New York City, Miami, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. Rosania extracted millions in profits by taking over Parkmerced, a planned neighborhood of high-rise apartment towers and low-rise garden apartments in southwestern San Francisco for middle-income tenants, while letting the property go into default. New plans for Parkmerced include 8,900 units in 91 buildings. Rosania, who likes to spend his wealth collecting rare champagne, has made much of his money by leveraging formerly working-class properties and transforming low-income neighborhoods.

    In 2020, during the early days of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Maximus Real Estate Partners LTD received between $2 and $5 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans from the federal government, funds intended for small businesses.

    David Seto, Samantha Seto, and Kelvin Yee

    Valstock Management

    Also known as SLS Capital Group LLC, 1106 Prospect LLC, 128 Santa Alicia Drive LLC, and 1405-1417 Broderick Street LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    David Seto

    Funded By

  • East West Bank
  • Luther Burbank Savings
  • World Savings & Loan
  • First Found
  • Active since 2016

    In an ownership network with

  • 36 businesses
  • 12 other owners

  • See Valstock Management's portfolio

    “In the six years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen anyone treat us this way. . . They don’t even treat us like people. They treat us like dogs.”

    —Huang Wong, in SFGATE

    Valstock Management is notorious for harassing tenants in Chinatown. In 2017, after Valstock Management took over a 100-unit single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotel at 1350 Stockton Street in Chinatown, it began targeting tenants with $200 fines for petty lifestyle “offenses” such as hanging laundry or leaving shoes in the hallway, or hanging clothes outside windows — a long-standing practice in Chinatown. It then rents out available 80-square foot rooms in the SRO to young professionals at higher rates, advertising them as “spacious and the perfect size for a student or professional who wants to experience the hustle and bustle of real San Francisco living.” Valstock has also attempted to impose that Chinese-speaking tenants in their other buildings sign burdensome 40-page leases in English, trapping “tenants into an agreement designed for them to fail.” In 2018, the Community Tenants’ Association (CTA) filed a lawsuit against Valstock Ventures LLC and Valstock Management Company for harassment and discrimination at 1350 Stockton Street. Several years later, in October of 2022, the tenants won their lawsuit against Valstock. Of the tenants’ triumph, Winnie Kao, senior counsel at the Asian Law Caucus, stated, “This case shows that despite all those hurdles, when tenants stand together and persevere they can win.” As a result of this win, tenants of other buildings managed by Veritas (also on our list of Worst Evictors) have been inspired to submit petitions to form unions and achieve their owed respect and fair treatment by their landlords.

    Jaclyn B. Safier and Dan Safier

    Prometheus Real Estate Group and Prado Group

    Also known as Tpg Mgr LLC, Agpm Bridge11 GP LLC, Prado T9 LLC, and Ag-prado SF Mf II LLC

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    Jaclyn B. Safier and Dan Safier

    Primary business address
    150 Post St San Francisco Ca 320

    Active since 2003

    In an ownership network with

  • 184 businesses
  • 33 other owners

  • See The Prado Group, Inc.'s portfolio

    Has donated to: https://littlesis.org/org/327280-Prometheus_Real_Estate_Group/giving

    This is about both Prometheus Real Estate Group and Prado Holdings, which are distinct yet interconnected companies.

    Prometheus Real Estate Group is a corporate West Coast landlord based in San Mateo, and it first began investing in the Bay Area back in 1965. Today, they are the largest private owner of multifamily properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a portfolio of over 13,000 apartments in and around the region as well as in Seattle and Portland. The $2 billion company is owned by Jackie Diller Salfier of the Diller family–both of which are major donors to Zionist and anti-Palestinian groups.

    Jackie Safier is also President of the Helen Diller Family Foundation, whose grants support programs at UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and other institutions in the Bay Area and globally. Some of these grants have supported the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights, and more. Safier also serves on the Board of Overseers at UCSF, and on the policy advisory board for the Fisher Center of Real Estate and Urban Economics at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Some of these UC connections do indeed play out in the Dillers’ real estate dealings, which I’ll get to in a bit.

    Prometheus has long come out on the wrong side of housing justice struggles. In 2016, it spent $150,000 to fight rent control in Mountain View, where the company is the city’s largest landlord.

    Then in 2018, there was a tenant-led statewide campaign to repeal the draconian Costa-Hawkins legislation, which prohibits vacancy control in tenant housing and leads to unaffordable units even in cities with rent control. The California Apartment Association has repeatedly fought and lobbied to maintain the legislation, and the association is consistently supported by wealthy landlords. Prometheus Real Estate Group contributed $196,800 to this campaign. Prometheus also happens to be a board member of the Apartment Association.

    During this same period, Prometheus spent $2.1 million to kill Prop 10 which would have expanded rent control across the state. Two years later, 2020, Prometheus shelled out $666,920 Californians for Responsible Housing sponsored by the California Apartment Association to stop Proposition 21, another California ballot measure that aims to put limits on unfair rent increases. As in prior anti-rent control initiatives, they joined forces here with other corporate landlords as Essex Property Trust, AvalonBay Communities, and Equity Residential.

    But even before getting into the landlord lobbying game, Prometheus has maintained a longer history of tenant abuse. In 2009, Prometheus allegedly exposed Palo Alto residents to asbestos without warning them, in violation of Prop 65. One family in the complex won a $7,500 small claims settlement against the company which could not guarantee that the family’s furniture were asbestos-free. In 2013, the big landlord attempted to displace 400 people at a mobile home park in Palo Alto, essentially replacing low-income housing with fancier and more expensive units. In another lawsuit from 2016 in San Mateo, the company was sued for exposing people to bed bugs, raw sewage and other habitability hazards in their apartments.

    This past year, Jackie Safier paid $300 million to create the Helen Diller Anchor House at UC Berkeley, a 14-story complex that the university didn’t have to contribute anything towards. This new fancy state-of-the-art residential house comprised the largest gift in the university’s 156-year history. To execute this plan, a 112-year-old rent-controlled building was razed and 12 people were evicted at 1921 Walnut St. Yet the eviction did not go down without a fight. Tenants protested and gained support from the Berkeley City Council, the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, and the Associated Students of the University of California. They even created a website. According to the tenants:

    1921 Walnut St. Association is a community organization led by the tenants of 1921 Walnut St. and we’re fighting against the University of California and against their billionaire donors to save our homes. 1921 Walnut St. is a 112-year-old rent-controlled apartment building in downtown Berkeley. Some of us have lived here for 20+ years. UC purchased our building on July 15, 2020 and plans to evict us, destroy our homes and community, and redevelop the property for high-end student apartments and commercial space. UCB has pushed through their purchase and their plans during the covid pandemic, causing enormous stress on the tenants and hampering community engagement in the process. UCB has illegally withheld information from the tenants and the Berkeley community and was served a petition in 2021 to release documents. UCB administration led Chancellor Christ has misrepresented the situation to the UC Regents (who will vote on this project). Throughout this process, the tenants have felt harmed, intimidated, ignored and pushed around by UC Berkeley. But we are fighting back!

    Unfortunately, the tenants were no match for the Dillers and the UCs, and eventually lost this fight and their homes to the Anchor House, which was then rapidly constructed. 

    It’s worth noting that this funding of the Achor House is not the foundation’s only contribution to the UCs. Over the past 21 years, it’s donated $1.5 billion to the University of California, making it the largest contributor to the UCs across its 10 campuses. The family has given $100,000 to the nonprofit Central Fund for Israel with instructions to channel funding into the Canary Mission, an online group that doxes anti-Zionist students and faculty, including those from UC. Even Safier has since admitted that what the group does is wrong and that she now wants to sway away from it.

    Meanwhile in San Francisco, Jackie’s husband Dan Safier has been behind many other evictions through his Prado Group real estate corporation in San Francisco. Dan is also part of UC Berkeley’s Fisher Center Policy Advisory Board, and he is a founding supporter of UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation. Jackie and Dan also run another foundation, the Dan and Jackie Safier Family Fund, which has supported UCSF’s medical research.

    When it comes to real estate, the Prado Group is separate from Prometheus, and has been around since 2003. Since then it has developed 80 residential, retail, office and mixed-use properties and maintains a value of $1.38 billion. Over the years numerous evictions have taken place in their residential buildings. Recently the company absorbed 20 buildings previously owned by Veritas Investments, San Francisco’s largest and most notorious landlord with a rampant history of evictions. Essentially Veritas sold mortgages tied to the 316-unit portfolio to Prado for $124 million in October. In part due to Veritas’s slumlord behaviors, tenants across its hundreds of buildings have organized the Veritas Tenants Association to fight back and protect their homes. Hopefully tenants in Prado’s new buildings will do the same.

    Peter "Bubble Boy" Iskandar

    Trident Real Estate, Master Builders

    Also known as Ichi Nuts LLC, Mai Mai Inc, Mee Shing Incorporated, and North Beach Native Inc

    San Francisco corporate evictor
    Community-Nominated Evictor
    Peter Iskandar

    Funded By

  • First National Bank of Northern California
  • Tri Counties Bank
  • Primary business address
    3 Stark St San Francisco Ca

    Active since 2013

    In an ownership network with

  • 9 businesses
  • 3 other owners

  • See Lee B. Do, LLC's portfolio

    Peter Iskandar (aka “Bubble Boy”) is a serial evictor who has historically weaponized the Ellis Act to remove elderly residents from their homes. One resident who had lived in his 531 Greenwich Street apartment for 56 years – longer than Iskandar had been alive – was now facing eviction. Another resident in the same building who was also actively at risk of displacement, was 70 years old at the time and battling cancer; now she was fighting for her home, too. We’ve kept an eye on Iskandar for the past decade, through company rebrands, shifting property ownership, and numerous evictions. 

    Iskandar’s previous company, Bubble Real Estate, rebranded in 2019 and is now known as Trident Real Estate. In addition to residential, Trident Real Estate has expanded to include commercial and investment real estate services. Today, Iskandar continues to evict. However, his eviction methods appear to have changed from invocation of the Ellis Act to constructive eviction, or when a landlord attempts to force the eviction of a tenant by making the property uninhabitable

    In fact, a wrongful eviction case by tenants against Peter Iskandar on grounds of 1) nuisance, 2) breach of implied warranty of habitability, 3) breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment,  4) negligence, 5) wrongful eviction, 6) tenant harassment, among various violations of civil codes is currently ongoing. To add insult to injury, Peter Iskandar tends to favor off-color company names such as Ichi Nuts LLC, Lee B Do LLC, and Bubble Real Estate.

    Iskandar also owns Master Builders, infamous for “renovictions” and seismic retrofit ousting of tenants, especially around North Beach and Tel Hill. Master Builders is also doing business in Chinatown and operates out of the same office as Trident Real Estate.

    Stephen M. Ross

    Related Company

    Also known as California Urban Investment Partners LLC, RA Equity Services LLC, RA Capital Tax Credit Fund Vi LLC, and Related Grand Avenue LLC

    San Francisco nonprofit and low-income housing evictor
    Stephen Ross

    Funded By

  • HSBC Bank USA
  • US Bank
  • Deutsche Bank
  • Primary business address
    30 Hudson Yards New York Ny 72ND Fl

    Active since 1994

    In an ownership network with

  • 170 businesses
  • 57 other owners

  • See The Related Realty Group, Inc.'s portfolio

    The Related Companies, or Related Co, is a privately held New York City developer and landlord and was founded by Stephen Ross in 1972, then known as Related Housing Companies. It soon after began to lead in financing and development for government-assisted affordable housing. It continued to grow by leaps and bounds. In 2006, it purchased Equinox® Holdings, Inc., absorbing the fitness and lifestyle arena and signaling its move towards luxury residential housing. The following year, it launched partnerships with Goldman Sachs and a number of other elite companies. It then began expanding to a number of cities, including San Francisco where it operates buildings such as Fifteen Fifty, The Avery, Avery 450, The Paramount, and Mason on Mariposa. These are generally advertised as luxury rentals, equipped with amenities such as 24-Hour Attended Lobbies with Concierges, Fitness Centers, Resident Sky Lounges, Coworking Spaces, Courtyards and Gardens, Rooftop Decks, and even Valet Dry Cleaning Services. Their assets total $60 billion, and as of February 2021, Related was ready to spend $882 million on additional capital expenditures. Related also manages about $4 billion of equity capital on behalf of sovereign wealth funds, public pension plans, multi-managers, endowments, Taft-Hartley benefits plans, and family offices.

    Jack Gardner (CEO and Board Chair)

    John Stewart Company

    Also known as Neighborhood Partners LLC, Devine and Gong Inc, Jsco Ca Corridor LLC, and Delta Senior Housing Communities Inc

    San Francisco nonprofit and low-income housing evictor
    Jack Gardner

    Funded By

  • California Statewide Communities Development Authority, Citibank West FSB, PW Funding
  • Primary business address
    1388 Sutter St San Francisco Ca 11TH Fl

    Active since 1978

    In an ownership network with

  • 131 businesses
  • 29 other owners

  • See John Stewart Company's portfolio

    My constitutional and tenant’s rights were violated in John Stewart Co.’s subsidized HUD housing on Treasure Island!” — article in Bayview

    The John Stewart Company was built by real estate magnate John K. Stewart in 1978, who then passed away in 2020. Today as a developer and property manager, the company maintains and manages 400 properties across the state and over 30,000 residential units, which are home to over 100,000 California residents. Stewart had initially claimed that he was attracted to archaic “brain damage” projects that required public and private funding to fix. Mercy Family Plaza on Hayes Street, and Del Norte Place in El Cerrito, were two of his first attempts at remediation. 

    John Stewart Company has a history of abuse and negligence towards its renters. In 2019, Judge Richard B. Ulmer Jr. barred the Company from evicting a low-income mother and her five children from Valencia Gardens, on the basis that the children’s father visiting constituted an illegal occupant. This was not the first unethical attempted eviction at Valencia Gardens. The Company also attempted to remove 18-year-old Terrance Hall from his apartment following the death of his grandmother from cancer. The Company’s actions were described by Judge Ulmer as “at minimum, bad faith and establishes unclean hands.”

    The John Stewart Company has also faced coverage for mismanagement of maintenance at SF public housing like Plaza East Apartments. These complaints have also occurred at properties the Company owns in San Jose, where residents at properties such as Renascent Place are now litigating John Stewart Company’s history of abuse and actions that involve “deactivating room keycards, maintenance workers entering residences without permission and cars being towed at an alarming rate.” The building’s living conditions included exposed wiring, broken windows, and mildew. The affected population of Renascent Place is predominantly low-income and people who are disabled.

    The John Stewart Company acts primarily as a property manager. Data sources like the San Francisco Assessor's Office, which Evictorbook draws from, thus do not report the Company as owning many properties.

    Tenderloin Housing Clinic

    Also known as Access Port Inc, Beyond Chron LLC, City Housing Inc, and Kaled Properties Inc

    San Francisco nonprofit and low-income housing evictor
    Tenderloin Housing Clinic logo

    Primary business address
    126 Hyde St San Francisco Ca

    Active since 1980

    In an ownership network with

  • 6 businesses
  • 4 other owners

  • See Tenderloin Housing Clinic, Inc.'s portfolio

    Founded in 1980, the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC) is a Housing First 501(c)3 non-profit organization that states its mission is “to prevent tenant displacement, to preserve and expand the City’s low cost housing stock, and to provide comprehensive legal assistance to low income tenants.” However, THC is also responsible for 5,298 eviction notices and 182 evictions between 2016 through 2020. While these evictions are usually used as “leverage to change tenant behavior” and only occasionally result in tenant displacement, they are still disturbing to tenants whose homes can be on the table as a bargaining chip. Many tenants, particularly in affordable housing, are burdened with poverty, addiction, and mental health issues. Some argue that the added stress of potentially being torn from their home is undue. Certainly, the work of THC to find homes and advocate for people who are under-housed goes beyond the number of tenants displaced (7.9%). Still, in the spirit of transparency, we nevertheless think it pertinent to include the eviction figures attributed to the THC in our report.

    The THC is an anomaly in its property management system, resulting in deflated eviction counts in tools like Evictorbook. The THC is a participant in San Francisco’s “Master Lease” program, through which it leases and manages properties that are privately owned — thus, evictions that the THC is responsible for can be erroneously attributed to private landlords instead.

    Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC)

    Also known as Turk Street Inc, Allen Community Development Corporation, 1500 Mission Housing Partners GP LLC, and Ellis Street Inc

    San Francisco nonprofit and low-income housing evictor

    Primary business address
    201 Eddy St San Francisco Ca

    Active since 1981

    In an ownership network with

  • 128 businesses
  • 19 other owners

  • See Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation's portfolio

    The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) was founded in 1981 with one renovation of a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel. Today, the TNDC operates 45 buildings in over 7 neighborhoods in San Francisco, and reports that it plans to operate 56 buildings and more than 5,500 units by 2025. The TNDC is one of the largest affordable housing providers in San Francisco, and the largest that operates exclusively within the city.

    The TNDC was led by Kelly Cullen until 2005, when Donald Falk took over as CEO. Falk ended his position as CEO in 2021, when Maurilio León became TNDC’s current CEO. Over thirty years, the organization has expanded beyond housing services alone and also offers health and wellness programs, social work services, and hosts an eight-person community organizing team.

    But the TNDC is not an exception when it comes to evicting tenants. In 2021, TNDC planned to continue eviction proceedings for Shawanna Holmes, a Black woman with children, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting an organizing campaign from the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco. Reporting from 2022 found 595 eviction notices, 346 court notices, and 190 total evictions from TNDC.

    TNDC has also demonstrated where their internal priorities lie as an organization. According to the San Francisco Homeless Tenants Union, TNDC laid off half of their staff in a “major union busting effort”, another move directly in contradiction with their stated mission.

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    William Rosetti

    CRC Development LLC, J&R Land and Cattle Co. L.P., and many others

    Also known as Rosecapp LLC, Cappico LLC, 522-532 20th Street GP LLC, and 1888 Mlk Qof GP LLC

    Oakland nonprofit and low-income housing evictor
    William Rosetti

    Funded By

  • JP Morgan Chase, First Republic Bank, Bank of Marin, SunTrust Mortgage (now Truist), Beneficial State Bank
  • Primary business address
    364 41ST St Oakland Ca

    Active since 2007

    In an ownership network with

  • 86 businesses
  • 32 other owners

  • See Crc Development LLC's portfolio

    “This is the WORST of the worst when it comes to slumlord landlords. They basically buy all the apartment buildings up as they come for sale and then mark them up for 30 million a piece so that no one else can own them also.” — Yelp review of J&R Associates property

    William J. Rosetti is associated with over one hundred companies, LLCs and speculative real estate partnerships across the San Francisco Bay Area.  Partnering with other large property holders such as Christine Davis of Baltic Property Ventures, Frederick O. Lewis of California Affordable Housing Group LLC and the Robert E. Faussner Trust, Rosetti's shell companies are associated with over 4000 eviction notices in Alameda County between 2008 and 2015, and more than 500 Unlawful Detainers in the last ten years through companies such as J&R Land & Cattle Co. L.P. As described on one of his company websites, Bill was “at the forefront of the condominium conversion business in San Francisco in the 1970's and 1980's,” acquiring dozens of multi-family buildings comprising thousands of units for condo conversion, before San Francisco regulated the conversions in 1979 to stem the tide of rental unit loss and tenant displacement. As a Board Member of SPUR, and a Founding Member of the "Jobs and Housing Coalition," Rosetti understands how to influence policy to increase profits, with Oakland as the current site of wealth extraction for Rosetti and associates. He has sat on Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s “Housing Cabinet'' and has worn different hats for various working groups who advise the city on housing policy and implementation. Rosetti also provides a service to other property holders seeking to “upgrade” their properties and profits while receiving tax advantage and tax avoidance.

    Neill Sullivan

    Sullivan Management Company, LLC (East Bay), REO Homes of Oakland, Urban Nest Properties

    Also known as 302 East Ocean Front Management Inc, Big N Properties LLC, Canaveral Properties Inc, and Embarcadero Health Club Ltd LP

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • Bank of the West
  • First Republic Bank
  • Primary business address
    111 Broadway Oakland Ca 101

    Active since 2008

    In an ownership network with

  • 25 businesses
  • 2 other owners

  • See Sullivan Management Company, LLC's portfolio

    “Tenants of Sullivan Management have complained of bad management practices, mold problems, carbon monoxide leaks, and other serious repair issues, as well as inconsistent response when tenants called with problems. We found that Sullivan Management is charging rents that are two to three times as much as rents were a few years ago in the same neighborhoods, and that most of his tenants have moved in from San Francisco.”

    — Claire Haas, organizer with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, to Darwin BondGraham in the East Bay Express.

    The list of Oakland properties in the hands of Neill Sullivan’s Sullivan Management Company (East Bay) and REO Homes is staggering. According to Rent Adjustment Program (RAP) data in Oakland, Sullivan served over 357 eviction notices between 2010 and 2015. REO Homes acquired hundreds of Oakland single family homes in the foreclosure crisis. Neill Sullivan and his investors have put enormous effort into convincing themselves and others of the do-good nature of their speculation scheme, purchasing foreclosed homes to flip them into single family rental units. Sullivan paints himself as a savior to the “streets” of Oakland, yet even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, he continues to evict.

    In late March of 2020, the SMC Tenants Council formed to protest against Sullivan, demanding better conditions and relief during COVID-19. Residents had endured unresolved rat and mold infestations in their units, among other maladies. In retaliation to the newly formed union, SMC sent out “Quit or Pay notices” to be answered within 15 days, despite the tenant recipients being protected by pandemic-related eviction moratoriums. Aware of this and knowing their rights, the SMC Tenants Council organized a honking protest through downtown Oakland. In addition, the group sent emails to SMC East Bay demanding that the company rescind the 15 Day Notices. In a win for the union, SMC East Bay both cooperated with the request to rescind the notices and responded to their email–a response the group considered as an act of recognition. Thomas Steyer was an original funder who made it possible for Sullivan to purchase hundreds of buildings in West Oakland and evict foreclosed owners and their families. According to Darwin BondGraham, "The tens of millions of dollars that Sullivan raised to buy up these houses came from a wealthy network of hedge fund investors. A securities filing from September 2008 listed Thomas Steyer, Rajiv Patel, William Duhamel, and Ryan Schaper as investors in Sullivan's three funds."

    Frederick O. Lewis III

    California Affordable Housing Group, LLC and LP; Oakland Affordable Housing Group, LLC and LP; American Liberty Investments LLC

    Also known as American Liberty Investments LLC, Big Time World Championship Boxing and Kickboxing LLC, Diamond Terrace Condominiums Owners Association, and Meiko Federal Systems Inc

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • First Republic Bank, Bank of Guam
  • Primary business address
    990 Monterey Blvd San Francisco Ca

    Active since 1989

    In an ownership network with

  • 8 businesses
  • 6 other owners

  • This evictor is associated with multiple ownership networks:See California Affordable Housing Group, LLC's portfolioSee Central Valley Coalition For Affordable Housing's portfolio

    Through California Affordable Housing Group LLC, Lewis has issued at least 67 evictions. 

    In his own words, he has been part of:  “Changing the neighborhoods in Oakland block by block. Has renovated the toughest buildings no other owners could touch in East Oakland, East Palo Alto, North and South Sacramento, Stockton and South Fresno. Also purchase defaulted Notes in Foreclosure and Bankruptcy. Purchased, renovated and sold over $500,000,000 of California real estate for my own account.

    Reviews from former tenants via WYL: “Right when the shelter-in-place started he threatened late fees. He later sent out illegal forms trying to make everyone sign. He harasses tenants that lost their income and can't pay during the moratorium. He's a bad guy.” 

    “Most of the washers and dryers have been broken for over a year. They take our money and ruin clothes. The management took away our green bins violating city codes and won't return them. When I contacted Mr. Lewis he was dismissive and didn't do anything.”

    Lewis has partnered with serial evictor William Rosetti, who has been behind over 4,000 eviction notices in Oakland. According to the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder, Lewis is responsible for a Notice of mechanics lien in 2018; Subordination leases in 2016 to Sterling Bank & Trusts FSB; and Proof of Assignments of Rent in 1995.

    Although Evictorbook has many records of evictions at Lewis’ properties, these eviction records list the evictor with slight variations of the names of Lewis’ companies, making it difficult to match them systematically to the California Affordable Housing Group. We encourage users to explore Lewis’ properties on Evictorbook.

    Justin Douglas Wallway

    The Wallway Corporation

    Also known as 296 Mather Street LLC, 4514 Montgomery Condominium Homeowners Association, Bayoak Properties LLC, and California School Construction Inc

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • First Republic Bank
  • Primary business address
    15849 Donner Pass Rd Truckee Ca

    Active since 1980

    In an ownership network with

  • 17 businesses
  • 8 other owners

  • See The Wallway Corp.'s portfolio

    “The JDW Tenant Union has made repeated requests to arrange a meeting to negotiate with the property manager and landlords, who own 70 properties in the East Bay. Our requests have been ignored. Now we are calling their business associates to ask them to help get our landlords to negotiate with us.” Justin Douglas Wallway Tenants Union

    Justin Douglas Wallway owns over 70 properties in the East Bay. Repeatedly, he has used the Substantial Rehab rent control loophole to attempt to displace Oakland tenants. Funded by First Republic Bank and enabled by the City government of Oakland, JDW has inspired his tenants to organize against him. He has a history of evictions and home flipping, with partner Caleb Inman, serving at least 24 notices in a 5-year period and reselling a foreclosed home in 2009 for a 300% profit in 2 months. Timothy Larsen provides legal services for JDW Enterprises. Matt Baran is the architect who works with JDW Enterprises in most of their projects.

    The JDW Tenants’ Association members inhabit 30 buildings that Wallway is attempting to exempt from rent control. There are many loopholes in Oakland's rent control laws, but JDW’s weapon of choice was Substantial Rehabilitation. Normally reserved for decrepit buildings that have been fully refurbished, JDW was claiming this exemption despite the fact that they hadn’t done the quantity of upgrades required to qualify.

    Fortunately, the JDW Tenants Union persevered and closed the loophole with representation from Centro Legal de la Raza. Of the action, in 2020 one of the tenants stated, “We actually changed housing legislation. This battle took two years before it was won. This isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. These things that we want take time.” The tenants had also taken direct action earlier in the year by coordinating a parade of honking cars and protesting outside Wallway’s home.

    In 2021, the JDW Tenants’ Union continued to push back against ongoing building neglect and harassment targeted at low-income residents and tenants of color. As many tenant incomes were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, tenants organized a dial-a-thon to demand rent forgiveness and recognition.

    Lisa Wehrly

    Wedgewood

    Also known as Hmc Assets LLC, Falcon Ventures LLC, NWC Funding Group Inc, and Warmside Rentals LLC

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Primary business address
    2015 Manhattan Beach Blvd Redondo Beach Ca 100

    Active since 1995

    In an ownership network with

  • 239 businesses
  • 29 other owners

  • See Wedgewood's portfolio

    “At a Florida real estate conference in 2015, former CEO Geiser called house flipping 'hot and sexy' and claimed his company had bought and sold 3,000 homes in the past year, averaging about 250 foreclosure home purchases a month.” — Erin Baldassari and Molly Solomon in KBPS

    Wedgewood, run by President and CEO Lisa Wehrly, is a nationwide real estate firm that employs “predatory real estate practices” to amass a vast property portfolio largely comprised of homes bought at foreclosure and from which their homeowners and tenants were evicted. Such homes are then sold at much higher rates. Wedgewood follows a trend of “dishonest” and “deceptive” behavior in which tenants and homeowners are left with broken promises and without homes. In 2015, Wedgewood, in coordination with Wells Fargo and represented by Sam Singer, evicted a family of five from their home. Wells Fargo began returning the family’s mortgage payments after the homeowners requested loan modification due to job loss. Despite never having defaulted on their payments, the bank sold their home at auction to Wedgewood which flipped on their promise to sell the home back to its owners just like it flipped the house for more profit. Former CEO Geiser also personally sued the family when they legally gathered, along with the Alliance for Californians of Community Empowerment, on a public sidewalk to protest their eviction.

    More recently, Wedgewood was ordered by the State of California to pay $3.5 million in penalties following the firm’s impasse against Moms 4 Housing. Moms 4 Housing had been occupying a foreclosed property to protest against Wedgewood and to spotlight the disparity between available properties and the unhoused population in Oakland. The home they were occupying had been sitting vacant for two years prior. As the Moms made clear, there are four times as many empty homes in Oakland as there are people without homes.

    These examples are just two of hundreds of homes purchased by Wedgewood only to be sold for high profits at the cost of houseless families. The COVID-19 pandemic meltdown provided plenty for Wedgewood’s tentacles to grasp, buying up at least 276 properties in California alone. You can view a full map of their properties here. As of April 2, 2021, they were linked to 143 properties in the Bay Area and 719 across the state. Most of these are single-family homes over 60 years old, often in low-income neighborhoods. Singer meanwhile has continued to speak on behalf of capitalist and repressive interests in Oakland.

    Interview with Carroll Fife and Dominique Walker on behalf of Moms 4 Housing

    Michael Marr

    Community Realty Property Management LLC, Community Fund LLC

    Also known as 1032 Cri Inc, 1831 Cri Inc, 3577 Cri Inc, and 3805 North West Lane Associates

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • Bank of America
  • California Republic Bank
  • Washington Mutual Bank
  • America’s Wholesale Lender
  • Primary business address
    1032 E 14TH St San Leandro Ca

    Active since 1999

    In an ownership network with

  • 46 businesses
  • 35 other owners

  • See Community Realty Property Management Inc.'s portfolio

    “Michael Marr was a driving force behind a multi-year conspiracy to corrupt the public foreclosure auction process through a system of illegal payoffs.” — United States Department of Justice, in a press release describing Marr's crimes

    Michael Marr was found guilty of being a “key player” in illegally fixing bids at foreclosure auctions in violation of the Sherman Act between 2008 and 2011. Such properties were bid on at low rates by those in collusion and later included in a private bidding round offsite. 

    In 2017, he was convicted of conspiring to rig bids at foreclosure auctions in both Alameda and Contra Costa counties. This followed a 2014 indictment by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California.

    As of 2018, his company, Community Realty Property, owned between 280-330 houses and small apartment buildings, the majority of which are within Oakland. Many of the properties were purchased at foreclosure rates in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, resulting in numerous evictions across the city. Of the properties Marr didn’t sell at exponentially higher prices when the housing market recovered, the rest are managed by his property company, allowing him to continue to profit off of crushing rents. Even over the course of Marr’s hearings, he was serving eviction notices to tenants. In 2018, Marr was sentenced to prison for only 30 months.

    Danny Haber and Alon Gutman

    oWow, LLC; oWow Design, LLC; oWow Construction, LLC

    Also known as Ypp LLC, 1919 Crew LLC, 1919 Market GP LLC, and Svg Hadash LLC

    Oakland corporate evictor
    Danny Haber

    Funded By

  • Five Star Bank
  • Comerica Bank
  • Primary business address
    411 2ND St Oakland Ca

    Active since 2019

    In an ownership network with

  • 21 businesses
  • 3 other owners

  • See Owow Design LLC's portfolio

    "Growing up on Long Island, Haber always wanted to be an entrepreneur. He . . . majored in real estate and urban land economics. While still a student, he launched an online alcohol-delivery service called Campus Drank, which racked up $400,000 in fines (later reduced to $3,000) for selling booze to minors. After graduating in 2010, he moved to Israel. . . He left after two years with his sights set on Palo Alto. 'I had no friends there,” he says. “I just wanted to do another tech company.'” -- reporting from San Francisco Magazine, republished on Civicas.net

    Danny Haber and Alon Gutman have been behind a wave of displacement in both San Francisco and Oakland, most notoriously by capitalizing upon former single residency occupancy (SRO) housing to turn units into tech dorms, and by taking advantage of fires to flip buildings. After meeting and becoming friends in Mountain View’s Hacker Dojo, in 2012 the two bought an SRO in the SoMA neighborhood of San Francisco and transformed it to “The Negev,” a tech dorm for "communal" living. First using Airbnb and later developing their own website, they took living spaces from some of the poorest SRO residents. After being involved in multiple lawsuits in San Francisco, Haber et al. moved into Oakland, which has fewer protections for SRO tenants. There they developed their "disruptive" business, oWow.com, to rent out tiny shared housing spaces in Oakland, marketed through Facebook. Their takeover of the Travellers SRO in downtown Oakland resulted in displacement of all of the long-term senior and disabled tenants. After a large fire displaced the well known AK Press at 674 23rd Street in West Oakland and killed two people, Haber acquired the building. Soon afterward, real estate agent/owner Kim Marienthal sold him the building at 669 24th Street, where the fire started. Haber received funding for the purchase from evictor Seth Jacobson, the owner of 1919 Market Street, where long term live/work tenants were abruptly displaced due to the neglected conditions of the building. Back in San Francisco, their Park Hotel at 1040 Folsom Street was cleared of long term tenants after a fire. While the tenants were waiting for repairs to be able to move back in, the owner Nasir Patel, leased the building to Haber and Gutman, who were doing business as “The Negev.” Instead of the displaced tenants being contacted to move back into their rooms, The Negev opened as a tech dorm. Per a Craigslist ad: “$1250 Negev Folsom!: Family dinners on Sundays, parties every 3 weeks, yoga on Fridays, and weekly talks from well known people mostly in the technology world.” Some have described the tech dorm as having a “frat boy culture” with an extraordinarily high ratio of men to women.

    Seth Jacobson

    Coliseum Enterprise LLC

    Also known as 901 Jefferson Street LLC, Dwelling In Oakland LLC, El Pinal Associates LLC, and Timberline Funds LP

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • Western Alliance Bank
  • Umpqua Bank
  • Cathay Bank
  • Wells Fargo Bank
  • Primary business address
    655 3RD St Oakland Ca 66

    Active since 2006

    In an ownership network with

  • 37 businesses
  • 5 other owners

  • See Coliseum Enterprise, LLC's portfolio

    “​​They want to make everything smaller and make more revenue—that’s the underlying goal.” -- glass artist Andreas Lehmann, quoted by Natalie Orenstein in the Oaklandside

    Seth Jacobson, an evictor and CEO of Coliseum Enterprise LLC, is also owner of Thai Kitchen and a funder of top Oakland evictors, Danny Haber and Alon Gutman. While he owns several properties in the Oakland area, Jacobson favors live-work buildings as his victims for neglect and displacement. These tenants are very often lower-income communities of artists and craftspeople who’ve made their spaces home for decades.

    In 2013, Jacobson sold 1919 Market St, a property with “numerous code violations,” to Haber after the City of Oakland issued a notice to vacate due to public nuisance. The city allowed only three days’ notice for tenants to remove themselves from the building, and tenants cited frustration with the lack of communication from the city as well as from Jacobson. In the end, Haber demolished 1919 Market and converted it into a high-end live-work community.

    More recently, in August of 2022, Jacobson moved to renovate and subdivide 1341 58th Ave, a rent-controlled, live-work building that was formerly the headquarters of Safeway. Jacobson proposed to nearly double the units in the structure from 24 to 53, cutting the current tenants’ unit sizes in half under the guise of legalizing them. Planning Commissioners stated that the proposal, lacking a tenant protection plan and relying on city dollars to back the renovations, was “baffling” and “insulting.” Ultimately, tenant testimonies and pleas to remain in their homes convinced the Commission to block the proposal. Jacobson is allowed to return with a new proposal as long as it doesn’t displace tenants for any length of time. What remains to happen for the tenants is uncertain, but for now the tenants are cautiously optimistic about the win.

    Sarosh Kumana

    Claridge Hotel, SFrent.net, and Pinecrest Apartments

    Also known as Affordable Housing and Homeownership, Pip Holdings Inc, Pip Inc, and Affiliated Foundations Equipment Corporation

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • First Republic Bank
  • Opus Bank
  • JP Morgan and Chase Bank
  • Primary business address
    1201 Fulton St San Francisco Ca

    Active since 2014

    In an ownership network with

  • 33 businesses
  • 13 other owners

  • See Claridge Hotel LLC's portfolio

    “​​New landlord (Management) are NOT returning deposit to people." — Tenant review on Google Maps

    Angel Investor and real estate entrepreneur Sarosh Kumana owns the Claridge Hotel, the largest SRO Hotel in Oakland. There have been a large number of evictions there with the introduction of Pinecrest Apartments. Kumana is also the owner of SFRents, holding many multi-unit properties in the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Before being purchased by Kumana, the Claridge Hotel was an “Evangeline Home for working girls” owned by the Salvation Army, and offered single-room occupancy units (SROs) since the 1930s.

    According to recent reviews on Yelp and Google, Claridge Hotel units are infested with “all types of bugs.” Specifically, reviewers frequently complain of bedbugs and cockroaches. The SRO structure of the building means kitchens and bathrooms are shared by numerous tenants. One tenant complained, “I wake up every morning and I have to spend a good while searching all six stories for one bathroom with the least amount of feces and urine so I can take shower [sic]. It's so bad that sometimes so [sic] have to shower elsewhere other than my own place because it'll be that unsanitary.” Many tenants also note structural flaws and poorly maintained spaces including large holes in ceilings, walls, and roofs. Based on reviews of this property, tenants relocate as soon as their lease ends due to the wretched conditions and feelings of unsafety both inside and around the Claridge Hotel. Specifically, tenants have described incidents of harassment, break-ins, and management staff who don’t respond to urgent maintenance requests. There have also been numerous complaints against Kumana with the rent board about hot water not functioning. This being said, at least 220 evictions have been filed for the Claridge Hotel property alone. While it is uncertain where tenants find housing after eviction, the Claridge Hotel seems to already be a last resort for many.

    Check out this storymap of the loss of SRO units in Oakland made by the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project.

    Baljit Mann & Surinder Mann

    Dodg Corporation, SBMANN2, and the Friendly Cab Company

    Also known as A&o Services Inc, 3200 W Street Apartments LLC, 360 Air LLC, and 3sg Paintball LLC

    Oakland corporate evictor
    Dhar Mann, son of Baljit and Surinder Mann

    Funded By

  • Cathay Bank
  • East West Bank
  • India State Bank
  • Primary business address
    4849 E 12TH St Oakland Ca

    Active since 2008

    In an ownership network with

  • 274 businesses
  • 104 other owners

  • See Sbmann2, LLC's portfolio

    “​​Baljit Singh Mann and Surinder Mann, a married couple and members of an influential Oakland family that owns 130 commercial and residential properties, as well as a taxi company, had a ‘business practice renting dangerously converted spaces unfit for residential use to vulnerable tenants,’ wrote Judge Brad Seligman in his Sept. 1 decision.” — from Natalie Orenstein's reporting in the Oaklandside

    The married couple Baljit and Surinder Mann own over 130 properties in the Oakland area and have a history of at least 98 evictions between 2011 and 2021. They have owned and managed properties in Oakland since 1980. Most recently, the couple was sued for $3.9 million by the City of Oakland for renting hazardous and illegal units to tenants. Regarding the lawsuit, the judge stated that the couple has a “business practice renting dangerously converted spaces unfit for residential use to vulnerable tenants.” “Vulnerable” is an apt description as many tenants renting properties owned by the Mann family have low incomes and some don’t speak English. According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Center, “At least one family ended up temporarily homeless because of the landlords’ negligence.” The numerous heavy code violations and dangers posed by the willful negligence of Mann family are starting to catch up with them. In September 2021, along with the lawsuit, the couple was prohibited from leasing activities for the next five years and all leasing must be handed over to a property management company. That said, the couple still owns the disheveled units and what will become of the tenants is not yet certain.

    Harmit and Dharminder “Dhar” Mann are the sons of Baljit and Surinder. They also own dozens of properties around Oakland. Dhar Mann is a popular entrepreneur and Youtuber–ironically, most of his videos consist of morality plays. In 2013, Dhar Mann was charged with defrauding the City of Oakland with his own real estate company, MannEdge Properties. In a 2018 Yelp post, a reviewer said sarcastically of MannEdge: “...if you enjoy having a ceiling that was leaking so badly that eventually the roof caved in, even though you reported it several times and no one came to fix it.... then THIS is definitely a management company for you.” In contrast, Dhar Mann purchased a $15.5 million estate in 2020, also formerly owned by Khloe Kardashian.

    The Mann family also owns the Friendly Cab Company which operates a large fleet of taxis in the Oakland area.

    Alexander Riaz Taplin

    Riaz Capital

    Also known as Risa Investments LLC, Risa Manager 1 LLC, 2019 Riaz Ozone Fund GP LLC, and Abd Suites GP LLC

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Funded By

  • First Republic Bank
  • Bank of California
  • Silicon Valley Bank
  • Summit Bank
  • JP Morgan Chase
  • Wells Fargo
  • Primary business address
    2744 E 11TH St Oakland Ca

    Active since 2016

    In an ownership network with

  • 111 businesses
  • 23 other owners

  • See Hannah Park, LP's portfolio

    In 1970s San Francisco, Albert Taplin started Riaz Capital. From there, Albert’s son, Alexander Riaz Taplin, expanded the property development company across the Bay to Oakland. In Oakland, Riaz Capital has grown to be one of the city’s “most active developers,” with 1,700 buildings in its pipeline. Yet, in Oakland alone, over 240 evictions have been filed at properties within this ownership network.

    In a 2022 article from The Real Deal, Taplin positioned “homelessness” as the burden of the East Bay, an area encompassing 2.5 million people. He also insisted that the pandemic and work-from-homers are contributing to the “dead downtown”. According to the article, Taplin plans to move his business north into Berkley stating, “That’s what the whole Berkeley thing is about – a better quality of life for my customer.”

    Janos Gluck and Santano Derose

    Crown Fortune Properties Inc. and Dasf Filbert LLC

    Also known as Lsp LLC, 511 Vallejo LLC, Gb&t LLC, and Grant Green II LLC

    Oakland corporate evictor
    Janos Gluck at a 2015 ballet event

    Primary business address
    468 Green St San Francisco Ca

    Active since 2011

    In an ownership network with

  • 43 businesses
  • 13 other owners

  • See 1143 Mckinley, LLC's portfolio

    “This is the worst landlord experience I ever had.” — Yelp review

    Crown Fortune Properties, established in 1986, specializes in upscale apartment buildings and commercial real estate in the Bay Area. Their CEO and President is Janos Gluck, and our research also identifies Santino DeRose as an officer or owner acting for the company.

    Despite their own declaration that they are a “local, friendly firm,” Crown Fortune Property’s Yelp reviews for both San Francisco and Oakland portray the company as a slumlord, to say the least. As one tenant wrote about them from SF: “BE AWARE! This landlord is abusive, aggressive, threatening, and unresponsive. They would not return phone calls, emails, text messages. They did not return security deposits for 3 months! They would not fix anything in the building, and would not notify us when they switched off water to make some repairs which took them a month long and they did not notify us when they were doing some construction of the sidewalk that took them a week long and no warning on it, so you just listen to jackhammers all day long. This is the worst landlord experience I ever had.”

    An Oakland tenant meanwhile writes: “After moving into my studio apartment in Oakland that I pay $1300 a month for it didn't take me long to realize that it was filthy. I'm talking not cleaned at all. The windows were full of cobwebs and soot, the bathroom floor was covered in hair and black stains, the refrigerator had food in it...needless to say it was filthy and most importantly the tub was brown…. So while waiting to hear back from these people I tried with all of my might to clean the tub to discover that it was just badly stained with rust and I mean no words can explain how gross it looked. I forwarded pics of all of this and expressed that I could not bathe in it. I was told that based on the pics I could hire a housekeeper and they would pay up to $75 to reimburse me. The place needed far more than $75 worth of work. For two weeks I called and emailed about the issues with the tub being most important as I literally couldn't even stand in it. The owner CALLED ME AT WORK and yelled at me for at least 2 minutes straight not letting me get a word in telling me that if I didn't like it to just leave. I was in tears and couldn't respond as I didn't want my co-workers to hear me.”

    Reid Settlemier and Wayne Lipman

    Redwood Property Investors III LLC

    Also known as Rpi Holdings Management LLC, Redwood Property Investors II LLC, Bay Point Venture One LLC, and Bigge Development Company

    Oakland corporate evictor
    Reid Settlemier

    Primary business address
    360 Grand Ave Oakland Ca 340

    Active since 2015

    In an ownership network with

  • 52 businesses
  • 20 other owners

  • See Redwood Property Investors Iii, LLC's portfolio

    “Unprofessional is an understatement. I've been asking about an exterminator for a year and they don't care. My heater doesn't work they don't care. My mailbox doesn't lock they don't care. Mold is forming under the kitchen sink due to bad plumbing work they don't care. I don't have an assigned park space on the property they don't care. The on site "manager" harasses, bullys and stalks myself and anyone who visits they don't care. My apartment is falling apart they don't care. The apartments themselves are falling apart they don't care. I can't wait to get out of this dump.” — Tenant review on Google Maps

    Reid Settlemier is the managing director for Redwood Property Investors Iii LLC (formerly Settlemier Properties LLC), a property management firm in Oakland with residential rental properties in at least nine other Northern California cities. According to the company’s website, Redwood Property Investors is a self-described “leader in transforming undervalued multi-family properties” and states, “We invest in underperforming assets with the goal of creating quality communities through unparalleled rehab construction work and active management efforts.”

    This ownership network’s greed and willingness to displace long-time tenants is apparent. On the Yelp page for Reco Investors (another LLC within this network), a reviewer recalled their experience with Reid Settlemier at a “committee hearing” discussing rent control in Alameda county, “Though many of my neighbors showed and expressed that they would like to see a slower progression of this rent increase, mine was 70%, Reed expressed that he's not here to 'give charity' to anyone that lives here. Some of us have been here for over 10 years. Reed expressed that he gives his money to the Oakland Zoo and to his church, but he doesn't give out charity to people he doesn't know. He even stated, ‘I don't know these people. I'm not giving any money to them’...and he said this statement, differently, 3 times. I didn't hear one person ask him for money. I only heard these families and individuals ask for the willingness to be worked with until they could find a solution for themselves. Not forever, not even for years - just some time.”

    Cockroach infestations, mold, harassment, increased rents, poor communication, and disrepair are frequent complaints among the company’s Yelp and Google reviews.

    As brothers, Reid and Weston Settlemier are also heirs to Bigge Crane, an industrial crane company with 23 locations across the US (six in Northern California, alone), and which boasts projects like the Golden Gate Bridge as accomplishments.

    Also entangled in this  ownership network is Wayne Lippman. Lippman, a former real estate investor in Northern California, pled guilty in 2015 for his “role in conspiracies to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.”

    Sanjay and Gaurav Khanna

    Premium Properties, Reliable Partner LLC

    Also known as 2021 Premium Investments LLC, 2941 Telegraph Avenue LLC, 3075-89 Telegraph LLC, and 3075 Telegraph LLC

    Oakland corporate evictor

    Primary business address
    29 Orinda Way Orinda Ca 588

    Active since 2013

    In an ownership network with

  • 31 businesses
  • 16 other owners

  • See Reliable Partner LLC's portfolio

    Without a doubt, these two parasites are the worst type of techie-trash currently destroying our region.” — Friends of 36MLK, in the East Bay

    Guarav Khanna and Sanjay Khanna recently evicted the Coyote Bush Collective Garden at 15th Street at Peralta Street. In March 2022, the county auctioned the site at an annual online sale of tax-defaulted properties, mandated by the state.

    As one of the evictees reported to us, “They didn’t bother to visit the lot before buying it at a tax auction and then wouldn’t work with us when we tried to raise money to buy the lot. The county offered them a full refund which they won’t accept. They want to build market rate housing on a lot that is less than 30 feet wide surrounded by single family homes. They broke in legally before filing any paperwork, even the police told them to leave. We lost our unlawful detainer trial; we sued them in small claims court for their illegal break in, and they counter sued. They also destroyed our tiny homes and property we left behind because we didn’t have time to move it all amidst the constant rain and limited time those two weeks (in December 2022/January 2023).” Part of the problem for these tenants has been that they were not “legal tenants,” though they were squatting and living there for 15 years. They are now going to be representing themselves in court.

    The Khannas also purchased 37MLK on the corner of 37th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, also through auction. Both the Coyote Bush Collective and 37MLK are technically unsanctioned communities of people living in tiny wooden houses. There are at least seven who will again be homeless if the Khannas succeed. Per resident Rayetta Delores Simon-Dixon, the 37MLK community has provided much needed housing stability. “I don’t feel homeless here... If we have to go, I know I’m going to be the first one to start crying.” Most of the residents there are Black, and they are in community with many of their surrounding neighbors.

    As one tenant reported, “I know it’s more of the same that is happening to everyone. That’s why they get away with it. Gentrification is the norm and the trauma it causes is severe and consistent.”

    Guarav Khanna lives at 1366 Francisco Street, San Francisco, CA 94123. Sanjay Khanna’s business address is 825 Colorado Blvd. suite 219 Los Angeles, CA 94001. Sanjay is a real estate broker in San Francisco.

    More about the Khannas and the evictions can be found here.

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