New Yorker Hotel Squatter Who Lived Rent-Free For Years Pleads Guilty After Attempting To Seize Ownership Of Historic NYC Landmark

New Yorker Hotel Squatter Who Lived Rent-Free For Years Pleads Guilty After Attempting To Seize Ownership Of Historic NYC Landmark

A longtime squatter named Mickey Barreto has officially pleaded guilty to fraud after admitting he falsified documents in a brazen attempt to take control of the New Yorker Hotel.

Barreto entered his plea on February 18 in New York Supreme Criminal Court, acknowledging that he uploaded forged property records to the city’s registry — including a fake deed “purporting to transfer ownership” of the hotel from the church to himself.

According to prosecutors, “Barreto then began holding himself out as the owner of the hotel, including demanding rent from one of the hotel’s tenants, registering the hotel under his name… and demanding the hotel’s bank transfer its accounts to him.”

The legal drama began after Barreto claimed a 2018 one-night stay entitled him to housing protections, allowing him to remain rent-free for years. As part of his plea deal, he was sentenced to six months in prison — time already served — and five years of probation.