New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday announced a settlement with Spigro Management, LLC and its lead property manager Saul Friedman for illegally evicting people from their Brooklyn and Bronx homes by changing the locks on their apartment doors while they were not home.
An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General found Spigro unlawfully evicted individuals living in apartment buildings on at least four occasions. As a result of OAG’s intervention, Spigro will pay statutory and compensatory damages of $1,000 to $1,200 to the four unlawfully evicted victims in addition to $23,500 in penalties.
“Spigro callously violated the trust, safety, and privacy of occupants by illegally changing their locks while they were not home,” James said in a statement. “Attempting to evict people from their homes by sneaking in and changing the locks is as sinister as it is shameful."
Based in Brooklyn, Spigro manages more than 40 buildings including over 3,000 units throughout New York City. Many of these properties are cooperatives or condominiums with pre-conversion tenants remaining rent-stabilized.
In New York City, all lawful occupants who have resided for 30 days or more in their home have the right to remain in their home unless they choose to leave or are lawfully evicted through a court process. Surprise lockouts or “self-help evictions” are illegal.
In May 2025, OAG opened an investigation into Spigro after receiving complaints concerning illegal lockouts. The investigation revealed that on at least four occasions, Spigro had illegally evicted occupants from four different properties in Brooklyn and the Bronx between 2020 and 2025.
In one case, an adopted son of the tenant who had lived in a Spigro building in Brooklyn for more than 22 years came back to his apartment after taking out the
trash to find that his lock had been changed. The tenant’s mother had recently passed away, and Spigro claimed they believed his mother had lived alone in the
unit. The very next day, the same tenant found out from a neighbor that the landlord had been removing his possessions from the unit without permission.
In another case, a porter that resided in the basement of a building in Brooklyn was injured on the job and required surgery. He filed for workers’ compensation and when he returned home from surgery, he found that Spigro had changed his lock and terminated his employment. When the porter attempted to regain access to his unit, Spigro claimed he had never worked there, according to OAG.
Spigro will be obligated to create an “internal lockout” policy to ensure tenants’ locks are not changed without their knowledge, which will be monitored by the OAG for the next three years to ensure compliance.
