{"id":2569728,"date":"2026-02-13T13:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dc-attorney-general-uses-rico-act-to-charge-landlord\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T13:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:07:42","slug":"dc-attorney-general-uses-rico-act-to-charge-landlord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dc-attorney-general-uses-rico-act-to-charge-landlord\/","title":{"rendered":"DC attorney general uses RICO Act to charge landlord"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdc-attorney-general-uses-rico-act-to-charge-landlord%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2569728&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb announced civil charges under the RICO Act against landlord Sam Razjooyan, accusing him of running a \u201cslumlord empire\u201d through a Ponzi-like scheme that used <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/george-santos-wont-seek-reelection-after-damning-ethics-report\/\" title=\"George Santos Won&#039;t Seek Reelection After Damning Ethics Report\">false loan documents<\/a> to secure large loans for buying rent-controlled properties and defrauding the district\u2019s housing-subsidy programs by more than $16 million. He is also charged under the False Claims Act and the Consumer Protection Procedures Act. The AG\u2019s office says razjooyan has built a network of over 70 apartment buildings,mostly in Ward 7,where tenants faced no heat,dangerous wiring fires,and persistent foul odors,with thousands of housing-code violations alleged. Rather than targeting individual properties, the lawsuit seeks to dismantle the broader web of fraud at the core of the business model. Legal experts note that RICO focuses on the relationship between the individual and the group, and that a single person can be convicted if their wrongdoing was enabled by the group, a concept that has drawn recent public confusion in other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-will-hear-boston-marathon-bomber-execution-case\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Will Hear Boston Marathon Bomber Execution Case\">high-profile cases<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">DC attorney general uses RICO Act to charge landlord<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2504481\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington-dc\/\">District of Columbia<\/a> Attorney General Brian Schwalb said Thursday that his office is charging a landlord with the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act for running a &ldquo;slumlord empire.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Schwalb alleged that Sam Razjooyan ran a &ldquo;Ponzi-like&rdquo; scheme by submitting false loan documents to trick lenders into granting him large loans to purchase rent-controlled properties under the guise of profitable redevelopment and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fraud\/\">defrauded<\/a> the district&rsquo;s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/housing\/\">housing<\/a> subsidies programs by more than $16 million.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4456354\/fani-willis-slams-17-million-fees-from-trump-codefendants\/\">Fani Willis slams $17 million legal fees demand from Trump and former codefendants<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4453999\/lower-courts-undermine-trump-appeals-win-immigrant-detention\/\">Lower courts undermine Trump&#8217;s appeals court win on immigration detention<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4457092\/two-pakistani-nationals-indicted-in-10-million-medicare-fraud-scheme\/\">Two Pakistani nationals indicted in $10 million Medicare fraud scheme<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;We have uncovered evidence of a sprawling illegal enterprise,&rdquo; Schwalb said <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vDqKSKCc5oI\">at a press conference Thursday<\/a>. &ldquo;Today, we have filed a lawsuit to shut down the Razjooyan slumlord empire. The suit we filed this morning is a first-of-its-kind civil lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as the RICO Act.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Schwalb said the landlord is also being charged under two local laws, the False Claims Act and the Consumer Protection Procedures Act.<\/p>\n<p>Schwalb said his office has previously sued Razjooyan and his family&rsquo;s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/real-estate\/\">real estate<\/a> business for <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >numerous housing code violations<\/a> in their Ward 7 properties and for defrauding the district&rsquo;s rehousing program. He added that the Razjooyans have racked up 4,000 housing code violations across their properties.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of going after Razjooyan&rsquo;s individual properties, Schwalb said his office is going after the &ldquo;web of fraud and deception that is core to their business model.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Schwalb said Razjooyan has acquired over 70 apartment buildings, primarily located in Ward 7, in the last decade.<\/p>\n<p>Tenants in the landlord&rsquo;s buildings allegedly dealt with no heat during the winter months, fires due to faulty wiring, and constant foul odors.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.corvalaw.com\/elizabeth-geddes\">Liz Geddes<\/a>, a former federal prosecutor who previously worked for the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/confirmed-the-number-of-indefinitely-confined-wisconsin-voters-who-can-vote-without-ids-increased-from-60000-in-2016-to-over-200000-in-2020\/\" title=\"Confirmed: The Number of &#039;Indefinitely Confined&#039; Wisconsin Voters Who Can Vote without IDs Increased from 60,000 in 2016 to Over 200,000 in 2020\">attorney&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s office in the Eastern District of New York, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that while <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/rico\/\">RICO<\/a> charges are commonly used in gang and mob cases, they are not limited to those organizations.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a one-off person who&rsquo;s carrying out a string of crimes independent of others, but where someone is able to commit the crimes because they have this group,&rdquo; Geddes said.<\/p>\n<p>Geddes, a prosecutor who worked on the RICO case against disgraced R&amp;B musician R. Kelly, noted that recent RICO charges against <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/3835887\/mogul-to-inmate-sean-diddy-combs-sentenced-4-years\/\">Sean &ldquo;Diddy&rdquo; Combs<\/a> have created confusion for the public regarding how racketeering conspiracy works.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4457163\/arizona-sheriff-denies-report-blocked-key-guthrie-evidence-fbi\/\"><strong>ARIZONA SHERIFF DENIES REPORT HE BLOCKED KEY NANCY GUTHRIE EVIDENCE FROM FBI<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to Geddes, the core of the RICO charge is the relationship between the individual and the group.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The question is whether a single individual corrupts that group or uses that group for corrupt purposes to carry out a category of racket-sharing activity,&rdquo; Geddes said. &ldquo;It is perfectly permissible under the law to prosecute somebody and for that person to be convicted, even if they are the only person who carried out illegal activities, so long as they were able to carry out those illegal activities because they had the benefit of the group.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DC AG charges landlord under RICO for slumlord scheme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4130,"featured_media":2569729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP25227769824772.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[73684,4035,50501,27243,73765],"class_list":["post-2569728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-attorney-general-2","tag-charges","tag-dc-2","tag-landlord","tag-rico-act"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP25227769824772.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2569728"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2569732,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569728\/revisions\/2569732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2569729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2569728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2569728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2569728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}