NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man who tried to claim ownership of the New Yorker Hotel has pleaded guilty to fraud, ending a long legal saga involving an arcane tenant law that allowed the man to live rent-free at the famed Manhattan hotel for years.

Mickey Barreto entered a plea Wednesday, admitting that he falsified property records to gain ownership of the hotel. At least on paper, the effort was partially successful.

According to Barreto, he and his boyfriend paid $200 in 2018 to rent one of the more than 1,000 rooms in the towering, oft-photographed Art Deco hotel. Barreto then requested a lease, claiming his one-night stay entitled him to protections under the city’s housing law, which applies to single-room occupants in buildings built before 1969.

When the hotel turned him away, he took the case to housing court. Barreto was granted the right to “own” the room after the hotel failed to send a lawyer to a key hearing.

But Manhattan prosecutors said Barreto then went a step further and defrauded the state by uploading a false deed to the city’s website purporting to transfer ownership of the entire building to himself.

The property is currently owned by the World Christian Unification Holy Spirit Association, which was founded in South Korea by the late pastor Sun Myung Moon, who claimed to be a savior. The church did not respond to an email inquiry.

Barreto then tried to collect rent from a hotel tenant and asked the hotel’s bank to transfer the account to him, according to prosecutors.

He was eventually evicted from the premises in 2024 and charged with multiple felony fraud counts. He was later found unfit to stand trial and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.

As part of his plea, Barreto was sentenced to six months in prison, which he already served, and five years of probation, a spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney said.

Barreto’s attorney, Brian Hutchinson, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Barreto previously told The Associated Press that the judge who granted him “possession” of the room indirectly gave him the entire building because it had never been subdivided.

“I never intended to commit any fraud. I don’t believe I ever committed any fraud,” Barreto said at the time. “And I never made a penny from it.”

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man who tried to claim ownership of the New Yorker Hotel has pleaded guilty to fraud, ending a long legal saga involving an arcane tenant law that allowed the man to live rent-free at the famed Manhattan hotel for years.

Mickey Barreto entered a plea Wednesday, admitting that he falsified property records to gain ownership of the hotel. At least on paper, the effort was partially successful.

According to Barreto, he and his boyfriend paid $200 in 2018 to rent one of the more than 1,000 rooms in the towering, oft-photographed Art Deco hotel. Barreto then requested a lease, claiming his one-night stay entitled him to protections under the city’s housing law, which applies to single-room occupants in buildings built before 1969.

When the hotel turned him away, he took the case to housing court. Barreto was granted the right to “own” the room after the hotel failed to send a lawyer to a key hearing.

But Manhattan prosecutors said Barreto then went a step further and defrauded the state by uploading a false deed to the city’s website purporting to transfer ownership of the entire building to himself.

The property is currently owned by the World Christian Unification Holy Spirit Association, which was founded in South Korea by the late pastor Sun Myung Moon, who claimed to be a savior. The church did not respond to an email inquiry.

Barreto then tried to collect rent from a hotel tenant and asked the hotel’s bank to transfer the account to him, according to prosecutors.

He was eventually evicted from the premises in 2024 and charged with multiple felony fraud counts. He was later found unfit to stand trial and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.

As part of his plea, Barreto was sentenced to six months in prison, which he already served, and five years of probation, a spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney said.

Barreto’s attorney, Brian Hutchinson, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Barreto previously told The Associated Press that the judge who granted him “possession” of the room indirectly gave him the entire building because it had never been subdivided.

“I never intended to commit any fraud. I don’t believe I ever committed any fraud,” Barreto said at the time. “And I never made a penny from it.”