Chestnut Holdings Lawsuit: Lead Paint, Vouchers, Bankruptcy

Chestnut Holdings of New York, Inc., a Bronx-based landlord that manages roughly 6,000 apartments across about 134 buildings, has been the subject of several lawsuits and enforcement actions since 2020. The Chestnut Holdings lawsuit history includes a New York Attorney General case over lead paint that settled for $300,000, a tenant suit alleging illegal refusal to rent to housing voucher holders, a breach-of-contract action by the company’s former chief operating officer, and a contested bankruptcy sale involving a buyer tied to the owner’s family. The company, founded in the 1990s by Jonathan Wiener, has denied wrongdoing in the actions where it has responded publicly.

Attorney General Lead Paint Lawsuit and Settlement

On February 27, 2020, Attorney General Letitia James sued Chestnut Holdings in Bronx County Supreme Court under index number 22837/2020E, alleging systematic violations of the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act.¹ The complaint accused the company of failing to identify apartments where children under six lived, skipping mandatory annual lead inspections, neglecting required remediation when tenants moved out, and fraudulently certifying compliance in new leases. The investigation identified roughly 600 children under six receiving SNAP benefits living in the company’s buildings.²

The case settled on September 23, 2021. Chestnut Holdings agreed to pay $300,000 to fund lead poisoning prevention initiatives and to bring its full portfolio into compliance with the law.³ The consent order required the company to identify all units housing young children, conduct annual lead investigations, resolve any hazards within 90 days, inspect and remediate lead paint at every turnover, resolve existing HPD violations (codes 616 and 617) within 180 days, keep compliance records for ten years, and submit annual reports through 2023. Any future violation of the underlying law would constitute a breach of the settlement. Chestnut denied the allegations as part of the agreement.⁴

Housing Voucher Discrimination Lawsuit

On November 10, 2021, Legal Services NYC filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court on behalf of eight tenants who alleged that Chestnut Holdings and its brokers illegally refused to rent apartments to people who planned to pay with government housing vouchers, including FHEPS, CityFHEPS, and HRA subsidies.⁵ Under New York City and state human rights laws, landlords cannot reject tenants based on lawful source of income.

Named plaintiffs Mallery Morrison and Harvey Lindo said they were turned away or ignored once they disclosed their vouchers. One broker allegedly told a prospective tenant, “I have been working with them for thirty years and they do not take voucher holders.” Another said CityFHEPS applications “never get through” because management always picks applicants without government assistance. The complaint also cited testing evidence: an NYC Human Rights Commission tester who claimed employment-based income was invited to begin the rental process for an apartment that had been denied to a voucher-holding plaintiff.⁶

The company denied the accusations. Its attorney, Russell Shank, said Chestnut has hundreds of current tenants who pay with vouchers and that it never received applications from seven of the eight plaintiffs.⁶ The plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, mandatory policy changes and fair housing training for all Chestnut agents and brokers, and monetary damages.⁵ Available records do not show a reported resolution as of mid-2026.

Former COO’s Breach of Contract Suit

In June 2025, Benjamin Rieder, Chestnut Holdings’ former chief operating officer, sued the company and Jonathan Wiener personally in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case, Rieder v. Chestnut Holdings of New York, Inc., 1:25-cv-05173, was assigned to Judge Analisa Torres.⁷

Rieder served as COO from July 2009 until his termination on May 31, 2024. He alleges that a 2009 retirement agreement entitled him to a lump-sum payment of $1,476,814 within 60 days of leaving, and that the company refused to pay. His second amended complaint, filed November 10, 2025, asserts breach of contract and violations of New York Labor Law Article 6, which governs the payment of wages. He seeks the full retirement amount plus interest, liquidated damages, and attorneys’ fees.⁸ Chestnut and Wiener answered and filed a counterclaim in January 2026. By May 2026 the parties had filed multiple stipulations of voluntary dismissal, suggesting a settlement, but the clerk’s office repeatedly flagged those filings as deficient and no final order of dismissal had been entered as of the last docket update on May 21, 2026.⁷

The Broadway Realty Bankruptcy and Summit Gold Connection

Chestnut Holdings itself did not file for bankruptcy, but Jonathan Wiener and his other companies became central figures in a 2025 Chapter 11 case involving his brother’s real estate business. In May 2025, Broadway Realty I Co., LLC and 81 affiliated entities — part of Pinnacle Group, founded by Joel Wiener — filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, covering roughly 93 buildings and 5,200 apartments.⁹

The proposed buyer, Summit Gold, Inc., led by managing director Zohar Levy, submitted a $451 million stalking horse bid.¹⁰ Summit already owned about 90 New York City residential properties totaling roughly 3,000 units, and those buildings were managed by Denali Management, Jonathan Wiener’s firm. Since 2021, Summit had funded 85–95% of property acquisitions while Denali and Wiener contributed the remainder and handled operations.¹¹ Chestnut Holdings stated publicly that it had “neither any business connection to Pinnacle nor any connection whatsoever to any Summit bid for Pinnacle properties.”

The Legal Aid Society, representing the Union of Pinnacle Tenants, objected on January 11, 2026, arguing that Summit had not shown the capacity to manage the portfolio safely and citing 1,918 immediately hazardous class C violations already open across the Pinnacle buildings. The objection also questioned whether the sale was at arm’s length given the family relationship.⁹ The Attorney General’s Housing Protection Unit filed its own declaration reporting that Summit’s existing 90-building portfolio already carried more than 4,000 open Housing Maintenance Code violations, calling the count “incredibly high” and evidence of “neglect, disrepair and failure to comply with housing law.”¹¹

The bankruptcy court overruled the objections and approved the sale on January 16, 2026, issuing a written opinion on January 19. It found that Summit’s remediation plan met the Bankruptcy Code’s “adequate assurance” requirements, noted a $113 million equity investment, a debt reduction of more than $275 million, and a $30 million commitment over five years (including $10 million specifically for housing code violations), and rejected the argument that Summit was an “insider” of the debtor. A post-hearing stay application was denied.¹²

Tenant Complaints and Worst Landlord Listings

The lawsuits sit alongside a longer record of tenant complaints. A report by the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center and Community Action for Safe Apartments surveyed 172 tenants across 23 Chestnut buildings and found that 81% had been charged non-rent fees averaging $671 per bill, with more than half facing legal fees averaging over $1,000. Tenants reported charges for air conditioners, washing machines, painting, and “HPD violation fees” that appeared to pass the company’s own regulatory fines to residents, along with three-day eviction notices tied to unpaid non-rent fees even when rent itself was current.¹³

Conditions have remained a flashpoint. In May 2025, South Bronx tenants organized by the Chestnut Tenant Coalition and the Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association rallied outside the company’s Riverdale office over rodent and roach infestations, collapsing ceilings, broken front doors held together with duct tape, and crumbling plumbing. Property manager Cesar Morales met with tenants and said the company was making progress, blaming delays on lack of access to units. The coalition called the response “lip service.”¹⁴ At a later rally, no company representative came outside to speak with tenants, according to News 12 Bronx.¹⁵ Denali Management said it would “work diligently to address repair requests at all properties that we manage.”

Jonathan Wiener has appeared on Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ Landlord Watchlist and on the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition’s “Worst Evictors” list, both in 2021.¹⁰ The Public Advocate’s office has continued to rank the company among the city’s worst landlords.¹⁴

1
NY Attorney General. AG James Takes Action to Protect Tenants From Lead Poisoning
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The Real Deal. Attorney General Sues Chestnut Holdings for Lead Paint
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NYC HPD. Attorney General James and HPD Take Action to Protect Children and Families From Lead Poisoning
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NY Attorney General. Consent Order and Judgment, Index No. 22837/2020E
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Legal Services NYC. Tenants Sue Chestnut Holdings Brokers for Source of Income Discrimination
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CitySignal. 8 New Yorkers Sue Chestnut Holdings for Housing Discrimination
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CourtListener. Rieder v. Chestnut Holdings of New York, Inc.
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Stretto. AG Filing Referencing Rieder Complaint
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Legal Aid NYC. Legal Aid Society/UPT Objection Filing
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Bisnow. Bidder for Pinnacle’s 5,000-Unit Portfolio Has Ties to Joel Wiener’s Brother
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Legal Aid NYC. AG Declaration in Broadway Realty Bankruptcy
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GovInfo. In Re Broadway Realty I Co., LLC, Court Opinion
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TakeRoot Justice. The Burden of Fees: How Affordable Housing Is Made Unaffordable
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ABC7 New York. South Bronx Tenants Hold Rally Against Chestnut Holdings
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News 12 Bronx. Tenants Rally Against Chestnut Holdings Over Unsafe Living Conditions