The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced it reached a $4 million-plus civil settlement with a New Jersey landlord accused of sexually harassing tenants and housing applicants for more than 15 years.
Joseph Centanni, 74, of Mountainside has agreed to pay $4.39 million to a victims’ compensation fund for sexually harassing at least 20 of his tenants or housing applicants since 2005 in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The settlement must still be approved by the court.
Top Justice Department official Kristen Clarke said Mr. Centanni owned and managed hundreds of rental properties in and around Elizabeth where he would take victims to empty apartments, laundry rooms or storage boxes.
“He would do things like ask for massages, expose himself, demand oral sex and force people to touch him inappropriately,” Ms. Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said during a phone call with reporters.
Those who submitted to his demands could keep their housing or move in, while those who did not were evicted or their housing application was rejected.
He targeted women and men who are gay or bisexual and “many of these individuals were homeless and in desperate need of housing for themselves,” Ms. Clarke said.
“For many of his victims, if they lost their apartment, or were denied an apartment in the first place — they risk their lives being completely upended,” she said. “They risk losing the home in which they lived with their job. They risk not being able to find another landlord who would accept their housing assistance vouchers.”
Asked why Mr. Centanni was not caught earlier, a department spokesperson said, “All I can say is we learned of this behavior in 2019, and we took action quickly after that.”
Under the settlement agreement, Mr. Centanni must also pay $107,050 in civil penalties and sell all of his rental properties. He is also barred from owning or managing rental properties in the future.
The lawsuit stems from a 2017 initiative to crack down on sexual harassment in housing. Since then, officials have filed 25 related lawsuits and obtained $9.5 million in settlement payments. Tuesday’s settlement is the largest ever reached for a lawsuit linked to sexual harassment in housing, officials said.
Mr. Centanni is also facing charges in separate, ongoing criminal cases, including 13 counts of second-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree attempted sexual assault and 21 counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.
His attorneys, Raymond S. Londa and Joseph A. Hayden, Jr. of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, told The Washington Times on Tuesday that he “settled the matter to avoid protracted litigation.”
“As the consent decree itself states, it does not — in any way, shape, or form — constitute an admission or acknowledgment of wrongdoing or liability by Mr. Centanni,” they said. “He continues to deny the allegations made against him in this and other cases.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misattributed the comments from Mr. Centanni’s attorneys.
• Emily Zantow can be reached at ezantow@washingtontimes.com.
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