Landlord accused of demanding sex from tenants in NJ must pay $4.5 million, feds say
A landlord accused of exploiting the “basic human need” for housing by demanding sex from tenants and housing applicants in New Jersey must pay $4.5 million to resolve a lawsuit, according to federal officials.
The accusations of sexual harassment against the landlord, who has owned hundreds of rental units in Elizabeth, 15 miles west of New York City, span more than 15 years.
Women and gay or bisexual men were targeted in Joseph Centanni’s accused sexual harassment and he’s agreed to pay $4.39 million to victims under the settlement that still needs approval by a federal judge in New Jersey, the Justice Department said in a Dec. 14 news release.
Centanni, of Mountainside, must also pay a $107,050 civil penalty to the U.S., according to officials.
He is accused of exploiting the need for housing “and the important federal programs that attempt to meet it, by threatening to deny his victims a roof over their heads if they did not submit to his demands for sexual acts,” U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig of the District of New Jersey said in a statement.
The settlement comes “without admission of liability or wrongdoing” from Centanni, it states.
From 2005 through 2019, Centanni is accused of demanding sexual favors, including oral sex, from those looking for housing as well as from his actual tenants to keep their housing, according to a complaint filed in an August 2020 lawsuit against Centanni.
Additionally, he “offered housing benefits, such as reduced rent in exchange for sexual favors; touched tenants and applicants in a way that was sexual and unwelcome; and made unwelcome sexual comments and advances to tenants and applicants,” the release said.
He is also accused of threatening eviction “against tenants who objected to or refused his sexual advances” and “exposing his genitals” to tenants and prospective ones, according to the complaint.
Centanni “settled the matter to avoid protractive litigation,” his attorney, Raymond Londa, told McClatchy News over the phone when asked about the settlement.
“He does not in any way, shape or form constitute an admission or acknowledgment of wrongdoing or liability by him,” Londa added of his client.
Centanni owned about 18 residential rental properties in Union County, according to the lawsuit’s complaint, that were “multi-family apartment buildings.”
In one instance of alleged sexual harassment in 2019, a female tenant asked Centanni if she could stay in her apartment longer after agreeing to move out due to difficulties finding a new home, the complaint said.
Centanni is accused of asking her “how bad do you want your apartment?” before exposing himself and demanding oral sex.
“Because she felt like she had no choice, the tenant submitted to Centanni’s sexual demand,” the complaint stated, adding that he then allowed her to stay in the apartment.
Two years prior in 2017, Centanni is accused of refusing to rent an apartment to a prospective female tenant after she declined his demand for oral sex.
He “asked her words to the effect of, ‘if I give you an apartment, what will you do for me?,’” the complaint detailed.
Centanni took part in a local rental assistance program called the Housing Choice Voucher Program and as of April 2020, around 120 of his tenants had Housing Choice Vouchers, according to the complaint, and he received about $102,000 each month from it.
All of Centanni’s residential rental properties have been sold and he is permanently banned from owning and managing any such properties in the future, the release said. He is being investigated in separate criminal prosecutions by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.
“He continues to deny the allegations made against him in this and in other cases,” Londa said.
If approved, this would be a historic settlement as it is the largest monetary amount obtained by the Justice Department in a sexual harassment case related to housing, according to the release.
The Justice Department advises anyone who believes they were sexually harassed by Centanni to contact “the Housing Discrimination Tip Line toll free, at 1-833-591-0291, and select option number one to leave a message.”
“This lawsuit and settlement send a clear message that the Department will not stand for landlords who ruthlessly abuse their power to prey on vulnerable members of our society,” Kristen Clarke, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.
McClatchy News reached out to the Justice Department for further comment and a spokesperson pointed to remarks made by Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig at a Dec. 14 press conference.
“According to our complaint, Joseph Centanni violated the Fair Housing Act,” Honig said. “He took advantage of Section 8 tenants, and others, who were in many cases living on the razor’s edge of housing insecurity.”
“For many of his victims, if they lost their apartment, or were denied an apartment in the first place, they risked their lives being completely upended,” Honig added. “They risked losing the home in which they lived with their children. They risked not being able to find another landlord who would accept their housing assistance vouchers.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Landlord accused of demanding sex from tenants in NJ must pay $4.5 million, feds say."
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