But Pinnacle admitted no wrongdoing—and denied Cuomo's findings—in their agreement with the AG. In fact, "Pinnacle has never acknowledged any deliberate wrongdoing and certainly not on the scale that's being alleged, and no court or regulator has ever found deliberate wrongdoing," Fisher said. "That's not to say that Pinnacle hasn't made mistakes."
State regulators have documented some of those mistakes. "There have been many instances or cases where DHCR issued an order finding that a rent overcharge had occurred—and the rent was subsequently reduced and a refund ordered—for an apartment at a building owned by Pinnacle. We've also had a smaller amount of orders that reduce rent for decreases in services," says Jim Plastiras, a spokesman for the state Department of Housing and Community Renewal, which oversees rent regulated apartments.
But Plastiras adds: "We have not issued any orders where there has been a finding of harassment, however, and there have also been instances where we've issued orders to say there had not been an overcharge or a decrease in services."
Fisher says: “Pinnacle is proud if its record of providing safe and well-managed housing to thousands of New York families.” When the company makes mistakes, “they work hard to correct them when they do and the notion of some vast conspiracy as claimed in this lawsuit is completely overblown."
