NYS disciplined agents after Newsday's fair housing investigation

Abarca told a Black tester that “the only way” she works with prospective buyers is by having them sign contracts for her to be their exclusive buyer’s agent, though she did not impose the same requirement on a white tester, the state said in its complaint. She also offered her opinion on schools and local demographics and gave the white tester more listings in more predominantly white communities, the state alleged. Abarca testified that she was "suspicious" about the Black tester's criteria because it was the same criteria given by the white tester two months earlier, and she said she provided listings based on the testers’ requests, the administrative law judge's ruling showed. Her testimony appeared to be "a hindsight justification for her actions" and there was "substantial evidence" of "discriminatory behavior," the judge wrote. Abarca did not respond to requests for comment.

Bechand told a Black tester that she wouldn’t send her listings or take her to see homes without a mortgage prequalification letter, but she provided a white tester with 79 listings and took her on two house tours without requiring prequalification, Newsday's tests showed. The state opened an inquiry on Bechand "to investigate the allegations concerning discrimination as reported in the Newsday article," and it revoked her license in 2020 after reaching an agreement with her, the agency said by email. Bechand did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Sanghvi offered his opinions about school districts to a white tester, the administrative law judge's ruling shows. In a meeting video recorded by the tester, the agent said Huntington is a top school district, "But you don’t want to go there; it’s a mixed neighborhood ... residents wise. You have commercial, you have residential, you have white, you have Black, you have Latinos, you have Indians, you have Chinese, you have Koreans; everything. It’s a mini, mini United Nations." The administrative law judge wrote that Sanghvi’s comments were a “serious” but “single act” of discrimination, and he imposed a six-month suspension, along with a fine for discussing school districts in violation of industry ethical rules and a reprimand for not fulfilling continuing education requirements. The Department of State's Division of Licensing Services appealed the ruling. On appeal, the state overturned the judge’s decision and revoked Sanghvi's license. Sanghvi's comments, "meant to steer a home buyer away from a neighborhood solely due to its racial composition, are egregious" and show "he is unfit to act as a real estate licensee," the appeals officer wrote. Sanghvi did not respond to requests for comment.

The state alleged Amiryavari discriminated by questioning a Hispanic tester about his finances and requiring him to obtain a mortgage preapproval and sign an exclusive buyer’s agreement, but not requiring the same of a white tester, the administrative law judge's ruling shows. Amiryavari testified that the differences were related to his perception that the white tester appeared to be more motivated and knowledgeable about home-buying. The state also charged that he warned the white tester to avoid Elmont, a predominantly non-white area, and instead recommended areas with more predominantly white populations, such as Franklin Square and East Meadow. Amiryavari said he made those recommendations because the white tester said his wife worked at Nassau Community College. The administrative law judge found there was “no evidence" Amiryavari steered the testers to different areas based on their race. However, the judge ruled Amiryavari engaged in "unlawful discriminatory conduct" for imposing different requirements on the two testers and showed incompetency by discussing school ratings, which the judge wrote are a proxy for a neighborhood’s demographic makeup. He also found the agent did not meet continuing education requirements. Amiryavari did not respond to requests for comment.

Chowdhry advised a white tester to avoid areas of Long Island close to New York City, warning of the presence of a “mixed neighborhood like Guyana” and “that the closer you get to the city … the safety factor, it’ll go down.” He did not make similar comments to the Black tester. Chowdhry signed a consent order in July waiving his right to a hearing and acknowledging “engaging in discriminatory conduct” and “demonstrating untrustworthiness and/or incompetency” violating state real estate law. Chowdhry did not respond to requests for comment.

Two testers — one Black, one white — approached Geddie seeking homes priced up to $2.5 million. The state alleged, based on Newsday’s findings, that Geddie steered the Black tester toward more racially diverse areas while steering the white tester away from those areas. He also made a comment that the Hispanic community “took over” Springs, a hamlet in the Town of East Hampton. There was substantial evidence to conclude Geddie engaged in discriminatory conduct, an administrative law judge ruled. “The respondent’s behavior is the kind of behavior the Fair Housing Act was enacted to address,” the judge wrote. Giving his opinions about school districts “was an easy way to steer [the white tester] to the Sag Harbor and Southampton school districts which were less racially diverse.” At an online State Senate hearing in 2020, Geddie said any suggestion that he discriminated was "utterly unfounded." He said the difference in listings was "minor" and caused by a difference in the testers' preferred locations, and he said his comment about the Hispanic community was "clumsy" but intended to be positive: "It should be obvious, even to a casual listener, that this reference, in context, does not reflect discrimination." Geddie declined to comment.

The state alleged Petrelli provided unequal treatment when she made comments about school quality to a white tester but not a Black tester, among other charges. The administrative law judge dismissed an allegation that Petrelli discriminated by asking the Black woman but not the white woman for identification, after Petrelli testified she had changed her safety practices after a family member was killed. The judge also dismissed an allegation that she steered the two women, writing that “there is no direct evidence Ms. Petrelli’s disparate treatment of the testers was race-based.” However, the judge ruled against Petrelli when it came to her comments about schools. The Black tester told Petrelli that schools were "super important," but Petrelli "only briefly" discussed schools with her, the judge wrote. By contrast, she cautioned the white tester about a school district that includes Amityville, saying “you’re not going to like those schools,” instead recommending less diverse schools, the judge wrote. “While Ms. Petrelli’s bias may have been implicit rather than explicit, there is substantial evidence in the record from which it can be inferred her conduct was based on race,” the judge wrote. Petrelli said in a written statement to the state that the difference in her treatment of the testers was "based on geography not race," and her comment about Amityville was related to "declining resale values of homes" in that district. She did not respond to requests for comment.

The state charged that Rogers treated two testers — one Black, one white — unequally when they approached her seeking houses within 30 minutes of Bethpage priced around $550,000. Rogers spoke favorably of the Plainview and Bethpage school districts to the white tester and told the Black tester he should do his own research on school districts and take the information "with a grain of salt." She also said she was "confident" she could find a home in Plainview for the white tester but told the Black tester that Plainview was "expensive" unless he was willing to renovate a house to the "bones." The administrative law judge wrote that there was “insufficient evidence” that Rogers discriminated, but she concluded that Rogers’ comments about schools demonstrated incompetency, since industry codes of ethics require agents to avoid offering opinions about school districts. The licensing division appealed. The appeals officer overturned the judge’s decision and suspended Rogers' license, ruling that there was "substantial evidence" that Rogers "engaged in racial steering." In a lawsuit filed last year in state Supreme Court in Mineola seeking to overturn the decision, Rogers maintained she was responding to the two testers’ requests and to different market conditions at the time of the tests, about five months apart in 2016. She argued the Department of State imposed a penalty that was "disproportionately harsh ... particularly given the weakness of the evidence." A judge dismissed the lawsuit in January, after Rogers failed to appear at two court conferences. Rogers did not respond to requests for comment.

Tuxson met with two fair housing testers — one white, one Asian American — seeking homes near Bethpage for up to $500,000. Tuxson told the white tester, “I’m not going to send you anything in Wyandanch unless you don’t want to start your car to buy your crack, unless you just want to walk up the street.” She also made comments about the Amityville school district to both testers. To the white tester, she said: “You look at the school, if the school is in session, you look at the bus, who gets off the bus ….” Tuxson testified the comments about Amityville were meant "only to convey the importance of not just picking remodeled homes with pretty pictures but homes that align with your needs and preferences after doing your own research," state documents show. She noted that she provided similar listings to the two testers. The administrative law judge dismissed the case, calling the comment about Amityville a "stray remark" that was not made to direct the buyer toward or away from the village. The judge ruled the comment about Wyandanch referred to property value, not race. The state appealed. The official who heard the appeal, special deputy secretary of state Daniel E. Shapiro, wrote that while Tuxson did not violate fair housing law due to her "lack of ill intent," her "explicit references, made to both testers, regarding ethnicity and race in the context of school district research" were "inappropriate" and "troubling." The comments were not shown to be linked to an effort to steer the testers, but they "may be interpreted as providing a roadmap to a buyer who wishes to make a racially based purchase," he wrote. Shapiro suspended her license until she submitted proof that she had completed a fair housing course. She took the course the day she was notified about the suspension, June 9, 2022, her attorney, Christopher Cassar, said. Her license was reinstated the next day, according to the Department of State. In a written statement, Tuxson said: "In my 40-plus years as a broker, I have never been faced with a claim of discrimination, steering, or any other wrongdoing. In a hearing following Newsday’s 2019 publication, an Administrative Law Judge dismissed all claims of discrimination or steering against me raised in the article. Dismissal of those claims was upheld on appeal. It is disheartening that Newsday is attempting to try in the court of public opinion what has already been tried in a court of law, without concern for the harmful effects of its publications on my personal and professional life. As I have done once before, I look forward to putting this incident behind me and continuing to provide exemplary service to all clients across Long Island."

Vicquery met with a Black tester and a white tester seeking homes in the Brentwood area. The state charged Vicquery praised Brentwood to the Black tester but not to the white tester. She also sent a text message to the white tester, warning him to look into gang killings in Brentwood. In addition, the white tester received listings in more predominantly white areas than the Black tester did. Vicquery testified that a colleague sent the listings to the two testers. She also said she sent the text message because she learned of a gang-related incident shortly after meeting the white tester. She did not warn the Black tester since she had not been in direct contact with him for about two months, she testified. An administrative law judge dismissed the charges, writing that the state had not proven its case "by substantial evidence." The state appealed, and the appeals officer overturned the dismissal, writing that Vicquery told the Black tester she "always" praises Brentwood to her clients, but she did not praise it to the white tester. She had never before been subject to a disciplinary hearing and it was not necessary to revoke her license, but a penalty must be sufficient to "deter" others, he wrote. In 2022, Vicquery filed a lawsuit challenging the appeal ruling. Her attorneys withdrew the case following her death last year. In 2019, Vicquery told Newsday that when she met with the Black tester she had not been fully aware of gang violence in the area, but when she met with the white tester about two months later, she had just learned of a gang-related incident. "I understand that steering goes on and I am absolutely disgusted by it," Vicquery said at the time. "I can guarantee you I did not steer."

Two testers approached Giordano seeking $400,000 homes in the Brentwood area. The state charged that Giordano provided the white buyer with 152 listings and the Hispanic buyer with 74 listings. The white tester received four times more listings in the predominantly white Sachem Central School District than the Hispanic tester did. The Hispanic tester received 36 listings in the Brentwood and Bay Shore school districts, which have larger Hispanic student populations; the white tester was given none in those areas. The administrative law judge ruled Giordano did not discriminate, accepting her testimony that the differences in the number and locations of listings were related to “market conditions'' at the times she met with the testers, and to differences in the testers' requests. However, Giordano improperly initiated a discussion about schools with the buyers, “which establishes a level of incompetency sufficient to impose a fine,” the judge wrote. Giordano declined to comment. At a 2020 State Senate hearing, she said she has experienced bias based on ethnicity and other factors, and she said, "I never discriminate against anyone."

Johnson met with two testers seeking homes near Garden City for up to $500,000. The state alleged he discriminated by warning the white tester to avoid the Wyandanch school district and providing listings for homes in predominantly white communities, such as Merrick, Island Park, Rockville Centre and Oceanside. Johnson did not give the same warning to a Hispanic tester, to whom he provided listings in more diverse areas, including Baldwin, Elmont and the Malverne school district. Johnson testified that he has sold homes to minority clients in predominantly white communities on Long Island since 2010, and he said he had not engaged in discriminatory acts as a real estate agent. He also said he has faced racism as a Black man. He said he provided different listings to the two testers because they came to him a month apart and different houses were available using the same search criteria. The administrative law judge found that explanation “reasonable” and found insufficient evidence that Johnson discriminated. He fined Johnson because he described the Wyandanch school district as underperforming even though he admitted knowing he should not discuss the quality of schools. Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.

O’Brien met with two testers, one white and one Black, seeking $400,000 homes near Bay Shore. The state accused her of discrimination for telling the white tester to avoid homes in the Brentwood school district, but not giving the same advice to the Black tester. The administrative law judge wrote that the advice was “only one singular and lonely comment” in a longer conversation. There was not enough evidence of steering to find that she discriminated, the judge ruled. However, he wrote that agents are “required” by the industry's codes of ethics to recommend homes “without consideration of school district so as to avoid the infiltration of actual or implicit bias into the decision-making process.” Her discussion of schools merited a $500 fine, he wrote. The Department of State appealed, arguing that O’Brien “steered” the white buyer away from Brentwood, which the agency argued is discriminatory. The appeals officer did not find evidence of discrimination but let the $500 fine for the school comment stand. O'Brien did not respond to requests for comment.

Ross met with two testers seeking homes within 45 minutes of Manhattan. During a conversation with the white tester, Ross said she wouldn’t look in towns with certain school districts, such as Freeport, Baldwin and Amityville. She did not give the same warning to the Black tester, encouraging him to look up school district report cards. Ross testified that her comments had “nothing to do with the demographics. It had to do with graduation rate and … dropout rates,” according to court documents. The administrative law judge found the state failed to “show by substantial evidence that the ‘disparity in treatment in this case was racially motivated.’ ” However, the judge ruled that the agent's comments about schools demonstrated incompetency even if they were not racially motivated, since school district lines still "racially and economically segregate our society" and industry codes of ethics require agents to avoid expressing opinions about schools. During a 2020 State Senate hearing, Ross said her interactions with the testers "had absolutely nothing to do with race" and were responses to their stated preferences. In January, Ross declined to comment.

Torres agreed to a settlement with the Department of State in 2022. In the settlement, Torres admitted to violating state real estate law when he failed to apply the same mortgage prequalification standards on two testers. He required the Black tester to get a mortgage preapproval from a lender and did not send him any listings, but he did not impose the same requirement on a white tester before sending him 20 listings. Torres also admitted to failing to provide a legally required agency disclosure form that informs clients about their rights and the agent's obligations. As part of the settlement, the department agreed to renew Torres’ associate broker license. At a State Senate hearing in 2020, Torres said at least 90% of his sales are to minorities, and racial bias "would be completely against what I do." He said he agreed to send listings to the white tester because that tester was "very eager" and didn't leave Torres' office for half an hour. Previously, Torres' decisions about whether to require preapproval were "based on interest," he said, but "now, after the training that I've gone through, I'm not taking anyone out if you don't have a preapproval." Torres did not respond to requests for comment.

Etri met with two testers, one white and one Black, looking for $450,000 homes within 30 minutes of Garden City. She said to a white tester, "So a lot of people will say to me, ‘Oh, I don’t care. I’ll take Freeport and all the houses are cheap there. I don’t care about the school district. I don’t have any children.’ I say, ‘But you have to protect your investment.' You’re not really putting your money in the right place, because now you're in a bad school district, and that’s not good for resell value." To a Black tester, she said, "I have a property in Freeport – this house is too big for you, though. And the other one that is nice I just sold. You would have liked that one, but that’s Freeport. You might like Freeport." She provided more listings, in more predominantly white areas, to the white tester than to the Black tester. The Department of State filed an administrative complaint against Etri, which it has not made public. A decision by an administrative law judge is pending. Etri declined to comment.

Leyden and a colleague met with two of Newsday's testers — one white, one Hispanic — seeking homes in the Great Neck and Port Washington areas for up to $1.5 million. To the white tester, she said, "You might be more comfortable in a certain demographic area that isn't heavily one way or another in terms of people." She did not make similar comments to the Hispanic tester, instead saying her first choice for him would be "any part of Great Neck." She gave the white tester 31 listings in areas where the average census tract was 76% white. The Hispanic tester received 27 listings in areas that averaged 69% white. The white tester received six listings in Roslyn, while the Hispanic tester received none. The Department of State filed an administrative complaint against Leyden, which it has not made public. A decision by an administrative law judge is pending. Leyden did not respond to requests for comment.

Resnick met with two testers seeking $5 million homes in the Great Neck area, one white and one Black. She said to the white tester that Great Neck is "very mixed, more than it ever was. So we have — I don’t know if this even is of interest to you at all. We have a lot of Orthodox people in Great Neck. We have a lot of Asian people in Great Neck. So it is, you know, it’s like that kind of a mixed community, which is ... fine, which is good." She provided comparable listings to the two testers. The Department of State filed an administrative complaint against Resnick, which it has not made public. A decision by an administrative law judge is pending. Resnick declined to comment.

Two testers, one white and one Hispanic, consulted Somekh about purchasing $2 million houses in the Great Neck area. Somekh described the schools' racial composition to the white buyer, and not to the Hispanic customer. Speaking of areas served by Great Neck North and Great Neck South high schools, Somekh told the white tester, “Kensington and Great Neck Estates has a choice between North and South. Before it was only South. Recently we got a lot of Chinese, Oriental coming in Great Neck. In the beginning, they start going to South because they have their friends and family, everybody South. And it became overwhelmed.” The listings she provided to the two testers were similar. The Department of State filed an administrative complaint against Somekh, which it has not made public. A decision by an administrative law judge is pending. Somekh did not respond to requests for comment.

Newsday reported that Strippoli, then licensed under the last name Marando, said to a white tester, "What I say is always, to women, follow the school bus, you know .... Follow the school bus, see the moms that are hanging out on the corners. Wherever you're going to buy diapers, you know, during the day, go at 10 o'clock at night, and then you see if you like the area. I mean, really, that's the way to really take a look at area — I tell women this all the time." She told the white tester, "I have to say it without saying it, you know? You have the knowledge of the areas. ... I take first-time homebuyers out all the time. I don't want to use the word 'steer' but I try to edu — I use the word — I educate in the areas." Strippoli provided listings in predominantly white areas to both testers. She sent 16 listings in areas that were 83% white to the Black tester and five listings in areas that were 80% white to the white tester. The Department of State filed an administrative complaint against Strippoli, which it has not made public. A decision by an administrative law judge is pending. Strippoli could not be reached for comment.

Anderson met with two testers about three months apart. She asked that a Black tester provide a mortgage preapproval letter before she would take him to see homes. She did not ask the same of a white tester. The agent testified that the Black tester “was the first potential homebuyer she had met with in her real estate career," the administrative law judge's ruling shows. She was still in training, and a supervisor advised her to require a preapproval letter. By contrast, when she met with the white tester later, “She had finished her training and knew what to do and how she wanted to operate her business,” and she had decided not to require such letters, she testified. The administrative law judge dismissed the state's charges that the disparate treatment was discriminatory, writing that Anderson’s explanation for the different treatment was “credible” and there was no “discriminatory intent.” Anderson told Newsday in 2022 that she stands by the respectful way she treated the fair housing testers in the videos published by Newsday, with the first fair housing test occurring during her first week working as a real estate agent. "I put my best foot forward," she said. "I figured, 'Eventually everything will come out, and they will see I was being the best person I could be in the first week of my real estate life.' " She did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

The state alleged Minutoli gave 41 listings in predominantly white Merrick and Levittown to a white tester but only three in Merrick and none in Levittown to a Hispanic tester. Minutoli said that if the Hispanic tester did not receive many listings in Merrick and Levittown, it was because of a colleague's error; the Newsday video shows a colleague taking notes during the meeting. The administrative law judge wrote that Minutoli "patiently and often with much interest" discussed houses in Merrick and other predominantly white communities with the Hispanic tester. "She not only suggested areas that were predominantly white ... but also cajoled the [Hispanic] buyer into considering those areas," the judge wrote. In addition, it was unclear whether or not Minutoli “understood the buyer to be 'Hispanic' at the time of their meeting," the judge wrote. The judge ruled she “had not engaged in any discriminatory behavior." Minutoli referred questions to her attorney, Harry Demiris Jr., who said Minutoli "was thrilled to be vindicated because at least New York State objectively looked at what evidence was presented by Newsday and the state did the right thing and dismissed the claim against Ms. Minutoli." He added: "She and I both agree every step should be taken to erase any form of discrimination."

Perez met with two testers, one Asian and one white. The state alleged she engaged in discrimination, telling the white tester, "I'm confident you will get your preapproval letter," and saying to the Asian tester that preapproval is "very important before we do anything." She also provided listings within days to the white tester but sent them to the Asian tester five weeks after they had met, the state charged. Perez, in her testimony, denied there was a delay in sending the Asian tester listings. The administrative law judge found "no indication of bias." "No reasonable person who has watched these videos in their entirety would say that [Perez] treated one buyer less equally than the other," the judge wrote. Perez declined to comment. At a 2020 State Senate hearing, Perez said the white tester was "more specific" in his criteria and said he had a friend in the mortgage industry who could get him preapproval, while the Asian tester's mortgage contact had retired. "I would never discriminate," she said.

Pizaro met with two testers seeking a home within 30 minutes of Syosset. She gave a white tester 18 listings in Plainview and Syosset but none in Huntington. Meanwhile, Pizaro gave a Hispanic tester more than 60 listings in Huntington, which has a large Hispanic student population, and seven listings in Syosset and Plainview. Pizaro testified that the listing results differed because the searches were conducted months apart and relied on different criteria. She told a state investigator the search area was narrower for the white tester because she had specified that she wanted to live within 30 minutes of Syosset Hospital. Pizaro did not dispute the testers’ ethnicities. However, Pizaro said that whether the Hispanic tester was white or non-white "never crossed my mind." The administrative law judge wrote that the state's investigation “provided insufficient evidence to establish the race of the testers,” and without more proof that Pizaro knew one tester was Hispanic, the state could not prove "discriminatory intent." Pizaro did not respond to requests for comment.