Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Eric Schneiderman Seeks To Block Orthodox-Owned Firm From Buying Nursing Homes

New York State’s Attorney General recommended in court filings that the Orthodox Jewish businessmen who made a quick $72 million selling a Lower East Side nursing home to a condo developer should no longer be allowed to buy nursing homes in New York State, the New York Post reported.

The Brooklyn-based Allure Group has been at the center of a citywide scandal since the Spring, when local media reported that the firm had received an unusual waiver from the city to allow it clear out the nursing home for AIDS patients, called Rivington House, and sell the building as luxury housing.

Allure Group CEO Solomon Rubin is a prominent member of the Boro Park-based Bobov Hasidic group, which has enjoyed close ties with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.

In the court filling reported July 26 by the Post, the office of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman argued that Allure’s “direct involvement in the demise of the Rivington House home raises sufficient concern about the proposed purchasers’ suitability and fitness.”

The filing came in a New York State Supreme Court case in which Schneiderman’s office is seeking to stop Allure from buying a Harlem nursing home it has managed for years. Under New York State law, the Attorney General must approve the sale of property owned by not-for-profit entities.

Allure’s attorney objected to the Attorney General’s filling in a statement to the Post. “The attorney general’s filing does not identify any misrepresentations allegedly made by the principals of Allure,” Neil Steiner told the paper.

The Attorney General’s efforts against Allure came days before new revelations in the ongoing investigation into why New York City officials gave Allure approval to change the deed on the Rivington House property. Documents previously withheld from the city’s Department of Investigations by the city’s Law Department showed that the city had known as early as 2014 that the property could be sold for condominium development.

At a press availability Wednesday morning, de Blasio belittled the controversy. “This is probably bigger than Watergate,” he said when asked about the Rivington House sale, according to the New York Daily News.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.