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A Manhattan landlord continued raking in $17,000 a month in rent from a CEO — even in the months after she and her two young sons died in a plane crash, new court papers allege.
The monthly payments were automatically withdrawn from Jennifer Blumin’s account for the pricey East 13th Street penthouse following the family’s sudden death in 2017, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed by her parents, Deborah and Stuart Blumin.
The Blumins are accusing landlord Steven Gold and company Keyland NY LLC of pocketing three months’ worth of rent — and refusing to return the money.
Jennifer went missing with sons Phineas “Finn” Ramsey, 4, and Theodore “Theo” Ramsey, 3, and boyfriend Nathan Ulrich on May 15, 2017, when the four were flying in a small twin-engine plane from Puerto Rico to Florida. Their bodies were never found but plane debris was found a day later off the coast of the Bahamas.
When Gold heard the news of his tenant’s death, he told her parents that the lease was canceled and asked them to remove all of their daughter’s belongings “as soon as practicable,” according to the suit from Monday.
The penthouse was cleared out June 13 of that year, the court papers say.
But the rent payments were automatically withdrawn from Blumin’s account in June, July and August, the filing alleges.
The parents asked Gold for the return of first month’s rent, security deposit and the three months of automatic payments but he refused to return the $85,000, claiming he was owed for the entire lease despite his earlier promise to cancel it, the suit claims.
The lease was set to run out on April 30, 2018 — nearly a year after Blumin’s death, the suit claims.
And while Gold was receiving the rent payments, he also used the place to host photo shoots, private events like weddings and rented it out illegally on a short-term basis, the suit claims.
Gold was sued by the condominium in 2019 for the alleged illegal use of the space, court records show. That case was settled later that year.
“This is an action against a landlord who unjustly profited from the death of an entire family,” alleges the suit.
“We think the landlord’s actions are appalling,” Stuart and Deborah said in a joint statement to The Post.
Gold did not immediately return requests for comment.
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