Hacker News Reader

Comment by larrys | Hacker News Reader

Interesting discrimination lawsuit by her husband last year:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/the-money-manager-who...

Also irrelevant to whether this case has merit or not. Not saying you're implying it does, but I see a lot of commenters on Techcrunch and other places making that jump.

Wait, her husband was "married" to a guy for 10 years before they got married? How often does that happen?

"Before his marriage to Ms. Pao, Mr. Fletcher lived in the Dakota with Hobart V. Folkes Jr., his partner of more than 10 years, according to a New York Times article in 2004 on Mr. Fletcher’s philanthropy."

Wait, a prominent black Wall Street money manager? How often does that happen?

Often enough to have happened, apparently.

The apartment building wouldn't let him buy a second unit, even though he's worth $10's of millions. Something fishy for sure.

Dakota is a coop. In NYC coops have an absolute right to reject anyone for any reason and often do. Even celebrities and people with tons of money.

http://cooperator.com/articles/1450/1/Top-Dozen-Reasons-for-...

Edit: (Comment below). Where I said "have an absolute right to reject anyone" I meant as long as it doesn't violate a law. This is similar to how a company can refuse to hire anyone for any reason as long as they don't state a reason which is prohibited by law and as long as no evidence to that surfaces.

> NYC coops have an absolute right to reject anyone > for any reason

No they don't: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/42/45/I/3604

A co-op like the Dakota (which is one of the oldest and most historic large apartments buildings in New York) may be less than thrilled with having someone own two units, especially if the intent is to do a bunch of renovation and knocking down walls to join two adjacent units.

Given that the co-op board doesn't actually own the unit being sold, their only option to stop that is to block the sale to him, and there's relatively little cost to them. Even for the seller, it won't be that hard to find another buyer so it's not a huge deal.

Actually in a coop the unit is owned by the association and you get the rights to use it and I believe that is either defacto or dejure what gives them the right to decide who gets to occupy it.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/real-estate/condos1.asp

------------------------------------------------

<code> "In a cooperative says St. John, an attorney whose firm represents more than 600 condominium, cooperative, and homeowner associations, the building containing the residential units or apartments is owned by a 'cooperative housing corporation.'"</code>

------------------------------------------------

<code> "In a condominium, each unit owner owns an individual apartment in fee simple. In addition, the buyer owns an undivided interest in the common elements such as the exterior walls, roof, pool and other recreational areas." </code>

------------------------------------------------

Edit: Any idea why my code tags don't work?

The co-op association legally owns the units, but the board and board-members don't directly own the unit being sold.

I was trying to point out that the board members don't have much economic incentive to approve a particular buyer - if the unit eventually sells for less, it doesn't directly harm the occupants on the board unless one of them is the seller.

In some states, and especially in NY, a co-op can require approval of sales, or right of first refusal.

you guys should read the entire story, it is interesting:

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2012/02/is-harvard-gr...

they stopped him from buying his fourth apartment, because a financial background check worked out that the guy couldn't afford it - despite being listed in Forbes magazine as being worth $150M

the article and others then go on to question how his investment funds have been making double-digit returns for the past two decades (sound familiar?)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com