There is no doubt that New York is an “expensive” city for ordinary mortals. The dream of spending a four-night “long” weekend in Manhattan is an expense that can destroy any wallet. But in the extraordinary and surreal case of Mickey Barreto, the cost of spending five years in a hotel in the Big Apple was only $200.57. Now he will have to pay the price for this, perhaps with his freedom.

A guest who doesn’t leave. The story began in June 2018, when Mickey Barreto paid for a night at the New Yorker hotel in Manhattan. There was nothing at that moment to suggest that he would not leave room 2565 for five years and that he would do so without spending a dime as a permanent resident of the hotel.

Like? Its persistence was no coincidence; It was a legal strategy based on New York’s rent stabilization law, which applies to older hotels in the city and allows some guests to seek permanent leases. Thanks to this law, originally designed to protect low-income tenants, Barreto gained the right to stay in the hotel.

An unprecedented takeover attempt. After receiving the ruling in his favor, Barreto filed a formal application for the lease with the court, claiming that he had the right to stay indefinitely because he was subject to New York’s rent stabilization law. The judges, who were not represented by hotel representatives at the hearing, once again ruled in his favor and decided to return the room to him. Although the hotel tried to deny his requests, the man managed to stay in the room and avoid any additional payments.

And then he went even further. Armed with the court decision granting him “possession” of the room, he decided to interpret the decision as a right to ownership of the entire building. Based on a court decision and an unclear interpretation of the law, he went to the city’s Department of Finance to register the entire hotel in his name. After seven attempts and taking advantage of bureaucratic failures, he managed to have his name appear in the city’s registration system as the owner of the establishment, causing a stir among the real owners of the property: none other than the Unification Church.

I want my money. Barreto, who had the property title in hand, began to act as if he were the rightful owner. He began sending letters to Unification Church lawyers demanding refunds of up to $15 million and access to the hotel’s financial documents.

Not only this. He also ordered the hotel’s restaurant to redirect rent payments to his room and attempted to gain control of bank accounts linked to the establishment. As if all this wasn’t enough, he ordered the “renovation” of the property, for example, demanding that the 38th floor be evacuated for inspection. From a movie.

It’s North Korea’s fault. Barreto has since maintained in various interviews and legal documents that his actions were far from arbitrary. He alleged an illegal financial connection between the Unification Church and the North Korean regime, stating that he was trying to block the financial flow that he claimed linked the hotel to North Korea in violation of sanctions.

At this point, discordant voices emerged, mostly from relatives who spoke of the man’s “erratic” behavior, his penchant for conspiracy theories, and his obsession with his lineage. In fact, over the years the man became interested in his family’s genealogy and claimed to have a genealogy that linked him directly to Christopher Columbus and the Portuguese royal families. These arguments and theories were used as part of his defense.

Courts and arrests. Despite attempts to gain a foothold in the hotel, the Unification Church filed several lawsuits to regain possession of the property and evict it. The court ultimately ruled against Barreto, finding that his ownership claims were fraudulent and ordering his immediate release. Yet Barreto remained in the room without paying or agreeing to the terms of a formal lease.

In 2023 and after several hearings, the man was finally arrested on 24 charges, including 14 counts of fraud, for the attempted illegal seizure of the hotel. Thus, he was faced with a possible trial that could keep him in prison for a long time, and an uncertain future with an unexpected ending.

We cannot judge this. Following a psychiatric evaluation this week, judges ruled that Barreto was mentally unfit to participate in any trial due to his mental health and addiction issues.

The judge gave him seven days to receive psychiatric treatment, otherwise the man who lived for free in a Manhattan hotel for five years because he believed they were financing North Korea, the man who clearly saw himself as a direct relative of Christopher Columbus, will be executed. He was immediately hospitalized.

Picture | Driver Photographer, Ermell

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