D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is taking an unprecedented step to dismantle the local real estate business of notorious landlord Ali “Sam” Razjooyan. He is using the powerful civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, which is famously deployed against high-level figures like mob bosses and gang leaders. For the first time ever, the District is using it to go after a landlord they accuse of running a vast criminal enterprise.
According to the Washington Post, Razjooyan has faced public scrutiny for years over how he treats low-income tenants, and the Attorney General’s office has already sued him twice. He’s racked up a truly unbelievable number of violations, tallying more than 4,000 building code infractions across his properties. The new civil lawsuit, filed on a Thursday, claims that Razjooyan, along with his mother and brother, operated an “illegal real estate empire.”
