Philadelphia

DA Krasner's company owed Philly school district $130K in taxes

Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner – Logan Krum/Philly Weekly

Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner – Logan Krum/Philly Weekly

When WHYY caught Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner with an unpaid $10,000 property tax bill on his former law office earlier this month, he called it “an oversight.” But court records linked to two real estate companies Krasner has a stake in show that the city’s top prosecutor is no stranger to tax delinquency.

In 2016, city lawyers issued a $130,000 judgment on behalf of the School District of Philadelphia for unpaid Use & Occupancy Taxes against a company called Tiger Building LP, which owns several prime downtown properties. Corporate filings show that Tiger lists another company as its principal contact, with Krasner named as president of the latter corporation.

Use & Occupancy taxes are levied on all businesses that lease or own property in Philadelphia to pay for public school services. A spokesperson for the DA acknowledged the outstanding tax bills, stating that Krasner and his partners have been working with the city to pay off the debt.

"Long before being elected District Attorney, Larry Krasner became a commercial property owner with multiple partners in Center City,” DAO spokesman Ben Waxman said. “At times, due to vacancy, late payment of rent by tenants, or economic downturn, the owning entities fell behind on taxes. When this occurred, they have found ways to catch up, or have entered into payment plans, as is reflected in public records."

Krasner declined to answer specific questions about the nature of his past business dealings, but past court filings show that the company had gone years without paying certain taxes. Subsequent judgments indicate that the group may have fallen behind on its payment plan in the past.

Krasner and another attorney, Bob Diamond, formed a corporation called Little Street of Clubs, Inc., in 2006. That entity later spun off a holding company called Tiger Building LP in 2008. The same year, Tiger Building closed on a $1.3 million deal to acquire two brownstones adjacent to Krasner’s law office in Center City.

But what should have been a prime deal in a booming downtown real estate market soon soured. Court records show that Tiger was sued by tenants in 2011 for allegedly failing to make good on promised renovations. That suit was later settled out of court.

Other records show that Diamond, Krasner’s investment partner and a real estate lawyer himself, was simultaneously facing financial turmoil. He had independently faced judgments over unpaid taxes as far back as 1997 and eventually filed for personal bankruptcy in 2014.

The two attorneys’ company appears to have fallen behind on tax payments shortly before that time. The same year Diamond filed for bankruptcy, the school district came after Tiger for some $32,000 in unpaid Use & Occupancy taxes. 

In prior emails introduced as evidence in that case, Krasner describes the company struggling to pay off its property taxes. He explains that construction delays had left the buildings with “low or no occupancy for several years” and claimed he was “cashing out retirement funds” to pay off the debt.

In the emails, Krasner asked for more time to clear the debt and proposed entering into a payment plan.

“I think it’s a reasonable request in light of the progress we are making in bringing these taxes up to date,” Krasner wrote to city officials a year before the judgment was filed.

Records indicate city Law Department lawyers dropped the case after they were unable to place the debt into receivership. But by 2016, Tiger faced a judgment filed on behalf of the school district, this time for $130,000 in unpaid Use & Occupancy taxes. 

Court records do not list a resolution for that judgment. 

Asked for the current status of Tiger’s Revenue Department accounts, the city declined to release details about the debt, stating that Use & Occupancy data is “confidential.” Mike Dunn, a spokesman for the Mayor’s Office, said only that “the taxpayer is making payments against the liened liability, but has not yet satisfied it.”

After the publication of this story, Waxman said that Krasner and partners had eventually reached an April 2017 settlement with the Law Department, agreeing to repay some $88,900 in installments to resolve the outstanding Use & Occupancy debt. He produced eleven months worth of checks he said reflected some $27,000 in payments by Tiger Building, stating that the company was now up to date on its payment plan once again – The most recent check was dated March 20th of this year.

Separately, Tiger Building has faced numerous liens filed by the Center City District, a business improvement zone that assesses a surtax on commercial properties for street cleaning, security and other downtown amenities. 

These have mostly been satisfied, but last month the CCD went after Tiger Building for another $4,000 in unpaid fees. That lien has not yet been satisfied, according to court records.

Tiger Building satisfied its mortgage on the Center City properties in 2015, according to city property records, and today valued by city assessors at some $3.6 million. Both Krasner and his wife, Judge Lisa Rau, earn six-figure salaries. Late last year, they sold their Mt. Airy home for $416,000.

Waxman added that Tiger had paid out considerable sums to the city and school district over the years. 

“The partners, whose entities have owned commercial property for more than a decade, have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes,” he said.

 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.