AURORA, Colo. — Several Aurora apartment complexes apparently plagued by Venezuelan gang activity are under investigation by the Colorado Attorney Generals’ Office over potential deceptive business practices.
A set of subpoenas, issued in September and obtained by Denver7 through an open records request, seeks a laundry list of documents from CBZ Management and several of its subsidiaries. The AG’s office was seeking documents related to the advertising, leasing and managing apartment units, communication with tenants and the handling of and response to requests for maintenance, among other things.
CBZ Management is based in New York and operates 11 Colorado properties. Five of the company’s LLCs that manage properties in Colorado were issued the subpoenas.
The LLCs were also asked to provide documentation of their communication with, and relationship to, Zev Baumgarten, the CBZ owner who was allegedly beaten inside one of the company’s complexes.
CBZ Management was given until Oct. 25 to respond to the request. Bud Slatkin, an attorney for CBZ Management, wrote in a Sept. 23 email to Colorado Deputy Attorney General Kurtis Morrison that the company was “putting in the effort to timely answer the questions” and provide the documentation.
The attorney general’s office declined Denver7’s request for comment on the investigation – and whether CBZ was cooperating – Thursday.
Late last month, Denver7 reported a new, court-appointed landlord over two of the Aurora complexes was offering a "cash-for-keys" program for tenants to move out. Our partners at the Denver Post reported Thursday that another complex – The Edge of Lowry – would close as part of a settlement with the city.
The Aurora apartment buildings became the epicenter of the debate over immigration policy during the final weeks of the presidential campaign. CBZ Management for months has claimed its complexes were taken over by members of the Venezuelan prison gran Tren de Aragua, while residents and city officials have pointed the finger at a lengthy history of code violations at the company’s properties.
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Slatkin’s email bemoaned the back-and-forth in his email to Morrison.
“Things are not going well,” the email read. “Aurora flip flops from saying the problem is our ‘east coast slum lord’ and then states the problem, is the gangs. Though the Governor has expressed the desire to provide help, the problem still persists.”
Slatkin also stated that his firm was “concerned [the subpoenas were] an extension of the antisemitism that our client has been plagued with.”
That echoes claims previously made on a CBZ social media account created this fall to share its side of the purported gang infiltration. An October post claimed claimed Baumgarten, who is Jewish, had received threatening and antisemitic text messages from gang members that had claimed control of its properties.
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Since the election, President-elect Donald Trump has doubled down on campaign promises to deport violent criminals in the country illegally. At the tail end of his campaign, he used the situation in Aurora to form his stance, even labeling the deportation effort “Operation Aurora.”
A Tren de Aragua presence has been reported in several states in recent months. Two confirmed Tren de Aragua members wanted on warrants out of Aurora were arrested last month in New York City.
“Instead of going after the gangs, [the] Colorado AG is going after us,” CBZ Management posted on social media after those arrests were made.
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