Lindsay Lohan’s Brother Michael Jr. Accused in New York City Rent Inflation Scheme
The brother of actress Lindsay Lohan, Michael Lohan Jr., is among several individuals accused of unlawfully inflating rent prices in New York City.
According to legal documents obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, December 11, Michael, 37, was named as a defendant in a lawsuit alongside other individuals connected to Peak Capital.
The court filings state that the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (HCR) claims Peak Capital illegally deregulated rent-stabilized properties to maximize profits. Peak Capital allegedly refurbished older housing “to make the buildings visually appealing to New Yorkers prepared to pay premium rents.”
The HCR argued that the specific buildings involved in Peak Capital’s alleged scheme “were not in substandard or seriously deteriorated condition,” meaning the company “deprived the tenants of those apartments of their rights under the rent stabilization laws, overcharged those tenants and misrepresented the regulatory status of those apartments to thousands of consumers through deceptive apartment listings.”
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The HCR is seeking to compel Peak Capital to “comply with the rent stabilization laws” by officially registering the apartments' rent-stabilized status and providing tenants with leases at the appropriate rate. They are also seeking “reimbursement for excessive rent collected from affected tenants, as well as equitable remedies and statutory penalties” for the alleged “illegal business practices.”
Peak Capital was founded in 2017 by Juan David Gomez and Alex Rabin, who were also included in the lawsuit. Michael held the positions of principal and head of investor relations for the company and is a controlling member of the real estate firm Nineteen Blocks Group, per the documents. The filing asserts that Michael functions as an agent who “collects or is entitled to receive rent from the properties under investigation.”
Us Weekly has attempted to contact Peak Capital for comment.
Michael Jr. is one of Lindsay’s younger siblings. Lindsay, 39, is the eldest child of Dina and Michael Lohan, who also share Michael Jr., Ali Lohan and Dakota “Cody” Lohan.
Similar to his older sister, Michael Jr. pursued opportunities in the entertainment field before entering real estate. He had a brief appearance in his sister’s film The Parent Trap and worked as a child model.
After studying finance in college, Michael Jr. cofounded Vigme, a mobile application allowing users to shop the online wardrobes of influencers and celebrities.
In his private life, Michael Jr. is married to Nina Ginsberg. The couple has a daughter, Isabel Scarlet, whom they welcomed in June 2021.
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In a 2014 interview with the New York Post, Michael Jr. stated that he did not see himself replicating his famous sister’s career path.
“I don’t enjoy being in the spotlight,” he elaborated. “It doesn’t align with my preferences.”
As Lindsay dealt with early fame, she acknowledged that her siblings faced challenges in handling its consequences.
“During childhood, my siblings certainly experienced greater difficulties than most children their age,” she told Vogue in 2022. “Because I was such a public figure that they couldn’t truly avoid the repercussions of my actions, both intentional and unintentional, in the public sphere.”
