Spokane apartment management company accused of fraudulently obtaining thousands in rent relief

A Spokane property management company operating apartments owned by a rapist while he’s in prison is accused of fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic rental assistance, according to a complaint announced Monday.

All Star Property Management LLC and owner Gieve Parker are accused in federal court of falsely obtaining Treasury Rent Assistance Program funds, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.

Many of the apartments managed by Parker were owned by Arlin Jordin, who remains in prison for drugging and raping a tenant.

Eight women have said they were drugged and raped by Jordin, and nearly a dozen more said they were drugged but escaped. Jordin was convicted on only one of the allegations, according to a 2005 story in The Spokesman-Review.

Jordin has continued to own multiple apartment buildings while in prison, despite complaints about the condition of those buildings from tenants.

The complaint was brought by Krystal Jefferies, a former tenant at a property owned by Jordin, through the Northwest Justice Project. Federal prosecutors intervened after the Spokane FBI office did its own investigation to file the False Claims Act, according to the complaint announced Monday.

In 2021 and 2022, the management company sought funding for more than 30 tenants who were not eligible, the complaint alleges.

The company certified that tenants had past due rent when they were not behind, falsely inflated rent amounts and filed for assistance after tenants had moved out, the complaint alleges.

Parker also allegedly told tenants that the funds could not be used as rental assistance, when that was not the case.

These falsehoods led the company to collect double or triple the rent for the same tenant for the same month, the complaint says.

“Building safer and stronger communities in Eastern Washington requires that residents have access to safe, secure and affordable housing,” said Vanessa Waldref, U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington. “Landlords and property management companies need to play by the rules, especially when they claim precious and limited rent assistance funds intended to protect members of the community struggling under the weight of a deadly pandemic.”