The Colorado Attorney General’s office is investigating the business practices of the Aurora apartment complex owners at the center of a political storm arising from illegal immigration and the tentacles of a Venezuelan prison gang in the metro area.

Under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, Assistant Attorney General Adam Rice issued a subpoena to the owners of CBZ Management to produce a myriad of records related to its properties.

The demand included documents and information related to the company’s employees and leases, as well as property maintenance and the condition of units.

CBZ Management is a Brooklyn-based business that owns 11 properties in Colorado, including three apartment complexes in Aurora that nabbed headlines for claims of a gang taken over.

Bud Slatkin, a CBZ Management attorney, did not respond to an email seeking comment. But in an email to Kurtis Morrison, a deputy attorney general, Slatkin lamented the situation by blaming Gov. Jared Polis’ inaction and “Biden Harris Administration’s failed emigration policy.”

“I am sure you have seen the media reporting on our client’s apartment buildings and the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan Gang that took them over,” Slatkin wrote on Sept. 23. “Things are not going well. 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.”

CBZ Management had until Oct. 25 to respond.

Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesperson for Attorney General Phil Weiser, declined to comment on the investigation.

AG believes CBZ Management may have engaged in deceptive leasing practices 

Given the documented issues at apartment complexes owned by CBZ Management in Aurora, the AG investigation is not surprising, said David Seligman, executive director of Towards Justice.

“It’s precisely the case that you would typically see an investigation by an AG,” Seligman said.

Founded by attorney Alex Hood in 2014, Towards Justice is a Denver-based nonprofit legal organization that seeks “economic justice” by defending worker rights through litigation and advocacy, according to the organization’s website.

“There’s lots of evidence that the living conditions are pretty horrible there,” Seligman said.

A civil investigation was launched — according to the subpoena — because Attorney General Phil Weiser believes CBZ Management may have engaged in deceptive leasing practices and violated the state’s habitability statue, risking the health and safety of renters.

Among the documents demanded:

• Inspections documenting unit conditions, requests for repairs and communications with tenants

• Repair expenditures

• Property, employee and renter lists

• The policies, procedures and strategies used to lease properties

• The application fees, as well as the determination used for withholding a tenant’s security deposit.

The Attorney General’s Office is also seeking information on legal actions involving the company.

Each state and the District of Columbia have laws that serve as consumer protections acts. Colorado’s was first enacted in 1969.

It is unclear how many civil investigations under the act have been opened in Colorado this year.

Pacheco declined to say.

‘There’s real teeth to this, but there isn’t nearly enough enforcement’

Roughly 60% of the Attorney General’s cases and settlements involve consumer protection laws, a Denver Gazette review has found.

The Attorney General’s office has secured $1.1 billion in settlements or litigated judgments, Pacheco said. But this includes student debt relief to borrowers and the significant amounts from the opioid settlements secured by multiple states, which will be paid over 18 years.

In 2022, the Colorado General Assembly enacted a law that gave the attorney general the authority to enforce the state’s housing laws.

The first action under this new authority was taken earlier this year against Four Star Realty.

In January, Weiser announced his office had reached a roughly $1 million settlement with a Colorado property management company for illegally charging tenants for routine repairs, according to the consent judgment.

“For consumers who are able to act effectively as their own lawyers, they may complain and get their money back; most consumers, however, are unable to do so and are mistreated in violation of the law,” Weiser said with the announcement.

Four Star manages properties often rented by college students in Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley and Denver.

In addition to restitution, Four Star also agreed to disclose on its leases all the fees and rent charged to tenants.

Seligman, with Towards Justice, praised the state’s consumer protection law, but cautioned limited resources make protecting Coloradans difficult.

“There’s real teeth to this, but there isn’t nearly enough enforcement,” Seligman said.

It is unknown how many other landlords have been or are being similarly investigated.

Pacheco declined to say.

‘Alternative narratives’

Obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act, the CBZ Management subpoena did not single out an individual property. But at three of the company’s properties in Aurora — Aspen Grove, Whispering Pines and the Edge at Lowry — have long been plagued by city code violations, according to Aurora officials. 

In August, at the encouragement of the owners, Aurora officials shut down Aspen Grove — a 99-unit — citing health and safety issues that included rodent infestations, sewage backups and trash pileups.

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman had threatened to shutter the other two before a court-appointed receiver was appointed by a district court judge.

Coffman had blamed deteriorating conditions on absent, out-of-state landlords while CBZ Management — through a Florida PR firm and attorney — have pointed the finger at Tren de Aragua, or TdA.

Ryan Luby, a city spokesperson, has said CBZ Management engaged “diversionary tactics” to push forward “alternative narratives” instead of addressing the violations.

Originally a Venezuelan prison gang, TdA is linked to criminal activities that include human trafficking — particularly of immigrant women and girls — drug trafficking, kidnapping, and money laundering.

An investigation by Perkins Coie, an international law firm hired by a lender, outlined a gang operation that began last year with a “lower-level” presence that escalated into violence and intimidation at the Whispering Pines. The apparent goal of the gang was to turn the complex into a steady source of income.

The modus operandi for the Venezuelan gang appeared to have been to unlawfully move gang members and immigrant families into vacant units.

The court-appointed receiver, Kevin Singer, began offering “keys for cash” for renters to vacate the property after just one Whispering Pines tenant paid rent in October. Built in 1971, Whispering Pines has 54 units.

Police emails obtained by The Denver Gazette paint a dire picture replete with internal conflicts, worries about the political fallout from shuttering Aspen Grove and a wary police force.

The Venezuelan gang has since become a flash point in the immigration crisis.

During the campaign, President-elect Donald Trump highlighted the influx of immigrants and the activities of the TdA gang and promised to conduct the largest-ever mass deportation in America, which he has dubbed “Operation Aurora.”