NEW YORK, N.Y. — A man who rented out the same Hell’s Kitchen apartment to at least 17 different people last summer and kept their payments has admitted the scheme in a New York courtroom, the district attorney’s office in Manhattan said Friday.
Nicholas Fuelling, 44, entered guilty pleas in state Supreme Court to third-degree grand larceny, the most serious charge in his indictment, and to first-degree scheme to defraud. Under the deal, he is due back in court Dec. 4 for a promised sentence of six months behind bars and five years of probation, plus required treatment for a gambling addiction and full restitution to the renters.
Prosecutors said Fuelling posted the listing on Facebook in August 2025, offering a sublet of a two-bedroom unit in midtown Manhattan. He had been renting just one of those bedrooms since 2022 and had no permission from the landlord to sublet either room.
Over that month, renters signed agreements with him for the same apartment. Most paid around $3,200 apiece for a single bedroom, while at least one person handed over $6,400 to take both rooms. Each expected to move in by Sept. 1, 2025, for stays of six months to a year.
Nobody ever got the keys. Some of the would-be tenants were left with nowhere to live, and when they pressed for the refunds their agreements promised, Fuelling stopped answering.
The NYPD had circulated a wanted poster for Fuelling in late August 2025 in connection with a grand larceny complaint tied to the building.
The district attorney’s office has asked anyone who believes they lost money to a rental scam in Manhattan to contact its housing unit.
Section: More New York NY crime news
Filed under: New York NY Crime News
