Arik Matatov may have walked himself into a load of trouble earlier this week when he was photographed standing on his own two feet while answering the front door of his apartment.
The supposedly wheelchair-bound Mataov, has allegedly been rolling himself up to dozens of NYC small businesses and threatening to bring them to court for not being up to code for wheelchair accessibility unless they pay him a go-away fee.
The small business owners who have been victimized by Mataov had this to say about the phony litigant's con game: "Wow, that's amazing — I mean it's terrible," said attorney Philip Pizzuto, who is representing Broome Street's Caffe Roma in a legal battle with Matatov. "As an attorney, you hear about these things, but it's sad."
"It's a scam and we knew it when we first got the letter," said Barbara Di Palo, whose family restaurant Brooks 1890 received one of the letters a month ago. "It costs $5,000 to hire a lawyer, so they think you'll just pay them off. I'm happy you're exposing him. I applaud that. And hopefully, they'll stop harassing small businesses."
"These people should be prosecuted for hurting businesses for no reason. There is no merit to this case," said an employee of a men's fashion store, who wouldn't give his name.
Mataov's attorney Jeffery Neiman is quoted in the New York Post saying he had no idea of his client's ambulatory abilities and that he doesn't know him personally, despite helping him write nearly 50 threatening letters to businesses in the past few months.
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