Dec 24
2025
Tenants again sue judge-turned-landlord
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APL Property’s apartment building on Elmwood Avenue. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel.
A Buffalo couple is suing former county judge-turned-developer Anthony LoRusso for alleged rental fraud — the third lawsuit LoRusso and his real estate companies have faced this year.
Two of those court actions originated with renters, the other with a contractor. All told, courts this year have levied more than $300,000 in judgments against LoRusso’s companies. The first suit was filed by LaBella Associates D.P.C., an environmental consulting firm, in March, followed by the attorney general’s in May.
In September, Sabrina and Antonéo Page filed a lawsuit against LoRusso’s rental management company, APL Property Group and Elmhurst Place LoRusso Family LP. The Pages say APL Property owes them $12,475 — a full year’s rent — plus damages, for an apartment they never moved into in July 2024.
That year, the Pages relocated from the Atlanta area with their son for job opportunities and to be near family, according to a Buffalo Business First profile of Antonéo. Through APL, they found an apartment at 100 Elmhurst Place, in the Parkside neighborhood, but quickly concluded it was unlivable.
“Plaintiffs entered the property and found it uninhabitable . . . completely dirty, broken bathroom floor and toilet did not work, missing cabinets, broken dishwasher, broken refrigerator,” the Pages’ attorney, Matthew Lazroe, wrote in the lawsuit.
APL Property agreed to give the Pages a refund, according to the lawsuit. A year and a half later, they still haven’t gotten a check.
“The Defendants since has (sic) fraudulently withheld funds due to Plaintiffs,” Lazroe wrote.
In addition to their claim of fraud, the Pages are suing APL Property for unjust enrichment and breach of contract.
When Investigative Post reached LoRusso by phone, he initially claimed that he did not know what the case was, or who the Pages were. Shortly thereafter, LoRusso vehemently denied their allegations.
“That check has been cut and waiting for them as far as I know,” LoRusso said. “I don’t know, I’ve been away from the office.”
“It’s all been straightened out. You can talk to my attorney.”
Chad Davenport, LoRusso’s attorney, did not respond to requests for comment. Lazroe, the Pages’ attorney, declined an interview request, writing by email that he could not comment on an active case.
In May, Investigative Post reported that at least one of APL Property Group’s properties were infested with bedbugs, cockroaches and rats, according to former tenants at a company property on Elmwood Avenue and Ann Morelli, formerly the accountant for APL Property Group.
According to city 311 records, 100 Elmhurst Place has been the site of more than 38 service requests since 2008, including at least four for rodents and pests.
LoRusso’s year of legal troubles
APL Property Group oversees 13 properties, according to a state investigator. Six of those properties have six or more units, including Allentown Square, Brent Manor, and Elmhurst Place.
In total, LoRusso’s company has been sued three times this year, leading to $328,937 in judgments.
Perhaps the most noteworthy of the three lawsuits was triggered by Morelli’s complaint to the attorney general regarding the company’s handling of tenants’ security deposits.
In its investigation, the attorney general found that over the course of two and a half years, APL Property Group acted fraudulently and misappropriated nearly half a million dollars in security deposits. APL Property Group violated numerous state laws, including using deposits to cover operating expenses and payroll, and failing to hold the deposits in accounts that would accrue interest for tenants. At the time of the lawsuit, several former tenants said APL had not returned their security deposits within the legally required 14 days. Some said they received reduced amounts with no explanation for the deductions.
The investigation found that APL Property Group transferred $444,448 from a bank account used to hold tenants’ security deposits into three other company accounts.
At least $175,000 of security deposit money went towards expanding LoRusso’s solar energy farm at 2030 Delaware Avenue.
“Respondents deceived tenants and violated New York law by designating tenant funds as ‘security deposits’ and then commingling the security deposits with Respondents’ general operating funds,” the lawsuit states.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomThe attorney general’s lawsuit also cites LoRusso’s unlawful failure to keep security deposits in an interest-bearing account and give tenants reasons for returning reduced security deposits, which amounted to over $154,231 in damages.
In August, Judge Kelly A. Vacco ruled that APL Property Group owed $154,231 in “civil penalties and damages.”
LoRusso told Investigative Post that he and his attorney intend to appeal the decision.
In addition, LaBella Associates D.P.C. sued APL Property for $131,981 owed for an assessment conducted between 2022 and 2023 for a future development on Clayton Street. With interest, LaBella is seeking $161,231 from LoRusso’s company.
After four months of no response from APL Property Group, a default judgment was issued in July. That triggered NBT Bank to freeze $46,295 in APL Property’s credit.
Davenport, LoRusso’s attorney, successfully petitioned Judge John Licata to vacate the order in November.
Davenport argued that LoRusso, 85, was “medically incapable” after a spinal cord surgery in September 2023. In an affidavit submitted following the judgment, LoRusso testified that the surgery left him “completely unable to respond to business affairs.” They also claimed a number of other defenses, including that LaBella never completed the work.
Davenport’s argument may have worked in the LaBella suit, but the judge overseeing the state attorney general’s case didn’t buy it.
Last Friday, Vacco reviewed the claim that his surgery rendered him unable to respond to the attorney general’s lawsuit, show up in court or file an extension on several occasions.
“In short, there were simply no records provided by Respondent LoRusso to establish that he was incapacitated and incapable of attending to his business affairs immediately before or after having been served with process,” Vacco wrote, adding that LoRusso had the faculties to hire three separate law firms to represent him in the same period.
“Additionally . . . Mr. LoRusso did, in fact participate in business and legal matters during 2024 and immediately after his hospitalization ended [in] 2025.”
LoRusso told Investigative Post that he and Davenport have arranged submitting a bond for appealing Vacco’s decision.
LoRusso on his legacy
LoRusso was elected to Buffalo City Court in 1976 and Erie County Family Court in 1989. Four years later, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct censured LoRusso for “offensive, undignified and harassing conduct toward some female employees in the court system.”
Allegations from four former female employees ranged from suggestive remarks and groping to initiating sex acts in his chambers. LoRusso resigned in March 1993, citing “personal and professional reasons.”
LoRusso told Investigative Post that he wants his legacy to be threefold: founding Buffalo’s Naval Park, his 33-year real estate career and his solar farm endeavors.
When Investigative Post asked him how he would respond to someone interpreting his legacy differently, he acknowledged his misconduct as a judge.
“I’m not saying I was good,” LoRusso said. “But you guys want to keep unearthing craziness. Some people want to go on ahead. I did it, and I kept going.”
