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Embattled New York City Democratic Socialists of America Co-Chair Gustavo Gordillo is a deadbeat tenant facing eviction after stiffing his landlord out of months of rent, The Post has learned.
Gordillo, 38, the privileged son of a Florida construction magnate, is being sued in Brooklyn housing court after skipping out on three rent payments of $2,500 for a Crown Heights apartment he leased while the $1.5 million townhouse gifted to him by his rich daddy underwent renovations, according to court filings.
The Yale University-educated sculptor moved into the “stunning” one-bedroom pad on Eastern Parkway in May 2025, according to court records.
From day one, he treated the rent bill like a mere suggestion, dodging payments for months at a time only to cough up one lump sum after he’d racked up three months of unpaid rent, according to the account statement included in the court case.
The revolutionary was finally taken to court in March by his landlord Shimon Liashi for $5,000 after missing payments in December and January.
Gordillo never filed an answer to the suit, as New York law requires tenants to do within 10 days of being served, and the case is still pending in housing court.
“This should be surprising, but it isn’t,” NYC Councilwoman Vickie Paladino told The Post. “The entitlement of these rich DSA kids is bottomless. Even when his parents are paying his bills, he still stiffed his landlord.”
“It’s really appalling that these brats are in charge of our city now, when they’re so quick to screw over working people and can’t even manage their own lives.”
Not only is Gordillo a so-called “rent abolitionist” — a movement popularized by Mayor Mamdani housing guru Tracy Rosenthal — he doesn’t even believe in housing court altogether.
“It’s mitigating harm,” he said at a DSA Housing Justice meeting in 2022, according to a transcript obtained by The Post. “It’s not abolishing landlords and rent which are our long-term socialist goals.”
The apartment was rented to someone else in May, according to records.
Critics slammed Gordillo for masquerading as working-class and stiffing landlords he could clearly afford to pay.
“Gustavo has a luxury home to go with his luxury beliefs. His DSA activism confers social status on him while the real costs of the DSA anti-landlord policies raise the prices on everyone else without rich parents to pay their rent or buy them brownstones,” NYC attorney Maud Maron told The Post.
His move to Crown Heights came one year after the Landmarks Preservation Commission gave the go-ahead on the renovation plan for the townhouse. Major work permits were approved in June 2025 when Gordillo’s first rent payment was due, according to city records.
His father, Gustavo E. Gordillo, the founder and CEO of the telecommunications engineering firm DraftPros, which hauls in an estimated $90 million a year from high-profile clients including AT&T and Verizon, confirmed to The Post he purchased the property for his sons to live in.
The home was bought for $935,000 in 2019 and its resale value already shot up 80% to up to $1.7 million, according to estimates on Zillow.
Gordillo has previously called for double-digit returns on real estate investments to be banned as part of his radical Marxist program.
“Landlords in New York have been making a 12% return on their investment on average… we don’t think that anybody should have a constitutional right to double-digit returns on their investment,” Gordillo told Fox News during an interview last month.
The Gordillos hired Garrison Architects to present the renovation plans for the landmarked townhouse to the community board in 2023, according to a copy of the proposal.
The renovations, totaling at least $1.4 million according to filings with the city, would add a third floor and a rooftop to the two-story home on a gentrifying tree-lined block in Bed-Stuy. The house is still under construction.
The Ivy League radical, who joined the DSA in 2017, was outed by The Post this week for making his identity as a “union electrician” central to his communist persona — despite never working a day on the job and being booted from the electricians’ union for failing to pay his dues, the union said.
The silver-spoon socialist even had the audacity to beg the DSA to make his up-until then unpaid leadership position a $95,000 a year gig last month, claiming it was too much to juggle with his nonexistent electrician work. His comrades said yes.
Gordillo’s only apparent paycheck since moving to the Big Apple came from high-end Chelsea gallery Greene Naftali, where he worked between 2016 and 2019.
At that time, he wrote down his occupation as “serf” according to FEC records of 40 campaign donations he made to Bernie Sanders’ presidential run and candidates that included “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
He also moonlighted as a model for a “gender-neutral union printed” DSA-branded tank top currently on sale for $29.99 — down from $34.99.
He joined his family on travels that have included a pricey South American cruise that, starting at $3,856 a person, offers “an exquisite experience through the enchanting wonders of the jungle.”
The Zafiro Amazon River Cruise offers four-to-eight-day excursions which can cost up to $5,600 on a luxury boat that includes air-conditioned private suites and hot tubs, and where “a dedicated crew of 20, ensures your needs are met,” according to its website.
Gordillo and his father are seen in a picture taken during that trip looking awe-struck on a small boat as their guide holds what appears to be a baby alligator.
His mother, Elizabeth, drives a two-door 2019 silver Porsche, according to a speeding ticket obtained by The Post.
“It takes a lot of chutzpah to live a secret double-life cosplaying as a ‘working man’ who espouses Marxism for the people while living comfortably off the capitalist gains of his immigrant parents,” added Sara Forman, senior adviser to community and policy platform Optimist Labs.
Gordillo’s father did not return a request for comment.
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