New York’s most notorious squatting story is taking a new twist: The “squatter” at the center of it says he’s the victim — and will get out once he is paid for “upgrades” to the house.
Range Rover-driving Brian Rodriguez told The Post he wants $18,000 to hand back the home in Flushing — and claimed all he was doing was trying to start a “side hustle” to cash in on the migrant crisis.
The bizarre saga began when Adele Andaloro was handcuffed by police after a fiery caught-on-camera standoff as she tried to throw out squatters from the $1 million, four-bedroom home in Flushing she inherited from her parents.
But then the squatters said they were legitimately subletting and paying rent to someone called “Jay” — Rodriguez’s nickname — and therefore were entitled to stay.
Now Rodriguez has told The Post he was scammed into “renting” the house with a fake lease by a bogus realtor, so he’s not a squatter either. And he had planned to fill the property with migrants, wrongly thinking the city would pay him $1,000 a month to take them.
Now he wants Andaloro to pay him $18,000 towards what he has spent on repairing the plumbing, doing electric work, re-painting and cleaning the house.
“I told her that I can’t just walk out; my money is there,” said Rodriguez, maintaining that will give up on the house immediately — if he gets paid. “I told her that she should let me figure it out or pay me my money. She was furious.”
Without the money, it will take “one or two months to move them out” and then “I will just give it back because it is the right thing to do.”
Andaloro did not return calls from The Post.
As to how he feels about all this, Rodriguez said, “I feel horrible for being conned. That money is everything I have. Of course I feel bad for Ms. Adele.”
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Rodriguez’s troubles began, he claimed, last December, when he was in a Flushing laundromat.
Between wash cycles he encountered a well-dressed and confident man, in his early 40s, who called himself “Ronnie Ferg.”
“We started talking about construction in New York,” Rodriguez said. “I brought up a government program in which you can rent out rooms to immigrants for $1,000 per month.”
There is no scheme for the city to give private landlords $1,000 a month to house immigrants. The idea was floated in June last year by Mayor Eric Adams but never put into action.
But “Ferg,” claiming to be a real estate broker and property manager, said, “I have the perfect house for you.”
It was a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,646 square foot home. “Ronnie had the key,” Rodriguez said. “He showed me the place. The living room had some oldfurniture in it: a brown sofa, drapes, a small table.”
Rodriguez signed a lease, which he showed to The Post, for $3,200 a month. No public records exist for a New York realtor called “Ronnie Ferg.”
The immigrant deal — obviously — never came together.
“So I rented the rooms to local people who need places to sleep,” said Rodriguez. “They work for Uber and Instacart and can’t afford $2,000 a month for an apartment. Some pay $900; some pay $1,000.”
Once they began using the showers, water leaked into the living room and basement. “It was a mess,” said Rodriguez.
“But Ronnie told me to fix it myself because the owners are cheap. He said he would make sure I got a break on my rent and told me to not pay February.”
Moving in, cleaning and repairing, claimed Rodriguez, “cost me 24 or 25 grand.” He detailed the bill as $9,600 given to the realtor; $9,700 on new water pipes; and a total of $4,000 on electrical work, cleaning and painting. “That’s all my money. I rushed into this. Ronnie conned me.”
By February, he had the place loaded up with four subletters.
Rodriguez lived in his own apartment and for a few weeks things went smoothly.
Then, in late February, his tenants were surprised by a woman who said she owned the home and wanted everyone out.
“I called Ronnie Ferg,” said Rodriguez. “He told me that she is probably a former tenant who wants to get back in the house. He told me to call the police.”
In fact, she was Andaloro, who is the legitimate owner and who was shocked to see people living in the place that she had inherited from her parents.
A few days later, Andaloro showed up with a locksmith and an ABC-7 TV news crew, leading to the viral confrontation with Rodriguez’s “tenants” which ended in her being cuffed.
Rodriguez raced over and again phoned “Ferg” for help.
“Ronnie said, ‘I told you what to do’ and he hung up; then his number went dead; I never spoke with him again,” Rodriguez recalled.
“Ms. Adele called the cops. I tried to stop them from [handcuffing] her. Ms. Adele could attest to this.”
Soon after Andalaro’s handcuffing, a man at the house showed The Post two tattered rent receipts that totaled $3,500.
Rodriguez said he would keep the rent and use it towards the $25,000 he had spent.
Another subletter, Kevin Ballasty, acknowledged last week that he was scammed into paying $1,500 to “Jay,” with a supposed realtor named David Dubon getting a $1,000 fee. Contacted by The Post, Dubon said, “No comment.” There are no licensed brokers of that name, public records show.
Rodriguez said, “Jay is my nickname. I’ve had it for 20 years. It’s from Jason Statham from the ‘Transporter’ movies.”
Meanwhile, according to Rodriguez things are at a stalemate between him, Andaloro, Ronnie Ferg and the renters. “Ferg” is nowhere to be found. Rodriguez is not paying rent and neither are the tenants.
Asked if he feels like an idiot, Rodriguez responded, “Right.”
Worse, “Last week the house got swatted.”
Describing the high-risk prank in which law enforcement is called under the false claim that something dangerous is happening in a home, he explained, “Police were told that there are dead bodies there.
“The house was surrounded by police. The DA was there. Then they searched the place with dogs. There were no bodies.”
Petting a purse-sized Pomerian that he just bought for $1,000 and named Larry, Rodriguez half-joked, “I had to get this guy for protection.”
“Now I got to pay for them to leave,” said Rodriguez. “I need a month or two to get them out. I am ready to give the house back to Ms. Adele. I’ll take the L on this one. The house really beat me up.”View comments(2.2k)
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Sean Combs sex trafficking investigation: ‘I would be very concerned if I were Diddy,’ legal expert says
Three legal experts speak to Yahoo and warn that Homeland Security’s involvement shouldn’t “be taken lightly.”
It has been three days since Sean “Diddy” Combs’s homes were raided by law enforcement, and while the music mogul has yet to be charged with a crime, he’s in hot water amid a federal sex trafficking investigation.
“I would be very concerned if I were Diddy,” Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer Silva Megerditchian tells Yahoo Entertainment. “Keeping in mind the allegations that have been coming up since Cassie Ventura’s civil case was settled, I would be worried and, more importantly, prepared for what is to come.”
Combs has been sued by at least five people who accuse the rapper of of rape, assault and other disturbing misconduct. Some of the allegations date back to the 1990s. A source told NBC News that three women and a man have been interviewed by federal officials in New York “in relation to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault and the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms.”
Diddy proclaimed his innocence through his attorney and intends to fight the allegations. Yahoo spoke to three legal experts who map out the difficult road ahead.
Homeland Security’s involvement shouldn’t ‘be taken lightly’
The Department of Homeland Security Investigations New York confirmed to Yahoo it “executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation.” Combs is reportedly the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation. Lawyer Judie Saunders, who specializes in litigating cases involving sexual abuse and misconduct, emphasizes that Homeland Security’s focus is “the security of America’s borders” and explains how that ties into the case.
“In the investigation there are allegations of sex trafficking, and although these allegations have not been proven, the trafficking of humans across state and/or international borders may have triggered the involvement of Homeland Security,” Saunders, a partner with NYC-based ASK LLP, says. “The execution of a search warrant is an extreme governmental action that touches on important aspects of the U.S. Constitution. By raiding Combs’s homes, the government has begun the first public phase to determine what if any federal laws Combs may have violated.”
Combs’s properties in Los Angeles and Miami were thoroughly searched by authorities on Monday.
“Any time the federal government is involved in a raid — it should never be taken lightly,” Megerditchian adds.
‘There is evidence that a federal crime has been committed’
A judge granted search warrants for Combs’s two properties, so, according to San Diego criminal defense lawyer Elmira Yousufi, that means there is “evidence” of federal crimes.
“Here, the agents were authorized to search for documents, phones and other electronic devices,” she says. “Based on recent civil lawsuits against Diddy, there have been allegations that these sex-related crimes were recorded. Very likely, federal agents want to look through his devices and see if they can find evidence of this.”
Several of the civil lawsuits against Combs claim that the businessman filmed various sexual encounters.
Electronic devices were seized on March 25, ABC News confirmed, while NBC News cited three sources who claim firearms were found during the searches.
Were the raids an ‘excessive’ use of force?
In a statement on Tuesday, Combs’s attorney Aaron Dyer called the raids “a gross overuse of military-level force.” (“There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated,” the statement read, in part.)
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In Megerditchian’s opinion, she does not believe law enforcement exhibited “excessive show of force at all.”
“It is the normal course of conduct when a search warrant is exercised,” she says.
“Any time the feds conduct a raid, it is usually viewed as excessive by the people involved. Officers have been known to make a mess of homes, detain innocent people — including children — and handcuff them for either officer safety or control of the situation,” she continues. “Agents will tear homes apart looking for evidence that the warrant specifies. Unfortunately what Diddy and his family went through is no different than any other person facing a federal investigation.”
Did Diddy really flee the country — and does it matter?
The music entrepreneur was pictured at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport hours after the raids occurred. (Yahoo reached out to Combs’s attorney but did not receive a response.) Conflicting reports emerged as to Combs’s whereabouts, whether he’s in the U.S. or the Caribbean. Yousufi says it doesn’t really matter.
“If Diddy left the country, it would not come back to haunt him unless the government can prove he knew he was about to have his homes searched, or that he was going to face criminal charges and he was leaving to avoid prosecution,” she says. “Search warrants of this caliber are typically conducted secretly so as to not allow anyone to attempt to destroy or tamper with evidence, or be prepared for federal agents when they do conduct their search. It is unlikely Diddy knew when this was coming, if at all, thus he had no reason to believe he had to escape the country.”
What happens next?
Diddy has not yet been charged with a crime and is allowed to “live his life as normal” for now, Megerditchian says.
“This likely means that though he or his associates are currently under investigation, the government has not compiled enough evidence to arrest him personally at this point. I suspect the government will conduct further investigations and gather more evidence — this will likely include interviews with witnesses, more evidence-gathering from electronic devices and a variety of other tools law enforcement uses to develop the evidence needed to put a case together. But the simple truth is any time the federal government is involved in an investigation, there is likely something more coming,” she adds.
But, as Yousufi notes, his freedom and reputation hang in the balance.
“Even if the investigation does not lead to an arrest or criminal charges, the damage to his reputation may be irreparable. Even worse, if the investigation produces incriminating evidence in support of sex trafficking, then he is looking at not just the loss of his reputation but also the likely loss of his freedom,” she explains. “Based on the allegations stemming from the series of civil lawsuits against him recently, it is not outrageous to believe the government has suspicions there is evidence that he did engage in unwanted sexual activity with the alleged victims and/or forced the victims to engage in sexual-related activity.”
Lindsey Vonn’s ‘Body Paint’ Photo Causes Stir Before Winter Olympics
Lindsey Vonn’s “Body Paint” photo is causing a major stir ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The 2026 Winter Olympics are set to begin next month. The 2026 Games will be held in Italy. Vonn, one of the top athletes in American winter sports history, will be competing at 41 years old.
On Thursday morning, Vonn was officially listed on the 97-member U.S. Ski & Snowboard team (50 women and 47 men). She was unable to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics due to a knee injury. Vonn, a four-time World Cup champion, has completed her comeback in epic fashion. She’ll look to medal in Italy.
Meanwhile, Vonn continues to sizzle off of the mountain. One of her iconic “Body Paint” Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue photos has been trending in the wake of her Olympics return.
“Lindsey Vonn. BODY PAINT. Enough said,” SI Swimsuit.
Fans are loving it, unsurprisingly.
Fans obsessed with Lindsey Vonn’s body paint photo
“One of the most beautiful girls on the planet❤,” one wrote.
“Just as beautiful now as you were then! Such a powerful statement of a very confident woman!” one fan added.
“Amazing!!” one fan added.
“What if you want to swim? And what happens if you’re sweating?” another fan wondered.
“WOW that is all. Thank you Sports Illustrated,” another fan wrote.
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The 2026 Winter Olympics are scheduled to begin on Friday, February 6 and run through late February.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Jan 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the Olympics section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.View comments(790)
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Camilla Shares Emotional Cancer Statement Amid Charles ‘Incurable’ Diagnosis: ‘Needn’t Pretend to Be Fine… ‘
There are always narratives around the British royal family, but perhaps the biggest one has to do with King Charles’ health. Sure, there is a lot of interest in the feuds—are Charles and Harry getting along these days? What about Harry and William? And does anyone even talk to the former Prince Andrew? But the health issues seem to be more pressing.
Now Queen Camilla has given us a glimpse at what’s going on with the King’s health as she visited Maggie’s in Cheltenham, a center which supports people living with the disease. The Queen is the president of the center.
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During the visit, Camilla paid tribute to Maggie’s founder, according to The Telegraph. Maggie Keswick Jencks was lauded as someone who understood the need for cancer patients to “receive expert support, sympathy and a cup of tea”.
“Maggie was convinced that people living with cancer crave a beautiful, comforting environment as they face the unknown; a place where they needn’t pretend to be fine… where laughter can come as naturally as tears, because sometimes that’s what’s wanted.”
This comes after reports that King Charles’ cancer is incurable, but considered to be manageable. Writer and associate editor of the Daily Telegraph, Camilla Tominey, recently said. “The talk now is that he may die ‘with’ cancer, but not ‘of’ cancer following a rigorous treatment program.”
Recent reports about the King’s health have been very positive. In December of 2025, he shared a rare health update, speaking about his diagnosis on Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer broadcast.
“Today I am able to share with you the good news that thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to ‘doctors’ orders,’ my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the New Year,” the King said in the message. “This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care in recent years; testimony that I hope may give encouragement to the fifty percent of us who will be diagnosed with the illness at some point in our lives.
