Look out when moving to the Big Apple – you might just be scammed out of thousands of dollars.
Popular fitness influencer, Jerry Genesis, 35, recently stole $100,000 from eight people between Nov. 19, 2024 and July 31, 2025 by posing as a lessor for multiple apartments. He is currently in custody and facing jail time for grand larceny charges.
Inside the scam
Genesis owns multiple health and wellness organizations, like Genesis Wellness Group and Genesis Physio and Rehab. He is a self proclaimed “prominent figure in the health and wellness community.”
High-value locations in New York City such as Chinatown, East Village, Nolita, Chelsea and Downtown Brooklyn are all locations that Genesis decided to “sublet” through a third-party broker. According to the District Attorney’s office, none of the eight potential tenants who had signed paperwork were able to move into the properties.
Genesis collected move-in fees that ranged from $8,000 to $17,200, according to the New York Post. The Post furthered by stating that one renter even showed up with bags, ready to move before finding an eviction notice posted on the front door. He had rented the apartments himself by lying about his career and income.
This is not the first scam that Genesis has committed, as he racked up thousands of charges on different clients’ credit cards.
After his first credit card scam, he ran to Connecticut as an attempt to escape charges and failed to show up to his court dates. He was indicted on bail jumping in addition to the charges for larceny
An attack on New York City’s housing market
Genesis chose to plant this attack at one of the worst times in the New York City rental market. According to the New York Post, rent in Manhattan is at an all-time-high. The average monthly rent is at $5,686, which is 13% up from last year.
The increase is in large part because of the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses Act (FARE), which switches the responsibility of paying broker fees from the tenant to the landlord. Because of this, landlords have simply raised rent prices to make up for the discrepancy.
Genesis’ Future
The personal trainer and influencer was charged with in a New York State Supreme Court indictment on three accounts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, one account of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree and one count of Bail Jumping in the Second Degree.
Three years prior to this incident, District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. launched the first ever Housing and Tenant Protection Act, “which targets systemic criminal harassment of tenants and abuse of government programs by landlords and developers,” according to the New York District Attorney’s website.
The investigation is ongoing and police believe there are additional victims.
