New York City marshals raked in record-high profits last year, amid a sharp increase in evictions and a spike in car-booting, records show.
The 31 city marshals on the job in 2023 earned just under $19.5 million in combined net income, up from roughly $11.6 million for the same amount of marshals in 2022 — the highest amount on record since the city began publishing profits in 2015.
Marshals are private contractors appointed by the mayor and tasked with booting cars, seizing utility meters, collecting debts on behalf of creditors and locking out tenants after they get eviction orders from judges.
Marshals get to keep 5% of the assets they seize while collecting debts. They also earn small individual sums for mailing court-related documents, serving eviction notices and removing tenants. The sheer volume of administrative fees can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for marshals who employ several office staff members to help handle the workload.
All told, city marshals earned a gross income of just under $37 million last year. They gave about $1.7 million to the city, which requires them to turn over 4.5% of their annual proceeds.
The longtime arrangement, where private contractors handle civil enforcement, has faced scrutiny from some lawmakers and budget watchdogs who say the city is forgoing millions of dollars by delegating the duties.
“As private citizens, not city employees, marshals tend to have their most profitable years during times of economic hardship for many others,” Councilmember Gale Brewer said at a Council oversight hearing in May.
Marshal incomes increased as evictions rose in the five boroughs following a pandemic-related moratorium on most removals. Marshals locked out tenants from more than 12,000 apartments last year, records show. They completed about 9,000 evictions in the first eight months of this year, according to statistics reported by Gothamist.
Car-booting, a duty shared by the marshals and the city’s Sheriff’s Office, also spiked in 2023.
About 135,000 cars were booted last year, up from roughly 87,000 in 2022, according to data maintained by the Department of Finance.
In an interview with Gothamist, Brewer stopped short of saying the city should take over marshal responsibilities, but she criticized what she called an “ad hoc” system where tenants facing eviction can have a hard time finding out who to call or when a marshal will arrive.
“There’s nothing uniform about it,” Brewer said. “They have to find the marshal and they’re not quite sure who the marshal is. I find it a bit of a challenging system to negotiate that way.”
But Marshals Association spokesperson Michael Woloz said the private enforcers serve a vital role in the city and often enter dangerous situations to carry out court orders such as evictions. One marshal was killed in 2001 while attempting to remove a tenant in Brooklyn.
“Marshals perform a service that saves the city millions of dollars every year,” Woloz said. “They do so at their own risk. Often they are the targets of abuse from those they are executing court judgments against.”
Woloz said there are now 28 marshals, down from 31 last year, after two retired and another died. He said they save the city money on staffing by hiring their own workforces.
“The city gets what it’s owed plus an assessment from the marshals. Not a bad deal for taxpayers,” Woloz said.
Individual marshal income varied dramatically last year. Six marshals earned less than $15,000, while eight earned more than $1 million. The median net income for all the marshals was $577,000.
Queens-based marshal Martin Bienstock, who specializes in debt collection, earned nearly $1.8 million last year, records show. His son Gregg Bienstock, with whom he shares an office, earned about $532,000. Marshals Alejandro Finardo and Ronald Moses each earned about $1.5 million.
Finardo, Moses and the Bienstocks did not respond to requests for comment.
City marshals can only collect debts within the five boroughs — a rule marshals have flouted on multiple occasions, according to findings by the Department of Investigation first reported by news site The City.
The Bienstocks each received formal warnings from the Department of Investigation for attempting to collect a debt outside the five boroughs in 2019. Two other marshals have been cited for similar practices and been forced to return the money they seized.
Records from Department of Investigation, which oversees the city marshals, show the agency has issued 14 warnings or penalties to marshals accused of violating city regulations or acting inappropriately since 2018. The sanctions were referenced by the department’s commissioner, Jocelyn Strauber, during the May City Council hearing.
Strauber told lawmakers her department has received 550 complaints, conducted 30 investigations and disciplined 11 marshals over the past five years. One of the city’s highest-grossing marshals, Vadim Barbarovich, resigned in November 2019 after the the department found he violated debt collection rules and was “untruthful” with investigators.
Other marshals received warnings for arriving early to evict an elderly tenant before a case worker from the city’s Adult Protective Services agency could arrive at the apartment on at least two occasions and for booting the wrong vehicle, according to investigation summaries. Another marshal was forced to attend an equal employment opportunity training for making racist and anti-semitic comments, the records show
Strauber told councilmembers that Department of Investigation audits marshal revenue annually “to ensure their financial records are consistent with the court orders that we have, that they should be enforcing and that the amounts that they are retaining and dispersing are consistent with the law.”
Department spokesperson Diane Struzzi said the agency investigates all misconduct claims against the marshals.
“Our investigations have led to the removal and discipline of city marshals, where appropriate.” Struzzi said in a statement.
City law allows the mayor to appoint up to 83 marshals at a time.
In May, Mayor Eric Adams convened a committee to review candidates for new marshal positions. A spokesperson for Adams said he has not yet made new appointments.