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Famed Hedge Fund Manager James Chanos Sued for $70K in Back Rent

By  Ben Fractenberg and Anton K. Nilsson | October 5, 2015 8:39am 

 Hedge fund manager James Chanos was sued for more than $70,000 by an Upper East Side building after a woman he was a guarantor for stopped making her rent payments, according to a lawsuit. 
James Chanos Lawsuit
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UPPER EAST SIDE — Influential hedge fund manager and short-seller James Chanos was sued for nearly $78,000 by an Upper East Side building owner after a woman he was guarantor for fell behind on rental payments, according to court papers.

Chanos helped Georgina Macken secure a lease for a third-floor apartment overlooking Central Park in tony 952 Fifth Ave. in 2011.

Macken started falling behind on her $6,485 a month rent in March 2014 and made her last payment for the apartment in July of that year, court papers read.

Building owner Windsor Plaza, LLC then took her to housing court, according to court documents, but she failed to appear in September 2014 and then moved out of the apartment before her lease was up this past May.

The total tab on unpaid rent rose to more than $70,000 before the lease finally expired.

Macken was quoted in a 2014 New York Daily News article about Upper East Side mothers who had hired a woman to help potty train their children. 

She also studied cognitive psychology at The New School, according to her Linkedin page. 

Neighbors told DNAinfo New York she moved out of the building suddenly about a year ago and friends had to come by afterwards to clean out the apartment. 

Chanos, who founded the fund Kynikos (derived from the Greek word for “cynic”), made his fortune betting that stocks would drop in value.

He famously warned that Enron was overvalued before the company imploded.

The hedge fund manager, who is divorced, bought a $24 million penthouse at 3 E. 75th St., just a few blocks away from Macken’s former apartment, the New York Observer reported in 2008.

He was also friendly with prostitute Ashley Dupré before she was linked to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and let her stay in his East Hamptons mansion in 2007, according to reports. 

Windsor Plaza’s lawyer, Gregory Soumas, declined to comment when reached by phone. 

Chanos did not return a request for comment. 

Macken was unable to be reached.