On Thursday night, The National Arts Club Board voted to expel its former president Aldon James, his twin brother John, and family friend Steven Leitner from the membership of the club, and therefore from their apartments at 15 Gramercy Park South since only members can be tenants of the building, reported DNAinfo.
The NAC board said in a statement that the men had “committed conduct that is seriously prejudicial to the Club and which violated the rules and policies of the Club... Such an action means that none of the three may enter the Club’s common spaces; have any other rights or privileges of membership in the Club; or serve on the Board of Governors or any Committee of the Club unless and until they are restored to membership in the Club by a vote of two thirds of the Board of Governors.”
This decision follows months of legal battles between the James group and the NAC, and controversy regarding the group's uses of club apartments to hoard flea market junk and antiques, which were allegedly purchased with NAC money. The James group is also under investigation by the state Attorney General and Manhattan District Attorney for mismanagement of the non-profit institution.
Read more in coverage by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and DNAinfo.
