News Licensing / MEGA
A couple who went viral after using a magnet to fish a safe stuffed with $100,000 out of a Queens lake are deadbeat tenants squatting in their relative’s house, according to their landlord.
Barbie Agostini and her partner, James Kane, allegedly still haven’t paid more than $15,000 in back rent to Barbie’s younger sister, Kathleen, who claims the couple has for months refused to leave the duplex apartment she’s been renting them in Jamaica, Queens.
This despite the couple’s magnet-fishing windfall they reeled up in Flushing Meadows Corona Park May 31, with Kane estimating 40% of the water-logged cash was still intact.
The frustrated landlord said the couple’s lease ran out in October — and fears their newfound celebrity will mask what she called their bullying behavior.
“I’m just terrified they’re going to be America’s sweetheart,” Kathleen Agostini told The Post.
She began eviction proceedings against the couple at the 84th Road building in January, according to Queens housing court records.
The couple, who most recently paid $1,300 a month in rent, allegedly refused to let the landlord make plumbing repairs for leaks caused by the corrosive chemicals Kane used to clean objects they reeled up with magnets, the sister claimed.
The damage caused the ceiling above her first-floor bedroom to collapse, she said.
Kane insisted the leak was not their fault, and claimed the landlord has harassed them and doxxed them online, according to court records.
Kathleen fears her tenants will not pay up or leave until a judge orders them to.
“If [Barbie] has a position where she doesn’t have to pay rent, no one is making her leave, it makes no difference to her,” she said.
John Francis, an attorney for Kane and Barbie Agostini, told The Post the court had ordered Kathleen to assess and fix the property, and allowed the couple to remain in their unit until the legal dispute was settled.
The landlord has claimed she can’t make the necessary repairs due to financial hardship, but also has rejected rental payments from the couple, he added.
“As a result, the property is in a state of disrepair despite the tenants granting access to the landlord for repairs,” Francis said.