The woman accused of stalking Yankees general manager Brian Cashman “played the system” by lying on paperwork to get a luxury subsidized apartment in Tribeca, prosecutors said Thursday at the start of her fraud trial.
“This is a case about this defendant taking something she had no right to take,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Kenn Kern told jurors in opening statements in Louise Meanwell’s case.
Meanwell allegedly claimed to Rose Associates, which handled leases for the 88 Leonard St., that her daughter lived with her while she did not have custody.
She took the lie further, claiming her child had “not seen her father in years,” prosecutors said.
Meanwell maintains her innocence and says she was entitled to the apartment.
Her attorney Lawrence LaBrew said prosecutors will not be able to prove charges including grand larceny, falsification of business records and offering a false instrument for filing.
“There is no grand larceny because no one’s gonna come in here and say $50,000 was taken,” LaBrew said.
Meanwell, who maintains she had a relationship with Cashman while he was married, will be tried separately for allegedly stalking, harassing and blackmailing him.