Mazi Melesa Pilip subpoenaed to testify in rent lawsuit over husband’s business

At the height of the campaign for Long Island’s 3rd Congressional District, Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip will be dealing with a subpoena in a lawsuit against her husband over alleged unpaid rent. 

Before her election to the Nassau County Legislature, Pilip worked as the operations manager for her husband’s medical practice, and as Politico New York previously reported, the medical practice was sued by its landlord in 2020 for $70,000 in back rent and an additional $500,000 to cover the rest of the lease. Although Pilip was not named as a party in the lawsuit, court documents show that on Dec. 19 – just days after receiving the Republican nomination for the special election – she received a subpoena to give a deposition in the case. She’s required to provide that testimony to attorneys for the landlord on Jan. 22. 

“This is an ongoing lease dispute between a private business and a landlord,” Pilip’s campaign said in a statement in response to a City & State inquiry about the subpoena. 

Pilip will face off against Democrat Tom Suozzi, the former member of Congress seeking to win back a version of his old seat, on Feb. 13. She came into the race as a relative unknown compared to Suozzi, who has held various elected offices in and around the district for decades. Pilip, an Ethiopian-born Israeli Jew who served in the IDF, was first elected to the Nassau County Legislature in 2021 and won reelection last year.