Charles Rutenberg Realty founders brawl over Brooklyn office, dividends

From left: from left: Jeffrey Markowitz, Paul Purcell, Kathy Braddock, and Richard Friedman
From left: from left: Jeffrey Markowitz, Paul Purcell, Kathy Braddock, and Richard Friedman

Broker-friendly Charles Rutenberg Realty has grown to the sixth-largest residential brokerage since it launched in 2006, but its five founders who are caught up in a legal brawl over various partnership agreements, dividends, allegations of fraud, and who gets to open up a Rutenberg office in Brooklyn. (note: correction appended)

Rutenberg has an unusual business plan: Brokers don’t split commissions with the firm; instead, they pay set fees — $99 a month for access to Manhattan listings, use of email, a website, and telephone system — and pay transaction fees of $1,000 per sale, or $2000 for sales that top $1.5 million.

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But the Wall Street Journal reports that the profits have brought on viscous arguments between executives that even saw bank accounts frozen temporarily. [WSJ] — Jane C. Timm