UPDATED, 10:57 p.m., August 27: Say uncle!
Rosewood Realty Group’s Aaron Jungreis, one of the city’s elite multifamily brokers, is suing his nephew Raphael Toledano, claiming he was squeezed out of a $100 million deal to acquire 16 East Village rental buildings.
In a lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court Thursday, Jungreis claims Toledano made an oral agreement to jointly buy the properties from the Tabak family. Toledano allegedly agreed to contribute half of the capital for the portfolio and eventually half of the profits or losses from the properties.
The pair worked toward making a deal between February 2014 and June 2015, the suit states. But according to Jungreis, Toledano was “motivated solely by greed” and signed a contract for the properties without his knowledge.
“Toledano took the first opportunity to betray the joint venture arrangement to which he was legally obligated, and his uncle’s trust,” the complaint states. He “believed that he would be able to arrange financing to close on the acquisition by himself through entities he controlled, and that he no longer need Jungreis to serve as ‘backstop’ or to loan him money as Jungreis has done previously.”
Several Tabak-affiliated companies are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The addresses of the properties in question: 253 East 10th Street, 510 East 12th Street, 228 East 6th Street, 329 East 12th Street, 327 East 12th Street, 334 East 9th Street, 323-325 East 12th Street, 95 East 7th Street, 514 East 12th Street, 27 St. Mark’s Place, 231-233 East 5th Street, 229 East 5th Street, 223 East 5th Street, 235 East 5th Street, and 66 East 7th Street.
Jungreis and Toledano could not be reached for comment by press time. Toledano, a broker who transitioned into property investments, has been mired in other legal troubles, including a state investigation into his alleged strong-arming of rent-regulated tenants.
The suit was first reported by the New York Daily News.