Andrew Cuomo and the Alexander at 250 East 49th Street

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has quietly settled a five-month investigation in which developer Alexander Gurevich has been banned from selling condominium and cooperative units in New York state for three years, will pay a $300,000 fine and was separately forced to offer refunds to all buyers at the Alexander condo on the East Side, The Real Deal has learned. Cuomo entered a so-called assurance of discontinuance with Gurevich Feb. 18, after launching a probe in September 2009, amid allegations that the sponsor of the building at 250 East 49th Street failed to disclose key information about the principal investors from prospective buyers. Attorney Andrew Weltchek, who represented four buyers that filed suit in federal court against the developers, said he complained to the AG about several “defects” in the offering plan, leading Cuomo’s office to investigate further. “The attorney general investigated that and figured out there were additional disclosures that had to be made,” Weltchek said. “In the meantime, the clock ran out on the [Jan. 1] date the sponsor projected the project had to be closed.” [more]

A Swedish bank that holds dozens of former Lehman Brothers Holdings
notes is foreclosing on nearly $38 million in loans secured by one of
those properties where developer Alexander Gurevich hoped to build a
75-unit condominium project near the United Nations, court papers show.
Swedbank AB sued Gurevich’s East 46th Borrower in New York
State Supreme Court June 26 to foreclose on the acquisition, building
and project loans totaling $37.8 million, the filings show. The suit
also names six construction-related firms that have filed a total of
$4.675 million in mechanic’s liens on the property. In
December, the loans on the planned 18-story condo at 313-317 East 46th
Street between First and Second avenues in Turtle Bay were transferred
from Lehman Brothers to Swedbank, an international lender based in
Sweden, with offices in New York, the filing says. Progress at the site
stalled last fall, and on October 31, the loan went into default, the
complaint says. [more]