Simon Baron claims Brent Carrier stole $250K from LIC development

Partners bought 45-40 Vernon Blvd in 2013

From left: Matthew Baron, a rendering of 45-40 Vernon Boulevard (credit SHoP Architects via NY YIMBY) and Brent Carrier
From left: Matthew Baron, a rendering of 45-40 Vernon Boulevard (credit SHoP Architects via NY YIMBY) and Brent Carrier

Simon Baron Development [TRDataCustom] accused partner Brent Carrier of stealing $250,000 from the ownership entity for their Long Island City project, public records show.

The company on Wednesday petitioned a judge in New York State Supreme Court to put a hold on Carrier’s assets until he pays up.

Simon Baron and Carrier partnered up in late 2013 to build a 28-story tower at 45-40 Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City, buying the site for $14.7 million. According to the petition, Carrier then negotiated a contract to buy a neighboring site in mid-2015 and the partners put down a $250,000 deposit. Ultimately that deal fell apart, and the site’s seller returned the deposit.

But rather than give Simon Baron back its money, Carrier “directed that the deposit be released to his own account,” the document claims. “Carrier does not dispute the fact that he took the money; he simply refuses to return it.”

Carrier declined to comment.

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The document claims Carrier said he was suffering from money problems, and previously pressured Simon Baron into fronting a $450,000 payment to him by threatening to “sabotage the entire project.”

Asked whether Simon Baron still plans to complete the project, the firm’s co-founder Matthew Baron declined to comment.

Carrier, head of Long Island City-based development firm CRE Development, has faced legal trouble before. In 2013 the owners of a taxi lot sued him, alleging he raised millions for a real estate development but ended up spending the money on himself instead.

And in January a Russian model who claims to be Carrier’s former girlfriend sued him for allegedly trying to force her out of his Chelsea pied-a-terre after she stopped sleeping with him.

(To view more new development in Long Island City, click here)