Rommy Shy sues lender to undo foreclosure sale of Beverly Hills home

Investor Rommy Shy has sued lender Wilmington Savings Fund Society and several loan servicers over what he describes as the “wrongful foreclosure” of his Beverly Hills mansion, The Real Deal has learned. 

The property, a 2-acre estate at 911 and 917 Loma Vista Drive, was scheduled for a foreclosure sale on April 9, property records show. During the auction, the property sold for nearly $5.4 million, just a fraction of its market value of $25.8 million, according to records from one of the defendants, loan servicer Quality Loan Service. Shy, through an entity called Bobs LLC, filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles court the next day, requesting a judicial declaration to undo the transaction. 

Shy, the son of developer Barry Shy and the head of brokerage firm Royalty Realty, acquired the home for $20.3 million through a foreclosure sale in July 2021, according to property records. AShy’s entity Bobs was the lender for the previous owner of the property. It held a lien on the mansion and foreclosed on $13 million in debt, according to court records. 

In March 2022, Shy listed the mansion for $26 million. At the time, Adi Perez, a broker from The Agency who was handling the listing, confirmed Shy as the owner.  

The previous owner of the mansion, Russian businessman Gennady Moshkovich, lost the property while dealing “with a series of medical complications,” court filings show. Moshkovich is best known as the man behind a $4 billion theme park on the outskirts of Moscow. He vacated the home shortly after Shy acquired the property.

In its complaint, Bobs claims that Wilmington, along with servicers Select Portfolio Servicing and Quality Loan Service, acted “as if Moshkovich was still the record owner of the property.” To prevent the home from going into default, Shy claims that he paid $1.3 million “under protest” because Select Portfolio wouldn’t provide a detailed accounting of the loan. 

“Notwithstanding notice of Bobs’ existence, relationship to, and interest in the property, SPS and Quality Loan proceeded with a nonjudicial foreclosure of the property without notice to Bobs as required by law,” the complaint states.   

Shy and his family are involved in several lawsuits. In December, a group of limited liability companies that the Shys control filed a countersuit against Laguna Point Properties. The dispute relates to a $400 million agreement to sell a portfolio of apartment buildings in Downtown Los Angeles. In January, a group of condo owners at a Downtown Los Angeles property sued the Shys, claiming that the family improperly funneled funds out of the homeowners association fund.  

Wilmington did not respond to a request for comment.