Josh Flagg Sues Stephen Kotler for Alleged Hacking

An alleged data hacking case brought by “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles” agent Josh Flagg has been quietly winding its way through court with no known defendants — until now.

The Compass agent is accusing his former boss, ex-Douglas Elliman Western Region CEO Stephen Kotler, of being involved in the hacking after the identity, up until now, was only known as “Doe 1” in the lawsuit. The request to amend the suit was filed earlier this month.

Kotler was a long-time Elliman CEO up until a February shake-up of the region’s executive ranks. At that time, he stepped down to join his son Max Kotler and brother Michael Kotler on Elliman’s New York-based Kotler Team, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Real Deal.

People familiar with the matter said Kotler had been negotiating an exit from the position — which oversaw California, Texas, Colorado and Nevada — or a new role at the firm a few weeks prior to the internal announcement.

Flagg’s original lawsuit from last July accused an unknown person or persons behind an email account registered with encryption services provider Proton of allegedly “accessing private and confidential information” stored on his computer network or system. That included emails between Flagg and his attorney and “other private and confidential information,” the suit alleges.

Flagg is suing for invasion of privacy and violating the state’s Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. The agent requested a trial to determine damages.

Flagg didn’t respond to a request for comment and his assistant deferred any comment to his attorney Marty Singer of Lavely & Singer, who was traveling Monday and unable to respond to a request for comment by press time.

“Information obtained in discovery revealed that after Flagg moved his business to Compass last year, and before Kotler stepped down as Douglas Elliman’s Western Region CEO, Kotler participated in the conduct described in the complaint — using an encrypted email service based in Switzerland called Proton Mail to access and disseminate private and confidential electronic information concerning Flagg to one or more third parties in violation of Flagg’s rights,” said a statement from an attorney in Singer’s office. “Flagg will not tolerate this outrageous invasion of his privacy rights and intends to hold Kotler and all those acting in concert with him accountable for any harm resulting from their wrongful and tortious conduct.”

A spokesperson for Kotler cited the pending litigation as the reason for declining to comment.

No answer to the complaint has yet been submitted to the court by a defendant. It’s unclear if additional defendants will be named as the original lawsuit was against “Does 1-10.”

Elliman declined to comment. Compass declined comment through a spokesperson, who referenced the company’s policy on pending litigation.

Last week, a judge continued a status update meeting in Flagg’s lawsuit to Aug. 14.

The naming of Kotler as a defendant comes after Flagg’s attorney asked a judge in September for permission to conduct third-party discovery with Kotler; Jonathan Butler, Elliman vice president and broker of record for California; Flagg’s former assistant Michelle Carlson; and Douglas Elliman’s California subsidiary.

Butler and Carlson did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Among the records requested from Kotler were any documents related to the Proton email account and all communications between anyone at Douglas Elliman of California and TRD involving Flagg starting from May 1, 2024, according to court documents.

Flagg parted ways with Elliman last March. A report that ran last May from TRD, pointed to Flagg’s exit from Elliman occurring alongside a settlement related to a Pasadena home sale where Flagg represented the seller and the buyer. The sellers in that deal allegedly had concerns about whether all offers had been presented, TRD reported last year.

The agent and the brokerage disagreed on the reason for Flagg’s contract being terminated, according to the report. Singer told TRD at the time that Compass reached out to Flagg about joining the firm “long before any dispute existed between Josh Flagg and Douglas Elliman.”

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