Jason Oppenheim-Led Brokerage Sues OC Luxury Agent

The Oppenheim Group, founded by “Selling Sunset” star Jason Oppenheim, is suing an Orange County luxury agent and his firm over an alleged deal gone bad.

The brokerage claimed in a lawsuit filed last week in Orange County Superior Court that it’s owed thousands of dollars in lost commission and other damages, alleging Paul Daftarian and his Daftarian Group conspired with the sellers of a home in the Newport Beach neighborhood of Corona del Mar to push the reality star’s brokerage out of compensation on a listing.

A spokesperson for The Oppenheim Group’s Newport Beach and San Diego office declined to comment on the lawsuit. Daftarian did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

The complaint is for fraudulent transfer, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, among other charges. It claims the Oppenheim Group’s Justin Itzen, who is based in its Newport Beach office, held an exclusive listing agreement for 1318 Outrigger Drive with the seller, a shell company called Lachman Estate. Under terms of the listing agreement, Itzen would market the property for just under $10 million beginning in January 2024 for as much as a 5 percent commission.

Mahnaz Jamalipour, who is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, is manager of Lachman Estate, state filings show.

Jamalipour and Eris Verne, another defendant, also serve as managers of Pacific Cove Holdings, which eventually held title to the Outrigger Drive property, according to paperwork filed with the state.

The Oppenheim Group said over $26,000 was spent on marketing and staging the home for showings. It alleged in its lawsuit the sellers “conspired to defraud [the brokerage] into canceling the listing agreement so that the property could be listed by other brokers without any payment” to the Oppenheim Group.

The brokerage said it reached an agreement with Lachman Estate in May 2024 to cancel its exclusive listing agreement as long as it was compensated for expenses, in addition to a $50,000 services fee if the property was sold by Jan. 14 of this year. Attorneys for the Oppenheim Group claim in the lawsuit the seller “never intended to pay.”

Daftarian and Obeidullah Habibi, another Daftarian Group agent, were eventually tapped to market the property in Fall 2024, according to the lawsuit.

The Oppenheim Group alleged the two, despite saying they were not aware of the cancellation agreement, were indeed informed of it. The lawsuit goes on to say the listing agents acted in coordination with the rest of the defendants looking to avoid any payment to the Oppenheim Group by transferring ownership of the home from Lachman to Pacific Cove, which the brokerage argued technically marked a sale under the canceled listing agreement and, therefore, required payment of expenses.

Attorneys for the Oppenheim Group allege the transfer activity was “taken to avoid payment of the commission and to obscure the sale and parties involved” from the brokerage.

A $5.4 million offer on the home was accepted last October from a trust tied to Nickul and Amy Jain. The buyers filed a separate lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court less than a week before the Oppenheim Group, also alleging breach of contract against Daftarian and the sellers among others.

That litigation takes issue with problems found at the home, including an alleged dispute with the Homeowners Association over the roof, and items such as equipment manuals and receipts not provided prior to the deal’s closing.

The buyer complaint seeks over $250,000 in damages. Meanwhile, the Oppenheim Group’s lawsuit claims it is entitled to over $500,000 in damages.