Investors sue Rishi Kapoor over alleged $25M nonpayment
Diana Ulis and Alex Kleyner claim they have an agreement for developer to pay back their investments in his projects
Real estate investors Diana Ulis and Alex Kleyner want Rishi Kapoor to fork over $25 million they are allegedly owed for investing in his company and real estate projects.
In a lawsuit filed last week in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, three entities managed by Ulis and Kleyner allege that Kapoor failed to abide by an agreement to pay them back tens of millions of dollars they put into his Coral Gables-based development firm, Location Ventures, and two co-living projects in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale.
Kapoor, Location Ventures attorney Brian Goodkind and Alan Kluger, the lawyer for Ulis and Kleyner, did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Last year, the married couple paid $11.2 million for a Wynwood commercial building. The previous year, Ulis and Kleyner acquired two adjacent waterfront homes in Miami Beach for a combined $44.4 million. Kleyner is CEO of New York-based National Debt Relief, as well as a partner with ABK Capital, an investment firm also based in New York.
As previously reported by The Real Deal, Ulis and Kleyner sought to recoup $45 million they invested with Kapoor after learning about alleged financial improprieties at Location Ventures. Kapoor allegedly agreed to repay the couple in installments.
Kapoor is mired in a heap of trouble. He’s being investigated by county, state and federal law enforcement agencies for his previously secret business dealings with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. In January, another group of investors sued a Location Ventures affiliate to have Kapoor removed as manager of a co-living project his firm is developing in Coconut Grove. Greg Brooks, ex-CFO for Location Ventures, alleges in court documents that Kapoor failed to pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit the former employee filed in May. And the city of Miami Beach recently shut down construction of a co-living project Kapoor is developing in the city.
In their complaint, Ulis and Kleyner allege that they were able to recover more than $20 million of their $45 million Location Ventures investment. However, Kapoor allegedly failed to buy back their remaining equity interests, including $8.5 million they invested in Location Ventures and $16.5 million that they put into the Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale projects.
Kapoor defaulted on the agreement when he allegedly failed to make a required payment in May, the Ulis and Kleyner lawsuit states.