Masoud and Stephanie Shojaee are facing off against an aggressive lender seeking repayment of a $10.5 million loan.
On Tuesday, an affiliate of Delaware entity Right Meow Capital sued the Shojaees, the married couple who lead Coral Gables-based Shoma Group, and two trusts under Masoud Shojaee’s name. Filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the complaint alleges the Shojaees defaulted on a promissory note by failing to repay the debt on a Nov. 7 maturity date.
Shoma President Stephanie Shoajee, who is also a social media influencer with half-a-million followers on Instagram, recently joined the cast of the Bravo TV reality series, “The Real Housewives of Miami.” She regularly posts photos and videos of her and her husband’s bon vivant lifestyle, including reels of the power couple jet-setting to Europe on their private plane.
The loan’s collateral is the retail component of Shoma Village, a mixed-use project with 304 apartments in Hialeah that the Shojaees’ firm completed in 2022. Attorneys for Right Meow entity did not respond to emails requesting comment.
In a statement, Shoma CEO Masoud Shojaee said Right Meow is playing hardball, and “we look forward to mounting a full defense in court.”
“This lawsuit comes after Shoma made a simple request for a short two-month extension on a loan,” Shojaee said. “In response, the lender proposed loan extension terms that were excessive and impermissible.”
The lender threatened to sue when Shoma refused to agree to the terms, he added.
According to the promissory note, which is attached to the lawsuit, Masoud and Stephanie Shojaee are personal guarantors. To extend the maturity date, they would be required to show a balance sheet of at least $80 million, replenish the interest reserves account and pay a fee of $78,750, the note states.
The Shojaees obtained the promissory note in 2019 for an initial amount of $8.6 million. The debt had been paid down to $7.4 million when the Shojaees obtained an increase of $3.1 million last year, records show.
The lawsuit is the latest round of litigation targeting Shoma. This month, the condo association for Ten30, a three-story, 33-unit boutique condominium in Miami Beach developed by Shoma, sued the company over alleged construction defects.
In 1988, Masoud Shojaee co-founded Shoma with his ex-wife, Maria Lamas.