Starwood seeks to hold Joel Schreiber in contempt of court

Starwood Capital has over $100 billion in assets, 5,000 employees, and 16 offices. 

But one man has proven elusive to the firm’s vast resources. 

Starwood has been unable to collect a dollar from New York real estate investor Joel Schreiber since a New York state court awarded two judgments in Starwood’s favor in 2022 and 2023 totaling over $88 million.  

Schreiber is best known in New York real estate as the first investor in WeWork.

The judgments stem from Schreiber’s defaults on loans Starwood provided him for a hulking building in Downtown Los Angeles, known as the Broadway Trade Center. Schreiber signed personal guarantees on the loans, allowing Starwood to pursue him. 

Now, a Starwood affiliate is asking the court to hold Schreiber in contempt of court. It is also seeking to impose sanctions, including the possibility of jail time, for failing to comply with subpoenas and court orders to hand over documents. 

“Given Schreiber’s abject failure to respect numerous court orders, it is appropriate for the court to consider incarceration as a tool of compliance,” said Starwood’s attorney David McTaggart of Duane Morris in its motion for contempt. 

Starwood alleges that Schreiber has failed to comply with three of Starwood’s requests to provide information about his companies and his assets. Schreiber has sent over some information, but Starwood alleges it was deficient. 

Schreiber’s attorney did not return a request to comment. Starwood’s attorney declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Schreiber has been mounting a comeback and has purchased properties in Los Angeles and New York City.

His company, Waterbridge Capital, bought the Union Bank Plaza tower in Los Angeles in March 2023 for $110 million. He has already paid off at least 40 percent of his $75 million loan on the property from Hankey Capital.

Schreiber was also behind the purchase of a small building in Tribeca for $7.9 million in June, according to PincusCo. 

Schreiber’s real estate career has been marked by his initial investment in Adam Neumann’s co-working firm along with his lengthy history of litigation from creditors.

Notably, Goldman Sachs sued Schreiber alleging that he pledged a stake of his WeWork holdings to obtain a $20 million loan from the investment bank. Schreiber then sold some of his stake without telling Goldman, depleting the underlying collateral. Schreiber also pledged worthless collateral, Goldman alleged. 

The saga with Starwood dates back to 2018. A Starwood affiliate provided a $213 million loan to Schreiber’s Waterbridge Capital and Jack Jangana’s Continental Equities for the Broadway Trade Center. Schreiber and Jangana both personally guaranteed the loan. 

In 2020, the owners defaulted on the loan payments and Starwood eventually moved to foreclose. 

Starwood acquired the property through a foreclosure sale with a $200 million credit bid, but still went after Schreiber on his personal guarantee. The firm alleged Schreiber owed $71 million on the loan.  

Starwood also went after Schreiber for another $5 million it lent on the Broadway Trade Center.

Starwood alleges in its latest filings that Schreiber has failed to produce documents of at least 25 LLCs through which he transacts business and owns assets. Of the limited discovery Starwood has obtained, the firm alleges Schreiber made substantial transfers of assets after the entry of the judgment and a restraining notice.

Schreiber’s counsel argued at a hearing last summer that Schreiber “did work in good faith trying to get as much documentation as he could.”

Schreiber’s attorney has yet to respond to the latest filings by Starwood. 

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