Bad Behavior Running Rampant Through Real Estate

If it feels like there’s been a lot of bad actors in real estate this year, well … there has been. From coast to coast, prominent figures in the industry have been charged with crimes, sued in serious cases and more. No market has been spared from these controversial figures.

Here’s a glance at some of the bad actors invading the pages of The Real Deal in 2024.

NEW YORK

Accusations against top brokers Oren and Tal Alexander have rocked residential real estate. They are accused of raping women in alleged attacks dating back to when they were in high school. They have denied the allegations, which first popped up in a pair of civil lawsuits.
Nir Meir’s life unraveled this year in such a fashion that it landed him at the notorious Rikers Island. The real estate executive is awaiting trial on charges of grand larceny, falsifying business records and tax fraud. Meir is accused of being the mastermind of an $86 million criminal fraud scheme.
Meir wasn’t alone at Rikers. Notorious “worst landlord” in New York City Daniel Ohebshalom was ordered to spend 60 days there after failing to cure chronic issues at his rental properties. He’s been in and out of court for years over the alleged issues and has faced multiple arrest warrants this year alone.

SOUTH FLORIDA

Patrick Carroll is based in Florida, but found himself in loads of trouble in Los Angeles this summer. He was arrested July 1, facing charges of evading a police officer and carrying a loaded firearm in public. Previous incidents included gunfire heard from his home and a Miami arrest in October after two Gold Rush Cabaret employees accused Carroll of assault.
Developer Sergio Pino ended his life as the FBI planned to arrest him for allegedly ordering the failed murder of his estranged wife. At a press conference the next day, the U.S. Attorney and the FBI said that Pino knew he was under investigation for previously ordering a hit on his wife and went ahead, trying again with a new group of hitmen.
South American investors filed several lawsuits against Rishi Kapoor, alleging he bamboozled them into putting down deposits on co-living condo units that were never being built. The jilted investors are seeking nearly $10 million. The SEC also alleges that Kapoor orchestrated a scheme to defraud more than 50 investors who contributed $93 million in equity for development.

CHICAGO

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson recently sued a former city employee and four others accused of using a fake property management company to scam the city out of more than $200,000 in Covid-19 emergency rental assistance. Ilyas Lakada — a local landlord and licensed attorney formerly with the city’s Department of Aviation and Department of Procurement Services — allegedly submitted fraudulent applications to the city.
The state is going after a mother-son duo who allegedly defrauded Chicago’s affordable housing system out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in government assistance. The 16-year scheme at the heart of the charges allegedly involved falsifying documents to obtain funds and benefits.

TEXAS

After failed attempts to buy properties in Travis County, real estate investor Dorsey Bryan Hardeman allegedly decided that if he couldn’t have them, nobody could. He was charged with three counts of arson after allegedly trying to burn down the properties.
CCG Capital founder Robert Buchanan faced the music in a Texas courtroom a year after the firm collapsed. Investors and an analyst allege the company was a Ponzi scheme and investors are fighting for every last penny.
Speaking of Ponzi schemes, a group including Kenneth Alexander of Axiom Financial and Vanguard Holdings Group, Caedrynn Connor of Benchmark Capital Group, Robert Welsh of FFC Capital Ventures and Christopher Fisher of Magnolia Financial Group, generated $138 million in their own alleged Ponzi scheme.
Embattled Austin developer Nate Paul’s been out of the news this summer, but legal battles keep challenging the World Class Holdings CEO. His legal team, however, helped him stave off a 10-day sentence for contempt of court, at least temporarily.

LOS ANGELES

The SEC charged Newport Beach-based John Kralik and his firm JKV Capital for allegedly lying to investors about his fix-and-flip business and misappropriating money. From 2017 through this year, Kralik allegedly funneled more than $1.6 million of investor cash into a Mercedes-Benz, paying off his home mortgage and Mexico vacation.
The City of Los Angeles sued Vlad Yurov and his partners for allegedly listing properties on Airbnb illegally and providing false addresses to guests. Not a good look for the “seven-figure Airbnb host.”
Want to buy Britney Spears’ Thousand Oaks mansion? Well, she doesn’t want to sell it. An apparent hack of the MLS system led to a bogus $9 million listing. That’s some toxic behavior.
Anything is possible — including an NBA legend getting scammed. Kevin Garnett sued title and escrow firms over a Malibu mansion dispute three years after he agreed to sell the property for $16 million.

SAN FRANCISCO

The homeowners association for a residential tower in San Jose decided to auction a handful of vacant condos to collect HOA maintenance fees. The only problem? The sale may have violated a court order.
San Francisco developer Gregory Malin and his Troon Pacific were put on the hook for more than $50 million after being accused of squandering $35 million through self-dealing, fraud and embezzlement in regards to a group of spec mansion projects.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chui is suing Leap Development over its alleged abandonment of a site on 5th Street, which created a water-filled hole with garbage and mosquito infestations.