Jason Walker is back at Douglas Elliman.
Walker returns to the residential brokerage roughly a year after leaving, representatives for Elliman announced on Monday. Last month, boutique brokerage CORE terminated him, just 14 months after he was fired from his last gig at Compass.
According to Walker’s attorney, Jon Harris, the broker planned to leave CORE before his termination but was waiting for a $4 million deal to close. The firm, Harris said, caught wind that he was planning to jump ship and terminated his contract before he could quit.
Dottie Herman, Elliman’s president and CEO, said she and Howard Lorber, the firm’s chairman, have been trying to lure Walker back since he left in June 2015.
“We have continually been in contact with him, especially during the last few months, and we have come to an agreement for his return,” she said in a statement. “Douglas Elliman is where Jason belongs. I am delighted that he is home.”
The broker has had a rough time since leaving the firm. Walker filed a $6 million lawsuit against Compass in New York Supreme Court earlier this year, alleging that the firm wrongfully fired him and denied him $170,000 in commissions. He also said that the firm started false rumors that was a misogynist. Compass filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in September.
Walker first joined Elliman in 2004, and won the firm’s Rookie of the Year award a year later. He’s since built up a roster of high-profile clients, including John Legend and Chrissy Teigen.
“I felt the company is the best place for my needs, as well as those of my clients,” Walker said of the move.