Randy Slifka accuses law firm of manipulating aunt in 477 Madison sale

Randy Slifka is going after the law firm that advised his aunt on the sale of one of his grandfather’s buildings — 477 Madison Avenue — in the latest chapter of a family feud.

The son of Halcyon Capital founder Alan Slifka last week sued Manhattan-based law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, alleging the white-shoe firm cost him and his brother their rightful share of the $258 million Aby Rosen paid for the 24-story office building in 2019.

Joseph Slifka, his grandfather, left the building to Randy’s father Alan and Barbara in 1992. When Alan died in 2011, his interest was split among his three sons.

San Francisco-based real estate firm Shorenstein bought a 47.5 percent interest in the leasehold from the brothers in 2013, leaving them with 2.5 percent and Barbara with half.

Randy Slifka initially sued in March seeking $37 million in connection with the 2019 sale. But his case, which focused on Michael Hecht, an accountant who oversaw trusts for him and his brother, was dismissed on June 14; the judge said issues were “not clearly and fully addressed” in the complaint. Slifka can refile that case, but no later than today.

In the new suit, Slifka claims that the law firm manipulated Slifka’s aunt Barbara Slifka, who was 91 at the time of the sale. Paul Weiss also represented other owners of the fee and leasehold interest, but never told Barbara or her family of the apparent conflict of interest, the suit charges.

“Barbara’s absolute dependence upon Paul Weiss was not lost on the [firm’s lawyers], who viewed themselves as the actual decision makers for the entities that Barbara controlled,” the complaint reads. It adds that she couldn’t pick up on the conflict because of her “advanced age, diminishing capacity and lack of business acumen.”

However, the money from the building sale was split up in a way that favored the firm’s client, Barbara Slifka, her nephew’s suit acknowledges. An arbitrator found the allocation unfair to him, not to her.

Reached for comment, the firm blasted Slifka, managing director of hedge fund Slifka Asset Management.

“Mr. Slifka is a serial litigator who filed a nearly identical claim that was summarily dismissed last month in the same court,” said a spokesperson for Paul Weiss. “This lawsuit is equally frivolous and we look forward to its prompt dismissal.”

Slifka alleges the firm pushed his aunt to adopt a division of the sales proceeds that favored the leasehold owners — his aunt and Shorenstein — over himself and his brother, who held the fee interest.

In September, an arbitration panel determined that the fee interest owners were entitled to $198 million from the sale, from which it had received $97 million. Shorenstein, the lawsuit charges, got $46 million more than it should have.

The arbitration also resulted in Randy Slifka getting $16 million from his aunt.

Any damages and interest the brothers win from the new lawsuit would be split between two trusts belonging to them.

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