Meyer Chetrit Seeks Arrest Warrant for Yoel Goldman

Meyer Chetrit’s battle against former Brooklyn mega landlord Yoel Goldman has been turned up a notch.

Chetrit is calling on a New York county sheriff to find and arrest Goldman for failing to comply with a subpoena. Chetrit claims Goldman has tried to delay his efforts to collect on judgment for years.

The dispute dates back to 2019. Goldman signed a confession of judgment in which he admitted to owing Chetrit close to $20 million. The debts were related to properties across Brooklyn, including 25-31 Stewart Street, 280 Franklin Street and 55, 57 and 93 Dupont Street.

Goldman was supposed to pay the debt off in quarterly installments, but he stopped making payments. Chetrit claimed Goldman still owed $12.6 million.

Meanwhile, Goldman’s real estate company, All Year Holdings, was facing defaults across its portfolio and restructuring officers were gearing up to take control of the property.

Goldman fired back against Chetrit, filing his own lawsuit, alleging that Chetrit’s judgment should be invalid. Goldman alleged Chetrit already forgave millions of dollars of the debt and judgment failed to credit Goldman for payments he made.

Chetrit reduced the principal of the debt owed to $8.1 million. The judge approved a new judgment against Goldman.

Collecting, however, has proved difficult. Chetrit claims that his subpoenas sent to Goldman to locate his assets have gone unanswered. In 2022, the judge found Goldman was in contempt. Later that year, Chetrit raised the stakes by seeking to have a sheriff arrest Goldman to force him to turn over documents.

Still, Goldman has not turned over documents. He only filed one affidavit, where he states he is a “father and has many children” and has fallen on very difficult times.

Goldman alleges he moved offices, lost employees and is unable to find many of the documents. He claims the subpoena is overbroad, seeks confidential information and he has grounds to vacate the judgment.

Late last year, Goldman’s attorney withdrew from the case, claiming to be at odds with Goldman at times. He recently hired a new attorney.

Chetrit recently offered more evidence to the court to issue an arrest warrant for Goldman. Chetrit claims that instead of paying the judgment he is spending money acquiring real estate in Brooklyn. He also agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle with Israel’s securities regulator for alleged violation of securities laws.

“Mr. Goldman should not be allowed to ignore with impunity both a validly issued judgment enforcement subpoena and an order of contempt issued by this court,” Chetrit’s attorney, Douglas Segal stated in a filing.

Goldman and his new counsel did not return a request to comment. Segal declined to comment.