Everyone Who Owes Mark Nussbaum Money

Indicted attorney Mark Nussbaum revealed the list of all his creditors and debtors, providing more clues of where the missing money from his firm’s escrow accounts went.

The lion’s share of missing cash appears to stem from funds transferred to the late real estate investor Mendel Steiner, who Nussbaum claims owes over $306 million. Other notable names are: Shaya Prager, Eli Puretz, Boruch Drillman and Yanky Tauber.

The new filings provide a window into what went wrong for the once high-flying lawyer, whose law firm has about $400 million in unpaid creditors. Nussbaum provided the list of all the people who allegedly owe him money as part of an alternative to bankruptcy.

Nussbaum, who ran Manhattan-based Nussbaum Lowinger, used his law firm’s escrow fund accounts to make bridge loans to real estate dealmakers, according to sources familiar with the situation. Often, his firm would provide money for one day so that the dealmaker could show a seller they were capitalized.

But Nussbaum started running a deficit, and investors and high-interest lenders who provided the funds for Nussbaum’s escrow business started filing lawsuits seeking to recoup their money. Nussbaum’s law firm shut down. In May, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office charged Nussbaum with grand larceny, alleging he stole over $15 million in client escrow funds. Nussbaum has pleaded not guilty.

Creditors allege in a new lawsuit that much of the funds were diverted to Steiner through phony escrow accounts.

The new information comes to light as Nussbaum started an alternative bankruptcy process, known as an assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC), as a way to try to pay back his law firm’s many creditors. As part of that process, Nussbaum had to provide a list of creditors along with the assets of his estate to the assignee of the ABC.

“As he has from the outset, Mr. Nussbaum continues to provide exceptional assistance to the assignee. This includes providing information and troves of documents, as well as meeting with the assignee and its representatives on dozens of occasions for countless hours,” said an attorney for Nussbaum in a statement. “Mr. Nussbaum fully supports the assignee’s efforts to marshal assets from bona fide sources, including the Steiner estate, and he will continue to assist the assignee to the best of his ability to ensure maximum recovery for the creditors.”

Nussbaum’s assets included jewelry, wine and cryptocurrency, but his largest asset is his accounts receivable. Nussbaum has hundreds of millions of dollars on the street and borrowers who have not paid him back.

Some of Nussbaum’s notable debtors include participants in mortgage fraud schemes that led to charges by the Department of Justice. Others include nursing home investors and syndicators, according to Nussbaum’s filing.

Boruch Drillman, a co-conspirator who played a minor role in a $165 million mortgage fraud scheme and was not sentenced to any jail time, owes $4.7 million.

Eli Puretz, a co-conspirator in a $54.5 million mortgage fraud scheme involving an office complex in Troy, Michigan, owes $4.1 million.

Opal Holdings head Shaya Prager, a controversial investor who has come under pressure from lenders over his ground lease-structures within a multi-billion-dollar office portfolio, owes $1.1 million.

Yanky Tauber, Nussbaum’s deal partner on Chicago real estate, owes $1.5 million.

Mike Silber, the brother of Moshe Silber, who pleaded guilty in a $119 million mortgage fraud scheme involving an apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio, owes $2.25 million.

Steve Chopp, a nursing home owner tied to Indigo Manner and Opal Healthcare, owes $3 million.

The filings also reveal more about the scale of Nussbaum’s real estate operations. In addition to lending to real estate dealmakers, Nussbaum acquired real estate properties. His assets consisted of properties scattered throughout the country, including in Chicago; Brooklyn; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Long Island, according to his filings.

He listed a 346,000-square-foot office park in Lake Success, New York as his most valuable real estate asset at $33 million. Other real estate interests include walk-ups at 1596 and 1474 Pacific Street in Brooklyn, as well as 1049 Bergen Street in Brooklyn.

Nussbaum’s assets include: $2 million in crypto; $91,000 in wine and alcohol, including a $1,000 bottle of Glendronach scotch. He also reported that he sold over $200,000 in watches and jewelry.

Nussbaum provided a long list of creditors who he or his firms owe money to, including Jacob Sod — the nursing home owner who initiated the litigation against Nussbaum’s law firm — who has a claim of $14.2 million.

Someone named S. Zafir is the largest creditor, with a $148 million claim. Miriam Nussbaum, Nussbaum’s mother, is owed over $1 million, according to Nussbaum’s filings.

While some of Nussbaum’s creditors’ claims stretch into the millions, there are dozens for smaller amounts, including over $500,000 owed to Lazer Preizler of the hard money lender Cashable.

Nussbaum’s ability to collect on the many loans he made has proven to be difficult because of the indictment and charges brought by the Manhattan D.A.

Similarly, calculating the value of Nussbaum’s existing real estate has been a challenge.

Mark Nussbaum and his deal partner, Eli Tauber, have been hit with a combined 29 foreclosure lawsuits for real estate across the South and West sides of Chicago.

Nussbaum does not appear to know the exact state of his properties with Eli’s son Yanky Tauber. In Nussbaum’s filings, he mentioned that some of his real estate with Tauber has been sold or transferred.