What’s Next For Mark Nussbaum?

Real estate fixer Mark Nussbaum is in a big mess and things don’t seem to be getting much better.

Nussbaum acted as an attorney, a bridge lender, a deal connector and even a landlord, all while running his law firm Nussbaum Lowinger.

Now he’s staring down a $400 million hole with former clients alleging he misappropriated escrow funds. He’s also facing criminal charges from Manhattan’s District Attorney’s office for allegedly stealing at least $15 million from escrow clients. (Nussbaum has pleaded not guilty.) One lawsuit accuses Nussbaum Lowinger of running a Ponzi scheme with much of the money going to a now deceased Borough Park investor named Mendel Steiner.

In the past month, new court filings have revealed some of the most explosive information to date about the breadth of Nussbaum’s influence in tri-state real estate, who he did business with and the difficulties that lie ahead for creditors trying to collect from Nussbaum’s estate.

What’s Next For Nussbaum?

The Manhattan D.A.’s criminal charges against Nussbaum are pending. At the time of the indictment in May, prosecutors mentioned only two victims, but noted that they believed there were more.

Nussbaum is out on bail. He has had two hearing dates, but both matters were adjourned. His next hearing is scheduled for March.

The case will rest on whether Nussbaum’s former clients knew of his schemes. Nussbaum’s legal team will likely argue the victims were aware that their escrow money was at risk or were clued in to Nussbaum’s “show capital” tactic, where Nussbaum would allegedly wire escrow funds to real estate dealmakers to show a lender that capital was secured. Were these victims, or investors?

The Debtors

Nussbaum filed an exhaustive list of all his creditors and debtors in December. He had over $400 million in creditors. But the more notable names were on the debtor side.

They included:

Steiner, who had the largest debt at $306 million.
Boruch Drillman, a Brooklyn investor who pleaded guilty for his role in a mortgage fraud conspiracy in 2023, owed $4.7 million.

Yanky Tauber, Nussbaum’s deal partner on Chicago real estate, owes $1.5 million.
Opal Holdings head Shaya Prager, owed $1.1 million.

In civil court, Nussbaum and his former law firms Nussbaum Lowinger and Mark J Nussbaum & Associates entered into an alternative to bankruptcy, known as an assignment for the benefit of creditors. He appointed a lawyer, Sheldon Eisenberger, to handle the process. The goal is to attempt to pay the people Nussbaum owes money to.

The process has been a slog. Eisenberger has noted the poor state of books and records kept by Nussbaum. So far, debtors who owe Nussbaum money have been reluctant to return it, except for one person.

The Wolf

The mercurial Wolf Wercberger is the only one to reach a settlement with Eisenberger.

Wercberger recently agreed to pay about $15.3 million to resolve the ABC’s claims against him. According to the settlement agreement, Wercberger deposited funds in Nussbaum’s escrow accounts starting in 2022. Wercberger made back all the money he put into the funds plus $16 million to $19 million in extra proceeds.

Eisenberger agreed to Wercberger’s payment, citing the poor state of Nussbaum’s books and records and Nussbaum’s lack of credibility if the matter were to be litigated in court, according court filings as part of the ABC.

Eisenberger says that Wercberger made the payment in part to encourage others to make payments to help the ABC pay “innocent parties” who had likely lost money with Nussbaum. This includes people who used Nussbaum Lowinger’s escrow services to buy family residences.

“The settlement will infuse the estate with needed capital to pay out certain categories of creditors immediately and make it more likely all creditors receive distributions,” Eisenberger said in a court filing.

It remains unclear why Wercberger would care about helping other creditors getting paid back.

There is another possible motivation: The settlement, if approved by the court, could stop future claims brought by Nussbaum creditors against Wercberger.

Wercberger has been a prominent figure in the Nussbaum saga and has been sued before by another Nussbaum creditor. Jacob Sod, a nursing home executive who was the first to file a lawsuit against Nussbaum, also filed a lawsuit against Wercberger claiming Nussbaum gave $15 million of his money to Wercberger as “hush money” to prevent Wercberger from going to federal authorities.

Wercberger denied the claims and said Sod’s attorneys were “running all over town, intimidating all of my business contacts and associates.” In June, a Kings County judge dismissed Sod’s claims, but Sod’s lawyers are appealing the ruling.

Nussbaum’s alleged tactics

Nussbaum Lowinger’s clients largely came from Orthodox jewish communities in Lakewood, New Jersey, Brooklyn and Monsey, New York. Nussbaum allegedly offered certain clients a lucrative opportunity. If they sent over funds into his firm’s escrow accounts he would pay a return.

One of Nussbaum’s alleged means of producing those high returns was through a novel move called “show capital.” Nussbaum would wire escrow funds to real estate dealmakers to show a lender they had enough capital to close on a transaction. The money would appear in the accounts for a short-time, just long enough for a lender to agree to the deal, according to lawsuits and court documents.

Essentially, Nussbaum’s “show capital” move allowed a real estate dealmaker to obtain a loan with no equity. Nussbaum would collect a fee along the way.

But at some point Nussbaum ran into a deficit and he could not pay back his clients in full. One client, nursing home executive Sod, filed a lawsuit in January demanding Nussbaum return $15 million in escrow funds. That lawsuit triggered more Nussbaum Lowinger clients to file their own suits, claiming that Nussbaum would not return their escrow money.

Questions were raised about where the money went.

At least $300 million went to a 33-year-old Borough Park investor Mendel Steiner, according to Nussbaum’s court filings. One lawsuit alleges Nussbaum transferred the money to Steiner who was supposed to buy properties. But Steiner never bought the properties and instead used fictitious names and contracts in an attempt to prove that money was going to legitimate deals, the lawsuit alleges.

Steiner died by suicide in January 2025. Days later Nussbaum Lowinger shut down his law firm.