Jared Solomon’s Vornado Realty Trust Trial Begins

The trial for the former Vornado Realty Trust executive accused of stealing millions from his employer started Tuesday, as both prosecution and defense laid out their cases and revealed some of their witnesses, including from the major REIT.

In their opening statement, federal prosecutors at the Southern District of New York laid out their case against Jared Solomon. They allege that while he worked in the company’s vaunted leasing department, he set up fake brokerages on the opposite side of his own deals to fraudulently bill the REIT for more than $9.5 million.

He went to great lengths to hide the fact that he was behind the companies, they said, using fake emails and burner cell phones to communicate with others at Vornado.

Solomon spent the money on a $3.5 million house in the Westchester suburbs, a $3.5 million Upper East Side co-op, a Porsche and a country club membership, according to prosecutors.

He stole “to fund a lifestyle he had not earned,” one of the prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s office said. “What he did was simple. He lied to steal money and buy things for himself.”

In the defense’s opening statement, Solomon’s attorney said there was nothing fraudulent about the brokerages his client set up or the work he billed Vornado for.

He said Solomon did bona fide work as a broker on the opposite side of the table from Vornado, and when the company discovered it was Solomon who was getting paid, it miscast his legit work as something criminal.

“They’re real companies,” defense attorney Peter Toumbekis said. “What they didn’t know … [was] Jared owned the companies. They found out and got upset.”

He likened it to clicking a link for a product on Instagram and then finding out someone got a referral fee. It was a case, Toumbekis argued, of Vornado and prosecutors trying to criminalize a disagreement.

“I get it,” he said. “The company got angry that Jared got paid and he worked there.”

Solomon, 48, worked at Vornado for at least 14 years between 2009 and 2023, ultimately holding the title of vice president of leasing. He was arrested in December 2024 and charged with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and two counts of bank fraud.

People who knew Solomon told The Real Deal that there had long been whispers about how he could fund his luxurious lifestyle on his salary. In pretrial memos, his attorney tried to prevent prosecutors from presenting certain evidence that could create what he called a “wealth-based bias.”

Solomon looked the part of a blue blood in court, in neatly tailored navy suit and precisely parted WASP haircut. The effect was magnified by Toumbekis, who sports a tuft of uncombed grey hair and scraggly grey beard.

The prosecution and defense on Tuesday selected the jury. Members included a coffee shop manager and a former M&A attorney.

The U.S. Attorney’s office plans to call Solomon’s former supervisor as a witness. That could be Glen Weiss, head of leasing and a member of Vornado’s executive management team.

They also plan to call two brokers whose identities Solomon allegedly stole. That could be Peter Ripka and Andrew Mandell of the brokerage RIPCO Real Estate.

One notable exception from the list of names the jury could expect to hear from or about is Vornado’s bellicose CEO Steve Roth, who’s got a reputation for settling scores with people he’s perceived to have done him wrong.

In an unrelated civil case, the Korein family claims none of the city’s top brokers would represent them in a rent dispute with Vornado for fear of being on the receiving end of Roth’s backlash.

Judge Loretta Preska said she expects the Solomon trial to last two weeks.