Name: Strip mall mogul sentenced in WeWork options scheme… | Real Estate Crime Round-Up
Uploaded: 2025-03-24T12:28:53Z
Description: Fallout from a strip mall mogul’s scheme to manipulate WeWork stock, an agent ensnared in a plot to steal homes and more updates from the mortgage fraud scam rocking commercial lending, these are the real estate crime stories dominating industry headlines this week. .

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Just a few years ago, real estate firms were pledging diversity, equity, and inclusion and adding new cultural initiatives. Now, many of them are scrubbing DEI from their reports entirely. 

Real estate reacts to Trump's anti–DEI push

A New York City real estate agent who built a sizable YouTube following with luxury home tours was charged with attempted murder after allegedly striking a police officer with his car. 

Erik Conover, NYC agent and YouTuber, charged with attempted murder #shorts

Fallout from a strip mall mogul’s scheme to manipulate WeWork stock, an agent ensnared in a plot to steal homes and more updates from the mortgage fraud scam rocking commercial lending, these are the real estate crime stories dominating industry headlines this week.
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Strip mall mogul sentenced in WeWork options scheme… | Real Estate Crime Round-Up

In honor of the Best in Business award received by TRD’s Sheridan Wall, Katherine Kallergis and Ellen Cranley for their reporting on the allegations against and fallout around the Alexander brothers, The Real Deal’s Amir Korangy put on his chef had to cook a celebratory lunch for the whole office at our Hudson Yards HQ. Check it out!
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A celebratory lunch hosted by Chef Amir Korangy at TRD HQ

What is the American dream, anyway? The answer is in a mall in New Jersey. Our latest cover story looks at the Ghermezians, the developers of North America’s largest shopping centers, including the massive American Dream mall in New Jersey.

How the Ghermezian family, owners of the biggest malls in the US, made good on the American Dream

With the industry’s future under a microscope, consumers are raising concerns about the value of agents — prompting brokers to examine their roles, their brokerages and the process of getting paid. Add in sweeping rule changes, lawsuit settlements and a slow housing market, and the uncertainty is threatening to push some agents away from real estate altogether.

Brokers' breaking point | Inside the Mag - March 2025

As LA begins its rebuilding efforts, Angelenos are squaring off over affordable housing, eviction moratoriums and an effort to oust Mayor Karen Bass.

The long road to recovery for Los Angeles' property market

Wheels up! The Real Deal and our partners at Bosch, Thermador and Gaggenau hosted a crew of top developers for a private flight down to our #FutureCity conference in Kiawah Island. These VIPs, including Metro Loft's Nathan Berman, KAR Properties' Shahab Karmely and more joined the conference to gain insights into the future of real estate and development. Stay tuned for more peeks into this off-the-record event.

Flying high with a VIP crew to The Real Deal’s Future City

Getting tenants back into New York's devastated office properties has pushed office owners to search for any and all solutions. Even at well-located 10 Grand Central, developers opted to pump "a lot" of cash into new amenities to try and compete with the allure of hybrid work. TRD checked out the office building's upgrades – which include a screening room, podcasting studios, outdoor space and more – and talked to tenants to see if it'll be enough get existing workers back through the door and new lessees up to the signing table.

Can luxury amenities lure tenants back to the office?

From office to retail and resi, third-generation developer, CEO Alex Mehran Jr. walks TRD through all the major transformation underway at 585-acre Bishop Ranch in San Ramon

TRD Walkthrough with Sunset Development CEO Alex Mehran Jr.

Eleonora Srugo, top Douglas Elliman agent and star of Netflix's "Selling the City," opens up about the Alexander brothers and her time overlapping with them at Elliman and in NYC's social circles. 

'Selling the City' start Eleonora Srugo on the Alexander brothers

As Elie Schwartz awaits sentencing for his role in a $63 million crowdfunding scheme, a bankruptcy judge ordered the exec to vacate his Manhattan penthouse.

Nightingale CEO Elie Schwartz ordered to vacate NYC PH as he awaits sentencing #shorts

Reality star Eleonora Srugo is a real-life rainmaker. The broker's turn on ‘Selling the City,' the New York spin-off of top Netflix show 'Selling Sunset,' brought viewers back to the world of luxury brokerage. But the top Douglas Elliman told TRD about her off-screen sales career, as well as her on-screen fashion, her relationship with Howard Lorber, overlapping at Elliman with the notorious Alexander Brothers and much more in the latest episode of #CoffeeTalk with TRD’s Amir Korangy.

Eleonora Srugo talks ’Selling the City’ career as a luxury agent, the Alexander brothers & more!

Eleonora Srugo, star of 'Selling the City' and top Douglas Elliman agent, spills all on season one of her hit Netflix series, the cast’s fashion on and off screen, her career in luxury real estate, working alongside the Alexander brothers, and so much more in this exciting new episode of #CoffeeTalk with TRD’s Amir Korangy.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency expects to shed more than two million square feet of federal office space and reduce the government’s rent bill by over $144 million, according to TRD's analysis of data posted to what DOGE calls its "Wall of Receipts."

Here's how much office space DOGE claims it will cut #shorts

The fallout from Los Angeles' fires in January is hard to fathom. The #PalisadesFire consumed 37 square miles, roughly the size of Miami; the #EatonFire, 22 square miles or nearly all of Manhattan. The #HughesFire, sparked north of the Palisades, nearly doubled in size in just a few hours to stretch 10,000 acres.

Los Angeles rising: How the city and real estate industry will rebuild

Remember the “Silicon Valley of the South” movement of recent years? South Florida's tech push hasn't panned out, based on venture capital and office leasing data. But there's more to the story.

South Florida pushed to make tech a core part of its economy  This didn’t yield new office tenants

Agents often miss out on deductions and credits come tax time, losing money they worked hard to earn. Watch to learn how RLTY Tax pairs agents with CPAs with experience filing real estate agent tax returns.
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Agents rely on these experts at tax time | Brand Studio

Welcome to Lakewood, NJ, home to faith, family and a booming real estate business. Local firms purchased $2.3 billion in New York City real estate across 540 deals over the past 10 years, a TRD analysis found.