Gary Barnett $6M property suit withdrawn, emails indicate his nephew conducted sale
As seen in 2013, 186 21st Street (Credit - Google)
An attorney for Extell Development president Gary Barnett discontinued a lawsuit just five days after filing it that had accused investment partners of selling a property for $6 million without Barnett’s knowledge. The suit was withdrawn September 14 after the defendants provided evidence including emails that it was Barnett’s nephew, who works for Extell Development, who conducted the sale.
Barnett through an LLC filed the suit on Friday, September 9, accused two partners, Yoel Weber and Yoel Leonorovitz, of selling a jointly owned property in 2015 without his knowledge and without properly winding down the ownership entity affairs following the $6 million sale of the asset in 2015. The email chain indicates Barnett would have known of the sale.
Gary Barnett through the entity HP Member LLC owned a 1/3 interest in what were formerly two buildings, 186 21st Street and 190 21st Street. The other members were Yoel Weber and Yoel Leonorovitz, each with 1/3. They sold the property in 2015 for $6 million, but Barnett, though the entity, claimed he was never paid and the affairs of the company have never been wound down, as they allegedly should have been per the operating agreement.
According to the Barnett suit, “Plaintiff was not, at the time, made aware of, nor did it have any advance knowledge of, the sale…” However, the defendants provided emails to Barnett’s attorney indicating Barnett would have had knowledge of the sale.
According to an attorney representing the defendants, “The entire transaction involving the sale of the 186-190 properties and the purchase of 4101 property was orchestrated by Abba Barnett of Extell at the direction of Garry [sic] Barnett as shown in the attached Exhibit 2. It is our understanding that Abba Barnet [sic] is a nephew to Gary Barnett and worked directly for Extell as shown in Abba Barnet’s [sic] email address. For [Barnett’s attorney] to plead that plaintiffs were not advised and/or did not give consent to the subject real estate transactions is a blatant falsehood… The extent of your clients’ involvement in these real estate transactions included the filing of 1031X tax form, prepared by Gary Barnett’s/Extell’s accountants and signed by Gary Barnett, himself.”
The case was discontinued on September 14.