The Real Deal – Held & Hines LLP Mentioned

Prudential Douglas Elliman and one of its agents are in the hot seat.

A lawsuit will be filed Monday morning alleging that Elliman senior vice president Stanley Ginsberg prevented Laurence Beame — the great nephew of New York City Mayor Abe Beame — from purchasing a Soho apartment in order to avoid splitting a commission.

“He did it out of straight greed,” said Shai Shustik, Beame’s real estate broker and the lone plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Ginsberg did not respond to an inquiry from The Real Deal, but in his written correspondence with the Real Estate Board of New York’s residential ethics committee, which looked into the allegations, he said: “I deny complainant’s allegations that I, at any time, attempted to prevent Mr. Beame from purchasing the subject premises in order to avoid giving up a portion of a commission.”

After about a year of searching for an apartment, Beame instantly fell in love with a 1,430-square-foot one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath cooperative apartment at 140 Thompson Street, according to Shustik, president of Manhattan Residential.

Ginsberg was the exclusive listing agent for the property. In January, when Beame offered an all-cash bid of $1.435 million, just shy of the $1.495 million asking price, Ginsberg rejected the offer, saying he had a better one, according to the suit. Eventually, Beame put in a $1.6 million offer, said Shustik.

In the end, however, Ginsberg arranged the sale of the property for the asking price to another buyer. The move allowed Ginsberg to take home a full 3 percent commission on the sale, or $89,700, Shustik said. If the seller had accepted Beame’s $1.6 million bid, Ginsberg would have received only 1.5 percent of the sum, or $48,000.

Ginsberg never presented Beame’s offer to the co-op’s owner, according to Shustik’s suit.

The lawsuit seeks to recover the $48,000 commission plus $2 million in punitive damages from Ginsberg and Prudential Douglas Elliman because Elliman allegedly covered up and took “a look-don’t-tell policy,” said Marc J. Held, Esq., Shustik’s attorney and a partner with Lazarowitz & Manganillo.

Elliman declined to comment on the matter.

The fiasco has soured Beame on his ongoing apartment search.

“I wanted the apartment the second I saw it,” Beame said. “It should have been my place, but he was a completely unethical broker. I hope everyone gets to find out what kind of person he is.” By Lauren Elkies