Condo owners at Rector Square filed a formal complaint with the attorney general’s office in February 2009, complaining of “appalling living conditions” and “suspicions that monies for the benefit of the unit owners remained unaccounted for,” Marc Held, attorney for a group of owners at the building, said in a statement.
Condo Developers Take On N.Y. Attorney General Over Stroock’s Alleged $16 Million Typo Zach Lowe The American Lawyer May 12, 2010 Stroock & Stroock & Lavan is in a curious position in a dispute between buyers and developers of a 41-story condo project along the Hudson River in Manhattan. Condo buyers who have about $16 million in a Stroock-controlled escrow account want that money returned and claim a one-digit typo in the condo offering documents authored by an attorney at […]
Stroock Strikes Back? The Firm’s Client Sues Andrew Cuomo in Federal Court By David Lat We’ve previously covered a sticky situation involving an alleged drafting error by real estate lawyers at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. The dispute pits the buyers of luxury condos at the Rushmore, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, against the development company Extell, Stroock’s client. (Our prior coverage appears here, here, and here.) When we last checked in, the New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, had […]
“Because according to Marc Held, a Brooklyn-based lawyer for a key buyer, Extell might turn around and sue Stroock for malpractice if the developer loses its case against Cuomo and has to fork over all that money.”
Attorney Marc Held, who represents JPMorgan Chase executive and Rushmore buyer Kelly Coffey, who filed suit against the developers in state court, said the suit is an attempt to drag the case out further.
“It remains troubling that Extell remains in denial of the terms of the offering plan and purchase agreement which they unilaterally drafted,” Held said in an e-mailed statement. “The federal appeal is a further attempt by the sponsor to delay and frustrate the legal process.”
“The attorney general’s office determination today proves that my client should have been granted from the onset a right of rescission and return of her money,” said attorney Marc Held, whose client, JPMorgan Chase executive Kelly Coffey filed suit in October 2009 to get a refund of her $1.1 million Rushmore deposit. “The decision also proves that the actions by the defendants are fraudulent and without merit.”
“The sponsors are raiding the reserve funds, wrongfully and unlawfully,” said Marc Held, the attorney for a group of owners at Rector Square. “It appears to be an epidemic in buildings in New York.”
The Real Deal: Marc Held, Partner, Held & Hines, LLP Quoted about HUD Investigation HUD probes Extell over Rushmore complaints From left: Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan and the Rushmore The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched an investigation into the Rushmore condominium, amid allegations that the lawyers for the developer, Extell Development, held previously undisclosed meetings with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office to prevent existing buyers from backing […]
“They negligently failed to disclose the true financial condition of the condo,” Mr. Held said. “My clients were harmed as a result.”
“While it is not a surprise that the court has granted Anglo Irish Bank’s motion to foreclose the sponsor’s interest in the property, the unit owners of 225 Rector hope that the bank and any future owners of the sponsor’s units will consider and respect [the unit owners] interests and legal rights as we move forward,” said Marc Held, attorney for the unit owners.
