Celeb actual property agent Mauricio Umansky is not going to face a civil trial for allegedly violating his duties as a dealer within the sale of a distinguished Malibu hilltop mansion that he flipped for practically $70 million.
Actual property investor Sam Hakim and his agent dropped their consolidated Superior Court docket lawsuits this month in opposition to Umansky, his improvement accomplice Mauricio Oberfeld and different defendants. The authorized motion accused the 2 males of conspiring to purchase the mansion in 2016 for $32.5 million — regardless of an alleged increased provide from Hakim — so they might repair it up and promote it for an enormous revenue.
Umansky and his luxurious Beverly Hills actual property agency, the Company, not solely represented the customer and vendor within the transaction, however Umansky had a stake within the purchaser’s restricted legal responsibility firm fronted by Oberfeld. The 2019 lawsuit sought not less than $35 million in damages, or roughly the revenue made flipping the property in 2017 to the inheritor of a Hong Kong drink producer.
Jennifer Shakouri and Alan Hearty, attorneys for Hakim, a Beverly Hills resident who runs a household actual property funding agency, stated in an announcement that their shopper, who’s Jewish, determined to “put this matter behind him” amid the battle in Gaza.
“In gentle of present world occasions, together with the stunning assault on the state of Israel on October 7, Mr. Hakim determined his time and vitality could be higher served on issues apart from this litigation. This led him to resolve this matter,” stated the assertion, which famous that as a part of the settlement Umansky agreed to provide cash to a “pro-Israel charitable group.”
“Concerning the problem of wrongdoing by Mr. Umansky, the court docket data communicate for themselves,” the assertion concluded.
In an interview, Umansky, who can be Jewish, stated the donation by himself and his brokerage was one thing he would have gladly finished anyway. He declined to reveal the worth of the donation. He stated the choice by Hakim and his agent to drop the litigation was a sign of its lack of advantage.
“On the finish of the day, I imagine that from the start I didn’t do something mistaken,” he stated.
Hakim’s determination adopted the manufacturing of textual content messages that had lengthy been sought by the defendants in discovery. Texts between Hakim and his dealer, Aitan Segal, steered that Hakim was first made conscious of the partnership that Umansky and Oberfeld had shaped to purchase and flip the property via a 2017 article — not one he learn in 2018 as he had claimed.
Actual property investor Sam Hakim poses in entrance of the Malibu mansion whose $70-million sale prompted his lawsuit in opposition to Mauricio Umansky.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Instances)
The difficulty of when he first knew of Umansky’s involvement is related to how lengthy he needed to file the case earlier than the statute of limitations expired. Attorneys for the defendants sought to have the case terminated over the delayed manufacturing of the texts; Decide Mark Epstein rejected that bid in an October determination whereas leaving open the potential of financial sanctions.
Jeremiah Reynolds, an legal professional for Oberfeld and one other defendant, Matt Dugally, who additionally was a member of the customer’s group and owns a luxurious residence builder with Oberfeld, stated in an announcement that neither shopper paid Hakim “to settle this frivolous case in opposition to them.”
“Sam Hakim voluntarily dropped his lawsuit underneath menace of court docket ordered sanctions for his failure to show over textual content messages that demonstrated his case by no means ought to have been filed,” the assertion stated.
The Hakim lawsuit was not the primary filed in opposition to Umansky over the 16.5-acre Malibu compound, a conspicuous piece of actual property that includes a 15,000-square-foot mansion overlooking town’s pier. The compound was featured on “Actual Housewives of Beverly Hills,” a present that includes Umansky’s partner Kyle Richards, when the dealer — the star of his personal Netflix actuality present — was readying it for resale.
The property was acquired in 2006 by Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the playboy son of the president of Equatorial Guinea. He was pressured to promote the house in 2014 after the U.S. authorities filed an asset forfeiture case that accused him of shopping for the mansion, a jet and different luxurious gadgets with laundered funds generated by corrupt enterprise dealings in his native nation.
Umansky was employed by Nguema to conduct the sale, with the primary $10.3 million in proceeds going to the U.S. authorities and the rest for the advantage of the individuals of Equatorial Guinea. After it was reported within the media that Umansky was a member of the group that flipped the house in 2017 for $69.9 million, Nguema sued Umansky, accusing him of self-dealing that lowered the preliminary sale worth.
Umansky reached a settlement with Nguema, who’s not within the U.S., that supplied $6.35 million to a healthcare nonprofit working in Equatorial Guinea, as a part of the asset forfeiture case that wrapped up in 2021.
The Company’s insurance coverage firm additionally sued after the brokerage filed an insurance coverage declare to assist fund the Nguema settlement. The insurer accused Umansky of a battle of curiosity within the offers and sought to rescind the brokerage’s coverage. An undisclosed settlement was reached.
Umansky stated that he was unable to touch upon these instances and settlements attributable to nondisclosure agreements.
On the similar time, Hakim’s case had been wending its means via Los Angeles County Superior Court docket in Santa Monica, with voluminous filings by either side. The unique criticism accused Umansky, Oberfeld and different defendants of eight causes of motion, together with fraud, breaches of obligation and negligent misrepresentation.
Not each allegation utilized to each defendant, and over time Epstein struck a number of, together with the fraud allegation. A trial was set for subsequent yr on the remaining causes of motion — together with an allegation Umansky breached his obligation to be an sincere and honest dealer — assuming the case survived a movement for abstract judgment and wasn’t dismissed by Epstein.
A core challenge was Hakim’s allegation that he and Segal verbally provided not less than $40 million for the property, however that Umansky by no means handed the provide on to his shopper Nguema. In addition they claimed Umansky informed them to not trouble to place the provide in writing due to the bizarre nature of the transaction, since Nguema wouldn’t personally profit from a better worth.
Umansky has denied Hakim made such a suggestion or that he informed him to not put it in writing — one thing he stated a complicated investor would all the time do. “It’s a ‘he stated, she stated.’ I do know what occurred. And I do know that there was no verbal provide made. Interval. Finish the story,” Umansky stated.
Hakim’s attorneys have disputed that there was no proof. Final yr, they submitted into the court docket file the transcription of a voicemail left for Umansky by Segal in Might 2015. Throughout it, the agent notes that his shopper is prepared with an all-cash provide within the “40 vary.”
Umansky dismissed the voicemail, saying it was left with him previous to Segal visiting the property. “I’m effectively conscious of that. We do this on a regular basis, ‘Hey, I’ve obtained a shopper wanting as much as $60 million. What can I’ve? What are you able to present?’ That’s not proof of any form of provide.”
Attorneys for Umansky even have questioned whether or not Hakim had the monetary wherewithal to make an all-cash provide that may shut the deal quick, although Umansky’s and Oberfeld’s restricted legal responsibility firm itself wanted to herald different buyers.
Maybe probably the most central challenge of the case revolved round when Umansky and Oberfeld reached their very own settlement to purchase the property. Umansky knowledgeable Nguema and the Division of Justice in June 2016 — weeks earlier than the sale closed and lengthy after negotiations with Hakim had ceased — that he had solely not too long ago been invited to take part within the consumers’ group.
However Epstein solid doubt on that in a ruling this yr, stating there have been paperwork indicating a “concrete February 2016 plan for a joint partnership that had lengthy been within the works.”
“The court docket notes that the proof does appear fairly clear that Umansky’s suggestion that the discussions solely began a bit of bit earlier than Might 2016 was merely false and he knew it when he stated it,” the choose wrote.
Umansky stated the “choose was utterly mistaken in these statements” — and nearly appeared to rue the case was dropped.
“Sadly, or happily, it’s not going to be heard at trial,” he stated.
