Jacob Frydman

Jacob Frydman is an American real estate developer from Hyde Park, New York^[1] investing in commercial real estate projects in the East Coast of the United States.

Frydman has been either an active or passive participant in a few real estate transactions. Some of his real estate investments in New York include the acquisition of the Global Crossing building from Goldman Sachs,^[2][3] and acquisition of 500 Tenth Avenue, which he re-developed into the DHL Center in Manhattan.^[4]

Career

Feldman Bros Produce, Inc.

Frydman's first business deal took place in 1984 in Cleveland, Ohio. Frydman structured the deal by acquiring all the outstanding stock of Feldman Bros Produce, Inc., by borrowing against its assets for the acquisition. In January 1985, Produce and Feldman ceased operations.^[5] They also withdrew from their multi-employer pension plan and incurred $493,529.09 in withdrawal liability. Frydman liquidated the companies' assets and, with them, partially repaid Mahoning's loan. Apparently, Frydman paid the Fund nothing.^[6] The fund sued and received a judgement against Frydman and his companies in the amount of $1,076,612.77.

Lambdastar Infrastructure Partners

Frydman was a founding managing partner of Lambdastar Infrastructure Partners LLC,^[7] a firm providing advice on and investing in U.S. infrastructure projects. In a bid said to be able to rescue the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania out of its bankruptcy, Frydman has offered to lease the city-owned parking and other infrastructure assets from them.^[8][9] The media uncovered that Frydman and Lambdastar had failed to raise any money ^[10] to close the deal and the bid was rejected. Having raised no funds Lambdastar was forced to close its doors.^[11]

United Realty Trust

Frydman is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the public Real Estate Investment Trust, United Realty Trust^[12] a small public non traded real estate investment trust. The firm invested in real properties, and joint ventures with others. The former president and co-founder resigned and sued Frydman for illegally moving investor funds into his own account.^[13] Frydman was also sued a year later by the Chief Compliance officer Al Akerman who later said his claims were based on “apparent misrepresentations” made by third party and recanted all fraud charges against CEO Frydman ^[14] In September 2015 Frydman announced the sale of the company to Suneet Singal from Sacramento-based First Capital.^[15] The Company then changed its name to First Capital Realty Trust.

Business Controversy

• On July 14, 1995, Jacob Frydman was sued in the Northern District of Ohio for fraud relating to a stock sale and the financing of the purchase of that stock. The United States courts of appeals later upheld a district court’s decision on a motion to dismiss due to statutes of limitation.^[16]
• In 2003 numerous local contractors stated that they have not been paid for their work ^[17] on a project being developed by Frydman. The contractors filed over $1 million of liens against the Liberty Village retirement community.
• In 2004, Frydman was sued by Community National Bank, of South Boston, for $19,950,957.75 plus interest.^[18] The lawsuit was in relation to the unpaid loan made to Frydman and his company Savoy Retirement Communities Inc.^[19] of New York. The failed senior housing Liberty Village development was a partnership with TRBC Ministries Inc., an entity of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's ministries which was paid to market ^[20] the project.
• In 2004 Frydman ran the company Lake Diamond Associates, which filed for bankruptcy^[21] after defaulting on a $6 million mortgage.^[22]
• In 2012 Frydman was accused of fraud in connection with his breach of a personal guaranty on a $12 million loan. PAF Capital LLC^[23] sued him^[24] alleging that Frydman represented to PAF Capital that he could not afford to honor his guaranty and provided PAF Capital with what they now believe are fraudulent financial statements.^[25]
• In 2013 Frydman was involved in a contentious public dispute with his former business partner, Eli Verschleiser, who had resigned from the company after suing Frydman over an allegedly improper fund transfer and fraud.^[26]
• In 2014 the NYPost reported that Frydman stiffed the contractors that worked on his house in Hyde Park, NY for millions of dollars.^[27] Frydman was accused of bullying the contractors with his lawsuits against them and then bullying the attorney that represented them in court.^[28]
• In 2015 the former chief compliance officer sent a whistleblower letter^[29] to the Securities and Exchange Commission, regarding “apparent accounting irregularities and alleged fraud" with the public REIT of which Mr. Frydman was acting CEO.^[30] In an odd twist the ex chief compliance officer later recanted his letter.

Personal life and education

Frydman was born to a Jewish family, the son of Lea (née Fishman) and Michel Frydman.^[31][32] Jacob Frydman is married to his second wife Monica Libin Frydman.

Additional activities

Frydman has given a guest lecture on real estate finance at Columbia University’s Masters of Real Estate Development program in the School of Architecture and in the Master’s Lecturer series sponsored by New York Law School.^[33] He is a member of the board of directors of the Bardavon 1869 Opera House.^[34]

In 2013, Jacob Frydman as the CEO of United Realty starts United Realty Students - a scholarship program awarding $100,000 to students who best answer the question “How Do I Invest In My Future?” This program is active until 01.02.2016.^[35][36]

Jacob Frydman has been on television discussing real estate^[37][38][39]

References

External links

• United Realty Trust
• Lambdastar