Meyer Chetrit is facing more allegations that he is shielding his assets.
Maverick Real Estate Partners filed a new lawsuit against the developer, who is part of the influential Chetrit family. This time, the lender is alleging that a legal document between Chetrit and business partner Gadi Ben Hamo is a fraudulent attempt to evade a $132 million judgement.
It’s one of multiple lawsuits filed by lenders attempting to claw back money from Chetrit. By creating false debts, they allege, Chetrit is removing assets from his name and frustrating attempts to collect their cash.
The document at the heart of the most recent allegations claims Chetrit owes his partner a debt. In this case, his interest in four companies.
Lawyers for the plaintiff said the document contains the hallmarks of fraud because it was filed shortly after the judgement and connected to a close business partner.
Ben Hamo said the debt is connected to the property he owned with Meyer Chetrit, 64-11 Queens Boulevard. The two bought what was then the Queens Motor Inn, known for renting rooms by the hour, for $13.3 million in 2017. Ben Hamo told The Real Deal he has paid the mortgage on the property for seven years in a show of goodwill toward the Chetrit family.
“They have no money. They’ve been struggling for five years,” said Ben Hamo. “They are my partner and they are my family and I’m trying to help him.”
Ben Hamo and Chetrit sold the property last month for $18.8 million, according to Traded. Ben Hamo said he is planning to file a counterclaim against Maverick and accused Maverick of trying to create chaos so that it may acquire more debt at a discount.
“It’s full of shit,” Ben Hamo said. “This time he’s dealing with an Israeli guy who will teach him a lesson.”
An attorney for the plaintiff, identified as Penn Hotel Junior, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The $132 million judgement that Maverick is trying to collect arose from Chetrit’s default on loans connected to a Midtown development site where he once planned a hotel. Maverick seized the site in 2023 and a court entered the judgement in June.
Maverick made similar allegations concerning another debt, arguing that a document recording a $21 million debt from Chetrit to his late brother’s estate was also an attempt to evade the judgement.
Last month, Chetrit and the estate agreed to void the legal document recording the debt, called a confession of judgement.
“The Estate believes it is in its best interest and the best interests of its beneficiaries not to engage in protracted and expensive litigation concerning the validity of the confession of judgement,” the two wrote in the agreement.
Last month, Elliott Joffe, a lawyer for Baron Samson who was representing Meyer in the previous Maverick case, said attorneys “deny in the strongest terms possible any and all allegations of fraud or wrongdoing.”
In a separate case, a plaintiff connected to Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies recently argued that voiding the legal documents will not stop Chetrit from shielding his assets from judgement.
“Meyer can continue to use the underlying debt as a pretext to improperly transfer funds to insiders and/or related entities, hiding his assets from creditors, and improperly rendering himself judgement proof,” the plaintiff wrote in the complaint.
Mack is seeking to collect $220 million from Chetrit connected to five defaults. That case is still pending.
A representative for Chetrit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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