It’s been a bad summer to be a well-known character on #RETwit.
These influencers — household names for the online real estate community on X, formerly known as Twitter — suddenly became targets of a campaign by the anonymous account “LPWhisperer,” which had nearly 22,000 followers.
The account’s reign of terror started in June, but just as quickly as the LPWhisperer account appeared, it vanished. Last week, the account’s owner said it had been sold. Shortly after, X suspended LPWhisperer for violating its rules.
While its tweets are no longer visible, LPWhisperer’s summer of posting still reverberates in at least one lawsuit and an alleged federal investigation. It also illustrated the dark side of fame on social media in real estate’s small but tight-knit online water cooler, especially as distress mounts in multifamily and office markets.
LPWhisperer’s favorite subjects included investors like Dallas-Fort Worth’s own S2 Capital CEO Scott Everett and Fort Capital CEO Chris Powers, who hosts a popular podcast, The Fort. But LPWhisperer has also gone after people outside of real estate like Matthias Smith, an SBA loan broker out of Madison, Wisconsin.
According to LPWhisperer, Powers and Everett are “woke libtard Commies;” Smith is a “violent predator;” and the popular #RETwit account StripMallGuy does less business “than a decent house flipper.”
LPWhisperer’s subjects don’t just deny the claims. Everett, who sued the supposed operator of the account on Aug. 29, said LPWhisperer’s crusade amounts to defamation.
War of words
Vacillating between posting niche memes about “#RETwit grifters” and sharing supposed “insider knowledge” from secret sources, LPWhisperer was on a mission to “expose” — and often bully — the site’s top real estate influencers into submission.
Many #RETwit posters say the account was run by Jakub Kostecki, a Poland-born, Colorado-based entrepreneur. In its own words, the account claimed to be “protecting LPs from GP grifters offering nonsense investment scams.”
Kostecki’s past ventures include orchestrating a Fyre Fest-esque cryptocurrency conference that he canceled without refunding would-be attendees, according to a class action lawsuit filed against him in 2020. (The plaintiff won a default judgment against Kostecki.)
According to his website, Kostecki lives in Boulder with his wife of 15 years and four children.
LPWhisperer tweeted that the account is not run by Kostecki, and when The Real Deal asked via direct message, LPWhisperer denied it again.
Whoever ran the account refused multiple requests for an interview.
Escalating action
At first, LPWhisperer and its targets swapped threats by email.
The players danced around legal action, but their war of words soon moved from keyboards to real life. Powers, the Fort Capital CEO, issued a cease and desist letter and announced the FBI would be involved via a news release published in the Southeast Texas Record, a pro-business website backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The FBI doesn’t confirm whether matters are under investigation.
LPWhisperer started tweeting about Powers in June. Early that month, it claimed that Powers is “drowning in debt & distancing himself from Fort [Capital].”
LPWhisperer tweeted about Powers at least 75 more times.
Matthias Smith’s LPWhisperer woes began a few weeks later, when the account alleged that Smith is a predatory Small Business Administration lender.
The next day, LPWhisperer emailed Smith, “Come clean by 3pm PST today or I will continue to shine a light on who you really are.”
LPWhisperer often juxtaposed an investor’s lavish lifestyle with the unsavory experiences of tenants in the investors’ properties or the reality of what it’s like to be one of the investor’s capital providers.
Photos Scott Everett posted on social media provided perfect fodder.
Alongside photos of a 22,000-square-foot house LPWhisperer said belongs to Everett, LPWhisperer accused Everett of failing to pay vendors and LPs, and claimed Everett is hated by both employees and tenants.
One post included a GIF of a person falling through the ceiling of a home with the text: “Just heard that a woman in a wheelchair actually fell through the floor of a second floor unit at one of Scott Everett’s S2 Capital properties and that S2 couldn’t repair the apartment because it didn’t have the money to do so.”
Asked for verification, LPWhisperer said the information came from a former property manager at the complex.
“This is where your money is going right now,” LPWhisperer taunted, captioning screen grabs of Everett’s wife’s Instagram account in which she showcased opulent vacations and sported designer duds from Dolce & Gabbana and Bottega Veneta.
Everett claims LPWhisperer said it would not stop unless Everett bought the account.
On Aug. 29, he filed a lawsuit against Kostecki.
The undoing of LPWhisperer
For the short time LPWhisperer haunted real estate X, it consistently denied it was run by Kostecki. But several of the account’s targets claim otherwise.
Smith spent $33,000 on an investigator to determine who’s behind the account. Based on the characteristics of the account and its behavior, the investigator determined LPWhisperer is likely operated by Kostecki.
For instance, Kostecki was inactive online for five years. He reappeared on Quora, asking how to find out all the properties someone owns — an interest Kostecki and LPWhisperer share, the report notes.
In addition, Everett’s lawsuit claimed Powers contrived his own sting operation to pull back the veil over LPWhisperer.
Powers hired a former law enforcement officer to approach LPWhisperer, pretending to be interested in bringing a lawsuit against Powers.
LPWhisperer agreed to provide information about him for $45,000, Everett’s lawsuit alleges. The wiring information he provided traced to Kostecki’s children.
Regarding the wiring instructions, LPWhisperer claims he was aware of the sting operation and faked a connection to Kostecki.
Powers took the matter to Kostecki’s doorstep.
A two-minute video that circulated on X shows a man filming with his phone as he gets out of a car on a residential street. He approaches a well-manicured front yard with a Ford Bronco parked in the driveway and knocks on the door.
A man who confirms he is Jakub Kostecki opens the door.
“My name’s J.W. I’m outta Texas,” the man filming says in a Texas twang. He shows Kostecki the document in his hands — a cease and desist letter, Power confirmed — and asks, “Do you have any clue what this is about?”
“No idea,” Kostecki replies.
Everett’s lawsuit includes a photo of Kostecki answering the door for J.W. and claims the expression on Kostecki’s face reveals he knew he’d been caught.
Powers and Smith have also tried to get the FBI involved.
Smith filed a report on June 27. He said it didn’t go anywhere. Powers said he and Fort Capital alerted the FBI of LPWhisperer’s actions. Powers claimed the FBI has opened an investigation into LPWhisperer and said in an email that he’s “obviously cooperating with the FBI.”
In his lawsuit, Everett claims LPWhisperer’s harassment amounts to defamation, for which he deserves punitive damages.
LPWhisperer stopped posting on Sept. 5, but not before sharing that the account is “changing hands.” The account was “a summer project,” the post said.
“As work & life ramps up in the fall, it’s time to move on.”
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