White-label brokerage Side has accused Official Partners and the Alexander brothers of defaulting on a loan. The brothers say Side manufactured the default.
In their first court filing in the case, Official, Oren Alexander and Tal Alexander claim that Side broke the terms on the loan by unilaterally dissociating their real estate licenses, which resulted in one of the alleged events of default. The Alexander brothers say they’ve repeatedly asked Side to reinstate their licenses.
They also claim they’ve pushed Side for almost two months to exercise the mandatory arbitration clause in the loan, but Side hasn’t responded.
“We are beyond disappointed by the destructive behavior of Side towards its partner,” said James Cinque, counsel to Official Partners, in a statement to HousingWire.
“We do not comment on pending litigation, but we stand by our filings made in court,” a spokesperson from Side told HousingWire in an email.
Side sued the defendants in October, claiming they committed multiple events of default on a $4.6 million promissory note, including dissociating their real estate licenses and refusing to provide updates and assurances on the underlying collateral on the loan.
Earlier this month, Side requested from the court a restraining order against the brothers, claiming that they were moving the unspecified collateral. The brokerage is seeking $4.2 million from the brothers to cover the rest of the loan and costs associated with the lawsuit.
In the Alexanders’ response, they say they were not dodging requests for assurances on the collateral by failing to disclose their whereabouts. Instead, they assert their residences were under construction and they did not receive the requests.
Side’s lawsuit coincides with accusations of sexual misconduct against the superstar real estate agents, who represented ultra-wealthy clients in New York and Florida. Women have filed lawsuits against the Alexander, though some of them do not include each brother as a defendant. They have denied the allegations.
Tal and Oren Alexander took leaves of absence from Official in the wake of the accusations. Alon Alexander works outside of real estate.
