Hogs get slaughtered ...

Or so the saying goes.  Greystone looks more hoggish by the day.

One would think that over promising in a commercial lease situation would lead to problems, even lawsuits.

This one looks like a doozie.

Greystone, despite their best attempts to ignore their own malfeasance in the soon to be invalidated purchase of the Brooklyn Lyceum, keeps creating their own problems.

For example.... take a look at Blink Fitness.  They signed on for 15,000 +/- square feet of space in the Brooklyn Lyceum.   Little did they know that, in order to build the adjacent building taller, Greystone had to tell the NYC Buildings Department that the uses in the Brooklyn Lyceum had to be a community facility.

And, guess what is not a community facility according to the NYC Buildings Department, commercial chain gyms.

In addition, Greystone never bothered to get a anew certificate of occupancy (CofO), a required process when significant changes have been made (altering exits adding or removing floors, excavation), and is instead attempting to have Blink Fitness occupy a brand new floor that does not even exist in the Certificate of occupancy they are using from 1943.

Wow.  What will Stephen Rosenberg of  Greystone do?  Not do commercial in the base of a brand new residential building and give up some of that residential?

More likely they take the bullet now on the inevitable Blink lawsuit and suffer through whatever breakup will entail be it settlements or lawsuits.

Former Kings County ADA seems to have forgotten all those don't commit perjury, don't misrepresent things to the court and don't violate due process tenets of being a lawyer.

Maybe that's what being a lawyer means nowadays.  We feel sorry for those this cretin convicted as an ADA.

Read on to see the tricks of the trade employed by Avery S. Mehlman and, by extension, Herrick and Feinstein.

We wonder how long they can keep this rotten fish around.

Maybe he needs to hit an actual dozen lies in one case?

Let's see what lies Avery makes ....

Greystone backs up forgery and perjury by Jeffrey Simpson, a low level corporate officer, with ... more perjury by Stephen Rosenberg's Number 1, Curtis Pollock (Greystone Corporate Co-Chief Operating Officer).

When we last took the pulse of the situation, we filed a motion to dismiss a Greystone lawsuit because the deed put forth was clearly forged and Jeffrey Simpson committed perjury at the outset of the lawsuit swearing to have read a complaint that had not yet been written.

Greystone had until November 21, 2017, to respond to the motion to dismiss their lawsuit about the Brooklyn Lyceum Deed.

That day passed, as did 44 more.

By the time that Greystone attempted to answer the motion to dismiss, some 45 days late, they had, by not responding by November 21, 2017, admitted to anything in the affidavit in support of the motion to dismiss.

Specifically, Greystone admitted that Jeffrey Simpson had lied (committed perjury) when he swore that he had read the complaint drafted by his attorney, Avery Mehlman of Herrick and Feinstein.

In addition Greystone admitted, by their non-response, that the deed they filed with the City Register and with the complaint as their proof of ownership, was a forgery.

In addition, Avery S. Mehlman admitted to committing perjury and misrepresenting facts to the court in general, and Ellen Spodek, in particular.

Well, as it would unfold, Jeffrey Simpson is out at Greystone (seems that our allegations of perjury and forgery might be a problem).

He has run away and taken another nimrod warrior (Jared Chassen) with him to a new venture that, as far as we can tell, lacks a website we can highlight and publicize.

In his stead, probably as a fixer / cleaner (a la Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction) is Stephen Rosenburg's right hand man, Curtis Pollock, Co-Chief Operating Officer and with Greystone since 1993. Clearly, he is not put in charge of things that are day to day.

And, what does Co-Chief Operating Officer Curtis Pollock do in his first act in the case? Curtis Pollock, just as Jeffrey Simpson and Avery Mehlman, commits perjury by lieing in an affidavit.

What are the lies?

Well, that is for a later reveal.

Suffice it to say that a CEO (Stephen Rosenberg) that raps about business processes probably is asleep at the switch.

It is hard to tell if it is laziness, incompetence, hubris, greed or corruption. A case is can be made that is is a bit of all five, especially when the courts turn a blind eye to the problem.

What really remains to be seen is.... how much deed fraud is too much for the system of property transfer in NYC to withstand?

It is really quite simple. Deeds are the currency of real estate. There are strict rules that must be followed lest the whole thing go sideways.

It is so important that those rules are followed that whoever lends you money to buy real estate almost always requires that you get title insurance from someone who will research the chain of title step by step from time immemorial to the date of the transaction to make sure that you are getting something with a legit title. The title company insures the bank/buyer to the amount of the purchase price based on paying a premium.

• Sometimes Title Companies make mistakes. They pay for those to the amount of insurance.
• Sometimes Title Companies work fast and loose with the truth. They pay for those to the amount of insurance.
• Sometimes Title Companies don't do due diligence. They pay for those to the amount of insurance.
• Sometimes Title Company clients fraudulently induce them into insuring something. They either pay or tell their client that they are not required to pay because fraud cannot be the basis for a contract.

Where it gets really interesting is when the banks are too cozy with the developers and loan based on the property itself as collateral. If the buyer fails to pay they take the property. Simple, no?

But what happens if the deed itself is bad and there is no collateral for the bank to attach to?

The Brooklyn Lyceum started out as the brainchild of the Boro of Brooklyn and architect Raymond Francis Almirall.

More to come ...