Multifamily investors Josh Gotlib and Meyer Orbach have filed a lawsuit against Jona Rechnitz, the former investment manager for boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., alleging that he has been defaming them and damaging their business. The lawsuit claims that Rechnitz, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2016, has sent defamatory comments to colleagues, regulators, synagogue officials, and reporters in an effort to extract a payout.
"This is a calculated money grab," lawyers for Gotlib and Orbach wrote in the complaint. "Rechnitz has sought to manufacture disruption to Plaintiffs' ongoing business and use that disruption to harass and extort Plaintiffs into paying him."
Rechnitz, reached for comment, said his communications have been legal and part of his pursuit of what investors are owed. The lawsuit was first reported by The Promote.
Mayweather's Vada Properties invested about $32 million with Gotlib and Orbach's affiliated multifamily portfolios in 2024, including GO Residential REIT and others run by Black Spruce Management. A firm connected to Rechnitz, called Frist Apex, was entitled to 20 percent of the distributions from that investment.
The legal dispute began when Mayweather sued Rechnitz in May, alleging that he had diverted $175 million in funds, including by giving Frist Apex the 20 percent cut of distributions from the multifamily portfolios. Black Spruce attempted to give the contested 20 percent to the court to hold while Rechnitz and Mayweather resolved their dispute.
Rechnitz and Frist Apex pushed back, saying that Black Spruce is simply stalling and should give the 20 percent to Frist Apex, along with financial documents and records it has not received. In late September, Mayweather dropped claims against Rechnitz and Frist Apex without explanation.
Gotlib and Orbach now say Rechnitz has launched a campaign against them, with the "incessant dissemination of falsehoods" intended to "shake them down." Rechnitz allegedly messaged Gotlib and Orbach's professional contacts in late September, saying, "There's a lot of fraud." He also allegedly sent a message to the president of Gotlib's synagogue about potential litigation.
On Thursday, Rechnitz allegedly sent multiple messages. One was a notice from Frist Apex to Gotlib and Orbach's GO Residential REIT, giving notice that the firm would be bringing litigation related to fraud. Another with similar allegations was sent to the Ontario Securities Commission and Toronto Stock Exchange, regulators for the REIT. Finally, Rechnitz messaged "a member of the real estate press," saying that he would be filing lawsuits and had sent notices and letters to the REIT. The alleged messages to the press match emails received by The Real Deal.
A spokesperson for Gotlib and Orbach pointed additionally to Rechnitz's criminal conviction. In 2019, he was sentenced to five months in prison and five months on house arrest for honest services wire fraud, related to directing bribes to New York police officers.
"He is a shakedown artist who is desperate for one last score before he must report to federal prison to serve his sentence for the crimes he committed," the spokesperson said in a statement. "He has a trail of unpaid judgments and unpaid debts and we are not going to become the latest victims of his unethical and illegal conduct."
Rechnitz maintains that Frist Apex is owed distributions and that the company has been stonewalled by Gotlib and Orbach. "Floyd [Mayweather] and Frist have yet to receive the proper financials, have yet to receive the proper tax reporting, or transparency from Black Spruce and Josh," Rechnitz said.
Leo Jacobs, the attorney who handled Mayweather's suit against Rechnitz, declined to give more information about why the claims were dropped.
