Manhattan Club Lawsuit

My wife and I just found out that our maintenance fees went from $1500.00 every two years to over $2100.00. If I cancel the credit card and stop making payments on our half share ownership in this albatross, will we still be part of the law suit and thus be eligible to get out from under it?

It is confusing as it is written in legalese. But, what I did get out of it, is that even before the results of the Survey are in, the AG's office DOES have a very good understanding of what the problems are. And, they even sent undercover investigators/attorneys to see what the sales pitch was and of course, what they "sell" and what we get are two different things.

The AG was trying to get a restraining order for the Manhattan Club to stop selling the "units" etc. And, they wanted the Court to order them to turn over the documents they had subpoena'd, and put a freeze on some of their money. I thought I saw a document that the Court did approve their request, but now I cannot find it so I don't think they have agreed yet. I did see a document that named August 1st or 10th as a hearing date.

Usually, on these political "investigations" they just spend tons of taxpayers money and nothing gets done, or there is a slight slap to someone's hands. But, I am not familiar with New York politics, so let's be optimistic that whatever they are doing will benefit us owners, and maybe we can even get a week at our units easily in the future.

vicky229, you're very (too, in my opinion) kind. i'll take what you want, "a week at our units easily in the future", but i seek more than that: a refund of all the overage we've paid in maintenance fees, and any illegal costs that we paid as a result of the scamming and fraudulent sales practices, the amounts determined by the court, of course. i suppose that's a pipe dream (it would probably be an overwhelming task to figure $$$$ amounts for all owners who purchased at different times.) however, with all this brainpower at work, some monetary relief could possibly be considered. at the very least, i would expect that our exorbitant maintenance fees be substantially reduced in the future while maintaining the level of service and amenities that we owners are used to at the manhattan club, and that we were PROMISED. this could be done by limiting and reducing the amount of greedy profit eichner and company garner from our fees. these guys should really use the funds collected by renting OUR TIME on booking.com, hotels.com, etc. to help reduce our maintenance fees, as i was told was being done, by salvatore reale, executive director of operations at the manhattan club (who, fyi, i believe drives a ferrari to work.) vicky, the bottom line is: i'll take what i can get, preferably what's due to me and all other shareowners.

keep in touch.

chris

hi fellow defrauded manhattan club owners, how's this one for pure, unadulterated chutzpah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crime and Punishment Bruce Eichner Asks Court to Lift Sales Ban at Manhattan Club

By Lauren Elkies Schram 5/29 11:30pm

The Manhattan Club at 200 West 56th Street.

Developer Ian Bruce Eichner is asking a judge to lift a nearly year-long ban preventing him from selling timeshares at the Manhattan Club in Midtown, according to new court documents.

The developer filed a motion yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court requesting that despite an investigation spearheaded by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, more than 20 would-be buyers at the Manhattan Club at 200 West 56th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues be permitted to close their timeshare deals.

“We’re…seeking to allow sales to be completed to 21 new owners who know about this investigation and still want their purchases at Manhattan Club to go through,” attorney Gerald L. Shargel, a partner at Winston & Strawn, told Commercial Observer today. He represents Mr. Eichner and others associated with Manhattan Club. “We’re also asking for the judge to order an end date for discovery and depositions.”

Finally, Mr. Shargel said: “We are asking to have Bruce Eichner, [his wife] Leslie Eichner, [his brother] Stuart Eichner and New York Urban Management, the managers of it, removed from the terms of the preliminary injunction because the attorney general’s office has made no showing that they have anything to do with this case.”

Since 1996, Manhattan Club has offered annual ownership interests for tens of thousands of dollars, providing members with a fixed-week stay each year. There are 14,000 timeshare owners for the property’s 286 hotel suites, according to a June 25, 2014 press release from Mr. Schneiderman’s office announcing that he had won a court order stopping sales of timeshare interests at the residence-style boutique hotel because the owners were running a “bait-and-switch timeshare scheme.” Bruce Eichner (Photo: Aaron Adler/ for Commercial Observer).

Bruce Eichner (Photo: Aaron Adler/ for Commercial Observer).

Members have found it “extremely difficult if not impossible” to actually book a room, a court exhibit from Mr. Schneiderman says. Meanwhile, annual common charges at the property have allegedly increased by about 200 percent over the last decade.

The June 2014 court order required that the “club’s principals…testify in court about the club’s practices and produce documents to the attorney general’s real estate finance bureau about allegedly fraudulent sales tactics,” Mr. Schneiderman indicated in the press release. The order prohibited “the corporations through which the club and the developers act from draining bank accounts connected to the hotel during the investigation. The Manhattan Club is further barred from foreclosing on timeshare purchasers, who the attorney general alleges were lured into investing with false promises.”

Mr. Schneiderman launched an investigation after receiving complaints from nearly 100 Manhattan Club owners who were unable to book stays due to “a claimed lack of available rooms by the hotel’s operators,” the press released indicates. Meanwhile the rooms were allegedly being rented to the general public.

“The discrepancy between what Manhattan Club owners are getting, versus what they are paying for, is so extreme that a few owners have sold ownership interests back to the sponsor for only $1, just to escape the burden of paying the common charges,” court documents from the plaintiff indicate.

The next court date—a private conference expected to address scheduling issues—is this coming Thursday, a spokeswoman for Mr. Schneiderman said, declining to comment further. Follow Lauren Elkies Schram on Twitter or via RSS. lschram@commercialobserver.com

the above appeared in the may 29 edition of the commercial observer, that i received online as a google alert.....(commercialobserver.com). so, eichner might be feeling the $$$ pinch. i wonder who these 21 "purchasers" are..............they want to purchase even in the case of what's happening legally at the manhattan club.....something i find hard to believe; it appears that eichner (and company) and his brilliant CRIMINAL attorney, gerald l sargel of winston and strawn law firm, won't stop at anything when they're beginning to feel the heat. google him to find out how excellent an attorney he truly is. eichner knows how to surround himself and company with people outstanding in their respective fields. note: sargel's expertise is in CRIMINAL LITIGATION and is represented as such. i believe that at the beginning of this lawsuit, eichner had attorneys whose expertise was in CIVIL cases. the plot seems to have thickened considerably for eichner and his associates (and some relatives!) eichner is now clearly seeking legal protection stemming from criminal accusations.

email the author of this article, lschram@commercialobserver.com, offering her the major issues that we owners have encountered. she may decide to write another article which includes more detailed accounts of shareowners' dilemmas and perhaps dissuade the new purchasers from completing their purchase documents in the face of the legal issues currently besetting the manhattan club and its developers.

keep in touch, chris

In the one exhibit they boast how MC sales have generated $400,000,000. wow, impressive number. At least this identifies the amount of money for the AG that has been fradulently obtained.

With this motion to dismiss, now is the time to join with our group with Mr. Wasser to get more information to the Attorney General's office. No one is going to take this care on a contingency basis if we lose our case with the AG. Mr. Wasser has written a fantastic letter to the AG and he wants more stories to relate to the AG office. We have 21 people who have paid $500 each and the influence we would have with 50-100 people would be enormous. Jonathan Philipson

You do not need to pay $500.00 to have your letter sent with a group to the attorney generals office. Your individual letters and surveys will suffice. That attorney is NOT filing a class action suit on your behalf he's just compiling letters.

Those that have emailed us, I have told you what the attorney has said regarding the AGs actions. Sit tight and wait for their final actions against TMC. Prior, we were able to get settlements for the owners now everything is on lockdown…nothing can be transferred. He advised the recent owners who contacted him to not make any payments..mortgage, maintenance or taxes. Await the final outcome and decision of the AG.

Good Luck!

We obviously disagree. I understand that people may not want to participate and put up any extra money. But I refuse to sit around and wait. I think this is a much better approach. Difference of opinion.

I was out of the country and some how lost the AG Survey. I called the AG's office and they said a third party sent out the survey and they couldn't provide me a copy to complete. Can anyone e-mail or scan me a copy of the survey?

Thanks,

Don Dkhiho@uahoo.com

this appears to be free advertising for mr wasser's company. who does "our group" consist of? i assume they paid their $500 upfront as a retainer. mr. phillipson, please be more transparent in what you suggest to manhattan club share owners in this forum. give us some concrete and backed up information. we've been through the non-transparency phase from the beginning purchasing process with the manhattan club. we don't need more clouds and fogs that we can't see through.

chris

looo

After a year or so of undercover and direct investigation and analysis of TMC corporate documents by the AG, obtaining TMC records (that none of us have) and through other discovery, I'm not sure that any of us has any INFORMATION (not opinion or wishes) that the AG doesn't already have.... or that he won't obtain through further legal actions. The survey does allow the AG to compare notes tho, so that's a good process IMO. It's also good that Mr Wasser keep abreast of happenings and translate proceedings for those who've joined that group. I'm hoping for the best from the AG and the State's legal processes and a remedy that will help us all.

Please send me the survey at AYOUNG1626@aol.com. Your email was returned as undeliverable? Thanks, Anne Young

I'm not sure what you don't understand about what I am trying to achieve by hiring an attorney and asking people to contribute. There is nothing foggy or less than transparent here. I hired Mr. Wasser almost 10 months ago in order to keep a group of owners informed about the legal proceedings with the NYS AG investigation. His role included gathering information from dissatisfied owners and through his legal filter, transmit that information to the AG. He has written some very important information to the AG office and is on the radar screen of the AG. Mr. Wasser agreed ahead of time to accept $500 from each person that wanted to contribute to this cause in order to keep him involved. He obviously needs to be paid. These are the facts. I do not have any financial interest in this other than I put my $500 in. Mr. Wasser is a real estate attorney in NYC and I believe him to be very competent and that his efforts will assist us in defeating the Manhattan Club management. If you don't agree with this, don't join and just hope that sitting around and waiting is the best course. Jonathan

I too agree that we do not need legal representation since we can access court documents and motions on the Internet . Many of us have been in direct contact with the AG office, submitting requested documents. So truly see no reason to pay an attorney.

Again, no one needs an attorney at this point as everything is frozen….unless you need an attorney to translate…he hasn't filed anything against TMC…and he couldn't afford to for only $500.00…he's only kept up on the AGs actions. So can you…just search and read…its public records.

Prior the attorneys had filed disputes on behalf of TMC owners against TMC but now its a waiting game until the AG has finished taking action. and unfreezes assets and deeds. Again, hold tight…do nothing until the AG has completed its investigations.

You seem to have missed the point of hiring an attorney. You can sit around and wait or you can at least try to do something to give us all an advantage. Just to give you an example, Mr. Wasser has cited the recent article in the NY Times which describes the friction between Gov. Cuomo and the NYS Attorney General. Read it for yourself. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/nyregion/cuomos-team-surveys-new-york-state-agencies-for-opinions-on-attorney-general.html?_r=0; Mr. Wasser also suggests that all TMC owners write a letter to the editor of the Times stating how Mr. Schneiderman's office has begun an investigation as to how over $400 million of wealth has been destroyed by Mr. Eichner, et al. No one else was willing to do anything to stop the wealthy from preying on us. Despite complaints to the AG office from 2006-2010 when Cuomo was AG, nothing was done to stop TMC management. And we don't need this diversion of resources at this time to weaken our cause. This is just one example of what Mr. Wasser has been doing to help our cause. If we had a group of 100 people who pitched in here we would have a formidable team to combat this fraud. If you think sitting around and waiting is the best course of action, go ahead and do nothing. And if in the end we lose, look and the mirror and ask yourself if you did everything you could to win. I am not spending any more of my time posting on this site as it seems have been a waste of time. There are 60 pages of opinions that have gotten us nowhere. Best of luck, Jonathan

By the way, Letters to the editor instructions can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/site/editorial/letters/letters.html;

So unless everyone agrees with your approach, you're taking your ball and going home?

Not at all. I am putting my efforts in other places where I have had better results. I think there are many different approaches and the larger our groups the better chances we have to prevail. It's just that there are no users of this group that joined our group so I'm trying elsewhere.

.............yep, trying elsewhere; so now you're starting a separate camp.............leading nowhere. what we need are more redweek.com members to put up a strong united (and creative!) front. divide and conquer: perhaps an ian bruce eichner idea!

but good luck; hopefully your solution will help us all.

chris