The story that unfolded last week, publicly anyway, could be described as a Greek tragedy with a modern twist involving two rivaling wealthy New York Jewish families with deep pockets, valuable real estate portfolios and lots of animus between them if only there was a protagonist on either side with a bit more kindness and professionalism. Instead, we have a public display of what appears to be disreputable and immature behavior more fitting of a high school cheerleading squad, but it’s a fun story nonetheless and who doesn’t love a bit of Schadenfreude so let’s get into it.
The facts are relatively straightforward: Ben Ashkenazy of Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation (think the more aggressive head of the Capulet clan in this story) and Raymond Gindi of the Gindi family (or the more subdued punching bag from the Montague side) co-own the Cross County Mall in Yonkers. The two tangled over a refinancing and capital calls on the asset and—to avoid a default on the loan—the owners were able to secure a $55 million refinancing from Citibank if the parties contributed $6.3 million of additional capital and closing costs. Ashkenazy claims the Gindis both refused to cover their portion of this shortfall and are liable for back rent on their Century 21 store at the mall. Gindis’ counsel, for his part, is claiming that the capital call is invalid as Ashkenazy, in fact, owes the Gindis money. That’s fodder for the attorneys and a court of law, but it’s the juicy tidbits that make this story worth the price of admission. Ashkenazy accused Gindi of spreading rumors about him stealing from the Gindi family to prominent members of the Syrian Jewish community.
One wonders if Ashkenazy would have cared as much if Gindi only spoke disparagingly about him to less prominent members of that community. Ashkenazy—in a series of aggrieved and mean-spirited text messages—called Gindi a “schmuck” (as any good Jewish boy does when he loses his cool) and further called into question his business acumen claiming its “no wonder you lost and bankrupted your $2 bil[lion] business that your dad left you with no debt.” Upping the stakes, Ashkenazy indicated he would “crush [Gindi] for damages” and even suggested Gindi would “lose much more [due to his] destruction and business harassment.” How much you ask, “more than you know,” according to Ashkenazy who thrives on ambiguity.
All of this was disconcerting to NYC real estate tycoons from inside and outside the community who generally follow the playbook on these things, which suggests that business disputes among community members shall be settled out of court. In fact, several real estate players tried to no avail to settle the conflict. One such player was none other than Charles Kushner of Kushner Companies who pleaded with the pair to “stop the fighting” as he knows “from personal experience that these fights have a life of their own and rarely end with a good conclusion.” Of course that’s rich: some of you may know Charles as the father of Jared Kushner—son-in-law and adviser to former President Trump and business phenom in his own right—but there’s a lot more to him than that. Charles Kushner spent 14 months in a federal prison “camp” in Montgomery, Alabama, in part, for witness tampering which involved an act of retaliation against his sister’s husband, William Schulder. Specifically, Kushner hired a prostitute he knew would seduce William and arranged to have the sexual encounter between the two recorded and later sent the tape to his sister, William’s wife. With siblings like this, who needs enemies? The takeaway in all of this is that billionaires can be every bit as petty as you and me and let’s hope for a favorable outcome for both sides and a restoration of peace between the families.
To Mr. Ashkenazy, I respectfully submit this piece was not intended to cast aspersions in any way or prompt a lawsuit (my legal budget pales in comparison to yours) and any stones I may have picked up along the way in this writing have been placed back on the ground where they belong.
Hourie, Ilya. “Retail Mogul Ben Ashkenazy Blasts Raymond Gindi in Angry Text.” The Real Deal, 4 May 2023, therealdeal.com/new-york/2023/05/03/ben-ashkenazy-to-raymond-gindi-im-going-to-crush-you/.
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