Retail Brokers Inc. principals face lawsuits related to investments - Boston Business Journal:

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million in loans from an Oklahomqa bank tothe pair’s real estate The two men also are defendantd in three investor lawsuits claimin they mismanaged investments in theirt retail real estate endeavors. The developers are trying to settls theinvestor complaints, according to severao attorneys familiar with the cases. In 2008, the pair settlerd a similar investor suit outof court. Barnesws and Papakyriakou, principals of Scottsdale-based , own shopping centersx in Phoenix, Tempe, Gilbert and Glendale. They operatee each center under a separate business The pair also are involved in a numbeerof Phoenix-area charitable organizations.
Barness, for example, is active with local Jewish community causes and helped raise money forArizonza Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid. Papakyriakou also goes by the name Alex The filed its suits in late January in Maricopa CountyhSuperior Court, claiming the developers failed to pay back three loane totaling $9.5 million, according to courtt documents. Mike Manning, Phoenix managing partner of , the law firm representing the declined to comment on thepending matters. “Wre cannot comment on the record,” Manning RBI and Barness’ charitable foundation did not responx to requestsfor comment.
No officialp response to the lawsuit was filed by the defendantx bypress time. The investore lawsuits were filed in Maricopa Countty Superior Court against Barnessand Papakyriakou’s real estat businesses. Those three investof claims may be consolidated under Maricopa Superior Court Judge John Buttricko andsettled together, accordinyg to legal sources who would not go on the Barness and Papakyriakou’s attorney, Jeffrey said he expects the investor lawsuits to be resolvecd soon. He said the resolutiona would be via mutual but declined to say whether they wouldinvolvre out-of-court settlements.
Leonard also would not comment about the resolutiobn or settlement of the 2008investor lawsuit. Barness and Papakyriakou did not commentg forthis story. Other lawyers familiar with the investotr suits said a settlement is being Robert Mitchell, the investor/plaintiff’s attorney in the 2008 claim againstg Barness and Papakyriakou, said he could not “All I can tell you is that the case was he said.
The 2008 case claimex Barness and Papakyriakou deceived investorswith self-dealsa and misrepresented sales and financial One of the 2009 in-vestor suits was filed by Phoenid cardiologist Na-than Laufer and four other investors who say Barnesse and Papakyriakou raised as much as $400 million in equity investments and loans for their real estater and shopping center businesses. They claim the defendantss “wrongfully diverted nearly $50 million to themselves,” according to court The Laufer suit also contends Barneszs and Papakyriakou improperly used investment moneyg in some deals between business entities they and that the sales benefited the defendanta but notthe investors.
The suit claimzs fraud, breach of contract and failure to meetfiduciary responsibilities. Plaintiffs in the Lauferd case say theyinvested $1.3 milliohn in Barness-Papakyriakou real estate endeavors. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the Laufe r case wouldnot comment. A seconde investor suit, filed by the Eugene and Lenor e SchupakFamily Trust, claims the trust investede $10.4 million in Barness- and Papakyriakou-owned shopping centers in Arizonqa and real estate partnerships.
The same suit contendds anotherfamily entity, Schupak Partners I, invested $953,0000 in Castle Yuma Dev Partners, an investment entity created by the