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| Massoud Aaron Yashouafar LVMPD Booking Photo |
December 6, 2014 Robert Paisola Reports
Downtown Oklahoma City First National Center sale is in limbo- Yashouafar back to Prison in 2015? (Video Below)
New York resident Howard Abselet is attempting to file a lien on downtown Oklahoma City First National Center, which would allow him to collect proceeds from any sale of the property.
Massoud Aaron Yashouafar, part-owner of Oklahoma City's First National Center, and SKY LAS VEGAS is serving a 30-day sentence after admitting theft of insurance money in LAS VEGAS, Nevada.
A potential sale of downtown Oklahoma City’s First National Center could be thrown into question by a New York man who claims he is owed $6 million by former building owner Aaron Yashouafar and Yashouafar’s brother.
New York resident Howard Abselet is attempting to file a lien on First National Center, which would allow him to collect proceeds from any sale of the property.
First National Center’s 33-story historic art deco tower is in dire need of restoration, and less than half of the building is occupied.
The property’s California-based owners, the Neman family, who run Neman Brothers & Associates, a textile company with offices in Los Angeles and New York, have controlled the property since 2012. But Abselet claims that Aaron Yashouafar, who was convicted in Nevada of embezzlement charges in 2013, is still at least a partial owner of the First National Center. Yashouafar, once a prominent Los Angeles real estate developer, vowed to renovate First National Center after purchasing it in 2006 for $21 million, but later defaulted on that promise, as well as the mortgage on the property.
In 2012, Abselet won a $6 million judgment in a California federal court against Aaron Yashouafar, his brother Solyman Yashouafar and their company, Alliance Lending Group Inc. Abselet claimed in his lawsuit that the Yashouafars owe him $6 million on a loan to invest in the purchase of real estate in Beverly Hills, Calif. that was never repaid. Abselet invested money with the Yashouafars that he received from a legal settlement after he contracted bacterial meningitis while undergoing a minor surgical procedure, according to the lawsuit.
“He’s a dying man and this guy basically took money from him,” said Tony Gould, an attorney for Abselet.
Abselet claims that Aaron Yashouafar still has an ownership interest in First National Center, and he transferred the property to the Neman family to refinance the property in 2012. (Proof of this fraudulent transfer could easily return Aaron Yashouafar to Prison in Nevada. Also he could be charged criminally for his involvement in the Beverly Hills Land Deal.)
“It wasn't bona fide sale,” Gould said.
According to corporate disclosure statements filed with the court, at least one of the partnerships that now owns First National Center, called First National Building I, LLC, is partially controlled by the California company Alliance Property Investments Inc. Several online business directories list Aaron Yashouafar as the president of Alliance Property Investments. (This is Fraud)
In November, Abselet filed papers with the Oklahoma County Clerk’s office to alert potential buyers of the First National Center that he was attempting to place a lien on the property.
Leif Swedlow, an attorney representing Yashouafar, declined to address the filing, saying “my clients do not comment on pending litigation.”
Amy Dunn, who is representing the Neman Brothers in selling the property, also declined to comment.
Dunn previously told The Oklahoman that she was hopeful that the property would sell by year’s end. On Friday, she said no closing of a sale had yet occurred.
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The Back story:
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| The First National Center, 120 N Robinson, in downtown Oklahoma City is shown. |
The Village Voice called Aaron Yashouafar one of New York City's “ten worst slumlords.” Tenants staged a revolt against Yashouafar in an upscale high-rise condominium he developed in Las Vegas.
In Oklahoma City, he's viewed with suspicion after city officials discovered what they believed to be fraudulently submitted check copies for reimbursement. And coast to coast, the man best known locally as the owner of First National Center has a history of bankruptcies and foreclosures.
But as Yashouafar faces sentencing on a self-admitted fraud charge over his handling of insurance proceeds for fire-damaged condominiums in Las Vegas, friends and acquaintances have submitted letters to Clark County Judge Carolyn Ellsworth asking for leniency and providing a sharply different portrayal.
In a letter by his bankruptcy attorney David Neale, Yashouafar is portrayed as a businessman honestly striving to arrange successful resolutions to bankruptcies involving Figueroa Tower in Los Angeles and First National Center in Oklahoma City.
The Oct. 30 letter by Neale suggests that despite the payoff of $12 million to Capmark Group that prevented the Oklahoma City landmark from being turned over to a receiver, the property's refinancing is still in question.
“We are trying to refinance the property located in Oklahoma City, and Yashouafar has been integral to those efforts,” Neale wrote. “There are other owners of that project whose financial interests will be placed at risk if Yashouafar is unable to arrange the refinancing necessary for that property.”
Almost all of the character references were written by individuals who are working with or once worked for Yashouafar.
Bea Goodwin Aikens, who once worked as a sales agent at the 45-story Sky Condominiums where Yashouafar faced a tenant protest, wrote that Yashouafar is “a man of integrity and a man of his word.”
“The claims are not reflective of Mr. Yashouafar's moral beliefs and his conduct in this case are not reflective of the kind and ethical man I have come to know over the past eight years,” Aikens wrote.
Another letter, by Yashouafar's attorney H. Joseph Nourmand, speaks of the 20 years they both attended the same synagogue. Nourmand described Yashouafar as “an honest, selfless, caring, generous, humble and kind soul.”
Holly Fathi, controller of Yashouafar's company, Milbank Realty Group, wrote pleading that incarceration will jeopardize his ongoing contributions to charitable organizations and the livelihood of his employees.
“At this time, there are a number of ongoing matters which demands daily and constant involvement of Mr. Yashouafar,” Fathi wrote. “These matters, if not handled properly, will have a devastating effect on many of the investors who have their life savings invested with Mr. Yashouafar.”
Bill O'Donnell is hoping Judge Ellsworth will ignore the character references.
As a resident of the Paradise Spa condominiums in Las Vegas, O'Donnell witnessed a series of fires that left residents homeless. The Nevada attorney general accused Yashouafar of diverting about $1 million of insurance proceeds, which led Yashouafar to enter a guilty plea for embezzlement.
In the latest court filings asking for leniency, Yashouafar's rabbi, David Shofet, noted Yashouafar is in mourning over the recent loss of his mother and is observing twice daily religious services in accordance with the Jewish faith.
O'Donnell wants Ellsworth to ponder what role Yashouafar's faith and integrity played in leaving an 84-year-old Paradise Spa resident, Iris Hokanson, without her home while he diverted the insurance proceeds for her condominium.
“I find it hypocritical he would be praying for his mother at the same time he's putting somebody else's mother out on the streets,” O'Donnell said. “Iris Hokanson to this day has not received any money.”
O'Donnell argues Yashouafar still owes more than $1 million in dues and insurance costs after recently paying $1.2 million in retribution, which has been paid to the condominium complex's receiver but has yet to be distributed to the residents.
Yashouafar did not return calls for comment about O'Donnell's complaints. O'Donnell, meanwhile, questions whether Yashouafar was sincere in his guilty plea.
“They're (friends and acquaintances) portraying this as Mr. Yashouafar being accused of this, and he admitted to it,” O'Donnell said. “It's as if they're trying to dismiss it as he's really not guilty, that he just pled so he wouldn't have this go to trial.”
ARE YOU A VICTIM OF AARON YASHOUAFAR OR HIS FAMILY?
It looks like Aaron Yashouafar may be going back to prison afterall
If you are a victim of Aaron Yashouafar, Sky Las Vegas,Paradise Spa, Christine A Gibbs or any Nevada HOA send
us your story in detail and we will publish it for the media as well as the Court for Aaron Yashouafar's Court Sentencing. THIS IS ESSENTIAL. We will post the address of the court, listed below, so you can tell the Honorable Judge how this man has ruined your life. email us a copy at sentencing@SkyLasVegas.info
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