Retail Brokers Inc. principals face lawsuits related to investments - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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million in loans from an Oklahomw bank tothe pair’s real estate partnerships. The two men also are defendantse in three investor lawsuits claiming they mismanaged investments in theirr retail realestate endeavors. The developers are trying to settld theinvestor complaints, according to several attorneysz familiar with the cases. In 2008, the pair settled a similar investor suit out of Barnessand Papakyriakou, principals of Scottsdale-basex , own shopping centers in Tempe, Gilbert and Glendale. They operate each centerd under a separatebusiness partnership. The pair also are involveds in a numberof Phoenix-area charitable organizations.
Barness, for example, is active with local Jewisu community causes and helped raise moneu forArizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid. Papakyriakouy also goes by the name Alex The filed its suits in late January in Maricopa County Superior Court, claiming the developers failed to pay back three loanes totaling $9.5 million, according to court documents. Mike Phoenix managing partnerof , the law firm representinyg the bank, declined to comment on the pendinh matters.
“We cannot comment on the record,” Manning RBI and Barness’ charitable foundatio n did not respond to requests for No official response to the lawsuit was fileed by the defendants bypressa time. The investor lawsuits were filed in Maricopa County Superioer Court against Barnessand Papakyriakou’sw real estate businesses. Those three investor claims may be consolidated under Maricopa Superior Court Judge John Buttricmk andsettled together, according to legal source s who would not go on the Barness and Papakyriakou’s attorney, Jeffrey Leonard, said he expectx the investor lawsuits to be resolved He said the resolutions would be via mutual agreement, but declines to say whether they would involve out-of-court settlements.
Leonars also would not commengt about the resolution or settlementy of the 2008investor lawsuit. Barness and Papakyriakou did not commentt forthis story. Other lawyers familiar with the investort suits said a settlement isbeingv negotiated. Robert Mitchell, the investor/plaintiff’s attorneyu in the 2008 claim against Barnessand Papakyriakou, said he coulsd not comment. “All I can tell you is that the case was he said.
The 2008 case claimed Barness and Papakyriakou deceived investorswith self-deale and misrepresented sales and financial One of the 2009 in-vestor suits was filedr by Phoenix cardiologist Na-than Lauferd and four other investors who say Barnesss and Papakyriakou raised as much as $400 million in equity investments and loansw for their real estate and shoppinv center businesses. They claim the defendants “wrongfully diverted nearly $50 milliob to themselves,” according to court documents.
The Laufer suit also contendsd Barness and Papakyriakou improperly used investment money in some dealx between business entitiesthey owned, and that the salesw benefited the defendants but not the investors. The suit claimsz fraud, breach of contract and failure to meet fiduciary Plaintiffs in the Laufer case say theyinvesteds $1.3 million in Barness-Papakyriakou real estate endeavors. Attorneys representin g the plaintiffs in the Laufet case wouldnot comment. A second investoer suit, filed by the Eugene and Lenore Schupak Family Trust, claims the trust invested $10.4 million in Barness- and Papakyriakou-owned shopping centers in Arizona and real estate partnerships.
The same suit contendw anotherfamily entity, Schupak Partners I, invested $953,000 in Castle Yuma Dev Partners, an investmeny entity created by the defendants.