Boaz had sued a third partner as well, Yizhak Toledano, over the same facts of the case, but Toledano settled his portion of the case before the trial in what has been a long running case, taking over five years to bring to a close.
In last week’s judgment US$14.9 million related to a 500 unit condominium in Las Vegas, US$5.7 million related to a smaller condominium project in Port Orange in Florida and about US$1 million to some land in Hallandale Beach, also in Florida.
It seems the two defaulting partners, both Israelis in fact, were friends of Boaziz who had showed them how to make money in real estate. They eventually developed three properties together in Florida and Nevada.
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After the case Boaziz’s lawyer, Michael Moskowitz, positively gushed, “Mr. Boaziz is gratified that after five years of very extensive litigation, the truth came out, ” adding: “He and his partners, Mr. Toledano and Mr. Houri, were very close friends. Mr. Boaziz took in these two fledgling investors, helped teach them the real estate business, and this is how Mr. Houri repaid him.”
For his own part Houri apparently tried to assert a number of counterclaims in court, but it turned out the Judge did not believe any of them.
Boaziz himself said in court he relied on assurances from Houri regarding his interests in the deals in 2004-2006, as both of his parent became ill and died, and he wasn’t paying enough attention.
Judge Stettin, though, found that Boaziz’s failure to review documents enough did not exonerate the defendant at all, saying, “A partner who misrepresents material facts to gain an unfair advantage over his joint venture partner is not entitled to defend upon the ground that his partner could have done more to avoid being cheated.”
Many wise people do say one should beware of doing business with friends. Some wise people also say “good contracts make good friends, ” which is a rather different kind of statement entirely. Perhaps Mr. Boaziz was more than a little naïve here, and he is lucky to get his money back from a careful Judge.
Mordechai Boaziz (Flicker profile) is president and CEO of the Maverick Investments Real Estate Corporation. In addition to owning and operating hospitality properties, Mordechai Boaziz has been actively involved in numerous real estate development projects, including condominium conversions, multi-family housing projects, office building developments, and as owned and operated a number of tour and travel related agencies.
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