Update, May 19, 3:45pm: A former Bespoke agent is suing the New York-based luxury brokerage, claiming hundreds of thousands in unpaid commissions.
Jarret Willis, who works as a broker in the Hamptons, filed a lawsuit against the three Bespoke entities in New York County Supreme Court this week. Willis alleges the brokerage failed to pay him at least $545,000 in commissions from three properties on the East Side of Long Island.
The lawsuit follows similar charges Harlan Goldberga former associate of Willis and former president of Bespoke Florida, who sued the brokerage firm in March for withholding more than $1 million in commissions from sales in Miami and Parkland.
Goldberg and Willis also claim that the brokerage’s co-founders, Cody and Zachary Vichinsky, and other Bespoke employees publicly racist remarks Willis, he’s black, real deal previously reported. Goldberg claims he was wrongfully removed from his management position in September, in part because of confronting the Vichinsky brothers about their conduct.
Goldberg and Willis file complaint and The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused Willis of being discriminated against because he was black, while Goldberg experienced a hostile work environment because he was Jewish.
Adam Leitman Bailey, an attorney for Goldberg and Willis, said both the EEOC and the New York Division of Human Rights are actively investigating allegations of discrimination, which were not mentioned in Willis’ commission complaint. accused.
After Goldberg filed the lawsuit, Goldberg and Willis received a letter from Bespoke containing some unpaid commissions, according to Bailey. The amount paid to Goldberg was far less than what he claimed to be owed, while the amount paid to Willis, while substantial, was incomplete, the attorney said.
The agency dismissed the filing in a statement real dealcalling Willis “a disgruntled former employee trying to enrich himself by demanding commissions to which he was not entitled.”
A spokesman for Bespoke said: “His claims in this frivolous lawsuit are baseless and we look forward to vigorously defending ourselves in court.”
Willis’ lawsuit against Bespoke, which operates in Florida and New York, centers on unpaid commissions on three deals in the Hamptons: 236 Quimby Lane in Bridgehampton, 115 Beach Lane in Wainscott and 140 Hayground Cove in Water Mill Road.
Willis claims he brought in buyers for 236 Quimby Lane, which sold for $26 million in 2019, and he was supposed to earn $364,000 in commission on the sale, but got only $50,000.
Complaints say Willis brought in sellers 115 Beach Lane, aerospace and military weapons businessman David Susser and his wife Marla to Bespoke. The 11,000-square-foot home was featured in the episode “Inheritance.”
Willis is not the listing broker for the property, but he claims he is owed a commission for the behind-the-scenes work that went into closing the deal. Willis claims the seller wanted to remove Bespoke from the listing, but he convinced them to stay with the brokerage. Bespoke found a buyer for the property two weeks later and closed the deal in November 2021 for $43 million.
While Willis was not the lead negotiator, he was often included in advising the Vichinsky family on whether the Sussers would accept the terms of the deal, the lawsuit said.
After the deal closed, Vichinsky claimed that the brokerage received only 1 percent of the 2 percent commission owed, reducing Willis’ cut. The broker alleges that the firm did receive the full commission, but only paid him $58,000 of the $221,880.00 he was supposed to pay.
Willis claims he also brought the seller of 140 Hayground to the brokerage, which closed last February for $13 million. He claims he owes about $67,000 in commission on the sale of the property.
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This article has been updated to include a statement from Bespoke.
