A South Florida brokerage firm is going after two of its former agents and Ryan Serhant’s firm, accusing the brokers of stealing trade secrets and violating their contracts.
Sutter & Nugent sued Serhant Florida, Matthew Moser and Nicholas Gonzalez in late May, seeking unspecified damages from the two former Sutter & Nugent attorneys and their new employer.
Palm Beach Gardens-based Sutter & Nugent, led by broker and president Talbot Sutter, said it invested “significant amounts of money” to open an office in Boca Raton, where Moser and Gonzalez are based.
According to the indictment, Moser and Gonzalez notified Talbot Sutter on March 20 that they were leaving the agency. The lawsuit says Sutter tried to keep them, but Sutter & Nugent terminated the agreement on March 24 after discovering that the two agents had been courting employees and agents from the Boca Raton office to join them at Serhant.
Nearly two months after they left the agency, Sutter & Nugent claimed that Moser and Gonzalez recruited William Volpe, who ran Jupiter’s office, to Serhant.
Sutter & Nugent also alleges that Moser and Gonzalez used confidential marketing data and obtained listings initiated or secured through Sutter & Nugent.
Moser and Gonzalez’s attorney, David Beckerman, has denied the allegations. Beckerman of Beckerman Law said they did not have a non-compete agreement, “so they have the right to leave.”
“There was no stealing of trade secrets,” he added. Beckman filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
The lawsuit marks at least the second time Serhant has been sued as it expands into new markets.
A Pennsylvania brokerage firm accused Serhant and Andrea Desy Edrei, who led his team in Keystone State, in April of “looting its clients, intellectual property, confidential information and personnel while undermining its ability to operate.” Keller Williams Black Label and its parent company are seeking more than $10 million in damages over the terms of Desy Edrei’s departure in March to lead Serhant’s local expansion.
New York-based Serhant, which co-listed last year for $100 million in the wealthy enclave of Gold Beach in northern Miami-Dade County, teased its South Florida expansion. This year, it officially opened stores in six new markets on the East Coast: Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, North Carolina and South Carolina. It’s also considering expanding to Chicago.
Serhant launched his company in 2020, becoming a household name on Bravo’s TV show “Million Dollar Listing: New York” and his own spinoff “Sell It Like Serhant.”
