Ziggy Wilf’s Ongoing Legal Battle in New Jersey
Ziggy Wilf had a busy week, splitting his time between trying to convince Minnesotans to give his company hundreds of millions of dollars, while simultaneously appearing in a court case in New Jersey, where he’s being sued for screwing a business partner out of more than $20 million:
In between his appearances, he flew to Minnesota for a news conference to announce he had reached an agreement with local officials to build a new stadium for the Vikings in suburban Minneapolis. Wilf bought the Vikings in 2005 for a reported $600 million.
So, what’s the lawsuit about? Here’s an excerpt, but it’s worth clicking through to read the whole thing.
Ada Reichmann, the wife of a Toronto-based developer, had been a 25-percent partner in Rachel Gardens, a 764-unit apartment complex. Wilf declared Reichmann wasn’t contributing to the cost of the project’s development and removed her 25 percent share.
Reichmann quickly filed suit.
Her brother, Josef Halpern of Brooklyn, also owns 25 percent of the partnership. He joined the suit in 2009, claiming he’s been systematically cheated by the Wilfs over the years.
Together, Reichmann and Halpern claim Wilf and two relatives cheated them out of more than $20 million in revenues from the project. The family ran what amounted to “organized-crime-type activities” in its bookkeeping for Rachel Gardens, Halpern’s attorney, Alan Lebensfeld, told Superior Court Judge Deanne Wilson during the non-jury trial.
This is the guy we’re considering going into business with? I already consider Ziggy Wilf a welfare queen, but it looks like there is even more to Ziggy than I knew. It’s one thing to honestly screw people out of their money. It’s something entirely different to dishonestly screw them.
If Ziggy wants to build a stadium with private money and screw over private companies that do business with him, that’s his prerogative. But, I don’t want my city, county, or state to enter into a business relationship with the guy. I don’t trust him.
