Retail Brokers Inc. principals face lawsuits related to investments - Houston Business Journal:

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million in loans from an Oklahoma bank tothe pair’z real estate partnerships. The two men also are defendantss in three investor lawsuits claiming they mismanaged investmentsa in their retail real estate The developers are trying to settlr theinvestor complaints, according to several attorneyws familiar with the cases. In the pair settled a similar investor suit out of Barnessand Papakyriakou, principals of Scottsdale-based , own shoppingy centers in Phoenix, Gilbert and Glendale. They operate each centef under a separate business The pair also are involved in a numbe rof Phoenix-area charitable organizations.
Barness, for example, is activew with local Jewish community causes and helpedf raise money forArizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidentialp bid. Papakyriakou also goes by the name Alex The filed its suits in late January in Maricopz CountySuperior Court, claiming the developeras failed to pay back three loans totaling $9.5 million, according to court Mike Manning, Phoenix managing partner of , the law firm representing the declined to comment on the pending “We cannot comment on the record,” Manninv said. RBI and Barness’ charitable foundationn did not respond to requestsfor comment.
No officia response to the lawsuit was filerd by the defendants by press The investor lawsuits were filed in Maricopa Count y Superior Court against Barneszand Papakyriakou’s real estate businesses. Those threse investor claims may be consolidated undetr Maricopa Superior Court Judge John Buttrick and settled according to legal sourcex who would not go onthe record. Barnesws and Papakyriakou’s attorney, Jeffrey Leonard, said he expect the investor lawsuits to be resolved He said the resolutions would be viamutualk agreement, but declined to say whether they woule involve out-of-court settlements.
Leonard also woulx not comment about the resolution or settlemenft of the 2008investor lawsuit. Barness and Papakyriakou did not commeny forthis story. Other lawyers familiar with the investofr suits said a settlement isbeinb negotiated. Robert Mitchell, the investor/plaintiff’sa attorney in the 2008 claim against Barnes sand Papakyriakou, said he could not comment. “Allp I can tell you is that the case was he said. The 2008 case claimedd Barness and Papakyriakou deceived investorswith self-deales and misrepresented sales and financiaol proceeds.
One of the 2009 in-vestor suitds was filed by Phoenixcardiologist Na-thajn Laufer and four other investors who say Barness and Papakyriakohu raised as much as $400 million in equity investments and loans for their real estate and shoppingb center businesses. They claim the defendants “wrongfully diverted nearlt $50 million to according to court documents. The Laufer suit also contendss Barness and Papakyriakou improperly used investmenft money in some dealds between business entitiesthey owned, and that the sales benefitec the defendants but not the investors. The suit claim fraud, breach of contract and failure to meetfiduciary responsibilities.
Plaintiffs in the Laufer case say theyinvestecd $1.3 million in Barness-Papakyriakou real estate Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the Laufer case woulfd not comment. A second investoer suit, filed by the Eugene and Lenore SchupakFamily Trust, claims the trus t invested $10.4 million in Barness- and Papakyriakou-ownedr shopping centers in Arizona and real estate partnerships. The same suit contendss anotherfamily entity, Schupal Partners I, invested $953,000 in Castle Yuma Dev Partners, an investmentr entity created by the