DJ Envy of The Breakfast Club’s Real Estate Scam Lawsuits: Explained – Billboard

Five months after an Instagram account first accused New York City radio host DJ Envy of being complicit in a multi-million greenback actual property funding rip-off in New Jersey, the scenario has became a sprawling net of lawsuits, countersuits, bankruptcies and media protection.

In no less than 20 civil instances filed in current months, dozens of traders declare that Cesar Pina and spouse Jennifer Pina, New Jersey builders with well-known associates, ripped them off — both via failed home flipping, a stalled condo improvement venture, or a startup they mentioned would empower small investments in actual property.

Many of these lawsuits, together with one filed by music business veteran Anthony Martini, title DJ Envy (RaaShaun Casey) as a co-defendant, citing shut ties to Pina. They declare Envy helped to advertise the alleged schemers, together with via appearances on The Breakfast Club, his nationally-syndicated hip hop radio show. One case says Envy “aided and abetted” the fraudsters by “using his public likeness as a well-known radio disc jockey to promote their real estate scheme.”

Firing again, Envy says these sorts of allegations will not be solely false — he says he himself can be a sufferer of Pina’s alleged scheme — but additionally defamatory. He’s suing the social media influencer who first publicized the allegations, claiming he “spewed” lies to advertise his personal actual property enterprise, and he’s demanding to be dismissed from the investor lawsuits.

“They’re sensationalizing this situation,” mentioned Envy’s lawyer, Massimo F. D’Angelo of the regulation agency Blank Rome, in a telephone interview with Billboard. “Envy had no involvement whatsoever. The only reason he’s being dragged into this is because he’s a public figure.”

How did we get right here? What precisely are the accusations? And what comes subsequent? Here’s every thing you could know concerning the rising scandal.

Who is Cesar Pina?

Pina has lengthy pitched himself an actual property guru, continuously posting about his work to a star-studded Instagram web page that includes pictures of Pina with Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Post Malone and Meek Mill. On his web site, he says he’s been rehabbing and flipping properties within the Garden State for over a decade; he claims to personal 1,100 rental properties in Paterson, N.J., alone.

One of the celebs continuously pictured with Pina was DJ Envy, who for greater than a decade has co-hosted The Breakfast Club, a popular hip hop-focused radio speak show on New York’s Power 105.1. And the 2 had a detailed public relationship past social media: Over the years, Pina has repeatedly appeared on the show as a visitor, and he and Envy co-hosted a collection of seminars on actual property investing from 2018 onward.

As just lately as June 2022, Pina made an look on The Breakfast Club to plug an funding platform he was launching referred to as Flip 2 Dao, which might permit customers to make small, fractional investments in actual property initiatives. Throughout the interview, Envy repeatedly touted his relationship with the developer and the worth of the brand new funding software.

“People always ask, how can I invest with you guys? And we never take anybody’s money,” Envy advised listeners. “Now there will be a way where people can actually invest to be a part owner on some of the projects that we actually buy.”

What are the accusations?

Back in May, an Instagram account referred to as TonyTheNearer (actual title Tony Robinson) started making severe allegations of wrongdoing towards Pina. In a collection of movies and stay streams, Robinson claimed that Pina had used his celebrity standing to defraud quite a few individuals, taking their cash to put money into flipping properties with the promise of huge income, however in the end returning little or nothing.

He additionally claimed that Envy had performed a key function within the fraud by selling Pina to his listeners. At numerous instances, Robinson referred to as the radio host a “thief,” “criminal,” and “scammer,” claiming he had “stolen millions” from traders and aided a “Ponzi scheme” — an notorious type of fraud wherein the perpetrator creates the façade of an actual enterprise by paying earlier victims with funds from later victims.

Those social media allegations rapidly became a wave of civil lawsuits filed in New Jersey state courts.

In a May grievance, an organization referred to as Amy Flips claimed it had offered Pena with $500,000 to put money into properties and misplaced all however $30,000. A month later, attorneys for a New York man named Trevor Roman alleged he was owed $280,000 by Pina and his firms, saying their shopper was “one of many who fell prey to these fraudulent and deceptive tactics.” In July, a New Jersey man named Paul Peralta claimed that he had given Pina $600,000 in 4 funds as a part of a “Ponzi scheme and investment scam” — and he particularly claimed the scheme had been promoted by “a radio show called The Breakfast Club.”

Martini, the music government, additionally filed his case in July. Joined by one other spurned investor named Anthony Barone, their attorneys claimed that they had misplaced $1.5 million after Pina duped them into investing in an enormous, 50-unit condo venture in Paterson that was by no means accomplished, in addition to one other $300,000 that they invested within the Flip 2 Dao platform.

But additionally they went a step additional, naming DJ Envy as an precise defendant within the lawsuit. They claimed the DJ had not solely plugged Pina on the air, however that he had personally attended a pitch assembly with Barone, and that he had joined Pina in main a guided tour for big-wig traders round his New Jersey properties. Martini and Barone’s attorneys additionally particularly cited Pina’s June 2022 look on The Breakfast Club, wherein he plugged Flip 2 Dao.

“But for Casey’s role in lending legitimacy to the real estate investments and portraying himself as a partner to the Pinas, plaintiffs would not have invested their money,” wrote Sean Mack, an lawyer on the regulation agency Pashman Stein Walder Hayden and lead counsel for Martini and Barone.

All advised, Pina is at the moment dealing with 20 lawsuits, nearly half of which have been filed simply for the reason that starting of August; Envy is known as as a defendant in 9 of these instances. It’s unclear precisely how a lot cash Pina is alleged to owe his traders, however in an August submitting, Martini’s attorneys claimed that greater than 30 victims had come ahead in search of over $40 million.

Pina’s lawyer, Steven Griegel of the agency Roselli Griegel Lozier & Lazzaro, didn’t return a request for remark from Billboard. But in no less than one case towards his shopper, he has argued that Pina’s investor did get their preliminary funding again — and that by demanding the large income they are saying they had been promised, they’re really those violating New Jersey regulation.

“The plaintiff in this case is boldly seeking the court’s assistance to recover [triple] damages and attorneys’ fees for loansharking, even after it has been paid amounts in excess of New Jersey’s criminal usurious laws,” Griegel wrote in a single case. “Obviously, the court should not be a part of validating this.”

Despite TonyTheNearer’s claims, there have been no allegations of legal wrongdoing towards both Pina or Envy.

What has DJ Envy mentioned?

Since instantly after the allegations first cropped up in May, DJ Envy has denied that he did something mistaken, together with throughout an interview with TonyTheNearer on an Instagram livestream. He says that he was circuitously concerned with any of Pina’s offers talked about within the lawsuits, that he by no means solicited cash from anybody throughout their seminars, and that he was not conscious of any fraudulent exercise.

But that hasn’t quieted the rising scandal. On Tuesday, New York’s native NBC affiliate ran an investigative piece below the headline “Real estate rip-off? Radio DJ promoted alleged NJ scheme leaving investors out of millions.” The story included interviews with quite a few alleged victims, together with a pair who say they invested with Pina “after seeing him on social media with DJ Envy.”

“He’s advertising this all over radio and television, so I thought this was legit,” the sufferer mentioned within the NBC report. “We invested $200,000 and it looks like we won’t ever get it back.”

On Wednesday, Envy instantly addressed the allegations on The Breakfast Club: “Cesar, if he took money, I wasn’t privy to it, nor did I even know. But I do understand how people feel if they did give him money, because I gave him a lot of money [and] I didn’t see a dollar of return. But for anybody to say that I was involved, that’s totally not true.”

In authorized filings, Envy’s attorneys have made related arguments. They say the DJ was additionally “lured” to speculate $500,000 in separate venture, that means he “may be a victim of the Pina’s alleged fraudulent conduct” identical to the plaintiffs. And they are saying that he was not concerned in any Pina’s offers with spurned traders, nor made any direct “representations” to anybody concerning these transactions.

“Plaintiffs’ real targets are clearly the Pinas given Mr. Casey’s lack of involvement,” wrote D’Angelo, in a submitting on Friday geared toward getting Envy dismissed from Martini’s case. “In an attempt to sensationalize this case, however, plaintiffs included Mr. Casey … as a defendant in this case. Plaintiffs’ conduct is wrongful and has caused, and continues to cause, significant damage to Mr. Casey’s reputation and businesses.”

But what about the truth that Envy repeatedly made public appearances with Pina and invited him onto The Breakfast Club? That’s been a typical chorus from victims and different critics, who say the DJ used his sizable public platform to lend legitimacy to a scammer.

Legally talking, Envy’s attorneys say that habits merely doesn’t rise to the extent of energetic endorsement or direct involvement that may put their shopper on the hook for Pina’s alleged scheme. They say the DJ and his show had been “used” by Pina, identical to different media shops and celebrities.

“Plaintiffs cannot plausibly or convincingly allege that Mr. Casey’s radio and social media interviews were the sole and principle reason for their investments, rather than the specific misrepresentations made by the Pinas directly to the plaintiffs,” D’Angelo wrote in that very same court docket submitting. “Mr. Casey has interviewed thousands of guests on The Breakfast Club, including celebrities and entrepreneurs, who have discussed various topics including their life experiences and businesses.”

DJ Envy has additionally quietly moved from protection to offense. In a federal lawsuit filed in August, he sued TonyTheNearer for defamation, interference together with his enterprise, and invasion of privateness. He claims that Robinson’s allegations towards him are false — and that they’re a part of money-making scheme to drive consideration towards his personal actual property enterprise.

“Defendant, knowingly and intentionally, spewed false slanderous and defamatory misinformation about the plaintiff, which has, and continues to severely damage plaintiff,” wrote D’Angelo, who can be repping Envy in that case. “Defendant engaged in this wrongful conduct for the purposes of increasing traffic on his social media sites for his own personal gain in the form of paid advertisements.”

Robinson didn’t return a request for touch upon the allegations.

What comes subsequent?

Two of Pina’s firms, Whairhouse Real Estate Investments LLC and Taylor Court Apartments LLC (the corporate that administered the 50-unit condo venture in Paterson), have filed for federal chapter since begin of August. His spouse Jennifer, who is known as in lots of the civil lawsuits, has repeatedly tried to file for private chapter, however has been rejected for procedural defects. Pina himself doesn’t but seem to have sought chapter safety.

Fearing that they’ll by no means have an opportunity to recuperate their cash, a few of Pina’s aggrieved traders have already jumped into these chapter instances, demanding that the court docket appoint a trustee — an impartial lawyer chosen by the U.S. Department of Justice to supervise the case and be sure that any remaining cash is pretty allotted to collectors. And these arguments labored: Last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Rosemary Gambardella dominated in each chapter instances {that a} Chapter 11 trustee was wanted to type out the messy net of alleged money owed and wrongdoing.

That ruling got here after attorneys for Pina’s collectors argued {that a} single mixed chapter case, administered by one trustee, can be higher than dozens of separate lawsuits at “unraveling of this wide-ranging fraud and the marshalling of assets to satisfy the scores of victims.”

“This will soon become the proverbial race to the courthouse to seize whatever assets remain of the Pinas and their entities,” wrote lawyer Mack, the lawyer who represents Barone and Martini of their case towards Pina and Envy. “A trustee is needed in this case, and in the cases of the related debtor parties, to organize and efficiently marshal and distribute the remaining assets to the Pinas’ many victims.”