The Manhattan Club

Manhattan Club Lawsuit

Aug 17, 2016

Please provide Judge Rakower's email.


Pam G.
Aug 17, 2016

kevin, one of my main requests in this forum has been for all of us owners to BE MUCH MORE PROACTIVE, rather than rant, rave and complain.

of course i sent my letter to both judge rackower and eric schneiderman. I HOPE WE ALL DID AS WELL.

chris.

kevin631 wrote:
Yes I believe everybody is aware that this is inappropriate. Instead of posting emails every few days telling everyone else what they should be doing hopefully you have sent letters to the appropriate individuals-the judge, district attorney's office,etc. Thank you.

chrisv126 wrote:
from a non-legal point-of-view, such a motion should be thrown out by the judge: it should not even be considered (nor ultimately approved. ) THIS IS A CASE OF POSSIBLE FRAUD, SCAMMING. LIES, ET AL AS RECORDED BY THE NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL'S UNDERCOVER AGENTS WHILE ACTING AS POTENTIAL PURCHASERS AT A MANHATTAN CLUB SALES PRESENTATION. the judge should see right through the weaseling reason for this motion AND DENY IT IMMEDIATELY IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE.

chris


Chris V.

Last edited by chrisv126 on Aug 17, 2016 06:46 AM

Aug 17, 2016

i believe you have the incorrect address for judge rakower. her address is 71 thomas st, nyc.

viviens2 wrote:
A sample letter to the Judge Rakower:

Honorable Justice Eileen Rakower Supreme Court of the State of New York NYS Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224 Aug. 10, 2016 Dear Justice Rakower,

I am writing regarding case number 451536/2014: Schneiderman vs Eichner.

My husband and I have been owners of week 52 at The Manhattan Club (TMC) since 1997. Even though we did not experience the problems involving access to the TMC, since we own a fixed week, we have serious concerns over the financial management of the TMC developers regarding the exorbitantly high maintenance and management fees.

The above concerns have escalated since TMC started questionable marketing strategies. Owners of variable weeks were unable to access their timeshares and started defaulting on their maintenance fees. As a result, owners in good standing have to bear the burden of higher maintenance fees to cover the shortfall. Some owners were compelled to sell the timeshare units back to TMC at a fraction of the original cost. TMC then turned around and resold the units at much higher market values. The proceed of the sales go to the developer and are not used to reduce the maintenance fees of owners in good standing.

Furthermore, we have noticed that commercial rentals of the TMC are readily available at many hotel rental sites such as booking.com. The rental proceeds will undoubtedly go to the developers. If this is allowed to continue, the TMC owners have no protection against the unscrupulous scheme of the developers to force owners into default and to buy the unit back or simply foreclose on the unit. In this manner, the TMC developers can continue to sell or rent out the units and make the owners pay the ever increasingly high maintenance fees.

We attended the Aug. 3 TMC annual Member Association Meeting for the first time. It was obvious that the board members were controlled by the management. The meeting was tightly controlled and many pertinent questions were deflected or unanswered. When asked the question why does the TMC charge such high management fee, there was no explanation given. The owners have no rights.

Recently, on Aug. 5, TMC developers motioned to release funds, Motion Seq 005. We implore you to deny the motion until the case is resolved.


Chris V.
Aug 17, 2016

Hi Sharon--In case you do not know the history of that building, I know about 45 years worth . It has changed names and the north side split off. For example in the 1970s, the area of the building now known as Manhattan Club was part of the hotel and was owned by Sheraton Hotels and known as The New York Sheraton. In, I believe, the mid 1980s, it was sold to Omni Hotels and was renamed as the Omni Park Central. In the 1990s, it was sold again to a private group and just became the Park Central Hotel. It was in the early 2000s that the north side of the building was split off from the hotel and became the Manhattan Club. I have no idea when the address for the north side of the building was legally changed to 200 W. 56th Street, but I believe it was the early 2000s. As an aside, some additional history is the north side of the building on the ground floor served as the area for retail and service type operations for the guests (e.g. gift shop, beauty shop, barber shop) Also, FYI, NY Mob figure Albert Anastasia (head of what was known as Murder Inc.) was murdered himself in 1957 in the barber shop of the building. At that time it was known as the Park Sheraton Hotel.

sharon177 wrote:
I was just looking at a copy of our deed from Dec 1998 and I noticed that we have a particular unit # in the building known as The Park Central Condominium and the street number is 870 Seventh Ave. This is the Park Central Hotel. Does this mean that my timeshare is actually located in the Park Central Hotel, not The Manhattan Club? We've always stayed at 200 West 56th Street. Now I'm confused...not that I wasn't before.


Boomer
Aug 17, 2016

Those addresses in Arizona are not under T Park Central. They are under Equiant Financial Services. That's how the mortgages are collected. The TMC financial services however are located in East Stroudsburg, PA. .I believe Equiant Financial specializes in financing TimeShares only and nothing else. The mystery money trail continues!

sallyw109 wrote:
Thank you, thank you Nina Barchan and Irene Smalls for this amazing research you have done. I think it critical that you forward this data to both NYAG Schneiderman AND to Justice Eileen Rakower. You seem to have uncovered proof of what's really going on, and you may be the first to have done so. My timeshare mortgage and maintenance fee bills all come from/payments go to T (no period) Park Central LLC, but at different addresses: one address is PO Box 78843, Phoenix, AZ 85062-8843; another is 5401 N Pima Rd, Suite 150, Scottsdale, AZ 85250 (I cannot find a site for either of these on the internet, no phone numbers either). "For correspondence only," T Park Central gives 112 N Courtland St, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301 (which is the same address given on TMC Financial Department letterhead paper, sometimes at the header, sometimes at the bottom). However, if you look up T Park Central, LLC online, the address given is 200 W 56th Street, New York, New York (which we all know is The Manhattan Club address). Very, very odd arrangement. I would cut and paste your amazing research and send it in letters myself to Schneiderman and Rakower. But that would only be hearsay. It would carry so much weight and be so effective if you, as the researchers, would please send your info directly to both the NYAG and the Judge. Thank you for the time you have both spent on this.


Gerard S.
Aug 17, 2016

Thanks, Gerard. It seems strange to me that my invoices and statements are printed on letterhead paper of T Park Central with those several addresses (2 in AZ and 1 in PA), if the addresses are actual locations for Equiant Financial. T Park Central is the "Lender" on my Deed; Equiant Financial shows up nowhere. Apparently it's all the same company, with different names to protect the guilty?


Sally W.
Aug 18, 2016

Carole487: Thank you for that interesting info! The Manhattan Club came into existence before the early 2000's though because our first visit to the sales office was in the the summer of 1998 and we were by no means amongst the first.


Sharon L.

Last edited by sharon177 on Aug 18, 2016 07:55 AM

Aug 19, 2016

I tried to search for T Park Central (no period) at the NYC business database. The system responded "Only one entity was found. Entity Name T. PARK CENTRAL L.L.C."(with period).

T. PARK CENTRAL L.L.C. was filed on MARCH 27, 1995, DOS ID #1907151, C/O THE MANHATTAN CLUB, address 200 WEST 56TH STREET, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 10019

THE MANHATTAN CLUB TIMESHARE ASSOCIATION INC. was filed on MAY 29, 1996 as DOMESTIC NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION, DOS ID #:2034190

Here is the link for NYC companies search:

http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/bus_entity_search.html


Fibo N.
Aug 19, 2016

EQUIANT FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. was filed under Arizona Corp.comission, file 02368789, domestic address 5401 N PIMA RD STE 150 SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85250.

http://ecorp.azcc.gov/Search/Details?Category=0&Type=1&Term=Equiant+Financial+Services&IsActive=True&EntityType=0&Check=


Fibo N.
Aug 19, 2016

One TMC owner purchased a time share in November of 2010. His deed was never registered on official NYS Real Estate Records. He saw a post on The Manhattan Club Timeshare Scam Facebook page, checked and refused to continue to pay maintenance fees for a timeshare he did not have legal title to. TMC's response to the TMC owner: They have my deed and should have it recorded in 30 days, no real answer why it hasn't been since I spoke to TMC in the beginning of June. TMC employee assures it will get recorded.


Irene S.
Aug 20, 2016

Sent e mail to AG NYS, signed petition for Mayor & Governor (NY Elected Officials). I intend to make my voice & Vote stand for my Right vs TMC Corp.


Debbie B.
Aug 20, 2016

I saved my K and all the names associated with the Sale. I had so much foolishness with TMC.......credit card billed without my permission, harassing threatening telephone calls to pay my maintenance/tax fees when it wasn't due, then the mortgage nightmare was finally paid off...$60,000.00 in 2013. ($15k)for 1 week 1 bedrm, Kitchenette, living rm gym business room & lounge.........same story of no rooms so booking MUST be years in advance.....can't wait for the lawsuit to settle.......can't even donate the damn thing


Debbie B.
Aug 20, 2016

Can any one explain to me; why my deed at the Manhattan Club appears under two different boroughs in New York. In 1997 when I purchased, my deed appears in Manhattan but in 2013 is under Queens borough


David H.
Aug 20, 2016

AG response to TMC on the Bank account motion

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=ovMjFpy6NexIU4/QSkN3Gg==&system=prod


Tony A.
Aug 21, 2016

We want to thank everyone who have posted valuable information on lawsuit as we live out-of-state and it's impossible to even try to get through this legal maze. We were unable, yet again, to get time at Manhattan Club even though we had days during the most popular time of the year and wanted to just exchange them for a couple of other days, which we were told we could easily do, with months of notice. We are hoping there is resolution soon as the cost every year is way beyond what was told to us and has increased substantially since our initial purchase. It disgusts us to read how much money is going into the pockets of these crooks..


Cookie L.
Aug 21, 2016

Everyone must read the AG response that tonya420 so brilliantly advised us of on Aug 20. It's not full of legal jargon and is very easy to read. I can only say BRAVO Mr. Farooq (the Asst AG who's handling this case). This is just one of my favorite sentences from his brief to the court: "However, NYAG was concerned that Respondents were violating the spirit, if not the plain terms of the first three stipulations by paying consultants, in addition to employees, and reimbursing Respondent Lager for a $560 dinner, a $250 lunch, $281 for maintenance of a Porsche, and the $2,500 annual membership fee for his American Express Centurion Card bill." He also describes the expenditure of almost $400,000 illegally withdrawn from one of the frozen accounts to pay, among other things, health insurance for the Eichner family. Bottom line is, AG's office (via Mr. Farooq) is advising the judge not to release funds. After reading his reasoning, seems like she'll have to agree with him. Thanks Tonya!!


Sally W.
Aug 23, 2016

Send the story of your experience with TMC to:

Atty. Serwat Farooq New York Attorney General’s Office Asst. Attorney General 120 Broadway, 23th Floor New York, NY 10271

Honorable Justice Eileen Rakower, Supreme Court of the State of New York 71 Thomas St. Part 15 New York, New York 10013 Dear Justice Rakower: Regarding case number 451536/2014: Schneiderman vs Eichner:


Irene S.
Aug 23, 2016

Send letters as well to:

Atty. Serwat Farooq New York Attorney General’s Office Asst. Attorney General 120 Broadway, 23th Floor New York, NY 10271

Honorable Justice Eileen Rakower, Supreme Court of the State of New York 71 Thomas St. Part 15 New York, New York 10013 Dear Justice Rakower: Regarding case number 451536/2014: Schneiderman vs Eichner:


Irene S.
Aug 24, 2016

tonya420 wrote:
AG response to TMC on the Bank account motion

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=ovMjFpy6NexIU4/QSkN3Gg==&system=prod

Re: above, I was unable to open this response from the email, any suggestions?


Linda J.
Aug 25, 2016

GOOD NEWS! Latest Legal Filings in the NY Attorney General vs Manhattan Club Case: For full case details check the court record Take a look at this—pages 3,8 51-17 specifically refer to disgorgement and restitution as well as BlueGreen. A figure of $7million has been floated by the AG for restitution.


Irene S.

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