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Re: Manhattan Club Lawsuit (by Gail J.):

My further understanding regarding Eichner ,and I am certainly not in agreement with his actions nor condone what he did, was that when the original documents were drawn up that covered the management of the Manhattan Club, Eichner had a provision that he was able to select ("sponsor" was the term) a number of Board members - that way he was able to maintain control of the Board and subsequently have an indirect voice in how the building was being managed and the budgets were being set. The Manhattan Club staff were aware of his position. It was quite easy for him to notify the staff (front desk) that for example, no more 4th of July weeks were available for use by the owners - the staff would not know any different because if you will recall, he was still selling timeshares so he owned a number of them. He could merely instruct the staff that he was booking time for weeks that he owned. Any money he received from the sale or rental of those time shares and buy backs went into his pocket - it never went into the coffers of the Manhattan Club. So any weeks that he instructed staff to marked off as not available were weeks his company/cohorts could rent and pocket the money. He did not have to explain anything to the staff working at the front office. Remember, he had set up a management company to oversee the Manhattan Club to the tune of $6,000,000 annually and he had ZERO employees. This was all part of the scam he was pulling. Also, remember - the employees were not informed as to the finances or the budget or anything else - in the scheme of things, they were only low level employees who indirectly took orders from Eichner. He had the authority to indirectly or directly hire and fire them. If you will read previous posts, you will see that we have questioned control of the Board and in the past, we've been thwarted in our efforts to put our own representatives on the Board. Just recently through a posting here, we learned that one of our posters was able to obtain approval to be nominated to run for the Board. Possibly you did not read nor understand the By Laws and other rules regarding the Manhattan Club because when you signed your contract to purchase, you agreed to the arrangement that Eichner had. As for renovations to the lounge, there would be reserves set aside and remember, the budget is set by the Board and that Board is comprised mainly of Eichner appointees. The Board and Eichner decided how the Manhattan Club assessment revenue was to be spent. Like I said, I am an owner too and I would gladly sell my 2 penthouse weeks if I could recoup some of the monies I have lost. As for your comment about not having a say in how the finances are run, you do have a voice - Eichner would say that you have an opportunity to vote for members of the the Board because they are your voice - like it or not. The unfortunate thing is that your and our "Voice" is made up of Eichner's cohorts - they do his bidding as they comprised the majority of the Board. In the past, we never had an opportunity to even nominate owners sympathetic to our plight.