March 16, 2015
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is being accused of reneging on a
business deal in a lawsuit launched by a California property developer.
Zuckerberg reportedly purchased the four houses bordering his Palo
Alto home after learning a developer had plans to construct a
9,600-square-foot house on one of the properties.
The social media firm co-founder was able to make the purchase
because the developer, Mircea Voskerician, offered Zuck the rights to
the property in exchange for $1.7 million and introductions to his rich
friends and colleagues, according to a report from Business Insider.
The latest lawsuit filing, a sworn document from Voskerician’s real
estate broker had some unflattering things to say about Zuckerberg.
According to the document, Zuckerberg’s own real estate broker described
him as “just a kid.”
Zuckerberg’s attorneys, meanwhile, described the lawsuit as overly
aggressive in the hopes of a healthy settlement. Voskerician, they said,
was “going out of his way to embarrass Mr. Zuckerberg and pressure
those around him at every turn.”
The drama began back in 2012 when Voskerician made an offer to the
owner of the property which was accepted. He then approached Zuckerberg
to tell him his plans for the property. He offered to sell a portion of
the lot to give Zuck more space between his home and the one he was
planning to build. It was then that the 30-year-old billionaire offered
to buy Voskerician’s legal right to the property so he could buy it in
its entirety.
“Zuckerberg stated he did not want construction in his backyard for
14 months and told Voskerician that he would refer him business and make
him introductions if, in exchange, Voskerician would help him secure
his privacy,” the lawsuit reads.
The document indicates that although Voskerician did not really want
to give up his building plans, he agreed after Zuckerberg allegedly
promised to introduce him to Silicon Valley’s bigwigs.
Once he had the property rights, Zuck was able to buy the lot from
its owner for $4.8 million — the same amount Voskerician had agreed to
pay, county records revealed. At a later date, he purchased three other
nearby lots for between $10.5 million and $14.5 million each.
When the alleged introductions never occurred, Voskerician filed the
lawsuit. He did admit, however, that the agreement he had with
Zuckerberg was a verbal one.
In the latest court filings, John Forsyth James, a real estate agent for Voskerician, indicated that this story was true.
At the time of Voskerician and Zuckerberg’s meeting, the developer
had already received an offer for $4.3 million to take over his contract
to purchase the property.
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