RHOBH’s Mauricio Umansky Fights Back Against Fraud Lawsuit as 2023 Trial Looms Over $32.5 Mil Mansion Sale

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Mauricio Umansky sold a massive mansion in Malibu for $32.5 million in December 2015. And now, seven years later, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills husband and Buying Beverly Hills star remains entangled in a messy legal battle over the sale, during which he was accused of defrauding a potential buyer.

After Mauricio’s professional relationship with the buyer, Mauricio Oberfeld, was uncovered following the March 2017 flip of the property, which netted a whopping $69.9 million, Sam Hakim, who had been eyeing the Malibu home for years, and his broker, Aitan Segal, filed lawsuits against him that are ongoing.

On December 12, the Los Angeles Times revealed that after the government took ownership of the property and listed it for sale with Mauricio’s help in May 2015, Mauricio allegedly ignored Sam’s offer, which was facilitated by Aitan, in lieu of an offer from Oberfeld, potentially because he and Oberfeld were working together at the time.

“We have litigated many broker misconduct cases involving ultra-luxury residential properties in Southern California but have never encountered a case as unique and egregious as this one involving Mr. Umansky,” Jennifer Shakouri and Alan Hearty, Sam’s attorneys, said in a statement to The Times.

Although Sam and Aitan also knew Mauricio prior to the sale and trusted the realtor, they believe he committed a violation against them, and Sam is seeking at least $35 million in damages in their consolidated lawsuits against him.

Mauricio, who has attempted to have the case dismissed, also offered a statement to The Times.

“With the rapid growth of the Agency and the recent launch of our Netflix series, we have a lot to be proud of and thankful for. It saddens me that others seek to diminish our success by rehashing old news about a transaction that closed in 2016. I will not comment on the specifics of the ongoing litigation except to say that the allegations are false and I am extremely confident that we will prevail,” he said.

As RHOBH fans may recall, the home was seized from wealthy African government official Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is currently serving as the vice president of Equatorial Guinea, after he and his family were targeted by an international money laundering investigation. He had purchased the Malibu mansion from Karen Rabe, whose family’s production company was behind Wheel of Fortune, in 2006.

After Teodoro reached a settlement with the government in 2014, not admitting wrongdoing, he agreed to sell his assets, including his mansion, for no less than $32 million, which was its fair market value at that time. And in the listing agreement the government made with Mauricio, his firm was given a six percent commission as well as the ability to represent the buyer, which meant a double commission on the sale.

Although Oberfeld, the co-owner of a luxury home builder, ended up nabbing the property with a $33.5 million bid, potentially due to his “long friendship” and working relationship with Mauricio (Mauricio was a member of Oberfeld’s company), their flip raised questions amongst other realtors.

Then, after Teodoro learned that Mauricio had possibly made the deal with Oberfeld only for their own potential profit, thus cutting the home sale price down, he demanded Mauricio attend mediation and requested $8 million in damages.

Although Mauricio and The Agency attempted to settle the battle by turning a claim into their insurer, Western World, the company refused to pay and accused Mauricio and his firm of hiding potential negligence and breach of fiduciary and statutory duties.

After reaching an undisclosed settlement with the insurance company, Mauricio faced a lawsuit from Teodoro and ultimately agreed on a settlement close to the believed amount of the highest offer on the home.

As for Sam and Aitan, they claimed in their own lawsuits against Mauricio that Aitan had told Mauricio that Sam would pay “significantly more” than asking, between $40 million to $45 million. They also said they didn’t submit the offer in writing because Mauricio told them the owner wasn’t profiting from the sale.

Five offers on the property were ultimately received, with Oberfeld securing the price of $33.5 million in December 2015 before having $1 million cut from the price as part of a repair discount.

After learning he’d been beaten out for the home, Sam sent Oberfeld a letter, informing him that he’d pay him $8 million to buy out his bid. But after the developer demanded a $15 million buyout, Sam declined.

It wasn’t until years later, in August 2018, after Sam learned Mauricio and the Agency had been sued by their insurer, that he was tipped off to potential fraud and began to think that Mauricio likely never communicated his verbal offer to Teodoro.

In his response to the allegations, Mauricio denied that there was a higher verbal offer, saying that Sam would’ve seen a red flag in the $33.5 million counter had he truly said to pass on a $40 million offer — and also wouldn’t have waited so long to take legal action against him.

Currently, the group is feuding over a set of emails sent in February 2016 that Oberfeld’s attorneys are trying to keep away from the case — but that Sam’s attorneys claim will help prove that Mauricio and Oberfeld were planning to team up on the flip since Mauricio scored the listing.

According to Oberfeld’s attorneys, the emails are protected attorney-client communications. And according to Mauricio, he had only recently gotten involved in Oberfeld’s company in June 2016. Meanwhile, Judge Mark Epstein said in a summer ruling that documents have proven there was a “concrete February 2016 plan for a joint partnership that had long been in the works.”

While working together in the way that Mauricio and Oberfeld may have been is legally allowed, all parties must be aware of such a partnership.

“Mr. Oberfeld was invited to bid on the Sweetwater Mesa property and submitted a good-faith bid on the property without any knowledge of any offer by Mr. Hakim. Mr. Oberfeld’s bid was accepted only after another buyer’s offer did not work out. Mr. Oberfeld did absolutely nothing wrong and will eventually be fully vindicated in this case,” Oberfeld’s attorneys said in a statement to The Times.

Mauricio, Oberfeld, and the other parties are headed to mediation this week and to a 2023 trial if they can’t settle.