Natalia Legg – the widow of Black Spruce co-founder Oliver Legg – sued Gotlib and his company Black Spruce Management in 2023, claiming Gotlib tricked her into signing transfer agreements handing over her husband’s shares.
Oliver Legg died of cancer in May 2015 at the age of 43. After his death, Natalia planned to return to Switzerland with her daughter to live there. At that point, she alleged, Gotlib took control of Black Spruce and the family trust where Oliver had placed his membership interests for the benefit of his wife and daughter.
Natalia said Gotlib told her that the assets in the trust were losing money, and that he wanted to take them out of the trust as a fiduciary. But she claimed he actually wanted to move them for his own benefit.
She said he invited her to dinner to sign transfer agreements to finalize the move.
“Shortly before Natalia left New York, Gotlib invited Natalia to dinner at his home. Casually, Gotlib produced the transfer agreements and told Natalia to sign them before leaving New York with her daughter shortly thereafter,” her lawyers wrote in her complaint. “Gotlib took advantage of Natalia’s vulnerability and used deception and false reassurance to trick Natalia into quickly signing the transfer agreements.”
Natalia said she had no knowledge of the transfer deals before the dinner. But now Gotlib says Natalia was fully aware of what she signed, and he says he has proof.
In a new filing, Gotlib’s lawyers say that in the discovery they obtained a “secret recording” that Natalia made in May 2015 at the office of her lawyers at Kramer Levin. The recording shows, he claims, that Natalia’s lawyers explained to her that Oliver had agreed to Gotlib taking over management of the money-losing assets.
“For this specific assignment [Gotlib] “I, my firm, will have me, my firm, draft the necessary agreements to memorialize what he and Oliver agreed to, as then we reduce it to writing as he needs that to properly manage the trust,” the recording said. “So that’s why that happens.”
Gotlib said the recording shows that Legg’s central argument – that Gotlib lied and cheated on her during a dinner – is false. He also says that since she became aware of the agreements in 2015, the time to file a lawsuit under the statute of limitations has passed.
Gotlib filed a motion to have the case dismissed.
One of Natalia’s attorneys, Nate Goralnik of Quinn Emanuel, disputed Gotlib’s interpretation of the recording. He said the case belongs in arbitration, and that Gotlib’s motion was a ploy to try to bring the case back to court and to the public’s attention.
“The entire motion smacks of an attempt to make this about what the lawyers did or what they should have done, rather than what the case is about,” he said.
But Gotlib attorney Todd Soloway of Pryor Cashman said Natlia took the issue to court when she filed her lawsuit.
“The case would never have seen the light of day without the incorrect statements made to the court about Natalia Legg’s awareness of the transactions that were being carried out,” he said. “The secret recording proves that.”
Black Spruce is one of the largest multifamily rental companies in Manhattan. The company seemingly came out of nowhere in 2021 when it made headlines with its purchase of the American Copper Buildings for $850 million.
Gotlib followed that up with a deal to buy a portfolio of apartment buildings from the family of the late Sheldon Solow for $1.75 billion, in partnership with Meyer Orbach.
Gotlib and Orbach recently sold a stake in a number of properties to Scott Rechler’s RXR in a deal that valued the buildings at $435 million.
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