Jeff Simpson Attacks Loses Control of Another Company

Jeff Simpson was wrecked at the end of a recent hearing. A Lower Manhattan judge had appointed a receiver for properties his company owned. This, he said, amounted to his “last will and testament.”

“I think I’m speaking about my eulogy here to be honest, because I’m done,” Simpson said.

But Simpson was far from done. The one-time CEO of New York City development firm Arch Companies shot off an email to New York Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen hours after courts closed.

“CLEARLY YOU ARE IN TOO DEEP TO GIVE ME ANY CHANCE OF SUCCESS WHEN ON THE MERITS, IT IS UNQUESTIONABLE THAT I AM CORRECT ON ALL FRONTS (PER THE DOCUMENTS), YOU JUST DON’T WANT TO FACE THE FACTS OF THE AGREEMENTS,” Simpson wrote in a letter to the court on March 20.

The all-caps note was the latest lob in a legal battle messy even by New York City real estate standards. Bareknuckle fights are common in the industry, with parties refusing to admit wrongdoing in or out of the courtroom, and the dispute at the heart of this case, an issue between a principal and a limited partner, is not uncommon. But rarely do business leaders act quite like this.

“I have seen a lot of things in my career,” Cohen, the judge, said about comments in Simpson’s deposition, which his former partner’s lawyer played in court. “I genuinely have never seen that before.”

The fight involves Simpson, his former partner, Jared Chassen, and one of Arch’s main investors, the Wiener family from Toronto. In some of the more than 1,400 filings in the case’s docket, Simpson has called his enemies “thieves” and “scum.” He has called the FBI, the police and anyone who will listen to air out his grievances. He has gone through 17 lawyers. At times, Simpson has represented himself.

By Simpson’s account, Chassen, the Wiener-led Canadian investor group known as Oak and a team of lawyers stole Arch after the firm began to have financial problems. Simpson claims it was his funding partner, Oak, who “shit the bed” and failed to fund its obligations, that sent Arch into collapse and that he was unfairly kicked out by a court order. He is the “good guy” who should still be in charge of Arch Companies, using his God-given skill set of navigating complex real estate projects.

But Simpson keeps losing in both New York state court and federal bankruptcy court. Drawn-out battles take a toll, but the former CEO’s erratic behavior and unusual legal antics have begun to overshadow his real estate skills for the person who is making decisions about the company’s future: the judge.

“Court orders which were largely designed to assist Mr. Simpson were ignored and bent as part of what seems to be just a seemingly uncontrollable urge to chart his own path. To go after perceived enemies,” Cohen said at a hearing in February. “It’s been very odd, frankly, and troubling.”

The stakes are ramping up for Simpson. A receiver will take control of properties and an auto shop that Simpson owned with Chassen in the Hamptons, and Chassen is pursuing sanctions against Simpson that include the possibility of jail time for failing to obey court orders.

Simpson has claimed the receiver has no authority. He has pushed off the contempt hearing. He also filed a new lawsuit in federal court, representing himself, and he claims the lower court is biased.

“You will learn, I am and was a very effective leader by making informed and educated decisions and moving forward,” Simpson wrote to Cohen. “This is not a ‘free for all.’ It is my business that you have invaded in ways that are unconscionable.”

FIRED!

2023 was the beginning of the end.

Chasen and Simpson had each accused the other of mismanagement.

Simpson claimed Chassen was working with Oak to steal Arch, which had $1 billion in assets under control. On August 5, 2023, Simpson told Chassen he committed a “cause event” under an operating agreement that effected his resignation.

But the next day Chassen fired Simpson and blocked access to his bank accounts.

Simpson and his attorney rushed to Cohen’s court room in Lower Manhattan, where they secured a crucial ruling to return Simpson to the helm of Arch Companies.

From there, things went haywire. Simpson fired Chassen again, resulting in a court order to bring Chassen back to the company. Simpson then furloughed all of Arch’s employees, blaming Oak’s decision to stop funding. (Oak, led by Kevin and Michael Wiener, allege Simpson’s erratic behavior and incessant demands for money gave them pause about continuing to cut checks).

Ultimately, in late 2023, Cohen made the unusual move of removing Simpson from his own company. He put Oak in charge until the end of the trial.

But as part of the ruling, Oak still needed approval from Simpson or Chassen on major decisions. Since Chassen could approve any major decision, Simpson was effectively pushed to the side.

That seemed to set Simpson off. He began sending strongly worded, all-caps emails to his adversaries.

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING, GO BACK TO CANADA AS YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO ANYWAY AFTER YOU ARE FINISHED RUINING THE BUSINESS THAT I BUILT. THE GROWN UPS WILL HANDLE IT. YOU WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED BACK IN THE US WHEN WE ARE DONE WITH THIS NONSENSE. DON’T SEND ME ANYTHING MORE, YOU WILL BE PROVEN GUILTY ON ALL RESPECTS – GOOD THAT YOU DUPED ONE JUDGE, YOU WON’T DUPE OTHERS . . . LIKE A COWARD THAT YOU ARE. THIS ISN’T A VIDEO GAME KEVIN,” Simpson said in an email to Kevin Wiener in March 2023.

The next day, Simpson put JJ Arch, a company controlling his and Chassen’s stake in Arch and properties they controlled outside of Arch, into bankruptcy court. That halted the case in Cohen’s court.

But in October 2024, the bankruptcy judge dismissed the case, claiming it was in bad faith.

Simpson was forced to return to Cohen’s courtroom.

Descent

In the latest episode, Chassen sought to hold Simpson in contempt of court and to remove Simpson from JJ Arch, claiming that Simpson was blocking access to bank accounts and had caused all of the properties to default on mortgages.

Simpson, representing himself, launched into conspiratorial rants about Chassen and Oak’s principals, while trying to persuade the court to repeal its earlier rulings.

He seemed to believe that at this point in the litigation Oak’s goals were nefarious.

“The only options that Oak will consider is that either I am incarcerated or dead (I don’t think that they are trying to kill me physically at this time),” he wrote in one letter. “I know too much, I see through all of their gamesmanship as articulated here.”

In another email, Simpson implied that Oak’s principal Kevin Weiner was somehow connected to the real estate developer Brandon Miller’s tragic suicide. He also suggested a connection between the Wieners and the unsolved death of Barry Sherman and his wife at their home in Toronto. (Simpson provided no evidence to support these claims).

“There’s so many commonalities here it’s indisputable and frankly concerning. We will let the authorities decide if they want to investigate if it has merit,” he said. “It won’t go away, Kevin [Wiener], it won’t — unless you try to do something to me like may have happened to Brandon.”

Simpson has claimed, without evidence, that his adversaries were engaged in prostitution and narcotics.

In one email, Simpson told Chassen: “You use [Arch] as your playground because like you said the only thing else you knew to do was be a male prostitute. Maybe that’s what you’re going to be pursuing now because you’re not able to do anything.”

As the case moved forward, Simpson, who by then had new counsel, was deposed for hours in a room by Chassen’s lawyer. Oak’s lawyer, Leslie Thorne of Haynes Boone, was also there.

Simpson, who sported a 5 o’clock shadow, was abrasive. He launched into diatribes and attacks when the opposing counsel asked basic questions.

“Scum. Next. You’re a liar,” he shot. “You shouldn’t even be a lawyer anymore. You’ve lied to the judge just two days ago. Go ahead. No, it’s true. You lied. We shouldn’t even be doing this because you’re a liar. Shouldn’t have a license.”

He continued to insult Chassen.

“No one knows what he did for AREH [Arch] for years,” Simpson said, “other than smoke pot with Michael Wiener and have prostitutes.”

Points fought in 2023 resurfaced. Told through Simpson’s hindsight, machinations seemed sinister.

For example, when Simpson’s lawyer put Chassen on the stand and grilled him about a joint defense agreement, Simpson argued that the agreement was a smoking gun to show Chassen and Oak conspired to oust him from Arch.

Chassen acknowledged the joint defense agreement but claimed it was part of a “strategy to protect the company.”

And when Chassen mentioned that Oak provided him a draw at one point, Simpson argued that this amounted to a resignation of JJ Arch per the operating agreement.

None of this persuaded the judge, apparently.

“This has a vanishingly small amount to do with what I’m thinking about today,” Cohen said.

“Overwhelmed by grievance”

The latest court appearances have a clear outcome: A receiver will control JJ Arch’s properties, which include an auto repair shop called Rêver Motors, where Simpson has been working 60 hours a week. Simpson claims this receiver has no authority.

What Simpson will do next is a different question.

Cohen said he saw too much from Simpson not to bring in a third-party receiver.

“I thought by giving as much time as I did for Mr. Simpson to be able to collect witnesses, to come in with an alternative story that I would see and hear people saying: ‘Look, I don’t know what you have been hearing from all of these folks at Oak and Mr. Chassen, that is not the Mr. Simpson I know,’” Cohen said. “I have been waiting for two years to hear that story. It did not appear in this hearing.”

Cohen also offered some advice, “In my experience the test of leadership is the ability to remain calm and focused under the worst of times and the worst stress. … Based on reams of evidence, including just an enormous amount of personal interaction, … his ability to run this business has sort of been overwhelmed by grievance.”

But when the receiver showed up at the Hampton car shop, Rêver Motors, Simpson lashed out, calling him names. The Southampton police department got called. Simpson argued that a new lawsuit in federal court prevented the receiver from taking action.

And he has continued to denounce Cohen in court filings, saying the judge issued rulings because “he doesn’t like” Simpson.

In a statement to Real Tactics Pro, Simpson said through discovery, the joint defense agreement would prove Chassen did collude with Oak.

Then he launched into another theory.

“There are countless residents (many in low income areas that I helped support) and investors that are being silenced,” Simpson said. “Is it not peculiar that what you don’t hear in these litigations are the voices of the investors who are losing money? No one is looking at the money (and debt relief) trail crossing the Canadian border.”