Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COMMERCIAL DIVISION, NEW YORK COUNTY
YASEMIN TEKINER,
in her individual capacity, as a beneficiary
and a Trustee of The Yasemin Tekiner
2011 Descendants Trust and derivatively as Index No. 657193/2020
a holder of equitable interests in a
shareholder or a member of the Company Commercial Division Part 3
Defendants,
Hon. Joel M. Cohen
Plaintiff,
Motion Seq. No. 23
-against-
BREMEN HOUSE INC., BREMEN HOUSE
TEXAS, INC., GERMAN NEWS COMPANY,
INC., GERMAN NEWS TEXAS, INC., 254-258
W. 35TH ST. LLC, BERRIN TEKINER, GONCA
TEKINER, and BILLUR AKIPEK, in her capacity
as a Trustee of The Yasemin Tekiner 2011
Descendants Trust,
Defendants.
ZEYNEP TEKINER,
in her individual capacity, as a beneficiary
and a Trustee of The Zeynep Tekiner 2011
Descendants Trust and derivatively as a
holder of equitable interests in a
shareholder or a member of the Company
Defendants,
Intervenor-Plaintiff,
-against-
BREMEN HOUSE INC., BREMEN HOUSE
TEXAS, INC., GERMAN NEWS COMPANY,
INC., GERMAN NEWS TEXAS, INC., 254-258
W. 35TH ST. LLC, BERRIN TEKINER, GONCA
TEKINER, and BILLUR AKIPEK, in her capacity
as a Trustee of The Yasemin Tekiner 2011
Descendants Trust,
Defendants.
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AFFIDAVIT OF YASEMIN TEKINER
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
) ss.:
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES )
YASEMIN TEKINER, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
1. I am one of the plaintiffs in this action. I make this affidavit in opposition to the
Omnibus Motion (“Motion”) of defendants Berrin Tekiner (“Berrin”), Gonca Tekiner Chelsea
(“Gonca”), Billur Akipek (“Billur,” and together with Berrin and Gonca, the “Individual
Defendants”), Bremen House, Inc. (“Bremen House”) and German News Company, Inc.
(“German News,” and together with Bremen House, the “Company” or “Companies”) to Compel
Documents from Plaintiff and Lisa Rubin and to Quash or Limit Subpoenas to Paul Schwartzman
and Raish LLC. (NYSCEF Doc. No. 418). The Individual Defendants and the Company are
collectively referred to herein as the “Defendants”. I make this affidavit based on my personal
knowledge of the matters set forth herein, my knowledge of my family’s business and companies,
and my review of documents produced in discovery.
2. I previously submitted to this Court: 1) an affidavit dated December 31, 2020, in
support of my initial motion for preliminary injunctive relief; 2) an affidavit dated January 21,
2021, in further support of my initial motion for preliminary injunctive relief; 3) an affidavit dated
March 7, 2022, in support of my motion to renew my prior motion requesting preliminary
injunctive relief; 4) an affidavit dated April 4, 2022, in further support of my motion to renew my
prior motion requesting preliminary injunctive relief; 5) in support of my Rule 14 Motion for (i)
Production of Documents Subject to the Fiduciary Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege and
Wrongfully Withheld by Defendants and (ii) Discovery Regarding the Mental Health and
Substance Abuse and Addiction Issues of Defendants Berrin Tekiner and Gonca Tekiner; 6) in
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support of my Motion to Remove Billur Akipek as Trust Committee Member and to Appoint an
Independent Trust Committee Member; and 7) in support of my Motion by Order to Show Cause
to Hold Defendants Berrin Tekiner, Gonca Tekiner a/k/a Gonca Chelsea and Billur Akipek in Civil
Contempt for Failure to Comply with Court Order (See NYSCEF Doc. No. 7, No. 41,
No. 184, No. 276, No. 385, No. 430, and No. 451.) These affidavits are incorporated by reference
herein. Capitalized terms used herein and not otherwise defined shall have the same meaning as
used in my prior affidavits.
My Relationship With Lisa Rubin
3. Lisa Rubin (“Lisa”) is my fiancée and partner. We have been together for nearly
eight years, and we are in the process of trying to have children together. Our wedding was
postponed due to the pandemic.
4. Since 2015, Lisa and I have lived together at 10819 Vicenza Way, Los Angeles,
California (the “Vicenza Way Property”), which is owned by Bremen House. During this time,
Lisa has paid and continues to pay for, or otherwise contributes to, the expenses for the Vicenza
Way Property – including, but not limited to, regular maintenance and repairs. Some recent
examples include maintenance and/or repairs to plumbing, carpets, gardens, and windows.
5. Although the Vicenza Way Property is owned by Bremen House, the Defendants
decided not to have Lisa or I execute a lease agreement for the Vicenza Way Property.
6. When it became clear that the instant dispute was going to lead to litigation, Lisa
and I sought legal counsel together to discuss our options.
7. Both Lisa and I were (correctly) worried and fearful that any litigation would lead
to retaliatory actions by Defendants against us – including efforts to impede our ability to continue
to live in our shared home. This concern is due not only Defendants’ history of retaliatory actions
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against us (see, e.g., NYSCEF Doc. No. 276 at ¶ 37), but also because of homophobic comments
that have been made about us and our relationship, including when Gonca told Berrin that her “gay
family” (meaning me) does not “belong here”.
8. Because of our concerns of retaliation and our shared interests in the outcome of
this litigation, we entered into a Joint Interest Agreement together. (See Affidavit of Steven P.
Younger, dated June 15, 2022, at Ex. A.) As part of that agreement, Lisa and I agreed that any
and all communication and documents shared between us and our counsel about the litigation
would be kept privileged and confidential. I understood this to mean that we were allowed to
communicate freely with each other and our counsel about this case without waiving attorney-
client privilege.
Paul Schwartzman and Raish LLC
9. For approximately 27 years, Paul Schwartzman (“Mr. Schwartzman”) and his
company, Raish LLC (“Raish”), worked with Defendants, providing software and consulting
services to the Company. From 1993 until late 2020/early 2021, this software managed virtually
all the information about Defendants’ real estate business – including but not limited to tenant
schedules, vacancies, certain lease terms and amounts, rent payments and arrears, and other data
needed to operate a real estate business.
10. For years, I expressed to Defendants my concerns that this software system did not
function properly and did not meet the needs of the Company. I believed that the Company should
be using a more digitized, updated, functional and cost effective system. When I discussed my
concerns with Berrin, she did not take them seriously. Rather, during one such conversation, she
admonished me for expressing my concerns and noted that Paul “is an accounting genius who went
to Harvard.”
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11. Mr. Schwartzman worked out of the Company’s offices from at least June 2020
(and possibly several months earlier) to December 2020. This was an especially critical time
period for the Company and this litigation, as it was during this time period that the Defendants
marketed and conducted a fire sale of several properties to Extell.
12. During this time period, I was a director and vice president Bremen House and a
director and treasurer of German News, until I was wrongfully removed from these positions by
the Defendants in December 2020.
13. At some point in fall 2020, it is my understanding that Berrin and Gonca may have
offered Mr. Schwartzman a position within the Company.
14. In connection with the work he performed for the Company, Defendants regularly
gave Mr. Schwartzman access to the Company’s financial information, including interacting with
Company ledgers. For many years, Mr. Schwartzman assisted Yuksel Fedayi, the Company’s
bookkeeper for decades, in closing out the Company’s ledger. The Company relied on Mr.
Schwartzman’s assistance in this regard every year, as the Company’s bookkeepers were incapable
of closing the Company’s ledger without him.
15. Further, as the Defendants were routinely incapable of obtaining information from
the Company’s systems themselves, and often relied on Mr. Schwartzman to pull information and
documents for them. This was particularly true during the negotiation of what was supposed to be
a $60 million sale of property to Extell: Defendants were unable to provide diligence information
requested by Extell on their own, and asked Mr. Schwartzman to compile it. Even with Mr.
Schwartzman’s assistance, however, Defendants stillcould not provide much of the requested
information, and many of the reports generated were wrong. In the wake of this faulty due
diligence process, Extell reduced the sale price, ultimately to $35 million. Extell later claimed that
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Defendants breached a warranty in the purchase agreement by providing them false lease
information, and filed a lawsuit against the Company in connection with same.
16. During the Extell sale, Mr. Schwartzman also had regular contact both with the
Company’s real estate broker, John Stewart of Marcus & Millichap, and the Company’s real estate
counsel, regarding Company financials.
17. Mr. Schwartzman often expressed his concerns regarding the Company to the
Defendants. By way of example:
a. In late 2020, Mr. Schwartzman warned Berrin that he believed that she and
the Company would be swindled by Extell.
b. During his time working out of the Company’s offices, Mr. Schwartzman
also expressed to the Defendants his concerns that various employees were unqualified and unable
to adequately perform their job duties.
c. During a company meeting in December 2020, Mr. Schwartzman
confronted the Company’s accountants regarding certain financial irregularities, such as the
Company’s ledger not matching its financial statements, and Gonca’s abnormally large salary.
After voicing these concerns regarding the price obtained in the Extell sale, Defendants terminated
Mr. Schwartzman’s contract.
18. Likewise, when I too questioned the Company’s finances and sought to review the
Company’s books and records in late 2020, the Defendants retaliated first (before they later
wrongfully terminated me) by cutting off my access to my Company email account. It was Mr.
Schwartzman who was tasked by the Defendants to create a new password to lock me out of my
Company email. Mr. Schwartzman was also present in the Company offices when I spoke to
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CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO COMMERCIAL DIVISION RULE 17
I hereby certify that the foregoing Affidavit of Yasemin Tekiner complies with Rule 17 of
subdivision (g) of section 202.70 of the Uniform Rules for the Supreme Court and County Court
(Rules of Practice for the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court), and has a word count of
1,465 which is within the word limit of 7,000.
Dated: New York, New York
June 15, 2022
/s/ Scott W. Parker
Scott W. Parker
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Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COMMERCIAL DIVISION, NEW YORK COUNTY YASEMIN TEKINER, in her individual capacity, as a beneficiary and a Trustee of The Yasemin Tekiner 2011 Descendants Trust and derivatively as Index No. 657193/2020 a holder of equitable interests in a shareholder or a member of the Company Commercial Division Part 3 Defendants, Hon. Joel M. Cohen Plaintiff, Motion Seq. No. 23 -against- BREMEN HOUSE INC., BREMEN HOUSE TEXAS, INC., GERMAN NEWS COMPANY, INC., GERMAN NEWS TEXAS, INC., 254-258 W. 35TH ST. LLC, BERRIN TEKINER, GONCA TEKINER, and BILLUR AKIPEK, in her capacity as a Trustee of The Yasemin Tekiner 2011 Descendants Trust, Defendants. ZEYNEP TEKINER, in her individual capacity, as a beneficiary and a Trustee of The Zeynep Tekiner 2011 Descendants Trust and derivatively as a holder of equitable interests in a shareholder or a member of the Company Defendants, Intervenor-Plaintiff, -against- BREMEN HOUSE INC., BREMEN HOUSE TEXAS, INC., GERMAN NEWS COMPANY, INC., GERMAN NEWS TEXAS, INC., 254-258 W. 35TH ST. LLC, BERRIN TEKINER, GONCA TEKINER, and BILLUR AKIPEK, in her capacity as a Trustee of The Yasemin Tekiner 2011 Descendants Trust, Defendants. 1 1 of 8 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022 AFFIDAVIT OF YASEMIN TEKINER STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) ) ss.: COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) YASEMIN TEKINER, being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. I am one of the plaintiffs in this action. I make this affidavit in opposition to the Omnibus Motion (“Motion”) of defendants Berrin Tekiner (“Berrin”), Gonca Tekiner Chelsea (“Gonca”), Billur Akipek (“Billur,” and together with Berrin and Gonca, the “Individual Defendants”), Bremen House, Inc. (“Bremen House”) and German News Company, Inc. (“German News,” and together with Bremen House, the “Company” or “Companies”) to Compel Documents from Plaintiff and Lisa Rubin and to Quash or Limit Subpoenas to Paul Schwartzman and Raish LLC. (NYSCEF Doc. No. 418). The Individual Defendants and the Company are collectively referred to herein as the “Defendants”. I make this affidavit based on my personal knowledge of the matters set forth herein, my knowledge of my family’s business and companies, and my review of documents produced in discovery. 2. I previously submitted to this Court: 1) an affidavit dated December 31, 2020, in support of my initial motion for preliminary injunctive relief; 2) an affidavit dated January 21, 2021, in further support of my initial motion for preliminary injunctive relief; 3) an affidavit dated March 7, 2022, in support of my motion to renew my prior motion requesting preliminary injunctive relief; 4) an affidavit dated April 4, 2022, in further support of my motion to renew my prior motion requesting preliminary injunctive relief; 5) in support of my Rule 14 Motion for (i) Production of Documents Subject to the Fiduciary Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege and Wrongfully Withheld by Defendants and (ii) Discovery Regarding the Mental Health and Substance Abuse and Addiction Issues of Defendants Berrin Tekiner and Gonca Tekiner; 6) in 2 2 of 8 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022 support of my Motion to Remove Billur Akipek as Trust Committee Member and to Appoint an Independent Trust Committee Member; and 7) in support of my Motion by Order to Show Cause to Hold Defendants Berrin Tekiner, Gonca Tekiner a/k/a Gonca Chelsea and Billur Akipek in Civil Contempt for Failure to Comply with Court Order (See NYSCEF Doc. No. 7, No. 41, No. 184, No. 276, No. 385, No. 430, and No. 451.) These affidavits are incorporated by reference herein. Capitalized terms used herein and not otherwise defined shall have the same meaning as used in my prior affidavits. My Relationship With Lisa Rubin 3. Lisa Rubin (“Lisa”) is my fiancée and partner. We have been together for nearly eight years, and we are in the process of trying to have children together. Our wedding was postponed due to the pandemic. 4. Since 2015, Lisa and I have lived together at 10819 Vicenza Way, Los Angeles, California (the “Vicenza Way Property”), which is owned by Bremen House. During this time, Lisa has paid and continues to pay for, or otherwise contributes to, the expenses for the Vicenza Way Property – including, but not limited to, regular maintenance and repairs. Some recent examples include maintenance and/or repairs to plumbing, carpets, gardens, and windows. 5. Although the Vicenza Way Property is owned by Bremen House, the Defendants decided not to have Lisa or I execute a lease agreement for the Vicenza Way Property. 6. When it became clear that the instant dispute was going to lead to litigation, Lisa and I sought legal counsel together to discuss our options. 7. Both Lisa and I were (correctly) worried and fearful that any litigation would lead to retaliatory actions by Defendants against us – including efforts to impede our ability to continue to live in our shared home. This concern is due not only Defendants’ history of retaliatory actions 3 3 of 8 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022 against us (see, e.g., NYSCEF Doc. No. 276 at ¶ 37), but also because of homophobic comments that have been made about us and our relationship, including when Gonca told Berrin that her “gay family” (meaning me) does not “belong here”. 8. Because of our concerns of retaliation and our shared interests in the outcome of this litigation, we entered into a Joint Interest Agreement together. (See Affidavit of Steven P. Younger, dated June 15, 2022, at Ex. A.) As part of that agreement, Lisa and I agreed that any and all communication and documents shared between us and our counsel about the litigation would be kept privileged and confidential. I understood this to mean that we were allowed to communicate freely with each other and our counsel about this case without waiving attorney- client privilege. Paul Schwartzman and Raish LLC 9. For approximately 27 years, Paul Schwartzman (“Mr. Schwartzman”) and his company, Raish LLC (“Raish”), worked with Defendants, providing software and consulting services to the Company. From 1993 until late 2020/early 2021, this software managed virtually all the information about Defendants’ real estate business – including but not limited to tenant schedules, vacancies, certain lease terms and amounts, rent payments and arrears, and other data needed to operate a real estate business. 10. For years, I expressed to Defendants my concerns that this software system did not function properly and did not meet the needs of the Company. I believed that the Company should be using a more digitized, updated, functional and cost effective system. When I discussed my concerns with Berrin, she did not take them seriously. Rather, during one such conversation, she admonished me for expressing my concerns and noted that Paul “is an accounting genius who went to Harvard.” 4 4 of 8 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022 11. Mr. Schwartzman worked out of the Company’s offices from at least June 2020 (and possibly several months earlier) to December 2020. This was an especially critical time period for the Company and this litigation, as it was during this time period that the Defendants marketed and conducted a fire sale of several properties to Extell. 12. During this time period, I was a director and vice president Bremen House and a director and treasurer of German News, until I was wrongfully removed from these positions by the Defendants in December 2020. 13. At some point in fall 2020, it is my understanding that Berrin and Gonca may have offered Mr. Schwartzman a position within the Company. 14. In connection with the work he performed for the Company, Defendants regularly gave Mr. Schwartzman access to the Company’s financial information, including interacting with Company ledgers. For many years, Mr. Schwartzman assisted Yuksel Fedayi, the Company’s bookkeeper for decades, in closing out the Company’s ledger. The Company relied on Mr. Schwartzman’s assistance in this regard every year, as the Company’s bookkeepers were incapable of closing the Company’s ledger without him. 15. Further, as the Defendants were routinely incapable of obtaining information from the Company’s systems themselves, and often relied on Mr. Schwartzman to pull information and documents for them. This was particularly true during the negotiation of what was supposed to be a $60 million sale of property to Extell: Defendants were unable to provide diligence information requested by Extell on their own, and asked Mr. Schwartzman to compile it. Even with Mr. Schwartzman’s assistance, however, Defendants stillcould not provide much of the requested information, and many of the reports generated were wrong. In the wake of this faulty due diligence process, Extell reduced the sale price, ultimately to $35 million. Extell later claimed that 5 5 of 8 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022 Defendants breached a warranty in the purchase agreement by providing them false lease information, and filed a lawsuit against the Company in connection with same. 16. During the Extell sale, Mr. Schwartzman also had regular contact both with the Company’s real estate broker, John Stewart of Marcus & Millichap, and the Company’s real estate counsel, regarding Company financials. 17. Mr. Schwartzman often expressed his concerns regarding the Company to the Defendants. By way of example: a. In late 2020, Mr. Schwartzman warned Berrin that he believed that she and the Company would be swindled by Extell. b. During his time working out of the Company’s offices, Mr. Schwartzman also expressed to the Defendants his concerns that various employees were unqualified and unable to adequately perform their job duties. c. During a company meeting in December 2020, Mr. Schwartzman confronted the Company’s accountants regarding certain financial irregularities, such as the Company’s ledger not matching its financial statements, and Gonca’s abnormally large salary. After voicing these concerns regarding the price obtained in the Extell sale, Defendants terminated Mr. Schwartzman’s contract. 18. Likewise, when I too questioned the Company’s finances and sought to review the Company’s books and records in late 2020, the Defendants retaliated first (before they later wrongfully terminated me) by cutting off my access to my Company email account. It was Mr. Schwartzman who was tasked by the Defendants to create a new password to lock me out of my Company email. Mr. Schwartzman was also present in the Company offices when I spoke to 6 6 of 8 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022 7 of 8 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/15/2022 09:28 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 473 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/15/2022 CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO COMMERCIAL DIVISION RULE 17 I hereby certify that the foregoing Affidavit of Yasemin Tekiner complies with Rule 17 of subdivision (g) of section 202.70 of the Uniform Rules for the Supreme Court and County Court (Rules of Practice for the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court), and has a word count of 1,465 which is within the word limit of 7,000. Dated: New York, New York June 15, 2022 /s/ Scott W. Parker Scott W. Parker 9 8 of 8