Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022
Judith A. Archer
Victoria V. Corder
Sean M. Topping
NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT US LLP
1301 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10019-6022
Tel.: (212) 318-3000
Fax: (212) 318-3400
judith.archer@nortonrosefulbright.com
victoria.v.corder@nortonrosefulbright.com
sean.topping@nortonrosefulbright.com
Attorneys for Defendants
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF NEW YORK
YASEMIN TEKINER,
in her individual capacity, as a beneficiary
and a Trustee of The Yasemin Tekiner
2011 Descendants Trust and derivatively as Index : 657193/2020
a holder of equitable interests in a
shareholder or a member of the Company Motion Sequence #23
Defendants,
AFFIDAVIT OF BILLUR AKIPEK
Plaintiff,
-against-
BREMEN HOUSE INC., GERMAN NEWS
COMPANY, INC., 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,
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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022
Intervenor-Plaintiff,
-against-
BREMEN HOUSE INC., GERMAN NEWS
COMPANY, INC., BERRIN TEKINER, GONCA
TEKINER, and BILLUR AKIPEK, in her capacity
as a Trustee of The Zeynep Tekiner 2011
Descendants Trust,
Defendants.
STATE OF NEW YORK )
) ss:
COUNTY OF NEW YORK )
BILLUR AKIPEK, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
1. I am the Vice President and Secretary of Defendant Bremen House, Inc. (“Bremen
House”) and a Director of Defendant German News Company Inc. (“German News,” and together
with Bremen House, the “Companies”). I submit this affidavit in further support of Defendants’
Motion to Compel Production of Documents from Plaintiff and Lisa Rubin and to Quash or Limit
the Subpoenas to Paul Schwartzman (“Schwartzman”) and Raish LLC (“Raish”) (the “Motion”).
This affidavit is based upon my personal knowledge.
2. I previously submitted to this Court: (1) an affidavit dated April 13, 2022, in further
support of Defendants’ Motion to Claw Back Documents and for Preliminary Injunction; and (2)
an affidavit dated June 6, 2022, in support of Defendants’ Omnibus Discovery Motion. (See
NYSCEF Doc. Nos. 345, 492). 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.
3. Schwartzman originally created the Raish software for the Companies back in the
early 1990s. After he created it, we would occasionally reach out to him and ask him to add or
-2-
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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022
delete tenants or buildings, or other such things as the bookkeepers informed me it was impossible
to do this without Schwartzman doing it himself. (See NYSCEF No. 416 ¶2) We would sometimes
reach out to him during accounting periods (quarterly or annually) if we needed to get him to help
us with the software.
4. After Schwartzman installed the software, he was never consulted about or had any
ongoing role in our real estate business, and he very rarely actually came into the Company offices.
In the almost 30 years he was a vendor for us there would often be years between his visits to our
offices.
5. He did try to train our employees on the Raish software, including Yasemin before
she left in 2012 to go to California, but the system was not user-friendly. When Yasemin tried to
move out to California he also set up some remote access to the system for her, but it didn’t really
matter because she did not really continue working for the companies after that point anyway.
6. The only reason Schwartzman was included in the Extell sale or any company
business at all was because, during the upgrade he was contracted to do, he prevented us from
using or accessing our old system, so we needed him to pull documents for us. We did not ask
him to review or interpret any documents and he never did so; it was just that we needed
information in our systems put onto paper or pdf and send to us, our lawyers and real estate
advisors or to Extell or Marc Shore.
7. At the time of the Extell sale Yasemin was in California and Schwartzman was in
New York, they never met in person in our offices when Schwartzman was working out of our
offices in 2020, as Yasemin was in California the whole time. If they actually did meet, it must
have been outside of our offices.
-3-
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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022
8. We gave Schwartzman Yasemin’s phone number as she was a Company officer
and director. He appears to have spoken with her. I disagree that many of these conversations
even took place, but she was generally not involved in his upgrade, or on the phone or in the office
when we were speaking with him, so she is stating that he has knowledge of conversations in our
New York office that did not include her.
9. Yasemin’s counsel told me that she has made a habit of recording people without
their consent for purposes of this litigation, so the fact that Schwartzman’s boxes included notes
of conversations he overheard leads me to wonder if Yasemin may have asked Schwartzman to
spy on the Companies.
10. Yasemin claims that Extell considered suing the companies due to the documents
Schwartzman may have pulled and given them during the Extell Sale. My response is twofold:
first, the fact that she claims this man has relevant information while saying he is really bad at his
job is reflective of how little Yasemin understands about the business, and second, Extell has not
threatened or sued the Companies with regards to the Extell Sale.
-4-
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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022
Dated: New York, New York
June 21, 2022
__
Billur Akipek
Sworn to before me
on June 2- 2022
t_,
Notary Public
PETER MERTZ
Notary Public-State of NewYork
No. 02ME5046271
Qualified
in New York
County
My, CommissionExpiresJuly10, 2023
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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022
CERTIFICATION
Counsel for Defendants hereby certifies that this document complies with the word count
limit of Commercial Division Rule 17. This affidavit was prepared using Microsoft Word, and
the total number of words in this affidavit, exclusive of the caption, table of contents, table of
authorities, and signature block is less than 7,000 words.
Dated: June 21, 2022 By: /s/ Judith A. Archer
New York, New York Judith A. Archer
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Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022 Judith A. Archer Victoria V. Corder Sean M. Topping NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT US LLP 1301 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10019-6022 Tel.: (212) 318-3000 Fax: (212) 318-3400 judith.archer@nortonrosefulbright.com victoria.v.corder@nortonrosefulbright.com sean.topping@nortonrosefulbright.com Attorneys for Defendants SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK YASEMIN TEKINER, in her individual capacity, as a beneficiary and a Trustee of The Yasemin Tekiner 2011 Descendants Trust and derivatively as Index : 657193/2020 a holder of equitable interests in a shareholder or a member of the Company Motion Sequence #23 Defendants, AFFIDAVIT OF BILLUR AKIPEK Plaintiff, -against- BREMEN HOUSE INC., GERMAN NEWS COMPANY, INC., 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, 1 of 6 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022 Intervenor-Plaintiff, -against- BREMEN HOUSE INC., GERMAN NEWS COMPANY, INC., BERRIN TEKINER, GONCA TEKINER, and BILLUR AKIPEK, in her capacity as a Trustee of The Zeynep Tekiner 2011 Descendants Trust, Defendants. STATE OF NEW YORK ) ) ss: COUNTY OF NEW YORK ) BILLUR AKIPEK, being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. I am the Vice President and Secretary of Defendant Bremen House, Inc. (“Bremen House”) and a Director of Defendant German News Company Inc. (“German News,” and together with Bremen House, the “Companies”). I submit this affidavit in further support of Defendants’ Motion to Compel Production of Documents from Plaintiff and Lisa Rubin and to Quash or Limit the Subpoenas to Paul Schwartzman (“Schwartzman”) and Raish LLC (“Raish”) (the “Motion”). This affidavit is based upon my personal knowledge. 2. I previously submitted to this Court: (1) an affidavit dated April 13, 2022, in further support of Defendants’ Motion to Claw Back Documents and for Preliminary Injunction; and (2) an affidavit dated June 6, 2022, in support of Defendants’ Omnibus Discovery Motion. (See NYSCEF Doc. Nos. 345, 492). 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. 3. Schwartzman originally created the Raish software for the Companies back in the early 1990s. After he created it, we would occasionally reach out to him and ask him to add or -2- 2 of 6 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022 delete tenants or buildings, or other such things as the bookkeepers informed me it was impossible to do this without Schwartzman doing it himself. (See NYSCEF No. 416 ¶2) We would sometimes reach out to him during accounting periods (quarterly or annually) if we needed to get him to help us with the software. 4. After Schwartzman installed the software, he was never consulted about or had any ongoing role in our real estate business, and he very rarely actually came into the Company offices. In the almost 30 years he was a vendor for us there would often be years between his visits to our offices. 5. He did try to train our employees on the Raish software, including Yasemin before she left in 2012 to go to California, but the system was not user-friendly. When Yasemin tried to move out to California he also set up some remote access to the system for her, but it didn’t really matter because she did not really continue working for the companies after that point anyway. 6. The only reason Schwartzman was included in the Extell sale or any company business at all was because, during the upgrade he was contracted to do, he prevented us from using or accessing our old system, so we needed him to pull documents for us. We did not ask him to review or interpret any documents and he never did so; it was just that we needed information in our systems put onto paper or pdf and send to us, our lawyers and real estate advisors or to Extell or Marc Shore. 7. At the time of the Extell sale Yasemin was in California and Schwartzman was in New York, they never met in person in our offices when Schwartzman was working out of our offices in 2020, as Yasemin was in California the whole time. If they actually did meet, it must have been outside of our offices. -3- 3 of 6 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022 8. We gave Schwartzman Yasemin’s phone number as she was a Company officer and director. He appears to have spoken with her. I disagree that many of these conversations even took place, but she was generally not involved in his upgrade, or on the phone or in the office when we were speaking with him, so she is stating that he has knowledge of conversations in our New York office that did not include her. 9. Yasemin’s counsel told me that she has made a habit of recording people without their consent for purposes of this litigation, so the fact that Schwartzman’s boxes included notes of conversations he overheard leads me to wonder if Yasemin may have asked Schwartzman to spy on the Companies. 10. Yasemin claims that Extell considered suing the companies due to the documents Schwartzman may have pulled and given them during the Extell Sale. My response is twofold: first, the fact that she claims this man has relevant information while saying he is really bad at his job is reflective of how little Yasemin understands about the business, and second, Extell has not threatened or sued the Companies with regards to the Extell Sale. -4- 4 of 6 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022 Dated: New York, New York June 21, 2022 __ Billur Akipek Sworn to before me on June 2- 2022 t_, Notary Public PETER MERTZ Notary Public-State of NewYork No. 02ME5046271 Qualified in New York County My, CommissionExpiresJuly10, 2023 5 of 6 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 06/21/2022 09:13 PM INDEX NO. 657193/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 527 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/21/2022 CERTIFICATION Counsel for Defendants hereby certifies that this document complies with the word count limit of Commercial Division Rule 17. This affidavit was prepared using Microsoft Word, and the total number of words in this affidavit, exclusive of the caption, table of contents, table of authorities, and signature block is less than 7,000 words. Dated: June 21, 2022 By: /s/ Judith A. Archer New York, New York Judith A. Archer 6 of 6