E2019002680
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/21/2019
MONROE COUNTY CLERK’S OFFICE THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS YOUR RECEIPT.
Receipt # 2020899
Control #: 201903220104
Index #: E2019002680
Date: 03/22/2019
ADAM J BELLO
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YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve
a copy of your answer on plaintiff’s attorneys within 20 days after the service of this summons,
exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this summons is
not personally delivered to you within the State of New York). In case of your failure to appear
or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the
complaint.
Plaintiff designates Monroe County as the place of trial based on the residence and/or
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Plaintiff, RSS CSAIL2016C7-NY PAR, LLC (the “Plaintiff”), by and through its
attorneys, Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP, as and for its Complaint against R2 Mezz Fund LLC,
Robert C. Morgan, and Kevin J. Morgan (collectively, the “Defendants”), alleges as follows:
1. This action for fraud and unjust enrichment arises out of false representations
made by the Defendants to Plaintiff’s predecessor-in-interest (whose rights have been assigned to
Plaintiff and/or whose rights Plaintiff is subrogated to), which resulted in the payment of
$2,500,000.00 to Defendant R2 Mezz Fund LLC (“R2 Fund”) for repayment of a purported loan
R2 Fund did not make and to which funds it was not entitled as a result of which Plaintiff has
been damaged.
PARTIES
2. At all times relevant herein, Plaintiff was and is a New York limited liability
company with its principal place of business located at 790 NW 107th Avenue, Suite 400,
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3. At all times relevant herein, Defendant R2 Fund was and is a New York limited
liability company with its principal place of business located at 1080 Pittsford Victor Road, Suite
4. At all times relevant herein, Defendant Robert C. Morgan was and is a resident of
the State of New York residing at 5 Van Voorhis Road, Pittsford, New York 14534.
Morgan was and is a resident of the State of New York residing at 12 Silco Hill, Pittsford, New
York 14534.
transact business in the State of New York and all Defendants reside in and/or have their
7. Venue is proper in this Court because all Defendants reside in and/or have their
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Morgan (“Robert Morgan”) was and is the Manager of Morgan Watertown Holdings LLC
(“Watertown Holdings”). On information and belief, Watertown Holdings is the sole member of
9. At all times relevant herein, Autumn Ridge was and still is a Delaware limited
liability company and the owner of the fee estate in and to an improved parcel of real property
located at 14630 Autumn Ridge Lane, Watertown, New York, within the Town of Watertown,
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County of Jefferson (the “Property”). The Property consists of a one hundred fifty-two (152)
10. At all times relevant herein, the Property was managed by Grand Atlas Property
Management, LLC f/k/a Morgan Management, LLC (“Grand Atlas”), a New York limited
liability company having the same principal place of business as Defendant R2 Fund and
Autumn Ridge.
11. On information and belief, at all times relevant herein, Robert Morgan was and is
an owner of Grand Atlas. On information and belief, Grand Atlas owned R2 Fund. Robert
Morgan, as the owner of Grand Atlas which in turn owned R2 Fund, controlled R2 Fund.
12. On information and belief, at all times relevant herein, Robert Morgan was and is
an owner and the Manager of Watertown Holdings. Robert Morgan, as an owner and the
Manager of Watertown Holdings, which in turn was the sole member of Autumn Ridge,
13. On information and belief, at all times relevant herein, Defendant Kevin J.
Morgan (“Kevin Morgan”) was the Vice President of Grand Atlas. Kevin Morgan, as a principal
14. On information and belief, at all times relevant herein, Kevin Morgan was and is
turn was the sole member of Autumn Ridge, controlled Autumn Ridge.
15. On information and belief, Kevin Morgan is the nephew of Robert Morgan.
16. On or about June 9, 2015, Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC (“Original Lender”)
made a loan to Autumn Ridge in the original principal amount of $21,280,000.00 (the “Loan”)
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pursuant to a Loan Agreement dated as of June 9, 2015 (the “Loan Agreement”). A true and
17. To induce Original Lender to make the Loan to Autumn Ridge, on or about June
9, 2015, Robert Morgan, the Manager of the sole member of Autumn Ridge, executed and
delivered, in his individual capacity, to Original Lender a certain Guaranty Agreement (the
“Guaranty”). A true and correct copy of the Guaranty is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
18. The Loan Agreement, the Guaranty, and such other agreements, documents, and
instruments which evidence, secure, or otherwise were executed in connection with the Loan are
19. On or about June 9, 2015, Original Lender assigned the Loan Documents to
Column Financial, Inc. (“Column Financial”). On or about November 22, 2016, Column
Financial assigned the Loan Documents to Wilmington Trust, National Association, as Trustee
for the Registered Holders of CSAIL 2016-C7 Commercial Mortgage Trust, Commercial
11, 2019, Wilmington Trust assigned the Loan Documents to Plaintiff, an entity affiliated with
Wilmington Trust.
20. Plaintiff is the present holder and owner of the Loan Agreement, the Guaranty,
and the other Loan Documents and is an assignee of, and/or is subrogated to the rights of
Original Lender.
21. In connection with the origination of the Loan and as part of the Loan application
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purported loan made by R2 Fund to Autumn Ridge (the “Fake Mezzanine Loan”), which Fake
22. Defendants created and provided to Original Lender a fake payoff statement that
purported to evidence the existence of the Fake Mezzanine Loan with a principal balance of
23. Defendants also created and provided to Original Lender a fake closing and
disbursement statement signed by Robert Morgan, listing the Fake Mezzanine Loan as an
expense of Autumn Ridge (the “Fraudulent Closing Statement”). The Fraudulent Payoff
Statement and the Fraudulent Closing Statement are collectively referred to as the “Fraudulent
Documents.” True and correct copies of the Fraudulent Documents are attached hereto as
Exhibit C.
24. Defendants created and tendered the Fraudulent Documents to Original Lender to
25. At the time Defendants created and provided to the Original Lender the
Fraudulent Documents, Defendants knew that these documents were fraudulent and that the
information contained in such documents was fabricated and that the Fake Mezzanine Loan did
not exist.
26. Original Lender relied upon Defendants’ representations as to the existence of the
Fake Mezzanine Loan and Defendants’ representations with respect to the information contained
in the Fraudulent Documents in agreeing to extend the Loan to Autumn Ridge and to enter into
the Loan Documents. On information and belief, had Original Lender known that the Fake
Mezzanine Loan did not exist and that the Fraudulent Documents contained false information,
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27. Plaintiff’s assignor, Wilmington Trust, was first made aware of the Fraudulent
Documents submitted by Defendants shortly after December 21, 2018, the date on which Kevin
Morgan, the Vice President of Grand Atlas and the nephew of Robert Morgan, pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to commit bank fraud for providing fraudulent information to lenders for the purpose
of influencing those lenders to make commercial loans to entities controlled by Grand Atlas (the
“Guilty Plea”). A true and correct copy of the transcript of proceedings reflecting the Guilty
28. In his Guilty Plea, Kevin Morgan admitted that he, at the direction of his uncle
Robert Morgan, conspired to defraud financial institutions including Original Lender “to obtain
money from financial institutions by means of false and fraudulent pretenses and
Statement by admitting that he, along with co-conspirators, included in a loan application “a
false and fictitious 2.5 million dollar debt purportedly owed to a Morgan Management1
controlled entity and created a fabricated payoff letter for that debt to increase the amount of the
loan in connection with the property known as Autumn Ridge.” See Exhibit D, p. 33.
30. On information and belief, the “Morgan Management controlled entity” referred
31. Kevin Morgan also admitted in his Guilty Plea that “[t]he false information
induced the financial institutions to issue loans for larger amounts than the financial institutions
would have authorized had they been provided the truthful information and that the financial
institutions otherwise would not have issued on requested terms.” See Exhibit D, p. 31-32.
1
In the Guilty Plea, Kevin Morgan is referring to Grand Atlas, formerly known as Morgan Management.
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32. When Autumn Ridge entered into the Loan Agreement with Original Lender,
which Loan Agreement was executed on behalf of Autumn Ridge by Robert Morgan, Autumn
Ridge affirmed that there was “no material fact presently known to [Autumn Ridge] which has
not been disclosed to [Original Lender] which adversely affects, nor as far as [Autumn Ridge]
can foresee, might adversely affect, the Property or business, operations or condition (financial
33. As of June 9, 2015, Autumn Ridge violated the Loan Agreement when Autumn
Ridge failed to disclose to Original Lender that it had submitted false information relating to the
Fake Mezzanine Loan made by R2 Fund to Autumn Ridge, which Fake Mezzanine Loan did not
COUNT I - FRAUD
(Against R2 Fund, Robert Morgan, and Kevin Morgan)
35. On or about June 3, 2015, in connection with the origination of the Loan,
Defendants knowingly submitted to Original Lender false information related to the Fake
36. Included among the false information was the Fraudulent Payoff Statement from
R2 Fund dated June 3, 2015, which stated that the principal balance of the Fake Mezzanine Loan
as of June 8, 2015 was $2,500,000.00 and that interest on the Fake Mezzanine Loan had been
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37. The Fraudulent Payoff Statement also contained bank account information and
wiring instructions to pay the $2,500,000.00 to R2 Fund with respect to the Fake Mezzanine
38. Also included among the false information was the Fraudulent Closing Statement
signed by Robert Morgan on behalf of Autumn Ridge, listing the $2,500,000.00 Fake Mezzanine
Loan as an expense of Autumn Ridge and directing the closing agent to make payment to R2
and wantonly misrepresented to Original Lender that an existing mezzanine loan in the amount
of $2,500,000.00 encumbered the Property and needed to be paid off in order to close on the
Loan.
40. In reality, at the time Defendants submitted the false information to Original
Lender, the Fake Mezzanine Loan did not exist and the Defendants knew that the Fake
41. Defendants submitted the false information to Original Lender to deceive Original
Lender and to induce Original Lender to permit a portion of the Loan proceeds in the amount of
42. In the Guilty Plea, Kevin Morgan admitted that the purpose of submitting the
Fraudulent Payoff Statement was to “increase the amount of the loan in connection with the
$2,500,000.00 of the Loan proceeds to be paid to R2 Fund with respect to the Fake Mezzanine
Loan.
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44. Unbeknownst to Original Lender, the Fake Mezzanine Loan was non-existent and
45. On information and belief, had Original Lender known of the false information at
the origination of the Loan, Original Lender would not have made the Loan.
Original Lender false information in order to induce Original Lender to increase the amount of
the Loan in connection with the Property and to permit a portion of the Loan proceeds to be paid
to R2 Fund, for a loan R2 Fund did not make and to which funds R2 Fund was not entitled.
and resulted in the indictment and subsequent Guilty Plea of Defendant Kevin Morgan for
violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 371, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, related to the facts
48. Kevin Morgan admitted that he, at the direction of his uncle Robert Morgan,
conspired to defraud financial institutions “to obtain money from financial institutions by means
49. Kevin Morgan also admitted that he and his co-conspirators “made
misrepresentations to conceal from the lending financial institutions that Morgan Management
used a portion of the loan proceeds for purposes other than that disclosed in the loan
and to satisfy debts associated with other properties managed by Morgan Management.” See
Exhibit D, p. 33.
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50. On information and belief, Robert Morgan and Kevin Morgan were on both sides
of the transaction involving the Fake Mezzanine Loan as they owned and controlled both
51. On information and belief, Robert Morgan and Kevin Morgan controlled Autumn
Ridge and R2 Fund so that the entities had no separate will or existence of their own.
52. On information and belief, Autumn Ridge and R2 Fund did not comply with or
53. On information and belief, Autumn Ridge and R2 Fund were used by Robert
Morgan and Kevin Morgan for their own personal benefit and for the benefit of other entities
54. On information and belief, the property and assets of Autumn Ridge and R2 Fund
were used by Robert Morgan and Kevin Morgan for their own personal benefit and for the
benefit of other entities owned and controlled by Robert Morgan and Kevin Morgan.
55. Robert Morgan and Kevin Morgan used Autumn Ridge and R2 Fund for the
specific purpose of committing fraud against Plaintiff’s predecessors in interest respecting whose
56. All of the foregoing constitutes fraud against Plaintiff entitling Plaintiff to recover
damages against the Defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $2,500,000.00.
57. Because the acts of Defendants were malicious, intentional, fraudulent, and
willful, Plaintiff is entitled to an award of punitive damages against Defendants jointly and
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$2,500,000.00 of the Loan proceeds to be paid to R2 Fund with respect to the Fake Mezzanine
Loan.
60. Unbeknownst to Original Lender, the Fake Mezzanine Loan was non-existent and
61. R2 Fund received the $2,500,000.00 and has failed to return the money to
62. It is against equity and good conscience to permit R2 Fund to retain the benefit of
63. R2 Fund has been unjustly enriched in the amount of $2,500,000.00 to the
detriment of Plaintiff.
this Court enter judgment in its favor and against Defendants R2 Fund, Robert C. Morgan, and
A. On Count I:
(i) awarding Plaintiff compensatory damages jointly and severally against
Defendants in the amount of $2,500,000.00, together with interest
thereon since June 9, 2015; and
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