Armonk man sues former friend and attorney over condo deal

An Armonk man claims that a “close and trusted friend and adviser” of many decades exploited their relationship to extort excessive fees on a condo deal.

Myril Kaplan is demanding $576,119 from his former friend, Alan P. Rosefielde, of Miami Beach, and from the Norman Newman Trust, in a complaint filed Jan. 31 in Westchester Supreme Court.

“It is regrettable that Mr. Kaplan’s greed has caused him to betray a 50-year friendship by suing the family of his recently departed partner,” Rosefielde replied in an email. “The Newman family looks forward to righting this wrong in court.”

The object of the dispute is a condominium unit in Bal Harbor Florida that was owned by M&N Partners Inc.

The condo was sold last year for $2,175,000, according to a Dade County, Florida property record.

Kaplan and Norman Newman formed M&N in 2015, according to Florida corporation records, and made Kaplan’s home in Armonk its principal place of business.

Kaplan and the Norman Newman Trust each own half of M&N, according to the complaint.

Last year Kaplan proposed selling the condo and using a real estate swap to defer the capital gains.

Rosefielde represented Kaplan, M&N and the Newman Trust during negotiations, the complaint states. He served as M&N’s vice president, director, attorney and accountant, and is allegedly a beneficiary of the Newman Trust.

He used his positions to “leverage” a $476,119 “dissident shareholder” fee to approve the sale, according to the complaint, and structured the deal to make Kaplan the total owner of M&N and thus solely responsible for $200,000 in taxes on the sale.

Kaplan, who says he is more than 85 years old, claims that Rosefielde took advantage of his advanced age, failed to fully disclose the nature of the deal, failed to avoid conflicts of interest and profited at his expense.

He accused his former attorney of breach of fiduciary duty and attorney malpractice, and he is asking the court to declare the  condo transaction as a “product of fraud.”

Kaplan is represented by Tarrytown attorney Richard B. Feldman.