An investor in a failed Mount Kisco gourmet market claims that the owner has refused to pay back a loan even as he “has been living in style.”
Allen Marx of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and formerly of Connecticut, sued Jeremy Nevins and Siegel Foods & Beverage April 14 in Westchester Supreme Court for $408,000.
Attempts to contact Nevins, of Katonah, for his side of the story failed.
Nevins, his brothers Doug and David, and their father Bruce opened Siegel Bros. Marketplace and Siegel Bros. Wine & Spirits on South Moger Avenue in Mount Kisco in 2017. Jeremy Nevins was the managing partner and president.
The enterprise was inspired in part by his great-grandfather. Abram Siegel had fled Russia around 1905 and established a kosher butcher shop, Siegel”™s Prime Meats, in Woodbine, New Jersey.
The patriarch”™s children and grandchildren kept the business going, according to news accounts, and the Nevins brothers had worked in the butcher shop. The store closed in the 1980s, but the family has remained active in food and wine businesses.
In 2018, the complaint states, Marx made two loans totaling $320,000, to “enable Siegel Foods to continue operating.”
The loans were to be repaid by June 2020, including 10% interest per year. They were structured to begin with interest-only monthly payments for a year, and then principal plus interest payments.
Jeremy Nevins, according to the complaint, guaranteed the payments.
Marx alleges that Siegel Foods made one interest-only payment in July 2018, and then defaulted on the loans.
Siegel Foods went out of business around January 2019.
Nevins had allegedly told Marx several times over the years that he would pay the debt when he received a settlement from a pending personal injury lawsuit.
As recently as February, Nevins”™ attorney purportedly notified Marx that there were many creditors due to the failure of Siegel Foods, but he would reach out when he could make an offer.
But this month, Marx claims, he discovered that Nevins had settled the personal injury case in 2019 and had received $2.6 million.
“Nevins has been living a relatively lavish lifestyle,” the complaint states, “including a recent purchase of an expensive automobile .”¦ Nevins had no intention of ever paying his debt.”
The balance of the loans is now $408,000. Marx charges Nevins with breach of promissory note, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
He is represented by Manhattan attorney David S. Greenberg.
