Partner sues for share of Irvington supermarket advertising company profits

An executive who helped create a supermarket advertising business in Irvington, based on an oral agreement, claims he was cut out of the profits.

Edward Greenberg is demanding an accounting of Adcorp360 Inc. finances to determine his share of the profits, in a complaint filed Dec. 9 in Westchester Supreme Court.

Adcorp360 did not respond to a message, submitted through its website, asking for its side of the story.

Greenberg, of Pleasantville, and Peter Broccole of Norwalk, Connecticut worked next door to one another in the former Cosmopolitan Building, an 1895 neoclassical revival structure designed by architect Stanford White, overlooking the Irvington train station.

They bonded and brainstormed over their shared business interests, the complaint states, given Greenberg’s career in media production and Broccole’s business selling print advertisements in supermarkets.

In 2014 they began forming an idea for a new business. They would sell advertising on monitors installed in supermarket checkout lanes.

Adcorp360 was founded in June 2016.

Initially, Greenberg says, he was to hold a 10% stake in the company, receive 10% of the gross sales as salary, and increase his stake in annual 5% increments until he reached 25% ownership in 2019.

There was no formal written agreement, according to the complaint, but they signed a brief term sheet in 2018.

Greenberg says he did the research and development, worked on marketing, installed monitors and oversaw daily operations. Adcorp360 placed nearly 100 supermarket monitors, the complaint states, and annual sales ranged from $1.5 million to $2 million.

But Greenberg allegedly received only small, intermittent payments for his work, and “more often than not was paid nothing at all.”

When he asked about his share of the sales, the chief financial officer, Broccole’s sister, Eva Broccole, of Mahopac, allegedly said there was no available money and her brother was not taking funds out of the company.

But around 2018, he saw financial records that did not align with sales data, the complaint states. From 2016 to 2018, Peter Broccole was paid about $375,000 while Greenberg “received either little or next to nothing.”

Greenberg claims that Eva Broccole mischaracterized payments to her brother to avoid making his payments.

He says he confronted Peter Broccole about the alleged discrepancies and was told that the firm would pay him his share going forward and pay off the previous amounts owed.

“Over the next few months Greenberg was paid intermittently,” the complaint states, “but predictably the payments stopped.”

A company financial record lists the obligation at $148,529, according to Greenberg, but the correct amount is more than $400,000.

He accused Peter Broccole of breach of contract, breach of an oral agreement and unjust enrichment. He accused Eva Broccole of fraud and tortious interference.

Greenberg is represented by Manhattan attorney Robert Garson.