A Brooklyn company that leased a gas station and convenience store from a Mount Vernon company claims it got a raw deal.
Uver Enterprises accused Atlantis Management Group of fraudulently inducing Uver to lease a station and store on Utica Avenue in East Flatbush last year.
The deal was sealed, according to the complaint, “through the use of materially false financial information, altered or fabricated business records, and the concealment of critical information regard the true condition and regulatory status of the business.”
Atlantis was founded in 2005 by Tumay Basaranlar, Jimmy Kochisarli and Jose Montero. It owns more than 200 locations in the Northeast, including places it runs and places it leases.
Uver Enterprises was founded last year and is managed by Ali Buyuknisan.
Uver claims that Atlantis misrepresented historical sales data – such as fuel sales, convenience store revenue and profitability metrics – during negotiations last year.
For instance, Atlantis allegedly said the convenience store could sell beer when it no longer had a beer license.
Almost immediately after Uver took over the business, “the financial performance of the gas station diverged dramatically from the performance levels … represented during the negotiation process,” the complaint states. Revenues have since averaged at about 60% or less of the sales indicated during negotiations.
Nothing had changed from the perspective of customers, Uver claims. The gas station used the same employees and brands.
But Atlantis controlled credit card transactions that accounted for most of the fuel sales, according to the complaint, deposited the funds in its own bank accounts, and failed to give Uver its portions of sales. Instead, Atlantis claimed that Uver owed more to Atlantis, “without providing any documentation or accounting to support those assertions.”
On March 10, Atlantis disabled the credit card system, immediately preventing the pumps from dispensing gas, according to the complaint. Caution tape was placed across the gas pumps and the front of the convenience store, signaling to the public that the business was closed.
Atlantis allegedly asserted that Uver owed about $100,000, and said the gas station would not reopen until it was paid.
Uver is accusing Atlantis of fraud, breach of contract, interfering with business, and other charges. It is demanding $350,000 and unspecified punitive damages; a full accounting of credit card transactions; and cancellation of the lease and other agreements.
Atlantis did not reply to a message that was submitted through its website, asking for its side of the story.
