He claims he got got. Now he wants a $175M gett.

For anyone sitting ringside, Jona Rechnitz’s relationship with Floyd “Money” Mayweather seemed like the perfect long con: Earn the trust of one of the world’s richest and showiest athletes, get him to see you as a savvy investor, have him put an ever-increasing portion of his wealth into your hands, spin up some sexy passive-income CRE deals for him, bring your own people into his circle of trust, and keep upping the ante.

But for close to a decade, despite a cartoonish number of red flags, Mayweather didn’t see it that way. “I trust Jona — not just 10 percent, 20 percent — 100 percent,” he said at a real estate forum last year, dismissing Rechnitz’s web of legal troubles, which included allegations of fraud, bribery, theft, intimidation and much else. Mayweather thought Rechnitz was his cornerman in his quest to build a CRE empire: a 1K 🚪 affordable portfolio; a 🍕 of a prized luxury rental Manhattan package; a JV on a national office spread, and other head-turning deals.

But at least according to an explosive new lawsuit Mayweather just filed in Manhattan Supreme Court (h/t TMZ), Rechnitz was working him from the opening bell. “A Liar, a Thief, a Rat, and a Snake 🐍 🐀,” Mayweather wrote on Saturday. “Jona Rechnitz is the worst person to ever walk this planet.”

The specific allegations Mayweather hits Rechnitz with are worthy of a title fight. But there’s plenty of CRE drama – and plenty of great characters – on the undercard too. Let’s get ready to rumble. 🥊 👇

(NOTE: This story is largely based on ALLEGATIONS detailed in Mayweather’s complaint. The facts will come out in due time, or they won’t.)

The Main Event: Jona Rechnitz 🔔

Mayweather says he was introduced to Rechnitz – the archetype of a recurring netherworld character in CRE, the hustler with the incredible Rolodex & fuzzy origin story who is a magnet for controversy – in ‘17. Within a few years, Rechnitz had assumed the “de facto” role of Mayweather’s investment manager, CRE advisor, and banking liaison – basically, he was at the center of Mayweather’s vast web of investments. He became a close personal friend of the boxer, a fixture both courtside 🏀 and tableside at Reserve Cut. He also – and this is crucial for CRE heads – drummed up publicity for splashy Mayweather acquisitions, including a supposed $400M+ deal to buy an Upper Manhattan affordable portfolio from Black Spruce’s Josh Gotlib. You’ll recall that CRE sleuth Dan Geiger eventually exposed that deal as smoke & mirrors in a Business Insider report, though Mayweather’s camp took to TRD to double down on the claim. (This whole saga really doubles as a media-manipulation story 🗞 ) Now, per Mayweather’s suit, what his firm Vada Properties actually acquired was a 5% interest in an LLC for $31.5M. 👏 (Still, on Instagram in Feb’ 25, Mayweather posted a deal tombstone w/ the full $402M amt.; Morris Betesh’s Arrow was listed as the broker.)

On 1/1/2026, Rechnitz sent an email: "Distribution for upper Manhattan portfolio" to recipients identified as "Harrison/Joshua," likely re. to Gotlib & Harrison Wolpoe, an accountant at Black Spruce. The email directed that 80% of distributions be paid to Mayweather Promotions, LLC and that 20% go to Frist Apex Ventures — described, in Rechnitz's own words, as "the usual account at Chase you've been sending all distribution to per my direction." (Insiders: See the Gotlib letter detailing membership interests in your bonus section - reads like pref, and also makes re. to GO Residential properties 👀 🔒 )

Mayweather alleges that in total, Rechnitz misappropriated $175,000,000 worth of cash, CRE equity, income streams, jewelry and even an aircraft. The suit portrays Mayweather as a patsy w/ no “formal post-secondary education and no formal training” in financial and CRE matters, a rube who fully relied on the judgment of his advisers and outsourced all due diligence to them. (Important to note that neither Black Spruce nor its principals are named as defendants in the suit.)

Undercard I: Ayal Frist 🔔

Mayweather’s suit states that b/c Rechnitz was hit w/ a $17.7M civil judgment in a separate case, he conducted his business through frontmen. The most notable of these was Ayal Frist, who billed himself as CEO of Vada Properties. Mayweather now alleges that Frist had never been appointed CEO. (When Mayweather appeared at TRD’s event last May, Frist was w/ him on stage. 🤷 ) The Frist-controlled LLC Frist Apex 🏁 was the “de facto depository” for Mayweather funds misappropriated by Rechnitz, the suit alleges. Consider this flow of funds detailed in the suit (Insiders: You can see a copy of the wires in your bonus section 🔒) “To the extent Mr. Mayweather may have signed any document directing distributions to Frist Apex, he did so at the direction of Rechnitz, without informed consent, and in reliance on Rechnitz’s position of trust,” the suit states.

• $7.5M wired from Mayweather Promotions' w/ the slug "12 MONTH INVESTMENT." No investment made, no return paid, no docs produced, no principal returned.
• $8.8M wired out of a $16.4M Hankey Capital cross-collateralized loan secured by first liens on four of Mayweather's properties – only $2.5M of that loan allegedly went to Mayweather Promotions, while more than half the loan proceeds landed in a Boca Raton LLC (why is it ALWAYS Boca?)
• $15M in settlement proceeds from SL Green Realty (???) were transferred to Frist Apex at Rechnitz’s direction, sans Mayweather’s authorization.
• Even Mayweather's Gulfstream G-IV 🛩 is unaccounted for: per the complaint, he signed an FAA bill of sale in Nov. ‘25 with the buyer's name left blank and "$1.00 & OVC" as consideration. The proceeds, per the suit, went to a “Bugatti-related obligation” and Frist Apex — not to the boxer or to TBE Aviation, the ownership LLC

Undercard II: Alexander Seligson 🔔

Mayweather alleges that Seligson, an NYC-based attorney, was tapped by Rechnitz to be the point person on Mayweather’s business affairs. He was put in a position to direct disbursements from single-purpose Nevada LLCs holding Mayweather's residences, and from accounts holding settlement proceeds attributable to the boxer. Mayweather alleges he had never met Seligson, and assented to his installation at Rechnitz’s direction. (This whole thing is being set up to depict Rechnitz having some Rasputin-like control over the boxer.)

Control the paperwork guy, and you control the flow of funds. To get a sense, consider Nevada-based 9504 Kings Gate Ct. LLC

• 3/31/2025: LLC formed. Seligson installed as manager.
• 4/16/2025: $8.2M refi, $6.1M of which goes to pay off an existing Hankey loan. The remaining $2.1M which should flow to Mayweather was instead transferred to Frist Apex, the complaint alleges, adding that Seligson, in a phone call w/ Mayweather, later admitted he redirected the funds

Undercard III: The Jewelers 🔔

The most-photographed collection of bling in the sporting world is currently sitting in two Miami safes. Only Mayweather isn’t sure how much is left of it. The complaint alleges that last summer, Rechnitz pledged ≈ $100M (seriously, WTF) of Mayweather’s jewelry to 2 Miami dealers: Joel Vigo Morito & “Moti.” In exchange, the dealers provided $13M in funds, which Mayweather claims he never saw. At some point, Joel looped Rechnitz into a Whatsapp chat w/ Mayweather, warning Mayweather that if he does not receive "a large payment on monies due" he will "start to liquidate the merchandise." To which Rechnitz responded: "Agreed thx." Mayweather then wrote: “I fought from a kid to get everything I own and it’s sad that someone would even put me in this situation.”

Ice 💎, like CRE, has historically been one a go-to asset for moving monies out of the view of creditors, taxmen and divorcing spouses – the Atavist banger on Rechnitz from last year details this. And Rechnitz has long straddled both these nebulous worlds.

Remember that Mayweather’s 💌 w/ CRE goes well past Upper Manhattan.

• He supposedly invested $100M in a $3B JV w/ Go Partners, a vehicle controlled by Gotlib & Meyer Orbach. Go controls a Manhattan luxury rental portfolio that it took public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in a $400M+ IPO last summer. (There was no mention of Mayweather or Vada in the prospectus.) The weirdest detail re. the JV was a deal insider telling TRD that Mayweather had already wired $20M for the first closing – no one typically says shit like that to the press.
• He also supposedly bought into a 10M sf office portfolio controlled by 601W Companies (Mark Karasick, Harry Skydell, among others).
• And he supposedly partnered w/ the Nakashes and the Gindis to buy a piece of the fmr. Versace mansion. Again, another bizarro statement to TRD attributed to Mayweather: “Eli Gindi and the Nakash family are real estate royalty.”

We say “supposedly” b/c given what we’ve seen so far from Mayweather/Vada, it’s hard to tell what was actually consummated and what was more akin to pre-fight trash talk.

Mayweather’s attorney here is Leo Jacobs, a curious choice for such high-stakes litigation given that his specialty is bankruptcies/restructurings. Mayweather is asking the court to grant at least $175M in damages, plus punitive damages, and to force the defendants to produce a full paper trail.

The details of this case are a particularly tasty breed of CRE catnip. Unfortunately, the broader takeaway – an elite athlete allegedly hoodwinked by those closest to him – is as old as sport itself. 🥊