Tishman Speyer Eyed in Skelos Case

NEW YORK CITY—GlobeSt.com has confirmed that Tishman Speyer is of interest to the US attorney for the Southern District of New York following the arrest earlier this week of Dean Skelos, the leader of the New York State Senate, and of his son, Adam Skelos.

The inquiry comes in the wake of the Skelos' complaint—which includes charges of extortion, fraud and bribe solicitation—which refers to an unidentified real estate developer with whom Adam had lunch in 2011, according to his calendar. The complaint references a January 2011 email between Adam Skelos and his supervisor discussing an upcoming lunch meeting he had scheduled with “the president of a major commercial real estate developer based in New York, New York” that owned the Chrysler Building complex.

In 2011 Tishman Speyer, controlled both the land under the Chrysler Building and a 10% stake in the complex after the Abu Dhabi government bought a 90% stake in the complex in 2008 for $720 million, The Real Deal notes. The lunch meeting was on Dean Skelos' calendar too and was scheduled to take place at the developer's office.

“We have been contacted by the US Attorney's office with regard to its investigation and are happy to continue to answer any questions they may have,” a Tishman Speyer spokesman tells GlobeSt.com. The firm's president and co-CEO, Rob Speyer, also is the chairperson of the Real Estate Board of New York. Representatives of the US attorney's office declined to comment while a REBNY spokesperson did not respond to GlobeSt.com's request for comment by press time. However, no developer has been formally charged with any wrongdoing.

The younger Skelos emailed his supervisor to say the developer “wants to start giving me his work,” according to the complaint. A month later, the managing director from Developer 2's firm wrote to Adam Skelos asking him to generate a title report for a $250 million mortgage on the Chrysler Building complex.

The federal prosecutor's office cited the back-and-forth as one of several examples of how the younger Skelos allegedly sought to monetize his father's position.

“Adam Skelos, with the awareness and support of Dean Skelos, has relied heavily on his father and his father's official position to generate sales income, including by making implicit and explicit references to Dean Skelos's position and powers,” the complaint read.

The scandal follows the recent arrest of Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, a case in which another unknown developer was named. Sources gave up Glenwood Management as the firm in question but GlobeSt.com was unable to confirm that suspicion.