Grilled About High Spending, Joel Schreiber Pleads Poverty

WeWork’s first investor, Joel Schreiber, claims he is broke.

Schreiber said in court filings that he has no income or funds to pay about $130 million he owes to numerous creditors. Yet just last year Schreiber spearheaded the acquisition of the Union Bank Plaza in Los Angeles for $104 million. Schreiber’s firm also bought a small property in Tribeca.

To the industry, Schreiber’s finances have been an enigma.

But Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Property Trust has been trying to get to the bottom of that enigma. A New York judge awarded Starwood two judgments in 2022 and 2023 totaling $88 million, stemming from defaults on a loan Starwood provided to Schreiber’s Broadway Trade Center building in L.A.

Starwood is seeking to hold Schreiber in contempt of court for failing to hand over information on his accounts and companies and comply with a subpoena. If Schreiber refuses, he could go to prison. The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13.

“If there’s some things that are missing still, then we may have to have Mr. Schreiber spend some time in prison,” said New York Supreme Court Judge Aaron Maslow at a Nov. 14 hearing. “As far as I’m concerned, Mr. Schreiber should be spending every day, except for his day of rest, working on this project.”

Schreiber said in an affirmation that he has “provided comprehensive productions” in response to Starwood’s requests. He claimed to have made “good faith efforts to comply with all demands,” but that Starwood kept moving the goalposts.

Starwood’s attorneys allege that about $70 million passed through accounts tied to Schreiber after a judgment was entered in 2022, yet the debt remained unpaid. Many of the account transactions involve a company, Upper Clapton, which Schreiber claimed in a deposition was controlled by his wife.

At a deposition, Schreiber responded “I don’t recall” or “I don’t know” 600 times in response to a Starwood attorney’s questions.

Another complication is that Schreiber has not yet filed his 2023 tax return. “I’m a citizen of the United States, and I·can decide when to file and when not to file, and that’s my decision,” he said.

Starwood’s attorneys further questioned Schreiber about the $50,000 transferred from Upper Clapton to the Executive Travel Exchange. He said that was not for private jets, but for air travel for his wife and eight children to fly to Israel or the U.K.

Starwood grilled Schreiber about an $83,000 payment from Upper Clapton to Midos, a London-based firm affiliated with Schreiber’s family. When asked about Midos, which has provided loans to Schreiber in the past, Schreiber clammed up, responding, “I don’t recall.”

At another point during the seven-hour examination, Starwood asked Schreiber about Upper Clapton’s $151,588 wire transfer to “Catering by Michael Schick,” a Brooklyn-based company, in June.

Schreiber said he didn’t recall.

When pressed, Schreiber said he had a “family wedding” that day. When asked whose wedding it was. Schreiber said it was his son’s, but was “not 100 percent sure.”

Asked by Starwood if he attended it, Schreiber initially said “no comment.”

Schreiber said he also did not recall anything about a wire transfer of $17,900 to a band for his son’s wedding. Schreiber also could not estimate how many people attended the wedding.

Other transactions included a $2,000 Zelle payment to the Belle Harbor Torah Institute in Rockaway and a $200,000 investment in Love Health, a company started by Bolt founder Ryan Breslow. Schreiber sits on the board of Bolt, a financial technology company, but said the investment was his wife’s idea. Schreiber said he “believed” he had met Breslow before, and then said Breslow was a “friend.”

Starwood’s attorney said Schreiber has yet to provide any documents about a company affiliated with Union Bank Plaza. Schreiber’s Waterbridge Capital was involved with the purchase of the building.

A year later, the building sold for $80 million — some $24 million below the acquisition price — but Schreiber’s group reportedly made money because of a large lease pay-out.

Schreiber claimed he thought he sent the information through his attorney Kevin Nash. A moment later, Schreiber asked to go off the record, pausing the deposition.

“I just got some chest pain here,” he explained. A moment later, he was back.