- The cofounders of Arch Companies tried to fire each other amid accusations of misappropriating funds.
- Jeffrey Simpson and Jared Chassen took their dispute to court, The Real Deal reported.
A New York property firm has been rocked by an ongoing dispute between its cofounders that left one locked out of its Greenwich Village office, The Real Deal reported.
Arch Companies was founded by Jeffrey Simpson and Jared Chassen in 2017 and now has assets worth $1 billion, per their website. It has developments in nine states and projects have included luxury residential buildings in SoHo, Brooklyn and Queens.
However, in recent months Simpson and Chassen have been trading accusations about misappropriating funds, freezing bank accounts and control of the business.
Simpson has now taken the dispute to court, suing Chassen for personal injury claiming he tried to "wrest control of the Arch Entities from Simpson."
Simpson claimed he was a victim of what is referred to as a "coup d'état" in court documents, after Chassen tried to fire him, cut off his access to company bank accounts and locked him out of the office.
Arch has launched several court cases against a number of development partners and its prime investor, the Toronto-based 35 Oak.
The handling of the lawsuits appear to the root of the tension between Chassen and Simpson. Last month, 35 Oak sued Simpson for a breach of fiduciary duty, or failing to act responsibly in the best interests, per court records.
Chassen claims that when he confronted Simpson about misappropriation of money and his handling of the 35 Oak case, Simpson responded by firing him on August 5.
Simpson's defence, laid out in the court order, was that he acted because Chassen was unwilling to take a pay cut, and "undertook a series of actions designed to steal control of Arch and JJ Arch from Simpson."
On August 6, Simpson claimed Chassen fired him, locking him out of his Arch Companies email account and blocking access to the office.
A judge's order reinstated Simpson and meant he could return to Arch Companies.
"I'm really kind of flabbergasted by this," New York Judge Joel Cohen said of the firing at a recent hearing, The Real Deal reported. "I don't get surprised by too many things."
Both are listed as cofounders on the company's website, but per the court records Simpson holds a 1% greater share in Arch Companies.
Nonetheless, the judge maintained in a hearing earlier this week that the two "seem to me to be frankly childish." He ordered that both men be reinstated to their roles – and to try to resolve their differences.
Arch Companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.