Christopher Peak file photo
Rabbi Greer.
A federal judge has temporarily ordered Rabbi Daniel Greer not to use nonprofit corporations that technically own roughly four dozen properties, mostly in the Edgewood neighborhood, to funnel money to himself and to avoid paying damages to a former student he sexually abused.
That order came in response to a federal lawsuit filed by Greer’s former student, Eliyahu Mirlis, who claims the rabbi is using that strategy to avoid paying him $22 million in court-ordered damages after repeatedly raping him as a teenager.
Federal Judge Charles Haight, Jr. granted a temporary restraining order to that effect on Aug. 25 in the case Eliyahu Mirlis v. Edgewood Elm Housing, Inc., F.O.H., Inc., Edgewood Village, Inc., Edgewood Corners, Inc., and Yedidei Hagan, Inc.
The judge wrote that those five companies, all of which are controlled by Greer and his wife Sarah, are “enjoined” from “transferring or encumbering” any of their current real estate holdings or personal property, other than to pay any of their employees, with the exception of Greer himself.
Click here to read the order.
Mirlis, who is a former student at Greer’s Edgewood Yeshiva, requested that pause as part of a 2019 federal lawsuit that alleges that Greer is using the corporations to dodge his responsibility to pay him millions. His suit seeks a “reverse veil piercing” that would hold the companies financially accountable for a debt owed by the individual, Greer, who controls them.
Mirlis wrote in an Aug. 21 court filing that he has been able to collect less than $240,000 so far of the $22,281,987.81 total judgment resulting from his 2017 civil suit against the rabbi. (That’s up from the original $21 million amount because of compounding interest, the suit states.)
In the meantime, Mirlis alleged, Greer’s companies have transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to Greer himself and to Greer’s yeshiva. The suit claims that approximately $200,000 have gone towards Greer’s salary and benefits in that time, over $150,000 has been used for Greer’s legal bills, and over $630,000 has gone to Greer’s yeshiva in nearly 400 separate payments.
All to avoid having to pay Mirlis what’s due him from the civil suit.
Christopher Peak Photo
830 Elm, one of the Greer-controlled rental properties
“The Yeshiva and D. Greer have gone to great lengths to ensure that the Plaintiff never recovers any of the millions of dollars owed to him,” Mirlis’s attorney John Cesaroni wrote in the Aug. 21 memorandum. “Among other things, the Yeshiva and D. Greer have used their domination and control over the Defendants, entities that operate as a single enterprise (the “Enterprise”) with no separate identities, to hold and acquire income generating real property and then incrementally pay the generated income to D. Greer, his wife, Sarah Greer (“S. Greer”), and the Yeshiva.”
“[W]ithout a temporary injunction,” Cesaroni continued, “Defendants will undoubtedly continue to divest their assets and every divestiture irreparably harms the Plaintiff as it further reduces his potential recovery on the Judgment.”
Greer’s companies’ attorney in the case did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article, though he did file a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that these companies should not have to pay a civil judgment owed by Greer just because Greer controls them. Judge Haight denied that motion to dismiss this summer, stating that, based on Mirlis’s argument and claims, it is plausible that Greer is using his properties to dodge making payments. (See more below.)
The rabbi is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence (suspended after 12) after being found guilty in criminal court last year of repeatedly sexually assaulting Mirlis when the latter was a teenage student at Greer’s Norton Street yeshiva.
Mirlis: Greer Using Real Estate To Avoid Payments
According to Mirlis’s memorandum, which can be read in full here, the various Greer-controlled nonprofits own roughly 48 properties, which they acquired between 2002 and 2014.
“After using funds derived from renting their properties and any other income for, among other things, paying the expenses for the properties,” the lawsuit reads, three of the companies (Edgewood Corners, Edgewood Village, and FOH) “transfer the bulk of their remaining funds” to Yedidei Hagan and Edgewood Elm “at the sole direction of D. Greer.”
The suit claims that Yedidei Hagan regularly distributes funds to Greer’s yeshiva or on the yeshiva’s behalf as directed by Greer. From May 2018 to May 2020, Yedidei Hagan transferred over $632,000 to the yeshiva in nearly 400 separate transactions, according to the suit.
“The Yeshiva would almost immediately transfer such funds out of its account, often on the same day,” Mirlis’s memorandum reads.
The suit also states that, since May 18, 2018, Greer would receive his paycheck from Edgewood Elm and, rather than depositing it into a bank account, he would obtain cash, bank checks, or money orders to use to pay expenses.
“D. Greer did this so that Plaintiff could not execute on any money in his bank account,” the suit reads.
The suit states that Greer’s companies have begun to sell off their assets now that Mirlis has uncovered this alleged scheme. On July 12, Edgewood Village sold a house at 928 Elm St. for $255,000. The suit states that Greer’s company also recently listed another house at 727 Elm St. for sale at $265,000.
In his Aug. 25 order, Judge Haight granted Mirlis’s requested temporary restraining order and recognized that “it appears that the Debtor will suffer immediate and irreparable injury prior to a hearing on his Application for Prejudgment Remedy.”
That is, if Greer’s companies aren’t stopped now from selling properties and extracting more wealth from their real estate, Mirlis likely won’t be able to collect what’s owed him through the 2017 civil suit.
According to the case’s federal court docket, Haight held an Aug. 26 teleconference hearing on the matter after granting the temporary restraining order.
“Counsel for the parties are directed to continue their efforts to agree on scheduling future briefing and a hearing on the PJR motion, and a possible revision of the TRO,” Haight wrote in an Aug. 27 order.
Greer’s Attorney: Companies Should Not Have To Pay
In an August 2019 motion to dismiss, Greer’s attorney, Joshua Cohen, pushed back against Mirlis’s claims. He argued that the latter did not allege that Greer intentionally used these nonprofits to shield himself and his money from the multimillion-dollar civil judgment.
“Instead, Plaintiff alleges that the Defendants have assets and therefore, because Mr. Greer dominates and controls the Defendants, they should be forced to pay Plaintiff’s judgment,” he wrote in August 2019.
“The allegations in the Complaint do not reveal any financial impropriety that would justify such a result. Because no assets have been transferred from Mr. Greer or the Yeshiva to the Defendants in an effort to remove those assets from the Plaintiff’s reach, there is no link between Plaintiff’s alleged inability to collect on his judgment and Mr. Greer’s alleged control of the Defendants. The simple reality of this case is that the money flows in the opposite (and wrong) direction.”
In opposition to Mirlis’s legal attempt to “pierce the veil” of the company, Cohen also argued that the defendant companies are nonstock corporations that were established many years ago for “the charitable purpose of providing affordable housing and improving the Edgewood Park neighborhood of New Haven. At all times since their formation, the Defendants have operated in accordance with and in furtherance of that charitable purpose.”
He wrote that this federal suit is a collection action, not a child sex abuse case. He noted that Mirlis has already litigated the abuse allegations against Greer and the yeshiva, and has already obtained a significant award through a judgment that is currently on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second District.
“Subject to the outcome of the pending appeal, Plaintiff filed this separate collection action with a Complaint that is long on invective and suggestions of purposeful corporate mismanagement, but fatally short on substance related to the actual claims.”
Click here to read the full motion to dismiss.
Judge: Fraud Claim Is “Plausible”
On July 30, 2020, Haight denied Greer’s motion for dismissal.
“What this case comes down to is that Plaintiff Mirlis seeks to subject the five corporate Defendants to reverse veil piercing which, if granted, would render the Defendants’ assets available to pay Mirlis’s Underlying Action judgment against Daniel Greer and the Yeshiva,” the judge wrote.
He said that that he accepts Mirlis’s factual allegations as laid out in the original suit based on the arguments provided by Mirlis and his attorney so far.
He said he accepts that the five defendant corporations are dominated by Daniel Greer.
That Greer was in complete control of the corporations, whose board of directors conducted no formal meetings, took no votes, kept no minutes, and allowed all decisions about the acquisition or transfer of properties to be made by Greer.
That the yeshiva and defendant corporations have the same officers, post office boxes and telephone numbers, and do not charge each other for the use of each other’s services or property.
“The pleaded facts also state a plausible claim that Daniel Greer used his dominance and control of the five Defendants to perpetrate fraud or a wrong which proximately caused injury to Plaintiff,” he wrote.
“It is plausible to think that Daniel Greer employed these corporate maneuvers for the purpose of avoiding payments to his creditors.”
Click here to read the judge’s full decision.
Previous coverage of this case:
• Suit: Rabbi Molested, Raped Students
• Greer’s Housing Corporations Added To Sex Abuse Lawsuit
• 2nd Ex-Student Accuses Rabbi Of Sex Assault
• 2nd Rabbi Accuser Details Alleged Abuse
• Rabbi Sexual Abuse Jury Picked
• On Stand, Greer Invokes 5th On Sex Abuse
• Rabbi Seeks To Bar Blogger from Court
• Trial Mines How Victims Process Trauma
• Wife, Secretary Come To Rabbi Greer’s Defense
• Jury Awards $20M In Rabbi Sex Case
• State Investigates Greer Yeshiva’s Licensing
• Rabbi Greer Seeks New Trial
• Affidavit: Scar Gave Rabbi Greer Away
• Rabbi Greer Pleads Not Guilty
• $21M Verdict Upheld; Where’s The $?
• Sex Abuse Victim’s Video Tests Law
• Decline at Greer’s Edgewood “Village”?
• Rabbi’s Wife Sued For Stashing Cash
• Why Greer Remains Free, & Victim Unpaid
• Showdown Begins Over Greer Properties
• Judge: Good Chance Greer’s Wife Hid $240K
• Sex Abuse Too Much For Many Jurors
• Potential Greer Juror Grilled On “Truth”
• Greer Jury Finalized
• Greer’s Accuser Recounts Sexual Abuse
• Attorney Grills Greer Accuser
• Religion’s Role Raised In Greer Trial
• Another Greer Accuser Testifies
• Trial Question: Can Sex Crimes Victims Love Their Abusers?
• State Screws Up: 4 Greer Counts Dismissed
• Jury Finds Rabbi Greer Guilty
• “Noodles” Sideshow Stalls Sentencing
• Rabbi Greer Headed To Prison
• Rabbi Greer Released From Prison
• Sex Abuse Victim Blasts Rabbi’s Release
• Judge Sends Rabbi Greer Back To Prison
Never got my security deposit back after ending my lease in 2017, I wish Mr. Mirlis good luck collecting millions from an organization that refused to cough up a $1400 deposit.