A 12 months in the past Floyd Mayweather, Jr. stood onstage defending his former funding supervisor and confidante, Jona Rechnitz.
“I belief Jona — not simply 10 p.c, 20 p.c — one hundred pc,” Mayweather advised a crowd at The Actual Deal’s 2025 New York Metropolis discussion board.
Now Mayweather has launched a lawsuit in opposition to Rechnitz accusing him of fraud and diversion of $175 million.
Mayweather’s partnership with Rechnitz, a convicted felon turned informant, raised eyebrows within the trade since Mayweather started his foray into New York Metropolis actual property in 2024.
Rechnitz, who pleaded responsible to a corruption cost for bribing New York Police Division officers in 2016, and Mayweather, a boxer with a 50-0 report, had been an odd pair.
With Rechnitz in Mayweather’s nook, the boxer went on a headline-grabbing acquisition spree in New York Metropolis, Chicago and Miami. This included a purported $402 million acquisition of a 1,000-unit reasonably priced rental portfolio in New York Metropolis and a $100 million funding in Meyer Orbach and Josh Gotlib’s luxurious Manhattan leases.
However these offers by no means materialized. Mayweather solely acquired a small proportion of curiosity within the 1,000-unit portfolio with an possibility to amass extra over time, Enterprise Insider reported. Within the luxurious rental portfolio, Mayweather made solely a small fairness funding, which has since been liquidated, in response to sources accustomed to the matter.
In Miami Seashore, Mayweather went beneath contract in late 2024 to purchase a stake within the former Versace Mansion from Eli Gindi. However Mayweather failed to shut on the deal and his deposit was returned, sources accustomed to the matter lately advised TRD.
Now, in a lawsuit filed this month, Mayweather blames his actual property troubles on his former companion.
The boxer alleges in his lawsuit that Rechnitz offered a false image of the offers he was supposedly investing in. As an example, Mayweather alleges Rechnetz advised him he can be buying your entire 1,000-unit portfolio, not a minority curiosity, in response to the lawsuit.
Mayweather additional alleges Rechnitz gained entry to his jewellery and personal jets. Mayweather alleges Rechnitz brought on Mayweather to promote his Gulfstream jet to an unknown purchaser for an unknown quantity. He additionally claims Rechnitz diverted $15 million in funds associated to an funding in SL Inexperienced.
Mayweather named Rechnitz’s alleged affiliate Ayal Frist and Alexander Seligson, a New York Metropolis lawyer, as defendants.
Rechnitz’s lawyer Morris Missry denied Mayweather’s allegations, claiming that the boxer had “playing points, prolific spending habits, monies owed to 3rd celebration collectors and IRS tax liens.”
Right here’s a timeline of how we acquired right here:
October 2024:
Mayweather enters the true property limelight. TRD reported on the time that Mayweather went beneath contract to amass a 1,000-unit reasonably priced housing portfolio of greater than 60 reasonably priced housing buildings for $402 million, citing sources accustomed to the deal. It was among the many largest residential offers of the 12 months.
“This buy holds deep emotional significance for me and my household,” Mayweather stated in a press release on the time. Mayweather has beforehand stated he lived “seven deep” in a one-bedroom in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as a baby.
November 2024:
Information of Mayweather actual property investments begins to ramp up.
First, Mayweather’s Vada Properties agreed to spend money on 601W Corporations’ $10 billion workplace portfolio. The properties included: Amazon-anchored 410 10th Avenue in Hudson Yards; the Aon Center and Old Post Office Constructing in Chicago; and Jersey Metropolis’s Harborside workplace complicated, TRD beforehand reported. On the time, Mayweather’s funding was meant to go towards repositioning property and new acquisitions, 601W Corporations Mark Karasick stated.
Then, Mayweather unveils plans to take a position $100 million right into a $3 billion enterprise with Meyer Orbach and Josh Gotlib’s Go Companions, according to TRD. Go Companions portfolio included high-end leases like The Copper, twin residential towers in Murray Hill that had been bought for $850 million in 2021.
The deal was anticipated to shut by the primary quarter of 2025. Mayweather, nevertheless, solely invested a small quantity, however by no means despatched over extra funds. His fairness place was in the end liquidated, in response to sources accustomed to the matter.
Lastly, Mayweather told TRD that he went beneath contract to amass a big stake within the former Versace Mansion in Miami Seashore from co-owner Eli Gindi. The Miami Seashore mansion was the previous residence of Italian dressmaker Gianni Versace and was transformed right into a luxurious boutique resort with a restaurant, spa, pool, lounge and occasion house.
It seems Mayweather solely put up a deposit and didn’t pay the remaining stability. The deal by no means closed and his deposit was returned, in response to a supply accustomed to the matter.
December 2024
Mayweather rented an condominium on the Baccarat Resort and Residences for $100,000 a month, the New York Post reported. The 4,178-square-foot unit spanned the 18th and nineteenth flooring of the Midtown constructing.
March 2025
Enterprise Insider runs the primary in a collection of tales about Mayweather’s investments. The story revealed that Mayweather’s 1,000-unit deal by no means hit property data and there was no proof of it occurring. Mayweather subsequently sues Enterprise Insider for defamation.
Might 2025
The Atavist Journal revealed a feature on Rechnitz’s run-in with the legislation. The story highlighted Rechnitz’s quite a few lawsuits within the 2020s, when he moved to L.A. and ran a jewellery enterprise. Of the 13 fits filed in opposition to Rechnitz or his corporations, many have been settled, Atavist reported. In two fits, the courtroom dominated in opposition to him, the publication reported.
Mayweather and Vada Properties CEO Ayal Frist spoke at TRD’s annual New York Metropolis discussion board. A lot of the dialog centered on Rechnitz. Mayweather defended Rechnitz over his previous and referred to Rechnitz as “one of many key items to the puzzle.”
Mayweather stated his connections in actual property prolonged past Rechnitz.
“I make sure connections as a result of I’m not like some other athlete,” he stated.
He fashioned relationships with SL Inexperienced’s Andrew Mathias and Marc Holliday and Wharton Properties’ Jeff Sutton, with out Rechnitz’s assist, Mayweather stated.
Mayweather additionally shot again at claims on social media that he was bankrupt.
“If we name having two personal jets, proudly owning 100 buildings, having the ability to do what you need to do — if that’s bankrupt, then I’m fairly positive all people needs to stay like that,” he stated.
Mayweather briefly spoke about his defamation lawsuit in opposition to Enterprise Insider.
“I’m not a liar,” Mayweather said. “I work arduous to construct my title and construct my status.”
February 2026
Lawsuits begin piling up in opposition to Mayweather over unpaid payments. One lawsuit alleged he owed over $330,000 in hire on the Baccarat Resort and Residences. A Miami jeweler alleged Mayweather owed $1.38 million for watches and gold chains he bought.
Might 2026
Mayweather hires New York Metropolis-based chapter and industrial litigator Leo Jacobs to file a lawsuit in opposition to Rechnitz, Frist and Seligson, in search of an accounting of the $175 million. Rechnitz had not filed a response but.
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Floyd Mayweather hits Jona Rechnitz with fraud lawsuit, alleges diversion of $175M
“I trust Jona”: Floyd Mayweather defends associate accused of theft by former business connections
