Jona Rechnitz Hits Back in Black Spruce Lawsuits

Jona Rechnitz has hit back at the founder of GO Residential REIT, as a major transaction for the company hits roadblocks.

Rechnitz, the former investment advisor for champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., alleges that Josh Gotlib and his Black Spruce Management have been wrongfully withholding funds from Frist Apex, a firm associated with Rechnitz, since February. In a new suit filed Friday in New York County Supreme Court Frist Apex is trying to push Gotlib, who is the founder of GO, and Black Spruce to pay up.

Frist Apex alleges in the suit that Gotlib is under “personal financial strain, and Black Spruce’s cash has been treated as available to meet it.”

“When Josh Gotlib asked for our investment, he sat us down in his home and promised distributions ‘like clockwork,’” Frist Apex said in a statement. “Then the payments stopped, the explanations kept changing, and when we asked for the books, he went to court instead.”

Rechnitz and Mayweather first started working together in 2017, looking to invest in real estate. Mayweather’s Vada Properties invested about $32 million in multifamily portfolios in 2024, including properties owned by GO Residential REIT, founded by Gotlib and Meyer Orbach, and others run by Black Spruce Management. Frist Apex, the firm associated with Rechnitz, was entitled to 20 percent of the distributions from that investment, according to a letter signed by the parties.

Black Spruce allegedly stopped paying Frist Apex in February, according to the firm’s lawsuit.

Mayweather then sued Rechnitz in May, alleging he had diverted $175 million in funds from him, including by giving Frist Apex the 20 percent cut of distributions from the multifamily portfolios.

In September, Black Spruce said it didn’t want to distribute that 20 percent while Mayweather and Rechnitz worked out their legal dispute.

Black Spruce tried to give the contested 20 percent to the court to hold while the case was pending. Rechnitz and Frist Apex initially pushed back, saying that Black Spruce was simply stalling and should release the 20 percent to Frist Apex, along with financial documents and records.

Then in late September, Mayweather dropped claims against Rechnitz and Frist Apex without explanation.

Now, Rechnitz is looking to collect his distributions but claims he has not received a dime. His attempts to get paid led Gotlib and Orbach to file a lawsuit alleging fraud and defamation. Rechnitz allegedly messaged GO’s regulators, the president of Gotlib’s synagogue and media outlets with allegations of fraud and notices of future litigation, according to their suit.

Gotlib and Orbach alleged in the case that Rechnitz had launched a campaign against them, with the “incessant dissemination of falsehoods.” The pair highlighted in their filings that Rechnitz pled guilty in 2016 to fraud related to bribing a New York City cop, calling him a “shakedown artist.”

Rechnitz claimed he’s just trying to get the money investors are owed and that Black Spruce has come up with an increasing number of excuses for why it hasn’t paid up. Frist Apex filed a lawsuit Friday against Black Spruce looking for its 20 percent distribution. It separately asked a judge Tuesday to have the money deposited to the court while the legal battles continue.

In counterclaims to Gotlib and Orbach’s suit, Rechnitz said his communications are protected speech.

“Asking questions and sharing information fairly and responsibly is not defamation,” Rechnitz said in a statement. “Hard-working people put their savings into REITs and real estate investments, and they’re entitled to know where their money is and how it’s being handled.”

The feud between the parties has gotten increasingly personal. The new suit filed Friday includes text messages Gotlib allegedly sent to Rechnitz.

“You aren’t the first or last motherfucker I’ll deal with it. Btw, nice to meet you. I’m Josh Gotlib and you are officially fucked,” Gotlib allegedly messaged Rechnitz. “You just walked into hell.”

Elsewhere, the publicly traded GO is hitting roadblocks in its plan to acquire the assets of H&R Real Estate Investment Trust. The deal was announced two months ago and expected to close this quarter, but one of H&R’s largest equity investors plans to vote against the deal, Bloomberg reported. The deal would make GO Residential Canada’s second-largest publicly traded residential REIT by enterprise value.

GO’s stock, which is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has lost 37 percent of its value in the last 12 months.