Newmark Is Chasing Nightingale's Co-Founder For $3M. His Firm Just Bought A $25M Building

Newmark is asking a New York court to compel Simon Singer, co-founder of Nightingale Properties and the firm's former president, to produce financial records as it tries to collect on a $3M judgment that Singer and his family trust have yet to pay. 

Singer's attorneys have appealed the judgment and argue that Newmark shouldn't be able to collect because of its work representing his former business partner, Elie Schwartz, as he was defrauding investors in Nightingale deals to the tune of $63M.

The dispute traces back to August 2021, when Newmark agreed to purchase the equity in Nightingale Realty LLC from Singer, Schwartz and their affiliated entities. The sale closed that November.

Newmark later filed a legal summons alleging fraud and seeking to rescind the deal. 

Rather than litigate, the parties settled in March 2023. Schwartz was required to make an initial $5M payment and six additional installments totaling $6M, with Singer's liability capped at 50% of any unpaid installment and no more than $3M in total.

Schwartz subsequently pleaded guilty to wire fraud in February 2025, admitting to misappropriating approximately $62.8M that investors raised through CrowdStreet for two commercial real estate deals — the Atlanta Financial Center and a Miami Beach property called Lincoln Place — Bisnow previously reported. A $54.9M judgment was entered against Schwartz and his entities.

Newmark sought and received a separate judgment against Singer in August 2025 for $3M. Singer appealed the judgment in February.

Singer's attorneys argue in appellate briefs that he was fraudulently induced to sign the settlement, contending that Newmark was managing 19 Schwartz properties and serving as his exclusive financing agent for the deals later implicated in the CrowdStreet scandal and that Newmark never told Singer.

“Once Newmark is made to answer the hard questions as to what it knew and when, questions that it has so far evaded, we expect that the inquiries into Mr. Singer's finances will come to a screeching halt and the focus will be where it belongs, on Newmark,” Y. David Scharf, the Morrison Cohen partner arguing the appeal, said in a statement to Bisnow.

Singer has paid nothing, and in a May 11 letter to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Anar Patel, Newmark accused Singer, his wife, Chana Singer, and his entity, FTK Capital Management, of stonewalling post-judgment discovery — failing to disclose bank accounts, real property and other assets.

Singer co-founded Nightingale Properties in 2005 and served as its president until his 2021 departure. 

Newmark claims that Singer has the means to pay. The firm cited FTK Capital's March acquisition of a 560K SF Chicago office building for $25M via a note sale as proof that Singer's entities are active and capitalized. Newmark did not respond to a request for comment.

Singer's attorneys at Morrison Cohen pushed back in a May 13 response, arguing that Newmark's discovery demands are “harassing and overreaching” and that Singer has already produced tax returns, bank statements, W-2s and other financial records. They contend Chana Singer's nonmarital assets are off-limits under New York law.

Singer's legal team has also challenged the validity of the judgment itself. 

In an earlier filing, an attorney for Singer argued that his liability under the settlement was conditioned on Schwartz first completing his payments, which he never did. 

Some payments that Schwartz did make to Newmark were deemed fraudulent transfers by a bankruptcy trustee overseeing the repayment to Schwartz's fraud victims, the attorney, Simcha Schonfeld, wrote. 

Newmark returned $1.15M of those funds, which the trustee agreed to treat as if they were “never paid,” potentially eliminating the trigger for Singer's guarantee obligation entirely, Schonfeld argued.

“Questions abound concerning what Newmark knew about the actions of Schwartz and his defrauding of investors, as well what financial records Newmark reviewed in the course of their representing Schwartz’s affiliates,” he wrote.

Patel sided with Newmark and ordered Singer to pay $3M, plus interest. Newmark argues that Singer is stonewalling its attempts to collect. 

“It is clear that Chana's assets are intermingled with Simon's through a complex web of entities and trusts,” the firm wrote, noting that Chana Singer is the trustee of the debtor trust and that FTK Capital Management's operating agreement states that the entity exists “to manage and oversee the day to day investments of the Simon Singer Family Trust and its related entities.”

The appeal is scheduled to be argued on May 28 before New York's Appellate Division, First Department.

A tip from The Promote led Bisnow to this story.