SEC Settles Charges Against Former CEO of REIT

The SEC settled charges against Jeffrey Fishman, the former president and chief executive officer of One Liberty Properties, Inc. (OLP), a publicly traded New York based real estate investment trust, alleging two fraudulent schemes in which he received approximately $1.6 million in illicit profits. According to the SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, between 2001 and 2005, Fishman raised approximately $940,000 from seventeen individuals to invest in Medemil and misappropriated at least $609,000 of this amount to pay personal expenses and to gamble. By 2005, all of the Medemil investors’ funds had been dissipated as a result of Fishman’s misconduct and through trading losses.  The complaint further alleges that in 2002 and 2003, Fishman received almost $1 million in undisclosed kickbacks from two of OLP’s commercial partners in exchange for more favorable terms in connection with business transactions involving OLP.

Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Fishman consented to the entry of a final judgment that enjoins him from violating or aiding and abetting future violations of the securities laws, permanently bars him from serving as an officer or director of a public company, and orders him to pay $821,843.65 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, and a $75,000 civil penalty.