Eight lawsuits filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Maryland seek to recover more than $2 million in alleged yacht-related spending by Chasen Construction, according to The Baltimore Banner. The complaints, brought for bankruptcy trustee Roger Schlossberg, allege that company funds paid to charter, manage and service yachts were transferred between 2022 and 2024 while the real estate business was insolvent. They name founder Brandon Chasen and business partner Paul Davis and allege that the spending benefited them and other interests.
The trustee’s lawyers are asking the court to recover the value of the transfers, along with fees, expenses and interest. The allegations are not findings of fact, and Chasen Construction had not filed responses to the suits at the time of the Banner’s report. Adam Freiman, Chasen’s attorney, said the complaints do not establish that Chasen personally did anything wrong and argued that he and his business are distinct. Freiman also attributed the company’s collapse to the pandemic, higher mortgage rates and the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, rather than financial mismanagement, the Banner reported.
Two different kinds of scrutiny
The yacht complaints concern whether money was improperly moved from a distressed business and whether it can be recovered for creditors. A separate matter involving a building in Chasen’s portfolio illustrates a different kind of public concern, but does not establish anything about the bankruptcy allegations. Baltimore Fishbowl reported that a notice posted Dec. 6 at 8 E. Eager St. in Mount Vernon warned the public away from the area; a city housing department spokesperson said tenants had not been asked to leave and described the safety concern as involving the exterior.
The city’s building code authorizes its Building Official to condemn land, structures or equipment deemed unsafe or dangerous to public health or safety and issue a condemnation notice, according to the City of Baltimore Law Library. That authority concerns safety enforcement; it is not evidence of the alleged yacht transfers or their legality. The Eager Street notice and the trustee’s recovery lawsuits are separate matters, with different questions and processes.
The Banner’s reporting describes Chasen Cos. as having built a Baltimore rental-property business of roughly 2,000 units before its financial distress and involuntary bankruptcy. The trustee’s suits now ask the court to decide whether the yacht-related payments should be returned to the estate. The complaints’ allegations, the amount ultimately recoverable and any responsibility of Chasen or Davis remain unresolved.
