Colliers Broker Files Defamation Suit Against JLL

Yoron Cohen, an investment sales broker who made a splash in December when he and two colleagues left JLL for Colliers International, is filing a defamation suit against his former employer, according to The Real Deal.

The matter goes back to this article on Jan. 6. It cites an anonymous JLL executive who asserts Cohen and his investment sales colleagues Richard Baxter, Scott Latham and Jon Caplan were told by the firm that they were underperforming in early 2016.

The source said the brokers were given an ultimatum to do better in September.

Through a representative, Cohen told TRD, “it is shocking that JLL would give false information to news reporters. Mr. Cohen had a stellar performance record at JLL and there was no ultimatum, just the opposite.”

Cohen contends that in fact he turned down a handsome offer to stay at JLL.

The broker has retained L.A.-based defamation attorney Charles Harder. He’s perhaps best known for representing Hulk Hogan in a $140M suit that bankrupted Gawker Media's founder and led to the company's sale to Univision.

Cohen wants a retraction and an apology from JLL and for disciplinary action to be taken against whomever made the allegedly defamatory statement.

Among Cohen’s notable deals while at JLL was repping Olayan Group last year in the $1.5B sale of the Sony Building in Midtown, after the Chetrit Group saw the writing on the wall in a softening ultra-luxe condo market and backed out of a plan to convert the office building to uber-expensive apartments. [TRD]