Greater than two years after developer Brandon Miller died by suicide, his widow and his enterprise companion are nonetheless battling his collectors in courtroom.
In a lawsuit filed in early August, Westchester Fireplace Insurance coverage Firm sued Miller’s property, his widow, Candice Miller, and his firm, Actual Property Equities Company, over a $150,000 payout on a mechanic’s lien bond tied to a Harlem growth. The lawsuit is the newest to emerge from the tangled net of money owed and troubled actual property offers that Miller left behind.
Authorized filings in Surrogate’s Court docket and state Supreme Court docket present glimpses into Miller’s funds — together with a pointy drop within the steadiness of a brokerage account — within the months main as much as his July 2024 demise, and the chaos that adopted. In an affidavit filed in June, his enterprise companion Mark Seigel wrote: “To say that his demise despatched shockwaves via my life and enterprise can be an understatement.”
Seigel, Miller and Kinsmen Property Group’s Ari Zagdanski have been within the midst of negotiations to show a stalled Nolita life sciences undertaking into flats when Miller died. Seigel describes a sequence of lunches the three attended at New York energy spots Fasano’s, Cipriani’s and the Regency, and in Los Angeles, between February and Could 2024 to hash out particulars of the reimagined growth at 156-166 Bowery Avenue.
Two weeks after Miller’s demise, Seigel once more joined Zagdanski at Fauna in West Hampton “to debate plans for the brand new undertaking given Brandon’s demise,” in accordance with the affidavit, the place Zagdanski prompt bringing Abe and Scott Schnay’s SK Improvement into the deal. As they moved forward with the brand new undertaking with the Schnays, “it was my understanding that REEC’s demolition obligations beneath the bottom lease can be modified with respect to the brand new undertaking,” Seigel wrote.
“So I used to be utterly shocked, when in a while August 5, 2024, I obtained a discover of default for failure to well timed start demolition,” he stated within the affidavit.
Zagdanski sued REEC in March 2025, claiming the agency owes greater than $5.3 million in again hire, demolition prices, tax reimbursements and excellent liens on the property. They’re nonetheless battling in courtroom. A yr in the past, then-Mayor Eric Adams introduced town would transfer ahead with a housing undertaking at 156-166 Bowery Avenue with Kinsmen, certainly one of three websites provided as options to the canceled Elizabeth Avenue Backyard growth.
In the meantime, Candice Miller is preventing a subpoena in Surrogate’s Court docket from her late husband’s largest personal creditor, BMO Financial institution. The Chicago-based lender prolonged Brandon Miller an unsecured $11.3 million mortgage in January 2024.
Greater than $9 million stays excellent, in accordance with courtroom filings, and BMO is now questioning the authenticity of the UBS brokerage account statements Miller used to acquire the mortgage.
The financial institution alleges that account statements Brandon Miller offered earlier than his demise differ dramatically from these Candice Miller later submitted as administrator of his property. For February 2024, Brandon Miller’s assertion confirmed a steadiness of roughly $26 million, whereas the model submitted by Candice Miller mirrored a steadiness of about $482,000.
“These discrepancies increase crimson flags and vital considerations,” BMO stated in a submitting, arguing that further information are wanted to find out “whether or not the decedent offered BMO with fraudulent account statements” or “whether or not any funds … had been improperly or fraudulently transferred.”
BMO is searching for further UBS account statements courting again to September 2023, a request Candice Miller’s attorneys are contesting as “an overbroad timeframe.” Miller’s lawyer, Scott Salant, argues in an affidavit that BMO’s subpoena ought to concentrate on the cash within the accounts from the date of Brandon’s demise via July 2025.
An account overview from Candice’s model confirmed a complete of greater than $20 million as late as December 2022. By December 2023, the steadiness was about $400,000, rising to $1.4 million in January 2024 after which beneath $500,000 on the time of the February assertion.
Salant, Seigel and legal professionals for BMO Financial institution, Westchester Fireplace Insurance coverage Firm and Zagdanski didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
One other REEC property that was in progress on the time of Miller’s demise has taken a distinct route. Brandon Miller’s East Village undertaking is lastly landing office tenants, after years of issues and delays.
Lender Parkview Monetary brought in GDSNY in January to supervise leasing and growth administration on the property at 1 St. Mark’s Place, and it’s unclear whether or not REEC or Seigel are nonetheless concerned.
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