Judge Rules Wilfs Cheated Partners in Montville's Rachel Gardens, Awards $84.5M in Damages

A state Superior Court judge in Morristown ruled Monday that real estate power Zygmunt “Zygi” Wilf, his brother Mark Wilf and cousin Leonard Wilf cheated their partners in a Montville apartment complex out of profits for more than two decades, the Daily Record reported. The defendants were ordered to pay Ada Reichmann of Canada and  Josef Halpern of Brooklyn, who are siblings, $84.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages plus interest.

State Superior Court Judge Deanne Wilson ruled that the Wilfs, particularly Zygi, principal owner of the Minnesota Vikings, cheated Reichmann and Halpern by cutting them out of revenues and violated the state’s civil racketeering statute. She ordered Zygi Wilf to pay 60 percent of the $84.5 million while his brother and cousin must pay 20 percent each, the article said.

Josef Halpern, who according to the article uses a wheelchair because of his multiple sclerosis, found the property for Rachel Gardens in the 1980s, obtained all necessary approvals and was paid a salary as  the site manager. But through he and his his sister were the Wilfs' business partners, they received none of the profits.

“This case is extraordinary," the plaintiffs' attorney Alan M. Lebensfeld told the Record, "both by its depth and breadth of wrongdoing.”