REAL ESTATE
LIC real estate fi rm Modern Spaces sues competitor for stealing agents and data
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Modern Spaces, a real estate fi rm with
locations in Long Island City and Astoria,
is suing a competitor for poaching real
estate agents and proprietary information.
Th e fi rm, which was founded in 2008,
has two offi ces in Long Island City and
is headed by CEO Eric Benaim. Modern
Spaces is suing Compass, a brokerage
fi rm that launched in 2012.
According to the suit, Modern Spaces
is claiming that Compass’ “main corporate
Sales in Queens HOMES COOPS CONDOS Listings and photos courtesy MLSLI
NORTHEAST NORTHWEST SOUTHEAST SOUTHWEST
FRESH MEADOWS ASTORIA QUEENS VILLAGE HOWARD BEACH
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69-26 Bell Blvd., Bayside
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Salvatore Sica
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Anna Huang
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13-01 135th St., College Point
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Maria Carlucci
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37-28 85th St., Jackson Heights
$293,000
Co-op
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Ana Chan
Wagner & Kelly Inc.
$500,000 - $900,000
5-09 48th Ave., Long Island City
$688,000
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Pei Brian Ng
Edna Mashaal Realty LLC
Over $900,000
20-69 41st St., Astoria
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Julia Shildkret
Julia Shildkret Real Estate
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113-25 203rd St., St. Albans
$380,000
Single Family
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Sandra Morrison
Century 21 Milestone Realty
$500,000 - $900,000
89-45 212nd St., Queens Village
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Sarah Elias
Exit Realty First Choice
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85-11 Chelsea St., Jamaica Estates
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Berta Yadgarova
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63-95 Austin St., Rego Park
$199,888
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Gregory Yadgaroff
Realty Depot LLC
$500,000 - $900,000
83-75 117th St., Kew Gardens
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Kar Yee
Keller Williams Realty Landmark
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99-08 97th St., Ozone Park
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Ali Rashid
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strategy appears to rely on undermining
its competition by unlawfully
‘poaching’ Modern Spaces’ real estate
agents while simultaneously misappropriating
Modern Spaces’ confi dential
and proprietary information to gain an
unfair advantage in a competitive market.”
Jessica Meis, a real estate agent, began
working for Modern Spaces in July 2017.
During that time, the suit states, she
had access to private information including
open and exclusive listings that were
stored on the fi rm’s password protected
database.
Meis left the company in January 2018
to work for Compass and a few days
before her resignation, she allegedly
emailed dozens of fi les to herself including
“proprietary customer and listing
data,” according to the suit.
Modern Spaces is arguing that Meis
broke her confi dentiality agreement when
she did this and when she took marketing
materials, including photographs, which
were posted on Compass’ website.
“Modern Spaces is not the fi rst company
to fall prey to the brazenly unethical
actions of Compass, as the extensive
list of lawsuits against them shows,”
the fi rm said in a statement. “In our case,
certain Modern Spaces agents appear to
have been used as tools by Compass, who
allegedly supplied them with step-bystep
instructions on how to steal proprietary
company information and listings.
As a company with deep ties to the Long
Island City community we serve and support,
we will not sit idly by and allow this
malicious campaign to publicly undermine
Modern Spaces, all in the name of
gaining market share.”
Compass has been sued several times by
other fi rm’s for engaging in similar practices,
according to Th e Real Deal, which
fi rst reported the story.
Th e Corcoran Group and Citi Habitats
sued the company in 2015 for poaching
agents, violating non-compete agreements
and hacking into listings. Compass
then countersued Th e Corcoran Group
for launching a smear campaign against
its agents.
Saunders & Associates, a Hamptonsbased
fi rm, sued Compass in 2015, arguing
that a former agent took proprietary
information and shared it with Compass
when she switched jobs.
According to Th e Real Deal, Compass
hired an agent from Nest Seekers
International last year to expand its business
into Long Island City.
“Compass has never been found liable
by court of committing any of the allegations
set forth in Modern Space’s complaint,”
the company said in a statement
to Th e Real Deal.
Photo via Facebook/ModernSpaces
A Long Island City real estate fi rm is suing its
competitor for stealing agents and proprietary
information.
