Legal woes continues for North Jersey real estate influencers with two more lawsuits
A local real estate influencer couple continue to find themselves on the hot seat as two more lawsuits have been filed against them, the sixth and seventh in the last few months.
Cesar and Jennifer Pina have been accused of offering bogus deals to investors, with little or nothing to show for the money they have provided.
These two latest suits follow five others filed against the couple and their companies in the past two months. A lawsuit filed in July by two men said the Pinas took $1.5 million for a real estate venture in Paterson called the Taylor Apartments.
Multiple attempts to reach the Pinas for comment were not successful.
The newest lawsuits, filed in state Superior Court in Passaic County and Essex County, respectively, accuse the Bergen-based Pinas of using schemes to take money from the plaintiffs.
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The first lawsuit, filed by New York residents Adrian and Daphne Arenas in Passaic County, said they have lost at least $50,000 to the Pinas and their companies. The Arenases said they were introduced to the couple in February 2023 and were led to believe that Cesar Pina had "vast experience" and was successful in buying and flipping homes and that he worked with a number of celebrities.
According to the lawsuit, Pina told the pair that if they gave him $50,000 to purchase a property on Manchester Avenue in Paterson, he would renovate it, sell it and return to the Arenases "their money plus an additional 50% within four months."
The Arenases said that after they wired the money to Pina, the couple began failing to answer questions and were "elusive." When they were able to get in touch with Cesar Pina, they said, they were told everything was going according to plan, the lawsuit says.
The suit says the Arenases didn't hear from the Pinas between March and July, and when they did hear from them, instead of providing a status update on the Paterson property, the couple pitched another project.
The Arenases have yet to see any money back from the Pinas, and the lawsuit says that despite assurances that the property was in the process of being sold and closed on, there is no documented proof.
The other suit was filed by BTC Investments, a limited liability company out of Laurence Harbor that focuses on real estate investments and is owned and operated by Brandon Copeland.
According to the second lawsuit, in January 2021, the Pinas used one of their LLCs to enter into a joint venture agreement with BTC Investments, which agreed to provide a $150,000 investment to purchase a property on Boyden Parkway South in Maplewood. BTC Investments would get back its initial $150,000 plus a 35% interest payment. The suit says the full payment would be due if the property didn't sell "within 15 days after the three month period for purchase, remodel and sale of the property or within 15 days of the sale of the property."
The suit claims that while the Pinas used their Whairhouse LLC to enter into the agreement, From Start 2 Flipping was, in fact, responsible for the purchase, remodeling and sale of the Maplewood property. According to the lawsuit, Whairhouse LLC's business registration was revoked by the state in December 2018 for failure to pay fees and has yet to be reinstated.
BTC Investment said it contacted Cesar Pina after the three-month period to inquire about repayment and the progress and was not given "substantive updates" or the promised money. The lawsuit says the investment company attempted to contact Pina through texts and phone calls for payment for over a year and that the Maplewood property has yet to be sold.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: North Jersey real estate influencers face two more lawsuits
