Drama is heating up as lawsuits are clouding the luxury development Apeiron at the Jockey Club five years after it was announced. Lawsuits filed with the Miami-Dade Circuit Court are alleging a loan-to-own scheme at the proposed, ultra-modern 120-unit condo project.

Apeiron Holdings Miami and Apeiron Miami, shell corporations controlled by developers Muyad “Mo” Abbas and Michael Bedner, have sued their partners, Jockey Segal Upland led by Asaf Horesh and Zeev Segal along with Pledger Trust Series 28 LLC, led by Doron Arad. Apeiron at the Jockey Club would be a 4th building addition to The Jockey Club, where it would be built on 13 acres of common grounds. The lawsuit is in reference to 3 properties which the Apeiron developers sold for $20 million to Elite Marinas Group, which was going to build and operate the marina for the Apeiron at Jockey Club development. Abbas and Bender obtained a $21 million mortgage by Romspen Mortgage Limited Partnership which they paid down over $11 million and repaid nearly half of the loan during the time in which they proposed plans for the project and received full entitlements and permits. Despite this success, the developers were sued by the 3 Jockey Club condo associations to stop the project.

The initial lawsuits threw the project into a frenzy although the developers won 2 of the 3 lawsuits. Problems would get worse when Arad would acquire the remaining $10 million in debt from Romspen. Arad, Segal and Horesh would then allegedly block the sale of the 3 properties to Elite Marinas Group and attempt to foreclose on Abbas and Bedner’s debt. On December 5th Jockey Segal notified Abbas and Bedner that they were in default and requested full payoff of the remaining $10 million loan.