Marc Kulick, CEO of Vesta Realty, is finally responding publicly to months of tenant complaints about black mold, sewage leaks, and water shutoffs at properties like Montage Apartments, and he’s pointing the finger at his own lender. Kulick claims second mortgages taken out by YSA Investments, run by former arms dealer Efraim Diveroli, cut off his company’s cash flow and left it unable to fund repairs or refinance. YSA fires back that the properties were already in crisis before it intervened, and points to improved conditions at complexes it now directly controls.
A Texas bankruptcy judge has called the dispute “weeks of chaos” and ordered a trustee appointed, with a critical hearing set for Monday, August 3 to decide who takes control. In the meantime, tenants are caught in the middle, some paying rent to Vesta, others now writing checks to YSA’s property manager, Capital Assets. Kulick also pushed back on separate allegations that he treated the company like a “personal piggy bank,” saying the truth will come out in court.