Vision & Beyond’s US real estate ventures implode, leaving Israeli investors in crisis
Vision & Beyond’s US real estate ventures implode, leaving Israeli investors in crisis
Vision & Beyond, which primarily invested in multi-family properties in the U.S., is believed to have raised between $50-100M, and at its peak had $500M in assets under management.
The collapse of Vision & Beyond has caused a significant stir among investors in real estate in the USA. Since Calcalist revealed the company's downfall and the temporary disappearance of its controlling owners, new evidence has surfaced regarding the mismanagement of client funds from Israel for overseas investments, both in its early years and later. Vision & Beyond is believed to have raised between $50-100M, and at its peak has $500M in assets under management.
Vision & Beyond, based in Herzliya, primarily invested in multi-family properties in the U.S. The company was established in 2018 and completely collapsed last month, laying off most of its 70 employees. Simultaneously, the controlling owners, Stas Grinberg and Peter Gizunterman, informed investors last week—after a prolonged absence—that they should no longer attempt getting in touch with them or the financial corporations in the USA that had seized the company's assets. The controlling owners have appointed the Friedman Yunger law firm to assess the remaining assets still under the company's control.
According to Grinberg and Gizunterman, the company's collapse resulted from rising interest rates in the U.S., inflation that drove up costs, and stricter financial institutions' policies toward creditors. However, Calcalist obtained new evidence suggesting questionable practices by Vision & Beyond, even in its early years, when it acquired smaller projects in Cincinnati, Ohio. For instance, investors who purchased apartments through the company at the end of the previous decade have recently discovered that they no longer own the properties. Their investments were lost after the bank foreclosed on these assets.
One such buyer, now in contact with 68 other apartment owners in Cincinnati, shared that they had purchased properties through Vision & Beyond, each costing $100,000–$300,000, only to learn they no longer own them. "In Vision & Beyond’s early years, buyers purchased apartments that were registered under their names, with the company merely acting as an intermediary in the transaction. I personally bought two properties outright, without any bank financing, and Vision & Beyond was only supposed to facilitate the deal," said the buyer.
The former apartment owners have since formed a company in the U.S. to investigate how their ownership was allegedly transferred without their consent. They claim that Vision & Beyond did not inform them when their properties were foreclosed upon by the bank. They are now exploring how properties purchased outright, without mortgages, could end up in the hands of financial lenders. Key allegations suggest that ownership of these assets was transferred from the clients to Vision & Beyond itself. After the ownership change, the company reportedly used the properties as collateral to borrow capital from U.S. banks and credit corporations, enabling them to expand their activities and acquire larger properties in Ohio—Vision & Beyond's primary area of operations.
Around two years ago, the company began acquiring larger multi-family ventures, requiring more credit and additional capital from investors. This shift led to a partnership with RME, a company owned by Aryeh Shchori, whose clients include members of the Israeli security forces. Shchori now alleges that Vision & Beyond’s controlling owners misused funds and properties.
Shchori has claimed, in both legal filings and to Calcalist, that Grinberg and Gizunterman sold a property worth $8 million without investors' knowledge and allegedly pocketed the proceeds. He also presented evidence suggesting that in December 2022, Grinberg and Gizunterman transferred ownership of certain properties in Ohio from the investors to their personal names. According to Shchori, this move allowed the two to secure a personal mortgage of $18 million in March 2023. A warning letter from Shchori's attorneys demands disclosure from the controlling owners about any additional financing taken against the projects' assets.
To date, no response has been received from Grinberg and Gizunterman.
