Two men who own Baton Rouge nursing homes are suing GE Business Financial Services, charging a loan executive with the company took actions motivated by anti-Semitism that caused them to lose more then $100 million. Albert Schwartzberg and his son, Harris Schwartzberg, who live in New York, filed the suit against GE Financial in federal court in New York last week. The Schwartzbergs financed the purchase of a dozen nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Louisiana and Texas with a loan from Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch later sold its healthcare financing division to GE Financial. That sale put the Schwartzbergs’ loan under the eye of Richard Arrowsmith, a GE Financial loan administrator. The suit charges Arrowsmith of intentionally pursuing discriminatory actions, manufacturing defaults on loans, and withholding millions of dollars needed for capital expenditures, which led to the Schwartzbergs’ running afoul of nursing home regulators. The suit says Arrowsmith made bigoted and disparaging statements about the Schwartzbergs’ ethnicity and religion, referring to them as “those people.” “Our clients assert that they were unlawfully discriminated against solely because of their Jewish heritage,” says William A. Brewer III, partner at Bickel & Brewer and lead counsel for the Schwartzbergs. “The reputation and goodwill previously associated with the Schwartzberg-affiliated businesses have been permanently harmed.” To see the suit, click here.
This story has been corrected since it was first published
