Angry customers trying to get heirlooms back from New York antiques dealer
GREAT NECK, N.Y. -- Angry customers are banding together to get their money and heirlooms back from an antiques dealer.
Many said they haven't received anything, even after being offered their items back.
Steven Sussman consigned 400 antiques with a shop in Great Neck. For a year, he was told they couldn't be sold due to the COVID pandemic.
Then came a litany of other excuses, like a truck with his items was out of town.
"First it was in Texas. Then, maybe a few weeks later, now it's in Florida," said Sussman.
The customers call themselves victims of a con by Sara and Peter Khorshad, who own shops Great Neck, Manhattan and Bayside.
Daniel Roubeni consigned a Louis 14th-era heirloom that was appraised at $50,000.
"He told me he has buyers in the Emirates, very deep-pocketed clients that would pay a lot of money for it," said Roubeni.
Five years later, Roubeni has no payment and no table.
"He told me verbatim, 'I owed money to other people and I'm not able to pay you,'" said Roubeni.
Believing he was scammed, he posted online and was overwhelmed by the response.
"Over 40 people saying me too, me too," said Roubeni. "The amounts were north of $7 million."
Drita Cacaj consigned 22 antique paintings.
"I didn't get a dollar from them," said Cacaj.
The Nassau County District Attorney's Office said it's investigating, as is Nassau Consumer Affairs.
"So that this doesn't happen to other people. Ultimately, I see the money as gone, the table is gone, and I feel so bad because there are retired people, there are disabled people," said Roubeni.
There was no sign of the Khorshads at the Great Neck store on Friday. But in a statement, the couple's attorney Oscar Michelen told CBS New York:
My client's businesses were hit hard by the pandemic and it is taking a long time for the antiques business everywhere to recover. Prices for antiques had also dropped and as a result some clients who consigned goods to the stores received less than they expected. A couple of them have banded together to try to defame my client and claim he defrauded them. He adamantly denies any fraud and has been working with many clients to resolve their disputes. Many have been amicably resolved. Some we have not been able to resolve and are in litigation so I cannot address those. Anyone who has consigned goods to my client's business can contact me to arrange retrieving them if they wish.
Some complaints predate the pandemic.
Consumer advocates advise checking reviews before using a consignment shop and checking online for market value.
"To see what the going rates are for items like this are. Are there a lot of people watching things like this?" said Ian Baer, founder of Sooth.
If it's true that antiques are not selling well, customers said the business should've returned their items or provided receipts of what they actually sold for.
Some claim they've been waiting years.
