The City of Detroit has filed a lawsuit against a Florida-based blockchain property investment platform that owns more than 400 blighted properties that have become unlivable.
The lawsuit cites Real Token LLC, company owners Remy and Jean-Marc Jacobson, and their 165 affiliated corporate defendants, for public nuisance violations that run afoul of basic health and safety requirements. The city accused Real Token of using a web of limited liability companies and shell companies to evade responsibility for property management, adding that the widespread neglect of these properties contributed to criminal activity, rodent infestations, fire hazards, and structural decay.
“This is the largest nuisance abatement case in our history,” said Conrad Mallett, corporation counsel for the City of Detroit. “These defendants have profited from our communities while ignoring their most basic legal obligations as landlords and property owners. Our neighborhoods are not investment portfolios — they are homes for Detroit residents.”
Photo: One of the blighted properties cited in Detroit’s lawsuit, courtesy of the city.
