Real estate broker Robert Futterman fired from his company after drug bust
New York real estate broker Robert Futterman has been fired from his own company following a drug bust in Texas among other “crazy” behavior, The Post has learned.
Futterman, who sold his firm RKF to BGC Partners and Newmark Knight Frank last year, was terminated “for cause” on Tuesday, a BGC spokeswoman told the Post. The wheeler-dealer, known for big retail leases in some of Manhattan’s poshest neighborhoods, had been chairman of the newly created Newmark RKF.
The firing follows a recent arrest in Texas for both possession of “marihuana” and a controlled substance, according to jail bond records from Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth.
Futterman, 61, was released on April 30 on a total $1,500 bond, documents show.
He stopped in Texas on his way to a company meeting in Los Angeles, sources told The Post. Upon arriving late to the meeting, he proceeded to interrupt a presentation by company executive Barry Gosin by loudly greeting the room “as if nothing else was going on,” those in attendance say.
“They put him on a charter back to New York and since then he’s been acting erratically and kind of crazy,” a source added. “The company tried interventions to get him to go to rehab and he wouldn’t go.”
“Yes, I’m worried about him,” Jesse, Futterman’s 26-year-old son with first wife, Marjorie, told The Post.
Futterman and his clothing designer wife, Hollie Watman, split up “around a month ago,” Jesse said, adding that the split may have pushed him over the edge.
Futterman has had substance abuse trouble before but this time it’s worse, Jesse told The Post.
“Yes, I’m worried that it is far worse this time,” Jesse said. “I don’t understand what is happening.”
The last time Jesse saw his father, Futterman stormed out on him, he said.
“He told me to go f— myself. I’ve never seen him like this before,” Jesse said.
Sources said Futterman, whose brokerage was estimated to be worth between $40 million and $80 million leading up to its 2018 sale, has been texting and emailing people at the company with bizarre messages.
Indeed, the 61-year-old real estate broker texted a Post reporter Tuesday with a photo of himself together with an unidentified man wearing a “Gulfstream IV” hat.
In the photo, Futterman’s left arm appears to be in a makeshift bandanna sling.
“Montalk Ocean Retirement Shack!” he texted of the photo, referring to Montauk, the posh beach hamlet at the east end of Long Island.
Other texts to the reporter included the phrase “scoop on,” followed by a winky face emoji and Futterman’s initials, “RKF.”
“I always keep my word,” he wrote followed by a cowboy emoji and an emoji with dollar bill eyes and a dollar bill coming out of his mouth.
Futterman did not return multiple requests for an interview. Watman also did not respond to a request for comment.
The Texas bust wasn’t Futterman’s first scrape with the law. In August 2011, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Bridgehampton and endangering his passengers, who were four children ages 12-15, according to Newsday.
He pleaded guilty to aggravated driving while intoxicated, a felony, and DWI, The Observer reported in 2012.
Futterman was a victim of “Ponzi King” Bernie Madoff after investing on ethe advice of his accountant, he told The Real Deal in 2011.
“I feel completely taken advantage of. It’s just disgusting,” told the publication.
