Robert K. Futterman/ RKF Instagram
NEW YORK CITY—Robert K. Futterman is out, no longer with the eponymous RKF retail brokerage, as reported by the New York Post. Although RKF, Newmark Knight Frank and BGC did not respond by the time of the filing of this article, Futterman's bio is no longer on the RKF website.
The New York Post had reported on Wednesday that he was terminated “for cause” on Tuesday. The paper stated his firing followed the arrest of the 60-year-old former chairman of Newmark RKF for possession of marijuana and a controlled substance in TX, and that he was released on a $1,500 bond on April 30.
Commercial Observer reported that Futterman has been on leave since the end of April. The New York Post had reported he had shown up at a company event in Laguna Beach, CA and interrupted Newmark Group CEO Barry Gosin's presentation. A source also described Futterman in the New York Post article as “'acting erratically and kind of crazy.'”
Newmark Group closed its acquisition of RKF in September 2018. Futterman founded RKF in 1998. In a September GlobeSt.com interview Gosin praised Futterman for building RKF from scratch into a major retail services firm. Gosin had said due to Futterman's positive reputation and the loyalty his brokers had shown over the years, Newmark hired partners and brokers “'who to be honest I was trying to get for years and would never talk to me.'”
At the time of the acquisition, some RKF brokers and staff were not happy about signing multi-year contracts and some commission issues, according to trade publications.
However, Gosin was still optimistic that Newmark RKF would become a dominant retail company across the US and internationally. He stated only a few people left where there was duplication but the combined Newmark RKF would have 250 to 300 workers. Prior to the merger RKF had about 135 employees.
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Betsy Kim
Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.
