Joel Schreiber (born August 1979)

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British-born American property investor and founder of Waterbridge Capital; Companies House officer born August 1979

Joel Schreiber
Image
Born August 1979 Islington, London, England
Died
Nationality British
Residence New York, United States
Occupation Property investor
Known for Founder of Waterbridge Capital; early investor in WeWork
Parents
Spouse(s) Rivka Shwartz (m. 2000)
Children
Sibling(s)
Education
Predecessor
Website

Joel Schreiber (born August 1979) is a British-born property investor, founder of Waterbridge Capital in New York, and an early investor in WeWork. He is registered at Companies House as an officer with date of birth August 1979 (officer ID GZ-ozBeHVp2TjL-P2Srg9MEUbxU) and 29 recorded appointments.[1][2] An England and Wales civil birth entry records a Joel Schreiber born in the third quarter of 1979 in the Islington registration district, mother’s maiden name Klein.[3]

He should not be confused with a separate Companies House officer also named Joel Schreiber (born 1949), date of birth March 1949 (officer ID zA10CR8SVy1ZCEA21BLd5ex-C9g), whose correspondence addresses include 20 Ashtead Road, London E5 9BH.[4] Press reporting has described the younger Schreiber as born into a Hasidic family in London and as having a father who was a businessman in London.[5][6]

Early life and family records

Birth records show that Joel was born in the third quarter of 1979 and his mother's maiden name was Klein.[7]

Marriage records show only one marriage that could be his parents. This was of Osias Schreiber to Gyta Klein in Salford in 1974.[8]

Civil marriage records list a Joel Schreiber marrying Rivka Shwartz in the first quarter of 2000 in the Hackney registration district.[9] A separate 1970 marriage of a Joel Schreiber to Helen Zucker in Stoke Newington is consistent with the older officer generation and is not the 1979 birth record.[10]

UK electoral-register and director address compilations for a Joel Schreiber in the 45–49 age band list 141A and 147 Stamford Hill, London N16 5LG; 150 Rosebery Avenue, London N17 9SD; and 40 Clapton Common, London E5 9DG.[11] Those Stamford Hill addresses overlap the registered office used by Midos Group companies associated with the wider Schreiber family property network in Stamford Hill.

Relation to Midos Group and 147 Stamford Hill

Joel Schreiber (August 1979) is the Klein-line son of Osias Schreiber and Gyta Klein, not a Companies House director of the core Midos Group stack and not the convicted 1986 principal. The 147 operation is headed in UK filings by David Schreiber (August 1952) and Emanuel Schreiber (May 1956) with Miriam Schreiber (née Orgel). Those two brothers ran Omeret Ltd / Antalya Ltd (press also Omerton Ltd), were jailed at the Old Bailey in May 1986, were made bankrupt, and after discharge rebuilt through Lakeview / Midos Group vehicles at 147 Stamford Hill and later Discovery Park. Emanuel Schreiber was reported at trial as a US citizen; both men used Stamford Hill / Upper Clapton / Craven Walk addresses in the 1980s cuttings.[12]

Osias Schreiber sits in the same generation as David Schreiber (August 1952) and Emanuel Schreiber. Brotherhood is the working family reading — same surname, overlapping North London Hasidic property world, and Klein-line children (David Schreiber (born 1976), this Joel Schreiber, Abraham Schreiber (born 1981)) who later appear on Stamford Hill–adjacent companies and Satmar-side charities — but the civil indexes do not name the three men’s parents on one certificate, so the sibling link is not proved the way David Schreiber–Emanuel Schreiber is proved by the 1986 trial caption.[13]

US names that look similar must be kept on their own lines. Simon Schreiber (February 1912, nationality USA, Antwerp correspondence) is a resigned director of Ellador Limited, the Joel Schreiber (born 1949) (March 1949) / Helen Zucker vehicle at New Burlington House — Zucker line, not Klein and not the 1952 Midos pair.[14]

What ties this Joel Schreiber (1979) to 147 in the American record is thinner and later. In a Starwood Capital Group asset examination he was asked about Midos Group loans; The Real Deal reported that he answered “I don’t recall.” That is a question on the transcript, not a filed UK directorship. Treat him as Klein-line kin of the 147 generation, not as a Midos PSC.[15]

United Kingdom directorships

The August 1979 officer record lists 29 appointments. Correspondence addresses on those filings are mainly 150 Rosebery Avenue, London N17 9SD, with earlier entries at 141A Stamford Hill N16 5LG and 86 Forburg Road N16 6HT, and one at 40 Fawcett Estate, Clapton Common E5 9DG.[1] Filings typically give nationality as British and place of residence as England.

Selected current appointments on that officer record include:

Company Number Appointed Correspondence address
Roedean Property Ltd 17262350 4 June 2026 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Webb Estate Property Ltd 17061561 1 March 2026 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
JS Slough Ltd 16926482 22 December 2025 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
JSF Slough Ltd 16902452 10 December 2025 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Larbert Estate Ltd 15842148 16 July 2024 40 Fawcett Estate, Clapton Common, E5 9DG
Astbury Property Ltd 15487815 13 February 2024 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Arus Estates Ltd 14690150 13 March 2023 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Grayscroft Property Ltd 13982891 17 March 2022 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
SE23 Investments Ltd 13736356 10 November 2021 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
SE23 Group Ltd 13736329 10 November 2021 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Leaside Residential Limited 13560628 11 August 2021 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Reward Property Limited 13543867 2 August 2021 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
SE23 Property Ltd 13274767 18 March 2021 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Clapton Property Limited 13200913 15 February 2021 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Northwold Property Limited 12764217 23 July 2020 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Wigan Property Ltd 12745450 15 July 2020 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
HP5 Residential Ltd 12716927 3 July 2020 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
HP5 Group Ltd 12714068 2 July 2020 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Caldicot Properties Limited 11911050 17 March 2020 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Fawcett Property Ltd 12518070 16 March 2020 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
HP5 Investments Ltd 12052200 14 June 2019 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
HP5 Properties Ltd 11776905 21 January 2019 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD
Aviv Property Limited 10658053 8 March 2017 86 Forburg Road, N16 6HT
JRS Property Holdings Ltd 09966836 25 January 2016 86 Forburg Road, N16 6HT
JSF Holdings Ltd 09888249 8 December 2015 141A Stamford Hill, N16 5LG
TKB Commercial Limited 08915223 27 February 2014 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SD

United States career

Joel Schreiber moved to New York in the late 1990s. From 2000 he bought residential property in Brooklyn, upstate New York and New Jersey with family money and a syndicate of private investors; by 2004 he had sold most of that portfolio and concentrated on commercial buildings in Manhattan. He founded Waterbridge Capital in 2006, a Midtown investment firm later described as Brooklyn-based in court reporting.[5][16]

His first major Manhattan purchase was 536 Broadway, SoHo — office and retail — for about $190 million in 2007, with a group of investors.[5] In 2012 he partnered with Adam Neumann and Alchemy Properties to buy the top floors of the Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, for a reported $68 million for a condo conversion; a seven-storey penthouse was later marketed at $110 million. In a later deposition he said he retained a fraction of the promote.[5][6]

WeWork

In 2010 he provided seed capital to Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey for WeWork. Trade press and WeWork lore commonly report $15 million for a one-third stake to open the first locations. In a 2018 deposition Joel Schreiber said he had invested between $1 million and $2 million; a 2019 lender complaint put the figure at $4 million. He told the deposition: “I made those guys. I started WeWork. I seeded WeWork for them.” Waterbridge Capital confirmed to The Real Deal that he was the first investor and “provided seed capital to open the first few locations.” A later lawsuit valued the stake as high as $1 billion when WeWork itself was marked at $47 billion. He later cashed stock to SoftBank; press put that exit at least at $44 million.[5][6][17][18]

He also pledged the WeWork interest as loan collateral from 2016, including (press says) a pledge of the entire stake held through We Member LLC to Adam Neumann himself, and in September 2019 a pledge of 1.56 million shares — then said to be worth more than $90 million — to Goldman Sachs for a $20 million revolving facility.[6][19]

Los Angeles

In 2014 Waterbridge Capital and Jack Jangana’s Continental Equities bought the vacant Broadway Trade Center, 801 South Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles — about 1–1.2 million square feet — for $122–123 million. A 2016 Jamestown loan of $164 million was reported for a redevelopment; a condition was said to bar further debt. In 2018 a Starwood Capital Group affiliate refinanced the building at about $213 million, later increased to $219 million. Joel Schreiber and Jack Jangana signed personal guarantees. Schemes floated for the empty pile included a “metaverse hub.” Starwood Capital Group took the building at a December 2022 foreclosure sale on a $200 million credit bid after payment default. An ownership entity had sought Chapter 11 in August 2022.[19][20][21]

While that loan was in default, Waterbridge Capital bid for Union Bank Plaza, a 40-storey Downtown Los Angeles tower (reported winning bid $155 million in 2022; close later given as $104–110 million in March 2023). Joel Schreiber said in deposition that he had no equity, only a shared management fee with Cushman & Wakefield, but signed a personal guarantee on the mezzanine loan. The tower was sold in 2024 to Southwest Carpenters Pension Trust for about $24 million less than the purchase price; press said the group still made money on a lease pay-out.[18][15]

These holdings are distinct from the UK Midos Group and Discovery Park portfolio controlled from 147 Stamford Hill. In a Starwood Capital Group examination Joel Schreiber was asked about Midos Group loans; The Real Deal reported that he answered “I don’t recall.”[15]

United States litigation

Trade press from 2017 already counted about a dozen money suits: defaulted loans, unpaid commissions and missing partnership payouts. Examples reported include investors Oren Evenhar and Isaac Hershko (35 per cent stake at 119 West 25th Street, bought for $54.5 million in 2013; later settled); a broker claim in which a confession of judgment and a frozen bank account were used before payment; Chapter 11 on 182–186 Spring Street with about $26 million owed to lenders including Acadia Realty Trust; 2019 suits by Vikram Kuriyan (five handshake loans totalling $750,000) and Forefront Income Trust ($2.5 million loan, alleged $1.4 million penalties); and a 2023 claim by a company tied to a former Rockland County mayor on a $9 million Broadway Trade Center-related loan.[5][17][22]

None of those early actions is a criminal conviction. The large 2022–25 docket is civil judgment enforcement.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs sued in 2021 on the September 2019 $20 million revolving loan secured on We Member LLC / 1.56 million WeWork shares. The bank alleged that after WeWork cancelled its first IPO and the shares fell, Joel Schreiber defaulted; that replacement collateral included interests in companies Goldman Sachs called worthless (one, Retail Worx, already out of business on PitchBook); and that several hundred thousand pledged shares had been sold without consent — Goldman Sachs’s lawyer put “more than 300,000 shares … dissipated and unaccounted for.” Joel Schreiber’s then counsel, Michael Fox of Olshan Frome Wolosky, told The Real Deal there was “no double pledge” and that any change in collateral value was market volatility. Joel Schreiber also argued interest was miscalculated.[6][23]

In June 2023 Justice Andrew Borrok awarded Goldman Sachs about $19.5 million plus $2.6 million interest and enjoined further sales of the WeWork stake: “Given the defendants’ history in selling assets in violation of the governing documents, an injunction is appropriate.” Later reporting treated the Goldman Sachs judgment as about $22 million.[19][24]

Starwood Capital Group

Starwood Capital Group sued in 2022 on the Broadway Trade Center refinancing and the personal guarantees, at one point claiming about $271.5 million before foreclosure. After the $200 million credit bid, a New York judge held Joel Schreiber owed about $78.7 million as the gap between bid and outstanding debt. Starwood Capital Group later described two judgments totalling more than $88 million and a further claim of about $5 million / $5.4 million on a second facility, seeking turnover of interests including Waterbridge Capital. Joel Schreiber argued the building was worth far more than $200 million and that he had not been properly served.[19][21][20]

Starwood Capital Group then tried to collect. It alleged failure to answer information subpoenas and to produce records of at least 25 LLCs; it asked for contempt and, in 2024, for jail as “a tool of compliance.” Justice Aaron Maslow of Kings County told a November 2024 hearing that missing items might mean “Mr. Schreiber spend some time in prison.” Joel Schreiber filed that he had no income to pay about $130 million of creditor claims, while Starwood Capital Group pointed to the Union Bank Plaza purchase, a Tribeca buy, private-jet use and a $151,588 wire to Catering by Michael Schick described as a son’s wedding. In January 2025, after more than 18,000 pages were produced, Aaron Maslow found “substantial efforts” and did not imprison him; format and completeness disputes continued. In May 2025 Aaron Maslow ordered about $122,000 in Starwood Capital Group lawyers’ fees to David McTaggart and Paul Chronis of Duane Morris, calling it “unseemly” that Joel Schreiber quibbled after more than two years on the subpoenas “and even still there remains a question of where he is parking his personal money.” Joel Schreiber told the court the papers were “negative energy.” Press in May 2025 said he had not paid Starwood Capital Group a dollar and did not plan to.[25][26][27][15]

Taken together, the June 2023 Goldman Sachs and Starwood Capital Group awards were reported as judgments of about $100 million. They are civil. No UK criminal record attaches to this Joel Schreiber (August 1979); the 1986 Old Bailey gold-VAT convictions are David Schreiber (August 1952) and Emanuel Schreiber.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Joel SCHREIBER personal appointments, Companies House, retrieved 15 September 2026.
  2. ↑ Joel Schreiber, Wikipedia, retrieved 15 September 2026.
  3. ↑ England & Wales Births 1837-2006, Joel Schreiber, registration year 1979, quarter 3, district Islington, volume 13, page 1297.
  4. ↑ Joel SCHREIBER personal appointments (March 1949), Companies House, retrieved 15 September 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Konrad Putzier, The story of WeWork’s mysterious first investor, The Real Deal, 1 December 2017. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "TRD2017" defined multiple times with different content
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Joel Schreiber, WeWork’s first investor, under fire on multiple fronts, The Real Deal, 2 November 2022.
  7. ↑ First name(s) Joel Last name Schreiber Birth registration year 1979 Registration quarter 3 Mother's maiden name Klein District Islington County London Country England Volume 13 Page 1297 Record set England & Wales Births 1837-2006 Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records Subcategory Civil Births Collections from Great Britain, England
  8. ↑ First name(s) Osias Last name Schreiber Marriage quarter 1 Marriage year 1974 Registration month - MarriageFinder™ Osias Schreiber married one of these peopleGyta Klein Spouse's last name Klein District Salford District number - County Lancashire Country England Volume 10F Volume as transcribed 10F Page number 1034 Record set England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005 Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records Subcategory Civil Marriage & Divorce Collections from Great Britain, England
  9. ↑ England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005, Joel Schreiber and Rivka Shwartz, marriage year 2000, quarter 1, district Hackney, page 0160.
  10. ↑ England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005, Joel Schreiber and Helen Zucker, marriage year 1970, quarter 3, district Stoke Newington, volume 5E, page 379.
  11. ↑ UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors, Joel Schreiber, addresses at Stamford Hill N16 5LG, Rosebery Avenue N17 9SD and Clapton Common E5 9DG.
  12. ↑ “Fraudsters jailed,” Jewish Chronicle, 2 May 1986.
  13. ↑ England & Wales Births 1837–2006, Klein maiden-name cluster, Islington / Stoke Newington / Enfield / Westminster, 1975–1988.
  14. ↑ ELLADOR LIMITED officers, Companies House.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Keith Larsen, Grilled about high spending, Joel Schreiber pleads poverty, The Real Deal, 5 December 2024.
  16. ↑ The Team, Waterbridge Capital, retrieved 15 September 2026.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 David Jeans, WeWork’s first investor used his stock as collateral. Now his lenders are suing him, The Real Deal, 11 October 2019.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Joel Schreiber on bizarre Los Angeles Union Bank Plaza deal, The Real Deal, 23 December 2024.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Keith Larsen, Joel Schreiber ordered to pay Starwood, Goldman Sachs $100M, The Real Deal, 14 June 2023.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Isabella Farr, Starwood takes Schreiber’s Broadway Trade Center following foreclosure, The Real Deal, 21 December 2022.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Starwood sues Joel Schreiber for $272M over troubled LA building, The Real Deal, 27 September 2022.
  22. ↑ Keith Larsen, Joel Schreiber is sued again for unpaid debt, The Real Deal, 28 April 2023.
  23. ↑ Goldman Sachs Bank USA v Schreiber, 2022 NY Slip Op 30291(U).
  24. ↑ Ciara Long, Judges rule WeWork’s first investor should pay $100M to Goldman Sachs, Starwood, Bisnow, 15 June 2023.
  25. ↑ Keith Larsen, Starwood seeks to hold Joel Schreiber in contempt of court, The Real Deal, 23 August 2024.
  26. ↑ Keith Larsen, Joel Schreiber avoids prison after providing 18,000 documents to Starwood, The Real Deal, 21 January 2025.
  27. ↑ Keith Larsen, Starwood keeps fighting Joel Schreiber, The Real Deal, 7 May 2025.
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