A Naples consulting firm says a business of an Italian media giant owes $1.7 million in fees related to four condo projects in the Miami area.
The attorney for the defendants says the allegations are “beyond the pale.”
Genesis Project Management & Consulting filed its lawsuit December 24 in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court against GV Development Group. GV, which is based in Fort Lauderdale, is led by Rafi Gibly and Gianluca Vacchi.
Vacchi is, according to Fortune magazine, “a titan in the media realm … known for his marketing prowess and ventures across various industries.”
“Vacchi is no stranger to harnessing the power of brands and media to move markets,” Fortune wrote last year of the entrepreneur and financier. “As a pioneer in social media — commanding more than 47 million followers — Vacchi is also a well-known entrepreneur and DJ.”
Medium called Vacchi “The Real Life World’s Most Interesting Man” and “an Italian industrialist playboy who owns the Bologna-based family conglomerate IMA … he is also a professional DJ and social media impresario.”
Vacchi has more than 22 million followers on Instagram and more than 21 million on TikTok. He has been called “The Coolest Man on Instagram,” and he documents his luxurious lifestyle and adventures – such as riding horses with friend Zac Efron – to his followers.
According to the civil complaint, Genesis officials were introduced to Vacchi and Gibly in April 2024 to help them with consulting services for projects in Miami that cost an estimated $4 billion. GV was working with real estate developer Michael Stern on four planned condo projects in Miami and Miami Beach. The three projects are known as Mercedes-Benz Places Miami, 888 Brickell by Dolce & Gabbana, 1250 West End Avenue and Casa Blanca.
Genesis is a consulting firm that specializes in high-end development and construction project managerial services. The company is led by John Stamboulis.
“It’s a lot of money, but for these people it’s not a lot,” attorney Edward A. Buchanan, who is representing Genesis, told The Florida Record. “When you’re moving billions, a million is a small line item. That type of money just gets tossed around with these types of projects.”
Buchanan, who is with Block & Scarpa in Vero Beach, said it seems to him as if Stamboulis wasn’t the yes man or rubber stamp GV wanted him to be.
“They hired him to do a job, and he didn’t say what they wanted him to say,” Buchanan said. “But he still did his job. And they used his information and made changes to benefit them. They’re still doing the project, but they’re aware of the pitfalls my clients pointed out. You still have to honor your agreement. You can’t just bail. He might have been unpopular because of the results of the reports, but it doesn’t mean he did a bad job.
“I can see if this was an honest mistake, this is an honest group and they simply overlooked making the payment. There’s an easy way to fix that. They can pay them. As more times goes on and as this drags on, it makes them look more guilty because they know about it.
“We’re not going to stop until my clients gets paid or this gets in front of a jury. We’re not going to stop fighting.”
According to the complaint, GV asked Genesis to provide a list of estimated expenses to perform the consulting work. In May, the parties met at Vacchi’s Miami Beach home. Genesis requested a $1.6 million annual budget, which was verbally approved during the meeting along with business terms of the relationship.
Genesis followed with an email summarizing the terms, and the parties circulating a consulting agreement that never was signed.
On May 15, Genesis says it began acting on the agreement and relocated its senior executive from Naples to Miami. It says GV began paying Genesis’ invoices. GV paid for two months of work and expenses, which amounted to about $160,000.
But, the complaint says the relationship soured. On October 21, Genesis stopped working for GV because of nonpayment.
Text messages from Stamboulis to Vacchi and Gibly show him asking about wire payment transfers that were not received.
“You must understand that $150,000 to most of you may not be a big deal, but to me it is!” Stamboulis told Vacchi and Gibly in one message. “Paying my bills on time and having a regular pay day is very important!”
Also, Genesis says GV used the work prepared by Genesis to “re-evaluate their position on the project and informed Genesis that they were withdrawing from the project and requested the return of $35 million from Michael Stern” after Genesis told GV the project would be way over budget if changes weren’t made.
Genesis says GV “benefited tremendously from the work performed by Genesis.” It says GV’s actions directly led to lost payments, economic losses and lost potential earnings because Genesis rejected other projects to work with GV.
The attorney representing the defendants dispute Genesis’s claims in the complaint.
“The charges levied by the plaintiff are beyond the pale,” Jason Giller with Giller PA in Miami told The Record. “Many of the exhibits belie the claims, and worse, disclose sensitive and confidential information which itself is actionable. GV Development extended tremendous generosity, to the tune of $160,000 for a few months’ work.
Now, plaintiff seeks a truly absurd $1,500,000 severance and more. It is no secret that Florida is an at-will employment state. Plaintiff fails to recognize that overriding concept but we are certain justice will be done.
“We look forward to our day in court and would defer any further comments to our forthcoming counterclaim.”
In the complaint, Genesis accuses GV of breach of contract and unjust enrichment. It seeks compensatory damages, interest, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Court case number 213466707