Meridian’s Yoni Goodman Set to Leave Firm Amid Freddie Mac Investigation
By Isabelle Durso July 25, 2024 4:41 pm
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Meridian Capital President Yoni Goodman will be leaving the firm in the aftermath of an investigation into its loan originations, The Real Deal reported Wednesday.
Goodman told TRD he will depart from the company later this week “for other opportunities” after working for a decade at the firm founded by Ralph Herzka.
“We achieved a lot of great things over these 10 years, but people don’t stay at companies forever,” Goodman said to TRD.
A spokesperson for Meridian did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Goodman worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs (GS) until 2014 when he joined Meridian, where he helped the company expand into retail leasing and investment sales.
But Goodman’s time as the firm’s president wasn’t without obstacles. In November, Meridian was barred from placing deals through Freddie Mac seller-services due to an investigation into loans originated by one of the firm’s brokers.
The scandal placed Meridian in a slew of negative headlines, leading to Herzka’s ouster as CEO and Goodman to recruit Brian Brooks as CEO in April for damage control.
The firm took another hit in January when one of the brokerage’s closest multifamily lenders, New York Community Bank, nearly collapsed after CEO switches and plummeting stock prices.
Goodman’s solution to the problems was to discover new lenders and tailor Meridian’s deals around data and analytics, and he managed to steer Meridian across the finish line to end 2023 with $24.1 billion in originations on more than 1,500 loans in 43 states, Commercial Observer previously reported.
Meridian also brokered an additional $1.5 billion in investment sales transactions and deals that exceeded 2.8 million square feet of commercial property in 2023.
Goodman isn’t the only Meridian member to head for the door in the wake of the investigation. In April, debt brokers Adam Hakim and James Murad left the firm after six years to join Ripco Real Estate.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
