DJ Envy Lawsuit: Real Estate Fraud Claims and Cesar Pina Case

The DJ Envy lawsuit is actually a set of civil lawsuits: more than a dozen investors accuse the radio host, whose legal name is Raashaun Casey, of helping promote a real estate investment scheme run by his former business partner Cesar Pina. Plaintiffs collectively seek more than $40 million, alleging Casey’s celebrity endorsement on The Breakfast Club was what convinced them to hand over money that Pina then diverted. Casey has not been criminally charged, denies wrongdoing, and says he lost $500,000 of his own money in the same deals.¹²

What the Lawsuits Say Casey Did

Casey and Pina met in 2018 and became business partners. They co-hosted real estate seminars around the country, with tickets running up to $250, and Casey repeatedly promoted Pina on his nationally syndicated show, once calling him a “real estate genius.” The two shared an office in northern New Jersey and were slated to co-star in an A&E reality series called Property Players, produced by 50 Cent, which does not appear to have aired.³⁴

Beyond the seminars, select attendees were invited to private pitch sessions at the partners’ office for $2,500, where they were promised returns above 30 percent within roughly five months. In June 2022, Casey and Pina used The Breakfast Club to promote an investment platform called “Flip 2 Dao” that purported to sell fractional ownership stakes in the pair’s real estate projects.⁴¹

The complaints describe Casey as more than a spokesperson. Some plaintiffs say he personally attended pitch meetings with prospective investors and led guided tours of project sites. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have also cited evidence that Casey and Pina held joint bank accounts that earned at least $330,000 from their seminars through 2021. Plaintiffs’ attorney Sean Mack said Pina drew many investors into the scheme “based on DJ Envy’s promotion of his real estate deals.” Attorney Alexander Schachtel has argued Casey’s public role as Pina’s partner created a legal responsibility to the people who invested based on that endorsement.¹⁵

A federal civil lawsuit filed against Casey in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on December 8, 2023, alleged that his involvement and his “claimed $100 million real estate portfolio” with Pina were instrumental in convincing plaintiffs to invest.⁵

Who Is Suing and How Much They Lost

By November 2023, at least 20 civil lawsuits had been filed against Cesar and Jennifer Pina in the Superior Court of New Jersey, and 10 of those also named Casey as a defendant. More than 30 victims have come forward, and plaintiffs collectively seek over $40 million. Individual losses range from $100,000 to $1.5 million, and attorneys have estimated the total taken from investor accounts at between $25 million and $50 million.⁴⁶

Specific claims include:

Anthony Martini and Anthony Barone filed suit in July 2023, alleging they lost $1.5 million on an uncompleted apartment project known as Taylor Apartments and another $300,000 on the Flip 2 Dao platform.¹
Paul Peralta says he gave Pina $600,000 in four payments.⁷
Amy Flips alleges she provided $500,000 and recovered only $30,000.¹
Derik Deangelo took out a $100,000 loan against his home to invest and later had to sell cars he used for a small rental business.³

Schachtel described the claimants as “working class folks” rather than wealthy speculators, with many reporting the loss of their life savings. Plaintiffs have also noted that the pitch was directed at The Breakfast Club‘s core audience, which includes a disproportionate number of Black and Latino men.³²

How Casey Is Defending Himself

On an October 2023 episode of The Breakfast Club, Casey told listeners: “Cesar, if he took money, I wasn’t privy to it, nor did I even know.” He said the seminars were intended to “uplift my community” and teach generational wealth, and he referred to Pina as a “former business associate.”⁸

His attorney, Massimo F. D’Angelo, has called Casey a “victim himself” and a “double victim,” saying Casey invested $500,000 in a real estate parcel with Pina and never received a return. Casey’s legal team has argued that his participation was limited to co-hosting seminars and investing in one specific property, and that appearing with Pina on radio or social media does not amount to legal liability for a separate person’s financial crimes. Another attorney representing Casey, Dan Marchese, described the investor lawsuits as “green-mail,” an attempt to smear a celebrity’s reputation to force a financial settlement.²¹⁶

The Criminal Case Against Cesar Pina

Casey is a civil defendant only. The criminal case belongs to Pina, a 47-year-old real estate investor from Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, who built a following under the Instagram brand “Flipping NJ.” Federal prosecutors allege that starting around 2017, Pina solicited investments for the purchase and resale of properties, promising returns of 30 percent or higher within four to five months. Instead of investing the money, prosecutors say Pina ran a Ponzi-like operation, using funds from new investors to pay earlier ones while diverting the rest to personal expenses.⁹¹⁰

Pina was first arrested in October 2023 on a single federal wire fraud charge. A federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment in July 2025 that added money laundering conspiracy, money laundering, and bribery counts. If convicted on all counts, Pina faces more than 70 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.²⁹¹¹

Where the Cases Stand

Eight investors forced Pina’s company, Whairhouse LLC, into involuntary bankruptcy in August 2023, claiming individual losses ranging from $100,000 to $1.65 million. A court-appointed Chapter 11 trustee, Mark Politan, was assigned to search for recoverable assets and potentially file actions to claw back wrongly spent funds. Politan subpoenaed financial records from Casey and both Pinas, seeking bank statements from 2019 through 2023, tax returns from 2018 through 2021, and accounting software data. When the parties failed to produce them, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Rosemary Gambardella ordered compliance by January 8, 2024, under threat of contempt and arrest. Casey complied before the deadline.⁵¹²

One related bankruptcy was dismissed and closed in September 2024. A separate proceeding for Taylor Court Apartments LLC produced a confirmed Chapter 11 plan of liquidation in December 2025.¹³

The criminal case has slowed considerably. A federal district judge disqualified U.S. Attorney Alina Habba from participating in Pina’s case in August 2025 on the grounds that she had not been Senate-confirmed or appointed by district court judges, and the Third Circuit affirmed that ruling on December 1, 2025. The case docket remained active as of February 2026, but no trial or plea has occurred in the underlying criminal matter. A judge also denied Pina’s request to pause the civil lawsuits while the criminal case proceeds, meaning the investor claims against Casey continue on their own track.¹⁴¹⁵⁶

1
Billboard. DJ Envy Breakfast Club Real Estate Scam Lawsuits Explained
2
NPR. Breakfast Club Host DJ Envy Is Being Sued for Alleged Investment Fraud
3
OPB/AP. Breakfast Club Host DJ Envy Is Being Sued for Alleged Investment Fraud
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New York Magazine. Breakfast Club DJ Envy Cesar Pina Ponzi Scheme Allegations
5
Legal Affairs and Trials. Bankruptcy Judge Orders the Breakfast Club Host to Turn Over Documents
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NBC New York. Latest on Real Estate Scheme Involving DJ Envy
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Rolling Stone. DJ Envy Ponzi Scheme Accusations
8
Yahoo Entertainment. DJ Envy Addresses Real Estate Allegations
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NBC New York. NJ Real Estate Investor, an Influencer, Charged in Multi-Million Dollar Scheme
10
Patch. Influencer Cesar Pina Known as Flipping NJ Indicted in Multimillion Dollar Ponzi Scheme
11
NBC New York. Cesar Pina Pleads Not Guilty in Alleged NJ Fraud Scheme
12
The Daily Beast. Judge Tells DJ Envy to Turn Over Documents in Cesar Pina Bankruptcy or Face Arrest
13
PACER Monitor. Order Confirming Taylor Court Apartments LLC Chapter 11 Plan of Liquidation
14
CourtListener. United States v. Cesar Pina Docket
15
New York Times. Alina Habba Ruled Unlawful as US Attorney