Ibrahim “Albert” Fouerti, 46, and Elie Fouerti, 47, the Brooklyn brothers who sold their appliance retailer to a New York Stock Exchange-listed company and then resigned as its CEO and chief operating officer amid an internal investigation, now run a New York real estate development firm that carries their name. Fouerti Realty, according to its own website, “was founded by brothers Elie and Albert Fouerti, who have seamlessly combined their passion for real estate with decades of investment expertise,” describing a transition “from LP investing to full-scale real estate development.” The firm operates out of 1864 Bath Avenue in Brooklyn and markets itself as “a leader in real estate investment and development” across New York and New Jersey, with a portfolio spanning multifamily residences, commercial space, and mixed-use projects. Its website was published in February 2024. That same month, Polished.com Inc., the company the brothers had left in October 2022, suspended operations, and on March 7, 2024, it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
On August 21, 2026, the SEC issued a settled order finding that both brothers violated Rule 13b2-2(a) of the Exchange Act by failing to disclose to Polished.com’s auditor at least $290,000 in personal and unauthorized expenses they had charged to company-paid credit cards, including donations to religious organizations, tuition for their children, and unauthorized travel. Albert Fouerti agreed to pay a $75,000 civil penalty and Elie Fouerti agreed to pay $50,000, neither admitting the findings. The full account of that case, including the internal investigation, the auditor’s resignation, and the $3.7 million repayment agreement Albert signed in December 2022, is set out in our earlier report on the Polished.com expense charges.
Tens of Millions in Financing Across Manhattan and Brooklyn
Property records tracked by the New York real estate data service PincusCo show the scale of the brothers’ activity since leaving Polished.com. In November 2025, Elie Fouerti, Ibrahim Fouerti, Vacheslav Faybyshev, and Robert and Gabriel Saffayeh together borrowed $22.5 million from Valley National Bank for 1477 Third Avenue. In February 2026, Elie Fouerti borrowed $19 million from Popular Bank for 215 East 83rd Street. In March 2026, Fouerti Realty paid a combined $14.77 million for two rental buildings in Sheepshead Bay, and in May 2026 the Saffayeh Group and Fouerti Realty closed on the former Corlears School building for $19 million. Earlier financings include a $74.8 million refinancing for a 189-unit building in Coney Island in February 2025 and a $97 million construction loan for a 209-unit East Harlem development in June 2024.
The Fouerti Realty website’s portfolio page lists properties consistent with those records, including 211-215 East 83rd Street, 333 East 82nd Street, 773 Neptune Avenue, 801 Ocean Avenue, and several Brooklyn addresses on 12th, 13th, 14th, and 16th Streets, alongside named developments including The Bay, The Forte, and The Manor. The firm describes a decade of expertise and says it has “grown from a focused LP investment firm into a full-service real estate powerhouse.” Its stated services include real estate development, property investment, mixed-use spaces, and community-focused projects, and its marketing emphasizes “uncompromising standards in design, quality, and sustainability.”
A Timeline That Runs in Parallel
The two tracks overlap closely. The brothers sold Appliances Connection to what was then 1847 Goedeker in June 2021 in a transaction valued at roughly $224.7 million. Albert became CEO of the combined company in September 2021 and Elie became chief operating officer in January 2022. The audit committee of the board opened its internal investigation in June 2022. Both brothers resigned in October 2022, along with the chief financial officer. In December 2022, the company disclosed that the investigation had found Albert charged the company for expenses unrelated to its operations, that he had agreed to pay $3.7 million to resolve the claims, and that the auditor had resigned and withdrawn its opinion on the 2021 annual report. In August 2023, Polished.com separately agreed to pay $100,000 to the brothers to terminate a lease on a Brooklyn office building owned by an entity they controlled, in a dispute in which the company had claimed the brothers’ entity owed roughly $1.2 million for work on the property.
Fouerti Realty’s site went live on February 1, 2024. Polished.com suspended operations that same month after failing to raise additional financing, and filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on March 7, 2024. Its common stock, once listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker POL, now trades on the OTC Expert Market. A shareholder class action naming Polished.com, former chief executive Douglas Moore, Albert Fouerti, and former chief financial officer Maria Johnson has proceeded in federal court in the Eastern District of New York. Nothing in the public record suggests the real estate business is connected to the conduct at issue in the SEC order, and the December 2022 settlement agreement Albert signed restricted him only from competing with Polished.com’s own lines of business, which did not include real estate development.
What the Record Shows and What It Does Not
It is worth being precise about the limits of what is documented here. The SEC’s August 2026 order concerns one narrow violation, the failure to disclose the credit card charges on related-party questionnaires sent by the auditor in early 2022. It does not charge the brothers with fraud in connection with the sale of Appliances Connection, with the collapse of Polished.com, or with anything relating to their real estate business. The financings and acquisitions described above come from public property records and the firm’s own marketing materials, and reflect borrowing and purchasing activity rather than any finding of wrongdoing. What the record does show is a sequence: two executives left a public company under an internal investigation into expenses, one of them agreed to repay $3.7 million, the company lost its auditor and then its solvency, and the same two men established a real estate development firm bearing their surname that has since financed and acquired New York property running into the tens of millions of dollars. The related-party disclosure rules at issue in the SEC order exist so that auditors and investors can see those kinds of parallel interests while a company is still operating.
Conclusion
Albert and Elie Fouerti built Appliances Connection, sold it into a public company for roughly $224.7 million, ran that company for about a year, and left it in October 2022 as its board investigated expenses charged to company-paid cards. Albert agreed to pay $3.7 million back. The auditor resigned and pulled its opinion. In February 2024, as Polished.com suspended operations and headed into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the brothers’ new venture, Fouerti Realty, published its website describing a firm that had grown into a full-service real estate powerhouse. In the two years since, property records show financings and acquisitions across Manhattan and Brooklyn totaling well into eight figures. In August 2026 the SEC closed its case against them for $125,000 in combined penalties. One company is in liquidation. The other is buying buildings.
