A group of individuals have banded together in an online support group over their mutual frustrations dealing with local estate and antique store owner Vahid Peter Khorshad, who they claim owes them millions of dollars. But Khorshad’s attorney said he is taking recent actions to remedy these claims.

Khorshad, with his wife, owns three antique stores located in Great Neck, Bayside, Queens, and Manhattan.

Daniel Roubeni of Great Neck learned about Khorshad’s estate and antique store through hn is neighbor, who had also given antiques to Khorashad to sell. He said she was not aware that she was a “victim” prior to recommending Khorshad.

Roubeni, who was moving out of his home, sold his antique Louis XIV table to Khorshad in 2018, which was appraised at $50,000.

Shortly after, Roubeni’s neighbor told him Khorshad had not paid her yet and Roubeni said he began to get nervous.

Roubeni said he reached out to Khorshad about his table but that Khorshad said it was in California and had been sold. When he asked for his money, Roubeni said Khorshad told him he had lent it to someone else.

Efforts to contact Khorshad were unavailing after years of back-and-forth communication occurred with Khorshad, Roubeni said, and the excuses Khorshad provided changed over time and lacked consistency.

“He couldn’t even keep his lies straight,” Roubeni said.

Roubeni said he has accepted that his table is gone and is understanding about exceptional circumstances, but that he believe this is a pre-meditated scheme.

“To be so deliberately lied to and defrauded, it’s very hurtful,” Roubeni said. “And if someone stole $1 from me or a million dollars, theft is theft.”

Roubeni’s loss inspired him to share his story on Facebook, knowing that his neighbor had also been wrapped up in the business affair with Khorshad and thinking that there might be others out there.

The response was overwhelming, he said.

“People came out of the woodwork,” Roubeni said.

He then set out on creating a spreadsheet with all of the names of the people who claimed they were defrauded, including the year of the transaction, the dollar amount of their consigned goods, whether they had attorneys or legal cases and their contacts.

Based on his communications with individuals, Roubeni estimates that about $7 million is owed to customers who have not received their consigned items back.

The group, now reaching about 30 individuals, came together collectively to share their experiences in an online support group. Roubeni said a new person joins nearly every week.

“We’re all trying to see what can get done,” Roubeni said.

Roubeni said their strength is in their numbers in fighting to have the situation remedied.

“Some kind of justice needs to be served,” he said.

Roubeni said he believes that Khorshad’s actions are part of a larger, pre-planned scheme to defraud individuals out of their antiques.

Efforts to contact Khorshad were unavailing.

Oscar Michelen, the attorney representing Khorshad, disagreed that his client acted with malice in his business dealings, saying that there was no intention to scam his customers. He attributed the progression of these issues to circumstances, such as a lack of organization and communication exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michelen said Khorshad’s problems go back to the pandemic when his business experienced setbacks.

“It really upended the nature of the business,” Michelen said.

While he understands the issues and the customers’ frustrations, Michelen said the acrimony should be taken out of all these affairs as the law is clear and they are taking action to remedy the situation.

Michelen defined Khorshad’s legal issues as falling into three categories: repayment of loans, rent disputes and consignment goods returns.

He said there was a prior lawsuit over Khorshad’s lack of rent payments for his Manhattan store, which has been settled, and another rent dispute over his Great Neck store which has also been worked out.

Michelen said he is representing Khorshad in two of his landlord/tenant claims, two claims of loans and four claims involving consignment issues. He said two of the consignment issue claims have been settled and the other two are in the works.

He said the category of consignment goods returns encompasses the grievances of Roubeni and the members of the support group who are either trying to get their consignment goods back or money back from the sales.

One of the customers, Behrooz Hakimian of Great Neck, filed one of the claims now in the process of being resolved and Michelen said he has been contacted about the list of his goods that can now be picked up.

Hakimian was selling his home in 2018 and wanted to sell some of the antiques he had acquired over his 50 years of travel. Since his daughter has a power of attorney for him, Hakimian’s daughter handled the sale of his antiques.

Hakimian estimates that the antiques he lent on consignment to Khorshad range from $85,000 to $110,000, including silver horse figures from India, porcelain from Russia, clothes from China, Persian miniatures and Chinese embroideries.

After years of never getting his items returned nor paid for, and back and forth communication with Khorshad where he provided “every imaginable excuse,” Hakimian said his daughter filed a report with the Nassau County District Attorney because he thought he was being defrauded. The DA suggested they work with the Nassau County Police Department’s Major Case Bureau: Fraud & Forgery.

On Aug. 11, Hakimian’s daughter was informed of a letter left for them at their old residence that said their items were at the store and available to be picked up within 30 days.

Michelen said they are working to resolve the issues without having to go through litigation as “it does not help anybody to litigate these claims.” He said the consignment issues are straightforward, as they are either giving back the goods or selling them and giving them the money from the sales.

“We’re trying to get to a point where we can figure out what is going on and just give people their property back,” Michelen said.

Michelen said that anyone who has sold their antiques to Khorshad and believes they have a claim, to contact him at omichelen@cuomollc.com.