Hendricks County brothers named in dozens of lawsuits over real estate deals

From a modest duplex on the near-east side to a recently constructed modern home in Fountain Square to a condo near Eagle Creek Park, more than 200 residential properties around Indianapolis have one thing in common: All are connected to at least one of the more than two dozen active lawsuits that investors, lenders and contractors have filed against brothers Jeremy and Joshua Tucker.

The complaints, all of them real estate-related, come from local and out-of-state plaintiffs who allege they lost money—in the case of one Florida investor, more than $7 million—when the defendants defaulted on loan payments, failed to pay invoices for home repairs or committed outright fraud. Some of the litigation involves lenders seeking foreclosure.

“It is an extremely complicated and tangled series of lawsuits against [Jeremy] Tucker and his related entities,” said Indianapolis attorney Eric Schmadeke, who is representing the Florida investor.

Jeremy Tucker is named as a defendant or co-defendant in more than 25 cases in Hamilton, Hendricks, Marion and Shelby counties.

Joshua Tucker is named as a defendant or co-defendant in 18 local cases—including some of the cases in which Jeremy Tucker is named.

Both brothers were also named as defendants or co-defendants in many other local cases that have since been resolved.

Many of the cases involving Joshua and/or Jeremy Tucker include numerous other co-defendants, both individuals and limited liability corporations connected to one of the individual defendants.

(Neither Jeremy Tucker nor Joshua Tucker is or ever has been associated with Indianapolis-based F.C. Tucker Co., firm spokeswoman Claire Belby confirmed to IBJ. F.C. Tucker has more than 1,300 agents statewide and describes itself as the state’s largest independent real estate firm.)

Attorneys for both Jeremy Tucker, an Avon resident, and Joshua Tucker, a Brownsburg resident, told IBJ their clients are actively working to resolve the lawsuits. IBJ was unable to reach either brother by phone or email.

Allegations of fraud

Neither Joshua Tucker nor Jeremy Tucker has been criminally charged—but some of the plaintiffs do allege that the defendants defrauded them.

Several of those fraud allegations come from individuals who say they invested money with the defendants for what the plaintiffs believed were home-flipping projects.

In January, for instance, Indianapolis resident D. Michael Harding sued Jeremy and Joshua Tucker along with seven other individuals and 14 business entities.

In his complaint, Harding alleges he has extended more than $3 million in loans to the defendants since 2023, with the intent of making money on home-flipping projects. Harding said all of those loans have gone into default.

Harding also alleges that even though he was supposed to have a first-mortgage position on the homes purchased with these loans, several of the homes have been transferred to new owners without satisfying Harding’s loans on these properties.

Harding’s complaint alleges a conspiracy in which the defendants used several “nefarious mechanisms to siphon money from Harding and conceal their fraudulent activity.”

One example: The defendants engaged in a series of property transfers between them to artificially inflate the homes’ values, Harding alleges, “enabling them to obtain financing from investors like Harding at prices far above market value.”

Indianapolis attorney Brandon Tate, who represents Harding, said he doesn’t yet have the full picture because he hasn’t begun discovery in the case. But he noted the numerous other lawsuits that other investors and mortgage lenders have filed against the Tuckers.

“I’m glad someone is looking into it, because it’s impacted a lot of people in Indiana,” Tate said when contacted by IBJ.

Similar allegations were made in a separate suit filed by Massachusetts investors Angelo, Valentino and Lucio Perrina. That suit, filed in Marion County in October 2022, is still pending.

In their complaint, the Perrinas allege that Jeremy Tucker and numerous related LLCs, including JL Capital Holdings LLC, engaged in “real estate monte,” an apparent reference to the well-known confidence game three-card monte.

Among their other allegations, the plaintiffs say Tucker’s LLCs “routinely transfer real estate among each other without regard to its value, sometimes for no consideration and at times for amounts wildly in excess of amounts for which the same real estate was transferred just days or months previously.”

Taken together, the three defendants in this case allege they are owed $1.58 million.

Indianapolis attorney James Knauer, who is representing the Perrinas, said he would characterize Jeremy Tucker’s activities as that of a Ponzi scheme.

“It’s clear in complaint after complaint after complaint, people were induced to invest in homes with the idea that he would rehab the homes, and then he took the money and didn’t rehab them, and that money was either used to acquire other properties and bring in other investors or, to pay people who he already owed money to and couldn’t pay,” Knauer said.

Other allegations

Another civil suit, filed last month in Marion County, involves allegations of forgery.

In that case, a Winter Park, Florida-based entity called 21 West QOZ LLC sued Jeremy Tucker, Joshua Tucker and Yard of Bricks LLC.

Yard of Bricks is an entity that was registered with the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office in 2021 by Joshua Tucker. (In 2023, the LLC changed its registered agent to a Fort Wayne entity called Northwest Registered Agent LLC, but Yard of Bricks’ office address was the same as Joshua Tucker’s home address.)

In its complaint, 21 West alleges that, in late 2021, one or more of the defendants forged the name of 21 West representative Yohan Naraine on quitclaim deeds for three Indianapolis properties. The forgeries purported to show that 21 West was granting the properties to Yard of Bricks, the complaint says. The plaintiff says the property transfer never happened and it only discovered the forgeries in March 2024 after a title examination of the properties.

Some of the lawsuits involve allegations of not paying for contracted work.

In a pending case against Jeremy Tucker, JL Capital Holdings LLC, Yard of Bricks and numerous other entities, Beech Grove-based Artisan Renovations Inc. alleges that Tucker, JL Capital and/or several other entities hired the firm to do repair work for which it has not been paid.

Artisan’s complaint, filed in January 2024 in Marion Superior Court, lists 54 properties for which the defendants hired the firm to do renovation work. Artisan said it was not paid for the work. Artisan’s individual claims for that work range from a few hundred dollars for some homes to $52,000 for one.

IBJ reached out to both Jeremy Tucker and Joshua Tucker using multiple email addresses and phone numbers believed to be associated with them but did not receive a response. Some of those phone numbers were not functional; most of the email messages came back as undeliverable.

The brothers’ attorneys say their clients are working to resolve the pending litigation.

Indianapolis attorney Aaron Freeman, who is representing Jeremy Tucker in multiple cases, said via email, “Mr. Tucker and his business entities have settled several of these disputes already and are actively in discussions to settle several more, some of which have already been dismissed. … My client has worked very hard to resolve these disputes with many of his business partners and looks forward to working on a resolution with the remaining outstanding civil cases.”

Russell Jones, a Carmel attorney who is representing Joshua Tucker, said the cases in which lenders are seeking foreclosure are generally being resolved through sheriff’s sales. “The other lawsuits will be defended and to the extent we are able to do so, every attempt will be made to successfully resolve the same by agreement,” Jones said via email. “The dockets of many of the cases reflect that many cases have already been resolved and dismissed.”

Professional status

It’s unclear whether Jeremy Tucker is still actively involved in local real estate transactions.

Allan Bir, the Florida investor who says he lent more than $7 million to Jeremy Tucker or other defendants, said in his complaint that he first met Jeremy Tucker in 2020 and that Tucker “represented himself as an experienced and accomplished real estate agent.”

Bir’s complaint, filed in June 2024 in Marion County, alleges that Tucker’s emails state that he is affiliated with Re/MAX Centerstone agency. A Google search also uncovers a 2023 listing from the real estate website Zillow that names Tucker as a Re/MAX agent. Re/MAX Centerstone’s managing broker did not return a call from IBJ to determine whether Tucker worked for that agency.

But Indiana state records show that Jeremy Tucker currently has an unassigned real estate broker’s license that’s set to expire on June 30, 2026. According to Indiana Professional Licensing Agency spokeswoman Emily Cox, an unassigned status means the broker is not associated with a brokerage and is not actively working as a real estate broker.

Jeremy Tucker’s online licensing record shows one infraction. In May 2018, the Indiana Real Estate Commission issued Tucker a letter of reprimand for a violation described as “undertook activities not qualified by training/experience to undertake.”

Jeremy Tucker is not currently listed on the MIBOR Realtor Association’s online database of Indianapolis-area Realtors.

Joshua Tucker currently holds an active real estate broker’s license in Indiana with no history of investigations or complaints, state records show.

MIBOR’s online database shows Joshua Tucker as the managing broker at Avon-based Supreme Property Management.

According to public filings, Jeremy Tucker registered Supreme Property Management as an LLC in Indiana in 2014. As of Oct. 29, Jeremy Tucker was still listed as the entity’s registered agent and governing person.

The phone number listed on Supreme Property Management’s website is one of several that IBJ believes to be associated with Jeremy Tucker. A message left at that number was not returned.•