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A legal fight between companies that once worked on a Keller Williams tech platform boiled over this month, with one of the firms accusing industry veteran Josh Team of pocketing millions in illegal “kickbacks” while serving as the brokerage’s chief innovation offer — charges his lawyers deny in court filings.
The legal feud began earlier this year when a company called East Media Consulting (EMC) sued software firm Aika. The suit states the two firms agreed that EMC would refer clients to Aika, and that both companies would subsequently share profits from the resulting business. EMC sued in February claiming Aika reduced, then eventually cut off, the agreed-upon payments.
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The suit flew under the radar until last month, when a counter claim Aika filed on Sept. 4 began circulating among real estate leaders. Several Inman staffers independently received the counter claim in mid-September from a tipster.
Josh Team
The counter claim states that after joining Keller Williams in 2015, Josh Team was tasked with building a platform for the franchisor. He subsequently formed EMC, while a former colleague from a previous job formed Aika.
Aika then obtained a contract to build software for Keller Williams, according to the counter claim, but funneled part of the money it received back to Team via EMC. The counter claim goes on to argue that Aika was a legitimate company but states that Team “added zero value to this product” and that his role in the process was merely to “protect” Aika’s contract with Keller Williams.
The counter claim states Keller Williams allegedly paid Aika more than $38 million between 2015 and 2023. Aika says in the counter claim that more than $10 million of that money flowed back to Team in the form of “kickbacks.”
The ultimate goal of the counter claim is to have the court declare that the profit-sharing agreement between Aika and EMC was illegal, meaning the former company would not be on the hook to pay the latter.
Serving as president of Ryan Serhant’s eponymously named brokerage since earlier this year, Team offered a different version of events. Last week, his representatives filed a motion to dismiss Aika’s request.
The motion argues that “rather than litigate the merits, Aika engaged in a gross abuse of the court system to bully a non-party into causing East Media to release meritorious claims against Aika.” The motion also characterizes Aika’s version of events as “false stories” meant to “create leverage.” And the motion claims among other things that Aika “admitted its own allegations are false in response to discovery yet persists in sustaining them in its filings.”
That last comment is a reference to discovery in the case. According to documents reviewed by Inman, during discovery Aika was asked if it admits that it “paid illegal kickbacks.” Aika’s response to the inquiry was “deny,” the documents show. Team’s motion to dismiss is referring to that exchange.
The motion to dismiss also claims that an attorney representing Aika withdrew for “ethical reasons” after improperly “threatening criminal prosecution.” Inman reviewed that attorney’s motion to withdraw from the case. It states that he stepped away after “professional considerations require termination of the representation, as certain ethical reasons including potential conflicts make further representation unfeasible.”
Inman reached out to that attorney in September, but a representative said he was unable to comment because “the attorney and client relationship would specifically prohibit any disclosure of sensitive information.”
In a statement to Inman this week, Team’s attorney said that “it’s unfortunate that a defendant can make unfounded allegations without evidence and then immediately retract them in court, yet still attract attention from media sources.”
“The fact that Defendant’s own attorney withdrew for ethical reasons speaks volumes,” the statement adds. “We are confident in the legal process, and my response filed in Court speaks for itself.”
Keller Williams — which is not named as a party in the suit — declined to comment on the case.
Inman also reached out to Aika’s lawyers. They declined to comment in mid-September, instead suggesting that Inman examine publicly filed papers. Inman then asked if they could point to publicly filed papers that “shed light on the relationship between the companies, or that document the movement of the money in question?” They responded that they could not.
Inman reached out again on Oct. 1, at which time they reiterated their earlier response.
The case as it currently stands, then, includes competing requests. Aika wants the court to say it doesn’t have to pay EMC because the agreement was illegal. But Team’s lawyers are asking the court to throw out that request — and also to remove Team himself from the proceedings. Originally, EMC was also asking for access to Aika’s financial books and for the money it says it is owed.
Which argument the court finds more persuasive remains to be seen, and the next hearing date in the case has not yet been set.
Team worked at Keller Williams from 2015 to 2021. He joined the company as chief innovation officer and was promoted to president in 2019. He returned to real estate as president of SERHANT. in January.
Read the counter claim here (hit refresh if the document doesn’t appear)
