A Delray Beach real estate broker says he spent years quietly connecting the buyer and seller behind one of Palm Beach’s biggest recent property deals, only to be shut out once the $200 million sale of The Esplanade at 150 Worth Avenue was ready to close. Now he’s suing for the $3 million commission he says he’s owed.
Josh Wade, founder of Flagship Partners, filed a complaint in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on September 1 against Reuben Brothers and O’Connor Capital Partners, according to The Real Deal. Wade claims he began searching for off-market buyers for O’Connor Capital Partners in late 2023 and contacted Reuben-affiliated Motcomb Estates that December, per the complaint. The following January, he says he held an introductory call with John O’Connor and a Reuben Brothers representative — a meeting the lawsuit describes as the origin point of the eventual sale.
According to the complaint, Wade expected a 1.5 percent commission on the sale, which would amount to roughly $3 million on the $200 million transaction. Instead, the lawsuit alleges that Reuben Brothers and O’Connor Capital Partners communicated directly through 2024, cutting Wade out of deal conversations. By August 2025, O’Connor Capital Partners representatives had stopped responding to his emails and texts altogether, the complaint states.
Radio Silence Before the Big Reveal
Wade didn’t stop trying. In December 2025, he emailed a contact named Richard Stone suggesting the 150 Worth deal might be under contract, and asked whether Reuben Brothers had worked out terms with O’Connor, per the lawsuit. By March 23, with the sale apparently imminent, Wade texted John O’Connor directly, asking point-blank whether he was being excluded from the Esplanade sale — a text that went unanswered, according to the complaint…