For months, lawsuits against Vesta Realty CEO Marc Kulick have piled up. At least 13 Oklahoma lawsuits have been filed since December, many by contractors alleging they were not paid for work performed. But one filed in Kansas stands out. Business partner Josef Loeffler recently sued Kulick , claiming he used the business for personal enrichment while hiding its true financial condition from investors. Multiple former Vesta Realty employees have confirmed Loeffler’s claims. As tenants across the state spoke to the media about conditions at Vesta-owned properties, experts said the situation illustrates why Oklahoma needs stronger tenant protections. The 199-page lawsuit details allegations that Kulick curated a public image of philanthropy and professional achievement while presiding over a collapsing portfolio, concealing financial distress from investors and diverting company funds for personal use. Marc Kulick In a previous investigation, Oklahoma Watch highlighted the lavish lifestyle Kulick lived while his tenants were left in squalor. That lifestyle included high-stakes gambling. Kulick debuted in a high-stakes poker game in January 2025, building net winnings of $459,900 by Jan. 27. By Feb. 10, 2025, that had fallen to $20,600, according to High Roll Poker tracker, which followed his live-streamed matches. The Tulsa County Assessor valued Kulick’s 9,060-square-foot home on 2.53 acres at $1.7 million in 2025. Kulick appeared in the Faces of Oklahoma advertising section of Oklahoma Magazine, citing his leadership at Vesta Realty in asset management, operations and acquisitions, as well as his support of The University of Tulsa, Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Friendship Circle of Kansas City, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Juvenile Diabetes research. The snippet boasts of a $1 billion real estate portfolio made up of 39 multifamily properties with 9,975 units. According to Vesta’s website, 13 of those properties are in the Tulsa metro area and 17 are in metro Oklahoma City. “I’m so proud of our progress towards creating an environment where people are happy coming to work and feel valued, which in turn leads to the highest quality of life for our residents,” Kulick said in the ad. Oklahoma Watch called and emailed Kulick for this story. He did not respond, and his voicemail box was full. Fired and Evicted Hannah Remick worked in Vesta Realty’s corporate office and lived at one of its properties as part of her compensation. Then Kulick fired and evicted her in a single text message. Remick described Vesta as hectic and high-pressure, but said life in the inner circle was good. She recalled Las Vegas trips with the company, meaningful projects and career development opportunities in design. “Everything was great, until something just snapped,” Remick said. Vesta started charging her for utilities — something that had never happened before. When she tried to resolve it as a tenant, the property manager sent her to the corporate office. Marc Kucilik (Screenshot) In an email obtained by Oklahoma Watch, Joey Dunlap, director of facilities and capital improvements, said fully paid utilities were not part of her compensation or lease and had been paid in error. “That issue has been corrected,” he wrote, suddenly saddling her with those bills. Kulick then texted her saying they needed to talk. Remick replied that she preferred formal conversations in writing. “Lol okay Hannah,” Kulick said via text message. “Best of luck in the future, you are officially being terminated effective as of today. Also a reminder per your employee lease agreement please vacate your apartment within five days. Thanks!” The text left Remick hurt and confused, she said — she had lost her job and her home in one message. Outside Kulick’s inner circle, she said, she realized how corrosive the gossip culture at Vesta had been. “They treat employees like shit,” she said. Cultish Conditions Oklahoma Watch spoke with eight current or former Vesta Realty employees. Many declined to go on the record, fearing retaliation, but all confirmed Remick’s account and shared their own stories. All described Vesta Realty as cult-like, describing how inner-circle loyalty was rewarded, those who questioned company practices were ostracized and Kulick was viewed as a savior. Shawn Rendleman maintained properties at several Vesta locations in Oklahoma City. He said he rarely had the equipment he needed and often bought it himself, seeking reimbursement later — something he said never happened at any other company he’d worked for. Jacob Dyer worked as a technician on Vesta’s special response team in Tulsa. He recalled removing mold without proper equipment and being told to paint over it. He also remembered finding a pregnant woman living in a mold-infested Vesta apartment and said the company showed no concern for her or any other tenant. “This is really how we treat people?” he asked rhetorically. “They didn’t give a fuck about the tenants.” Rendleman said he cared deeply about tenants but that the corporate office ignored his concerns, repeating the view that the culture was cultish. Loeffler’s Lawsuit Loeffler alleges in his lawsuit that Kulick diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in company funds for personal use. Oklahoma Watch contacted Loeffler for comment and had not heard back at publication. The lawsuit also alleges Kulick deceived investors while seeking more money for Vesta Realty, which Loeffler claimed Kulick used as a personal piggy bank. “Essentially, Kulick utilized the various legal entities through which the venture conducts business as his personal piggy bank, diverting funds to finance his lifestyle,” the lawsuit reads. “For years, Kulick successfully concealed his misconduct by moving cash from entity to entity in a practice akin to check kiting, by ignoring required accounting practices and controls, and by meeting investor information requests (including many by Loeffler) with blandishments, bluster and bullying. One disaffected investor described Kulick’s management as a rat’s nest of fraud and deceit.” Remick recalled being sent on an unannounced unit walk, knocking on doors and checking for water damage. A maintenance crew would then follow, covering up mold before investors toured the property. Other employees confirmed the practice. Contractors and business partners aren’t the only ones clamoring for money. A lawsuit filed by American Express in December further confirmed Kulick’s financial problems. The filing includes a November 2025 platinum card statement showing a balance of $333,379.94 with $324,228.92 past due. The bank record also showed $323,711.35 in October payments rejected by Kulick’s bank, all against a $50,000 spending limit. The lawsuit remains pending, with an answer due from Kulick by April 20. Tenants Left In Squalor As Vesta’s legal battle unfolds, tenants remain in properties many have called uninhabitable. Oklahoma Watch spoke with more than 20 tenants at Vesta locations statewide, and many shared the same story. Former tenant Macie Baldwin lived at a Vesta property for nearly five years and described the experience as one of the worst periods of her life. She said she dealt with water leaks and roaches, and that Vesta dismissed every complaint she raised. Remick said such experiences were common. “From leadership there was no care at all (for tenants), it was all business,” Remick said. “There was a complete separation of empathy versus making money. They never really talked about tenants’ experience; it was all numbers.” A Tulsa tenant shared a Ring Doorbell video with Oklahoma Watch showing a Vesta employee removing water cut-off notices from tenants’ doors. The tenant who shared the video asked to be identified only by her first name, fearing retaliation. “I find it ironic that I pay my water bill on time and they can’t pay on time,” Bria said. A man in a Vesta Realty button-up shirt removes water cut-off notices from tenants’ doors. (Courtesy Photo) A Tulsa tenant shared a Ring Doorbell video with Oklahoma Watch showing a Vesta employee removing water cut-off notices from tenants’ doors. As of March 13, Vesta Realty owed the city of Tulsa $421,534 in unpaid water bills, according to the Tulsa Flyer. Rendleman said the tenants’ conditions ultimately trace back to Kulick. “The success lies on the people under you, the failures lie on you,” Rendleman said. “That’s the point of a good leader. It may not be your fault, but it’s still your responsibility. In any business, I don’t care if it’s real estate, I don’t care if it’s a restaurant or even if you own a putt-putt golf place. You don’t base a company off of how they are when things are going great, you base them off of what they do when something goes wrong.” More Landlord Accountability When Vesta fired and evicted Remick, she planned to fight the eviction in court to keep her home. She described the experience as David versus Goliath and said she was shocked by how little protection Oklahoma tenants have. Katie Dilks, executive director of the Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation, called the Vesta situation an extreme case but said it illustrates why Oklahoma needs stronger tenant protections. She said a starting point would be passing House Bill 2015, authored by Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, which would amend the Landlord Tenant Act to give tenants the right to sue landlords who fail to make repairs or maintain habitable properties. “At the end of the day, a real concern as a society and a community is we want these properties to be meaningfully maintained,” Dilks said. “There’s not a lot within the power of the law that can be done. Which is why I think you have people who recognize that and are willing to take advantage of it because they know it is unlikely that they will be held accountable.” Dilks said Oklahomans largely don’t understand how common problems like Vesta’s are. “We’ve built a legal framework around landlord-tenant law that has supported a culture of complacency around housing conditions and housing habitability that isn’t necessarily the case in some other states because they have a different framework around it,” Dilks said. “I think what’s missing is the conversation of just how commonplace all of these protections and mechanisms are in other states. We’re not setting out to make Oklahoma some outlier that is above and beyond in tenant protections; we’re literally just setting out to catch Oklahoma up to the vast majority of the country in terms of these basic tenant protections that have been in place for 50 years.” Jake Ramsey covers evictions, housing and homelessness. Contact him at (405) 370-3798 or [email protected]. The post “A Rat’s Nest of Fraud and Deceit”: New Lawsuit Adds to Vesta Realty CEO’s Legal Troubles appeared first on Oklahoma Watch. ...read more read less