A Yonkers lawyer is demanding $1.5 million from clients who criticized his handling of a tenant eviction.
Matthew Aqeel accused New Rochelle residents Marina Naguib and Marco Gabra of defamation, in a complaint filed on June 11 in Westchester Supreme Court.
“At the very least,” Aqeel says, his former clients’ actions “amount to negligence, recklessness or wanton disregard for plaintiff’s reputation.”
Aqeel, a graduate of Boston College Law School, has been practicing law in New York since 2021. He boasts on his website of fast, focused, and effective legal help for landlords, and of receiving more than fifty 5-star reviews.
Naguib and Gabra live on Beattie Lane in New Rochelle in a 3-bedroom house that Naguib bought for $600,000 in 2024.
Aqeel was hired to evict a tenant.
Naguib allegedly posted a 1-star review of Aqeel’s business on Google, under the name “MarinN.” She stated that the tenant moved out voluntarily before the matter went to court. Aqeel was paid in advance and “despite the case no longer needing legal action, the office refused to refund our money or work with us fairly regarding the unused services.”
MarinN said communications were disappointing, they felt ignored once payment was made and she recommended getting refund policies in writing before hiring the firm.
“We expected professionalism, transparency, and reasonable customer service,” the review states, “but unfortunately that was not our experience.”
Aqeel posted a response, “so everyone understands the full story.”
He said he had provided free legal services, “because you were having a hard time with the New Rochelle Building Department for renting out an illegal basement.” Then he was hired to evict the tenant, who did not leave voluntarily, but because of his work.
He indicates that Naguib had initially given him a 5-star Google review.
“After all the work my office did including promptly answering all your calls and emails, drafting the predicate notice, drafting the notice of petition and [the] petition, filing the paperwork and serving your tenant, you and your husband had the gall to ask for a full refund, which I denied even after I was threatened with a 1 star google review.”
Aqeel argues that the couple published false statements that have harmed his reputation. He accused them of defamation, libel, slander, and tortious interference with business relations.
Naguib did not reply to a message asking for her response to the allegations.