(Bloomberg) -- A former BlackRock Inc. managing director says Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink labeled him as “persona non grata” and froze him out of a deal related to its new headquarters on Manhattan’s West Side.

Charles Maikish, who left BlackRock more than 12 years ago, sued the company in New York state court on Dec. 13, saying the statements violate an employment separation agreement he signed with the firm. 

The lawsuit revolves around BlackRock’s plans to move to a new complex at 50 Hudson Yards, which date back to December 2016, when it signed a letter of intent to lease 850,000 square feet across 15 floors at the complex. The firm, which has been based in New York City since it was founded in 1988, received $25 million in state tax credits as an incentive to create new jobs and keep thousands of other positions. 

Nick Mizaur, a spokesman for BlackRock, called the allegations “false,” denying that Fink ever disparaged Maikish. He said the firm would vigorously defend itself.

“Larry Fink never said anything of the sort,” Mizaur said.

In the suit, Maikish said he was working on a rental arrangement proposal for the Hudson Yards project in late 2022 while serving as chief executive officer of TI Solutions LLC, a company that helps tenants reduce capital expenditures by financing property improvements. He said he learned that a vice chairman of its partner on the deal, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., had sent a text message to TI’s co-founder saying that someone at BlackRock told them Maikish was “persona non grata” and shouldn’t work on the deal.

Maikish says he was told by the co-founder, Douglas Lowenstein, that it would be best if he wasn’t involved in discussions with BlackRock because someone at the firm had been “talking bad” about him, according to the suit. Maikish says Lowenstein told him that an unidentified person at BlackRock had said that he had been “thrown out” of the company.

Maikish says he called BlackRock President Robert Kapito, who said he didn’t understand what he was talking about. Maikish said he discovered in June that Fink had made the comments.

Maikish, who also served in real estate positions at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., didn’t provide any evidence in the lawsuit that Fink had made statements about him. The suit is seeking unspecified economic, compensatory and punitive damages. 

TI and Jones Lang continued their discussions without Maikish’s participation, he said. BlackRock in January disclosed that it owned 4.62 million shares of Jones Lang, or about 9.7% of the company, Maikish said in the lawsuit. 

Jones Lang, which isn’t a named defendant in the lawsuit, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

Maikish is also a former executive director of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, an agency that coordinated the reconstruction of lower Manhattan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The case is Maikish v BlackRock Inc., 162088/2023, New York State Supreme Court, New York County.

(Updates with additional comment from BlackRock in fifth paragraph.)

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