A foreclosure lawsuit has been filed against Janna Bullock, a Russian-born developer and art collector, over an $8 million loan default tied to 14 East 82nd Street, a townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The complaint was submitted last Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court and also names the current property owner, Zoya Kuznetsova, as a defendant.
The loan in question was issued by Antonia Ventures LLC, which is connected to Downtown Investment Advisory based in White Plains. According to the suit, no payments have been made since February. Bullock personally guaranteed the debt despite having sold the property more than ten years ago.
Bullock purchased the six-story townhouse from Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding for $12.2 million in 2006 with plans to convert it into a single-family home. Construction halted and the building remained boarded up under a stop-work order.
In 2012, Bullock sold the property at a loss for $9.1 million to Kuznetsova, who is reportedly linked by family ties to Bullock’s ex-husband Alexey Kuznetsov—a former Russian government official—according to society photos and prior filings.
Kuznetsova has faced ongoing difficulties preventing foreclosure on the building. Last year she obtained emergency financing that allowed her to avoid an auction; this is now the subject of the current legal dispute as per the lender’s complaint.
Bullock was previously active redeveloping Upper East Side townhouses into luxury homes during the mid-2000s. Her notable projects included transforming 54 East 64th Street—formerly home to New York Observer offices—which she bought for $9.5 million in 2004 and sold two years later for $18.7 million; and flipping 9 East 67th Street for about $25 million in 2009.
Both Bullock and Kuznetsov were convicted in absentia by a Russian court in 2018 on charges of embezzling public funds; both denied wrongdoing. Kuznetsov was extradited from France while Bullock remains abroad.
Neither party could be reached for comment regarding this case.
