Former Denver restaurateur Alex Gurevich has been sued by the buyer of his auto body shop, who claims that Gurevich used false financials to inflate a $4.4 million sales price.
Gurevich was the majority owner and chef behind three restaurants: the Uptown Latin American lounge Limón, Lakewood breakfast spot Cafe Bisque and Ay Caramba, a Mexican concept in Cherry Creek. All of them have since closed and Gurevich has retired.
Gurevich was also the owner of the Front Range Auto Group and its collision repair shop at 4560 S. Federal Blvd. in Englewood until July 21, when he sold that business and its 12,000 square feet of real estate for $4.4 million. One million dollars of that price was for the company.
“Here’s your chance to step into a well-established, cash-flowing auto collision repair shop with a reputation for quality and strong customer satisfaction,” a sale listing for Front Range Auto Group claimed. It cited the seller’s motivation as “retiring and moving out of state.”
On July 30, just nine days after the sale of Front Range Auto closed, buyer Valente Fernandez sued Gurevich for breach of their sale agreement, false representation, bad faith dealing and unjust enrichment, among other claims. Fernandez now believes he was lied to.
While the online listing for Front Range Auto claimed annual revenue of $1.7 million, Fernandez says the business actually took in $1.3 million in 2024. He alleges that Gurevich also told him in writing that the shop’s April and May revenue numbers were $141,000 and $117,000, respectively, when they were actually about $53,000 for April and $89,000 in May.
“The defendant failed to disclose accurate past revenue figures for the business with the intent of creating a false impression in the mind of the plaintiff about the business’s actual past revenue,” according to Fernandez’s lawsuit, which was filed in Denver District Court.
Front Range Auto’s new owner claims he paid more than he otherwise would have as a result of Gurevich’s alleged mistruths and is now stuck with a company “less valuable than bargained for.” Through his attorney, John Bellinger, Fernandez declined to discuss the matter.
Reached by phone this week, Gurevich also did not have much to say about the lawsuit.
“There’s nothing to say. There was a business transaction and now I guess there is a complaint that was filed. It’s totally, completely out of the blue,” Gurevich told BusinessDen.
“I’m staying out of this, leaving it to the attorneys and our CPAs and so forth,” he added.
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