Family Behind World’s Biggest Malls Hit by Lawsuit Over Counterfeit Hand Sanitizer
A lawsuit over alleged counterfeit goods seeks to add more defendants from the Ghermezian family, which says the claims are frivolous and untrue.
The Ghermezian family is best known for owning some of the world’s biggest shopping complexes, including New Jersey’s American Dream and a stake in Minnesota’s Mall of America. But some family members are involved in a legal dispute over a far less glitzy business: hand sanitizer.
A venture started at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, when demand for sanitizer was soaring, failed months later. A 2021 lawsuit over allegedly distributing counterfeit gel named two Ghermezian cousins and a family company as defendants, and now three other relatives — including Don Ghermezian, the head of American Dream — are awaiting a judge’s decision on whether they, too, will be included.