[4] In 1996, his father and his brother David were arrested and jailed in Morocco for smuggling and were cited as an example of injustice by the U.S. State Department in their annual human rights report.
After pleading guilty to one felony count of violating customs laws in 1990 (and being sentenced to three years’ probation), he turned to real estate assembling a portfolio of outer-borough residential properties which he sold for $70 million in the early 1990s.
[14][15] In 2016, they halted the project due to fears of an over-supply of luxury housing; instead selling the building for $1.4B+ to The Olayan Group of Saudi Arabia.
[19] As an investor who made his primary wealth from buying low in a downturn and selling high later, Chetrit's strategy has been market timing rather than development.
He typically selects structures with flexible zoning (which broadens the pool of future purchasers) in areas seeing a downturn and thanks to his minimal use of debt, he has the ability to wait the market out.