Josh Team is accused of taking illegal bribes in a battle between two tech companies

What started as a legal dispute between two companies that had previously worked together on one Keller Williams The technology platform recently expanded to include industry veteran Josh Team.

A lawsuit originally filed in early February Tarrant County District Court of Texas accuses the former KW president of receiving millions of dollars in illegal “kickbacks” while serving as the franchisor’s primary innovation offering. The team's lawyers have denied those allegations in court filings. The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Housing wire.

The team left Keller Williams in 2021 after serving as president for about two years. He was appointed president in January 2024 SERHANT.

Before the team became involved in the case, the lawsuit was between Aika And East Media Consulting (EMC). In September, Aika filed a counterclaim that brought Team into the lawsuit.

According to the counterclaim, in 2015, while working for Keller Williams, Team was asked to build a platform for the company. To this end, the team founded EMC and a former colleague founded Aika, which was subsequently contracted to develop the software for KW. However, according to the counterclaim, Aika funneled some of the money she received under the contract back to the team through EMC.

According to the counterclaim, Keller Williams paid Aika more than $38 million over eight years from 2015 to 2023. Aika claims that more than $10 million of that sum went back into the team's pocket as a “kickback.”

Aika's filing claims that the company is a legitimate company, but that the team “did not add any value to this product” and that its only job was to “protect” the company's contract with Keller Williams. With the counterclaim, Aika is asking the court to rule that the profit-sharing agreement between Aika and EMC was unlawful, meaning that Aika would not be forced to pay EMC.

In a motion to dismiss Aika's motion, Team's attorneys said Aika's claims were “false” and that her version of the story was intended to “apply pressure.” The motion also alleges that Aika's filing is “a gross abuse of the court system” aimed at “coercing a non-party into forcing East Media to release legitimate claims against Aika.”

The team's motion also notes that as part of the disclosure, Aika denied paying illegal kickbacks, which contradicts the company's claims in its counterclaim.

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