Head of US realtors association resigns after receiving blackmail threat
A threat to blackmail the president of the US’s National Association of Realtors has forced her to resign from the organization which bills itself as the largest professional trade group in the country, she announced on Monday.
Tracy Kasper’s abrupt resignation from the presidency of a realtors association that counts on 1.5 million members comes during a particularly turbulent time in the organization’s history – her predecessor stepped down months earlier when confronted with sexual harassment claims.
A statement on Monday from the realtors association recounted how Kasper had informed the group’s leadership that she “recently received a threat to disclose a past personal, nonfinancial matter unless she compromised her position”.
“She refused to do so and instead reported the threat to law enforcement,” the association’s statement said.
Nonetheless, Kasper said “it was best for the organization that she step down,” the statement added.
“As president and a long-time member … I always have put the interests of [the association] first,” read a statement attributed to Kasper. “As a result of the recent threat and given the significance of this moment for myself, my family and the organization, it is again time for me to put the interests of [the association] first. So, it is with a mix of gratitude and a heavy heart that I submit my resignation as … president effective immediately.”
The association named Kevin Sears, a broker from Springfield, Massachusetts, as Kasper’s successor.
The members of the association – which touts a strict code of ethics – participate in the residential and commercial real-estate industries. CNN Business has previously reported that the association is powerful, with more than $1bn in assets as well as a political action committee that raised more than $80m during the 2022 midterm election cycle.
However, the real-estate industry as a whole has grappled in recent years with high mortgage rates, which in turn caused home sales to plummet to historic lows amid an unaffordable market, as CNN Business reported.
Then, in August, the association made unflattering news headlines when Kasper’s predecessor, Kenny Parcell, was the subject of a New York Times article reporting sexual harassment accusations against him.
Past and present employees of the association alleged that Parcell engaged in “a pattern of behavior that included improper touching and lewd photos and texts”.
Parcell denied the accusations in the article. But two days later the association announced his resignation from the presidency.
Kasper assumed the association’s reins at that point, pledging in a statement she would foster “a welcoming, safe and respectful workplace”.
In November, Kasper lost her chief executive at the association when he resigned a couple of days after the organization and two brokerages were held liable for $1.8bn in damages. Federal jurors in Missouri hearing the case found the defendants had conspired to maintain artificially high real-estate agent commissions.
The association has said it plans to appeal the verdict.
The tumult prompted one realestate agent to launch a group aimed at holding the organization accountable. That agent, Jason Haber, said on Monday on X that he welcomed Kasper’s departure yet was gravely concerned by its alleged circumstances.
“No one should be the victim of threats, intimidation or harassment,” Haber wrote. “If that happened to Ms Kasper, that person should be prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.”