Meridian Capital Group
Mid-market debt powerhouse rebuilding after its Fannie and Freddie exile
Who it is
Meridian Capital Group was for years the dominant mid-market debt brokerage, especially in New York multifamily. It was famously close to lenders such as New York Community Bank and Santander, and it ran on a punishing 'Eat. Sleep. Close. Repeat.' culture that rivals both envied and resented. In 2021 it teamed with Barings, backed by Stone Point Capital, to buy Barings Multifamily Capital. That became NewPoint, which grew into a top-three HUD senior-housing and healthcare lender with a $55B servicing book. Benefit Street Partners bought NewPoint for $425M in 2025, nearly doubling what owners had put in.
That sale was a bright spot in a brutal stretch. In late 2023 Freddie Mac began investigating Meridian over an allegedly problematic deal amid wider mortgage-fraud concerns. Fannie Mae formally barred Meridian-brokered loans from March 2024. The firm brought in former acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks as chairman and CEO, hired its first chief risk officer, and promised to cut brokers who cut corners. Talent left anyway: president Yoni Goodman (now Arbor's COO), Morris Betesh (now at Arrow), and healthcare co-heads Ari Adlerstein and Josh Simpson, who were fired for cause. Freddie reinstated Meridian from January 2025, with loan-buyback and extra diligence conditions. Fannie cleared it that April, and the comeback deal was a $173M Freddie refi for Ruby Schron.
The fallout now plays out mainly in court. Co-founder Jeff Weinberg won a $6.3M judgment over unpaid buyout payments, and Meridian has appealed. He is now asking the court to force a sale of the debtor entity's 65% stake in the brokerage. Adlerstein and Simpson sued over the NewPoint sale and alleged a lax culture at the top, which Meridian called entirely without merit. By March 2026 they had won their noncompete arbitration, with damages unresolved. The Promote now describes a much-diminished Meridian that is back in the agencies' good graces.
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