The Metro: Detroit fed up with unsafe, unethical real estate practices
Cary Junior II, Nadia Ziyad, The Metro July 8, 2025Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

A judge has temporarily barred real estate firm Real Token from collecting rent on hundreds of properties that violate city code.
The city of Detroit is suing a blockchain real estate company after many of its properties allegedly violated local safety and health codes.
Real Token, or RealT, is a Florida-based company that markets itself as a decentralized real estate security token platform. In the lawsuit, the city alleges that the company’s co-founders, brothers Remy Jacobson and Jean-Marc Jacobson, have neglected over 400 properties in the city by failing to maintain basic health and safety requirements.
“We’re talking about roofs that are leaking, sewage leaking in the basements. We have standing water as well in many of the basements…408 properties, 408 properties and not one of them has a certification of compliance,” said Detroit City Councilmember James Tate of the violations at a press conference.
Conrad Mallett, corporation counsel for the city of Detroit, joined The Metro on Tuesday to share more details about the lawsuit.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
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Authors
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Cary Junior II is an audio journalist and producer for The Metro on 101.9 WDET. Cary has worked as a producer or host on a number of projects. His work includes short and longform audio, documentary series and daily radio. In his five year career in journalism he has worked for Crooked Media, the Detroit Free Press, and now WDET - Detroit's NPR station.
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