Sitting in her new storefront on Sunset Boulevard, Carly Kamerman kept wondering when her custom tables and benches would finally arrive.
She was already envisioning the pieces in her clothing store Carly K, four custom-made mirrored tables reflecting the colorful assortments of children’s clothing and her employees smiling behind the new custom cash counter.
But this was in August, when she still had hope, said Kamerman. When there was still a tiny modicum of trust left in the man who she says swindled her out of more than $25,000.
“I kept thinking he is going to show up,” she said.
Kamerman said she moved from Swarthmore Avenue to Sunset Boulevard in mid-August to allow for the remediation process for Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village development.
But she spent a week paying rent on a closed store waiting on furniture that was never delivered.
Moving had been difficult but Dan Riley, a senior vice president at CBRE who is handling the sale to Caruso, was very helpful and understanding of Kamerman’s needs.
The new space, measuring about 2,800 sq. ft., was much larger than the Swarthmore Avenue location and she couldn’t wait to decorate it and move in, she said.
Kamerman first connected with the man she knows as Kenneth Brickman via through a Craigslist advertisement.
He had the custom furnisher she wanted at a 50 percent discount, Kamerman said.
She remembers meeting Brickman (AKA Ken Rodway, Ken Howard, Ken Breitman or Ken Liebman) in person and how nice and helpful he seemed.
But after Kamerman handed over the first check, she never saw him in person again.
He kept texting and making up excuses, she said.
From his claims of a factory shipping illegal pieces of rosewood to civil unrest in Vietnam, he would say anything to stall, Kamerman said.
She has since filed a lawsuit, hired a private investigator started a website called kenstolemymoney.com.
There are numerous complaints about him on Match.com, Rippoffreport.com and other sites, Kamerman said.
“He has done this to a lot of people,” she said. “I want to find him.”
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.