NEXA Lending and former partner Mat Grella end legal fight

NEXA Lending CEO Mike Kortas said he has reached a global settlement with former business partner Mat Grella, ending a years-long legal battle over the ownership and control of the brokerage and several related entities.

The agreement, reached in mediation and finalized on Monday, resolves “every single one” of the lawsuits between the two NEXA founders, Kortas said in an exclusive interview with HousingWire. Court filings indicated that a 2024 suit between the two was in closed status.

The settlement ends litigation that followed Grella’s termination from NEXA in 2024. Among the disputes was a lawsuit in which NEXA alleged Grella improperly interfered with the company’s planned $24 million Arizona hangar and office purchase. A Maricopa County judge later dismissed that complaint without prejudice, finding the allegations insufficient while allowing NEXA to amend its claims.

Under the settlement, Kortas said Grella will receive an undisclosed cash payment and a single asset. In return, the parties will dismiss all claims against each other, including what Kortas called “skirmishes in the Great War for NEXA” involving insurance and mortgage ventures in multiple jurisdictions.

“I’m glad to be able to close this chapter of my professional life and get back to focusing on what is really important to my family and my career,” Grella said in a statement. “I will continue on the high road with my eyes toward the future.”

Kortas said he and NEXA are “extremely happy” with the outcome, though he declined to disclose the settlement amount, citing confidentiality restrictions tied to the mediation process.

As a result of the settlement, Kortas now owns 100% of NEXA, and the settlement severs all remaining ownership ties between Grella and NEXA. Grella, who founded NEXA with Kortas in 2017 after they left Equity Prime Mortgage, previously held a 49.5% membership interest in NEXA.

“I wish Grella the best, and I am glad that he can move on from [this] stage of his life as well. I have no ill will [toward] Mat; I feel it was bad legal representation that dragged this out by his attorneys,” Kortas said. “It is what is best for all parties.”

The settlement follows what Kortas described as five mediations across several lawsuits. Kortas said that he estimates that he has spent about $4.5 million on attorney fees in the disputes and speculated that Grella’s legal costs were also in the seven figures.

“The only people making money on the stupidity in this entire lawsuit were the attorneys,” Kortas said. “He didn’t want what his operating agreement said, and I wanted to follow the operating agreement. So he had to find things to sue over to try and make it painful.”

Separate dispute with former employee continues

The universal settlement does not resolve a separate legal battle involving former NEXA employee Kristine Wake, Kortas clarified. Court records reviewed by HousingWire show ongoing arbitration activity in that matter as of early June.

Kortas said that case remains active and is outside the scope of the settlement with Grella.

In the suit, Kortas alleged that Wake attempted a “coup d’état” within her department, resigned during NEXA’s internal investigation and later provided information to Grella’s attorney. He said he believes NEXA has strong claims in the remaining litigation, though he acknowledged the case has dragged on amid what he described as non-responsiveness on the other side.

Despite the legal turmoil, Kortas said NEXA’s growth trajectory has continued. The brokerage has expanded from about 2,300 loan officers at the time of Grella’s departure to approximately 3,700 today, he said.

“We didn’t skip a beat. We kept growing,” he said. “I’m just happy that it’s over and that I can go about growing NEXA, making loan officers better.”