The National Association of Realtors no longer seeks access to victim statements from the 2023 NAR Accountability Project.
Inman said the National Association of Realtors agreed to exclude victim statements submitted to the NAR Accountability Project from an American Association of Realtors subpoena.
In May, NAR subpoenaed ARA and its co-founder Jason Haber in connection with an antitrust lawsuit that ARA co-founder Mauricio Umansky refiled in 2025, demanding information about the project. Haber rejected NAR’s request in a June 22 Instagram video, arguing that it is unrelated to the lawsuit and would put harassment victims at risk.
Jason Haber | LinkedIn
“To be frank, when I read the book, [the subpoena] “I was outraged that they would request such extensive material,” he told Inman on Wednesday. It’s unbelievable. It will be 3 years next month. The project ended before ARA was formed, so it was very strange that ARA was subpoenaed for documents that predated the industry association and ended before the industry association was formed. ”
Haber co-founded the NAR Accountability Project in 2023 in response to sexual misconduct allegations against former NAR Chairman Kenny Purcell. Within a week, the project’s membership grew from 50 to more than 1,000, and Haber hosted a gathering at NAR’s Chicago headquarters in September of that year.
Although the project no longer exists, Haber said it left its mark. NAR fulfilled three of the group’s four demands. These included retaining an independent law firm “with no prior relationship with NAR, NAR affiliates, or companies employing or contracting with NAR members” to conduct a comprehensive internal investigation. Creation of a third-party personnel reporting system. Creation of a confidential hotline for NAR employees, affiliates, and individual members to report sexual harassment.
“I was having very sensitive conversations with people all over the country, and what I was really afraid of was having to expose those very private conversations, and that’s why we objected so strongly,” he said. “What NAR did was not appropriate. I was very angry, but I was very happy when NAR narrowed the scope of the exclusion. It was the right thing to do.”
As for the remaining subpoenas, which include documents, contracts, invoices, and all communications between ARA, thePLS.com, theNLS.com (the Spanish version of PLS) and the NAR Accountability Project (excluding victim statements), Haber said he is willing to comply.
“We’re always going to comply with subpoenas. We’re going to take whatever we have,” he said.
Inman has reached out to NAR for comment. they refused.
The subpoena is the latest chapter in a years-long dispute between ARA co-founder Mauricio Umansky and NAR.
ThePLS.com filed an antitrust lawsuit against NAR in 2020 after the association adopted a clear cooperation policy at the time that required real estate agents to submit listings to NAR-affiliated multiple listing services within 24 hours of publicly selling a property. NAR and thePLS.com previously reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit, but left open the possibility of re-filing it at a later date.
Umansky and thePLS.com reopened the case in July 2025, arguing that NAR’s CCP remains anticompetitive even with the addition of delayed marketing exemption listings under the multiple listing option policy for sellers.
“Through a clear policy of cooperation, the NAR and MLS co-conspirators eliminated the possibility of a more competitive future in the residential real estate listing network services market,” the July 2025 complaint said. “A once-in-a-lifetime competitive opportunity in a monopolistic market was lost. NAR’s actions harm competition and consumers, and are illegal.”
NAR responded to thePLS.com’s lawsuit in September and categorically denied the network’s antitrust claims, saying Umansky and thePLS.com had not been subject to any “antitrust violations.”
The case is still ongoing in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Trial is set for September 27, 2027.
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