A group of landowners say a Silicon Valley-backed company trying to build a sustainable city northeast of San Francisco used unfair and “strong-armed” tactics to force farmers to sell their land, including pitting family members against each other, court documents show.

The details emerged on Friday as part of a lawsuit the company, Flannery Associates LLC, filed in May in District Court in Sacramento, alleging various farmers conspired to inflate the value of their land by $170 million. The landowners deny the claim and are seeking to dismiss the suit.

The latest allegations, contained in a report on a conference held by both parties in September, provide the most complete account to date of the landowners’ accusations against Flannery, which has backing from former Sequoia Capital Chairman Mike Moritz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, among others.

The defendants say Flannery coerced farmers who didn’t want to sell to give up their land, forced property sales by evicting farmers and terminating leases, misled landowners and used the costly expense of litigation to get them to sell, according to the filing.

A Flannery spokesperson, in an email to Bloomberg, said that the company has specific evidence of price-fixing and that it’s offered reasonable settlements to individuals and is willing to settle with the remaining defendants. 

In one instance, the defendants claim, seven of eight landowners within the same family wished to continue to farm, while one wanted to sell. Flannery then allegedly employed a “divide-and-conquer” plan by purchasing the one-eighth share and suing the other seven family members to obtain the remaining shares, according to the filing.

To date, the Delaware-based company has spent about $800 million to purchase at least 52,000 acres of agricultural land, becoming the area’s biggest landowner. It is seeking $510 million in damages from the landowners, or triple the amount allegedly inflated by price fixing. 

The company’s plan to build a new city called California Forever, a walkable, green community that would create thousands of jobs, was revealed in late August by the New York Times and other media outlets. The project is led by Jan Sramek, a 36-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader. It has faced backlash from some local city leaders and politicians, who have expressed concerns over the lack of transparency in the process.

Nine Israeli soldiers were killed during combat operations in Gaza on Tuesday, the military said, bringing the total number of troops killed since October 7 to 326.

Two other soldiers were seriously wounded in fighting in the Palestinian territory Tuesday, according to the Israeli military, which has been waging a war against Hamas since the Palestinian militant organisation carried out the worst attack in Israel’s history.
 

A broadcast engineer working for Al Jazeera lost 19 family members in the bombing of the largest refugee camp in Gaza by Israel during their ground battle targeting Hamas operatives.

Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan, who works at the Gaza bureau, lost his father, brother, two sisters, and eight nephews and nieces among other relatives in the Israeli air raids on Jabalia camp, Al Jazeera reported, condemning what it said was a “massacre” by the Israeli forces.

Days earlier, another Al Jazeera correspondent had lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in Israeli air raid, the report said.

Israel, which has vowed to crush Hamas, said the strike on Jabalia camp killed 47 people, including a top Hamas commander who was involved in the October 7 attack that prompted Israel to declare a war against Hamas.

Palestinian authorities claimed over 50 have died in the refugee camp bombing.

The explosion hit the densely packed Jabalia camp just before nightfall with Israel saying its warplanes had struck a tunnel complex that killed several Hamas operatives, including commander Ibrahim Biari. Hamas has denied the presence any of its leaders at the camp.

An Israeli military spokesman said Biari played a pivotal role in the planning and execution of October 7 Hamas raids into Israel in which 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Israel has expanded its ground operatives in Gaza and ruled out any ceasefire in its war against Hamas. The war began after Hamas launched a fierce rocket on Israel on October 7 and its operatives went on a rampage in border towns, killing and kidnapping civilians.

At least 230 hostages, who were dragged across the Gaza border from Israel, are still being held captive by Hamas.

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