'Blindsided': Former Employee Battles Billionaire Over $820K Home She Says She Was Promised

AriZona Iced Tea co-founder John Ferolito is battling longtime former employee Fayssanya 'Fay' Pratt over a Coral Springs, Florida home estimated at about $820,000 that she says he promised to give her. Pratt said she was caught off guard in 2023 when Ferolito's attorney told her she would have six months to vacate the property. 'I was blindsided by that,' she told Atlanta Black Star. 'I really thought he would do what he had promised.'

Ferolito denies ever promising her the property and is asking a Florida judge to dismiss Pratt's counterclaims and order her to leave the home. A hearing on Ferolito's motion for summary judgment is scheduled for 23 November.

A $493,736 Home Becomes a Legal Flashpoint

The dispute traces back to 2017, when flooding damaged Pratt's previous home. She says she approached Ferolito for help and that he instead offered to purchase another property for her. The four-bedroom Coral Springs house was purchased through a trust in Ferolito's name for $493,736 in April 2018, according to court filings cited by Atlanta Black Star. Pratt says she spent nearly $100,000 on taxes, repairs, appliances, and renovations. Realtor.com estimates the property at roughly $820,000, about $326,000 more than its 2018 purchase price.

Ferolito's lawyers argue that the arrangement was different. An accountant for Ferolito's trust says the trust spent $184,613.46 on maintenance, repairs, and improvements, excluding the purchase price. His attorneys have also cited cashier's checks from Pratt marked 'rent', arguing that they support their position that she occupied the property as a tenant.

The Recording at the Centre of the Fight

Pratt says the relationship deteriorated in 2022 after a dispute over roughly $33,000 in landscaping work at the property. On 7 September 2022, Ferolito's executive assistant, Kelly Aldrich, called Pratt to tell her she had been fired. A Ring doorbell recording captures Aldrich, telling Pratt, according to a court-filed transcript, that 'he said that we will sign the house over to you and pay for whatever he's been doing for the rest of the year.'

Pratt says the statement reinforced her longstanding understanding that Ferolito intended to give her the house. Ferolito's attorneys are challenging the recording's admissibility, arguing that Aldrich did not consent to being recorded.

Pratt Says She Was Never Just a Tenant

Pratt rejects the idea that she was simply a tenant. Pratt said that Ferolito instructed her to label certain property-tax payments as rent. 'I never really understood why,' she said.

In her legal filings, Pratt argues that her years of possession, payments, improvements, and alleged reliance on Ferolito's promise support her claim to an interest in the property. Ferolito's lawyers point to statements from Aldrich, Ron Cohen, and former attorney David Buss, each of whom has said they never heard Ferolito promise to deed the house to Pratt. Aldrich has also said she has no independent recollection of making the statement captured on the recording.

Both Sides Want the Court to Decide

Ferolito filed his lawsuit seeking Pratt's removal from the property in 2023. Pratt responded with counterclaims seeking title to the property, at least $750,000 in compensatory damages, and punitive damages, turning the eviction fight into a broader dispute over who has rights to the home.

On 14 September 2026, Ferolito's attorneys filed a motion for summary judgment seeking to have Pratt's counterclaims dismissed and to obtain an order requiring her to leave the property. The case involves competing accounts of the alleged oral agreement, financial records, an unsigned 2018 lease, and the disputed Ring recording.