New York Post

24G matchmaker sued: Gals are meh

- By JULIA MARSH

A wealthy insurance broker is suing a high-end matchmakin­g company, claiming he paid $24,000 to be set up on about a half-dozen dates with women who turned out to be nothing “special.”

Michael L. Fleischer — a widower who oversees a $3.5 billion real-estate practice at the firm Sterling and Sterling — says he is seeking a full refund plus $100,000 in damages from matchmakin­g company LastFirst for his trouble.

“They told me they were going to introduce me to amazing people and help me through the process,” said the 60-year-old Huntington, LI, resident who lost his wife to cancer in 2009. “The guarantee was that ‘we’ll defi- nitely be able to have you in a relationsh­ip.’ ”

Instead, after meeting with the company’s operators last spring, he was set up with women, “none of whom were particular­ly special,” he says in his Manhattan Supreme Court suit.

“The individual­s that they introduced me to were no different than anybody else, nothing special. No offense, but it just wasn’t there,” he said.

The matchmaker­s also promised “wardrobe styling, life coaching, personal training, a profession­al portrait session, dating counseling and relationsh­ip coaching and advice” for the $24,000 fee, the suit says.

“None of those services were ever offered,” Fleischer said. “I had consultati­ons with them, and they showed me some profiles of this one and that one. At the end of the day, nothing was really matchable.”

Reps for LastFirst did not return messages seeking comment.

Despite the experience, Fleischer says he’s not giving up on finding love.

He’s on the lookout for a “life partner for the ups and downs, the good and the bad, the fun and sadness,” he told The Post.

“I think a profession­al intelligen­t woman is a great life partner . . . Intelligen­ce is a turn-on,” he said.

As for looks, the longtime triathlete and Ironman competitor is partial to “tall blond athletic women.”

“I know it can happen. Someone’s out there,” Fleischer said.

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