Rhode Island-based top agent Kyle Seyboth is facing intense scrutiny over allegations that he called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) on a buyer after a deal turned sour.
Seyboth is also under a federal investigation by the Attorney General’s Office for allegedly conducting a foreclosure rescue scheme targeting vulnerable homeowners—also immigrants—based on an incident back in 2024.
Seyboth has denied wrongdoing in both cases, though he also admitted to “frustration” and expressed “regret” for aggressive and vulgar language directed at the buyer, after audio recordings and text messages were obtained by local news outlets.
First reported by GoLocalProv, the CENTURY 21-affiliated agent reportedly threatened to call I.C.E. on a buyer if they did not agree to the sale of a Massachusetts property, a transaction that was stretched over the course of a year.
RISMedia spoke with Seyboth, touching on the alleged I.C.E. call and the separate, ongoing “bait and switch” Rhode Island lawsuit.
Industry response
The Rhode Island Association of Realtors® (RIAR), on Oct. 10, sent out an association-wide notice addressing the “disturbing news” about Seyboth and acknowledged that many of its members asked the association to take action.
Calling the allegations “extremely disturbing at best,” the RIAR noted that the matter is being reviewed internally and in relation to the Realtor® organization’s code of ethics. The association also warned its members to avoid calling for group boycotts since it is ground for potential antitrust litigation.
RIAR President Chris Whitten told RISMedia that, “at this point, any reviews would be in the hands of the local boards to which Kyle belongs to, pursuant to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) protocol.”
When asked for a statement following the allegations against Seyboth, CENTURY 21 CEO and President Mike Miedler pointed to a statement given by a representative from CENTURY 21 Real Estate LLC.
“We are aware of the allegations and are investigating the matter internally. Though all brokerages affiliated with the CENTURY 21 brand are independently owned and operated, we are committed to fostering an ethical, inclusive and respectful environment across our entire network.”
Seyboth and the Seyboth Team affiliated with CENTURY 21 in July 2020. At the time, Seyboth was ranked the No. 1 agent in transaction volume in the country. His website currently lists him as the No. 1 individual agent based on transaction sides in the state of Rhode Island from 2014-2024.
The Massachusetts property dispute
The alleged I.C.E. call stems from a real estate transaction involving a 22-acre Massachusetts property that Seyboth owned, where he acted as a seller.
“This was me selling the property to a contractor that I knew, that I actually didn’t think would ever go down this path,” Seyboth says. “It was done with a gentleman who does construction work and understands the ins and outs of framing property, so this wasn’t an innocent family or anything of that nature.”
According to Seyboth, the transaction was supposed to take no more than 45 days as a cash transaction. Instead, he claims the buyer continuously postponed closing with various excuses, costing him over $100,000 in interest, extension fees and holding costs. The transaction closed in October 2025 when it was set to close in November 2024.
“Frustrations continued to mount and emotions continued to strengthen, and over time, there was just a lot of frustration,” Seyboth recounts.
Seyboth claims that the buyer cut down all the trees on the property prior to closing, without authorization.
He said the situation escalated when the buyer requested a $150,000 reduction in price on the $275,000 lot, the day before closing, and saying that was the only way he would close. After not agreeing on the discount, negotiations continued, and ultimately, the pair agreed to reduce the price by $15,000, but they had to close by that Friday.
“We didn’t close by that Friday and that’s when tensions got to an all-time high…I got very frustrated and emotional, and used some language that was a little strong, but this was never an argument out of race or out of anything more than two grown adults—one of which, on my side, felt like he was getting taken advantage of from day one, that this was a game they were playing,” Seyboth said. “This had nothing to do with politics. This had nothing to do with ethnicity. This had nothing to do with race.”
When asked about the alleged call to I.C.E., Seyboth refused to comment on “what really transpired there,” but said that the way the incident was portrayed on GoLocal was “not the way in which things went down.”
When pressed about the allegations that he called I.C.E. on the buyer or any people working at the property, Seyboth declined to comment in detail, besides reiterating that this problem only involved him and the buyer/contractor.
When asked if the buyer he was selling the property to was undocumented, Seyboth said he had no idea. “It had nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It had to do with, I tried to do everything else to cancel the contract and I was just frustrated. That was it.”
Seyboth did not confirm or deny whether he called immigration authorities at any point during the 11-month transaction.
According to GoLocal reporting—who also published text messages from Seyboth threatening to call I.C.E.—Seyboth offered the buyer $20,000 if the GoLocal story didn’t run and if the buyer agreed to enter a confidentiality agreement.
During the interview with RISMedia, Seyboth denied that a bribe ever took place.
“This article, I believe, was posted either the day of or the day after the transaction, before the funds cleared, and we were still negotiating back and forth on possibilities within the sale,” he said. “Basically, at the end of the day, I was willing to take away the lawsuit that I had against him for cutting the trees.”
RISMedia contacted the attorney representing the buyer, but did not hear back.
Sued by the RI Attorney General
A more serious legal challenge preceded this latest issue for Seyboth, back in November 2024, when the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, sued the top real estate broker for allegedly performing a “bait and switch,” tricking elderly Haitian immigrants—who do not speak English—into selling their $450,000 house for $100,000.
According to the complaint filed Oct. 31, 2024, Seyboth, among other listed defendants, represented to the owners that they were offering a refinancing contract for their home, but then presented them with documents for a sale at closing, in a language they could not understand, nor were they provided interpreters.
In the filing, Seyboth is accused of leading a team of “foreclosure runners” and targeting families like the Delva family, older adults with limited English proficiency.
The Delvas, in July 2023, were presented with documents they believed were a refinancing agreement. According to court documents, the papers the Delvas signed conveyed the title to Preferred Property Solutions, a company affiliated with Seyboth.
“Through this scheme and by preying on the Delvas’ financial distress and limited English proficiency, defendants unfairly and deceptively induced the Delvas to sell a home that they never intended to sell and to sign terms with which they never intended to agree,” wrote Attorney General Peter F. Neronha in the court filing.
After the lawsuit, in late December 2024, Seyboth posted a letter on his socials, calling all of the allegations false and claiming that his company still owns the property and has allowed the family to stay there rent-free since 2023.
The lawsuit with the Attorney General’s office is still ongoing, but during an interview with Seyboth, he claimed that there was a hearing, in the past couple of months, that resulted in the temporary restraining order being dismissed, allowing Seyboth to sell the property if he wishes to do so.
Regarding the purchase of the property from the Delvas, Seyboth claims that the only role he played was buying an off-market property. “It was a property that was brought to me for $100,000…We signed a purchase of sale…We went to closing. They asked me if they could live there for a year for free after the closing, because they had nowhere to go. I said, ‘No problem.’ After that, they asked me if the daughter could purchase the property before it went on the market. We said ‘No problem,’” Seyboth said. “A year came and went, and they weren’t able to get the financing, so we listed the property on the market. That’s the entire story.”
Seyboth claims that he hasn’t asked the family for rent and that the family has been living there for free since June of 2023. He also claims that the family speaks “perfect English.”
A spokesperson for the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office told RISMedia that they are aware of the new allegations against Seyboth and added that their pre-existing case against him is currently under discovery.
The Delva family was contacted by RISMedia, and Joana Delva, the Delva’s daughter, initially agreed to speak to RISMedia, but stopped responding.
NAR’s Code of Ethics
Seyboth clarified that in both instances with the Massachusetts property and the Rhode Island house that he was not acting as a real estate agent, but simply as an investor and a seller.
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR), in June, updated their code of ethics, narrowing it to instances only in which its members are operating in a professional capacity.
The updated NAR’s Standard of Practice 10-5 (SOP 10-5) reads as follows: REALTORS®, in their capacity as real estate professionals, in association with their real estate businesses, or in their real estate-related activities shall not harass any person or persons based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Its update also provided a more specific definition of ‘harassment,’ which is now defined as “unwelcome behavior directed at an individual or group based on one or more of the above protected characteristics where the purpose or effect of the behavior is to create a hostile, abusive, intimidating environment which adversely affects their ability to access equal professional services or employment opportunity.”
