Cofounder sues after firing tied to office mandate he approved
William Nieporte says Bramshill’s five-day office rule covered employees, not owners, in a dispute over his firing and 12% stake.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
A cofounder of Bramshill Investments is fighting his 2022 firing after the firm said he failed to report to an office under a return-to-office policy he had approved. The dispute matters because William Nieporte says the office rule was used to strip him of a 12% ownership stake in the $8 billion asset manager, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Nieporte filed a federal lawsuit in May against human resources company ADP Totalsource, seeking at least $30 million over its role in the termination, the Journal reported. He is also in arbitration with Bramshill, its parent company Ironmen, and cofounders Stephen Selver and Art DeGaetano, according to the Journal.
Firing followed five-day office order
Nieporte founded and ran Bramshill with Selver and DeGaetano, who were his high school classmates and former co-managers, Fortune reported. Months before Nieporte was fired, all three signed an email directing employees to work five days a week from one of the firm’s offices in New York City, Naples, Florida, or Newport Beach, California.
Nieporte was then living in San Ramon, California, hundreds of miles from the closest Bramshill office, according to Fortune. The Journal reported that Selver and DeGaetano later sent him a termination letter accusing him of deliberately failing to appear for in-person work.
Nieporte’s lawyer, Matthew Press of Press Koral LLP, told the Journal that the return-to-office issue did not amount to cause for dismissal. Press argued that the policy was meant for employees and did not properly cover Nieporte because he was an owner and manager.
Bramshill rejected Nieporte’s claims, calling them fabricated and saying he is not owed money, according to the Journal. The firm said the firing was based on dereliction of duty. ADP told the Journal it complied with applicable laws and would defend itself against Nieporte’s allegations.
Ownership stake is central to the dispute
Nieporte alleges the firing was designed to take control of his 12% interest in Bramshill, according to the Journal. Fortune reported that Ironmen has a provision requiring shareholders to sell their stakes if they are terminated for cause; Selver owned 40% and DeGaetano owned 48%.
Nieporte also claims Selver and DeGaetano approved his move to San Ramon in 2017, then later sought to push him out, the Journal reported. He alleged they made a “lowball” offer in 2021 to buy his stake.
The office mandate carried a July 5, 2022, deadline, according to Fortune. After it passed, DeGaetano wrote to Nieporte that other junior and senior workers were commuting more than an hour each way and questioned why Nieporte believed the policy did not cover him, Fortune reported.
Nieporte said he discussed a buyout with the other owners and was given 30 days before further action, but alleged he was fired before that period ended, according to Fortune. He also alleged that his profit payments stopped and his Bramshill interest was converted.
Nieporte now lives in Nevada and works remotely for a startup, according to the Journal.
Remote work debate continues
The case comes as major employers continue to press workers to spend more time in offices after pandemic-era remote work policies. Fortune reported that Amazon ordered employees back five days a week last year, and that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have criticized work-from-home arrangements.
Remote work has remained steady despite those corporate moves, according to a Minneapolis Fed analysis of Census Bureau data cited by Fortune. The analysis found that nearly 22% of U.S. workers worked from home at least part of the time in 2025, with hybrid and fully remote work at 22.3% in January 2026 and 22% in February.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.