[brief] Because of its multiple locations, [...]’s operation was spread thin.  [...] convinced [...] to join him in acquiring a permanent headquarters for the company.  As there were other partners in [...] at the time, the two men formed [...] (“[...]”) to serve as a holding company for the property where [...] would be headquartered.  They further decided to establish 50/50 membership in [...] via two other entities, [...] (“[...]”) and [...], which were, at the time, owned by their wives, Fariba [...] and Gayatri [...], respectively.  (4T60:13 to 61:10; Da 935-46).  Eventually, [...] and [...] found [...] in Mountainside.  That space was sufficient to house and eventually consolidate [...]’s other lab operations, and could accommodate potential expansion.  (4T61:18-23).  [...]’s role in acquiring the building (via [...]) was limited to visiting the site and confirming that it was sufficient to accommodate [...]’s needs.  However, he was not directly involved in negotiations relating to the property, its financing, or the closing, each of which [...] handled.  (4T62:6 to 63:12).  [...] leased the space from [...] for $40,000.00 per month.  [...] set the lease terms.  (4T63:23 to 64:3).  [...] acquired additional real estate holdings after the Mountainside location.  Notwithstanding that [...] and [...] both had equal interests (through their wives’ entities) in [...], [...] generally handled the business and management aspects of the various [...] holdings.  (18T125:1-15; Pa107).  In fact, [...] was a real estate agent and personally handled [...]’s acquisitions.  (4T69:9-13).  Eventually [...]’s portfolio grew to include residential properties in [...] and [...], three buildings in [...] and [...] (the “[...]”), and a commercial building in [...] (“[...]”).  [...] contributed capital to fund most of these purchases, while [...] generally assumed responsibility for things like maintenance, rent collection, taxes, and other business aspects of the operation.  Although [...] purported to create an operating agreement for [...] that was made effective as of May 2000, the document was not actually signed until 2005 when a lender requested it in connection with the acquisition of another property that [...] came to own in [...].  [...] had no role in drafting the operating agreement.  (Da935; 4T64:16 to 66:4).  While [...] remained focused on running the [...] labs, [...] continued his work on the marketing, sales, and accounting side of both [...] and [...].  Both companies kept accounting and business records via QuickBooks, which [...] oversaw.  In fact, until the immediate run-up to this lawsuit in 2020, [...] did not know how QuickBooks operated, had no training with the software, and never made accounting entries via the software.  (4T95:25 to 96:23; 9T111:19 to 113:12).  The “Admin” username for QuickBooks registered via Intuit to [...], [...], and other affiliated companies was [...]’s.  (11T87:7-20).  [...] also controlled the administrative password for QuickBooks.  (12T35:10-19).  While some financial/accounting records were ultimately found on [...]’s [...] computer, [...]’s digital forensic expert confirmed that QuickBooks software was not even installed on the machine and [...] confirmed it was not installed on his home computer.  (7T106:8-10; 22T140:8-11).3