Rick Hilton Accused Of Trying To Poach Agent From Mauricio Umansky On Buying Beverly Hills

Fans of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills have long known that Mauricio’s decision to start his own real estate agency after working for Kathy Hilton’s husband, Rick Hilton, at Hilton & Hyland was a source of contention between the two families.

On the news season of Buying Beverly Hills, Mauricio spilled a little more about what sparked his exit from H&H — claiming he left after Rick refused to make him partner. He also claimed that when he started The Agency, he “made a deal with Rick that I would never go after or take anyone from his company and I also didn’t want to.”

But that same courtesy might not have been extended from Hilton to Umansky.

During a trip to Palm Springs with some of his colleagues, new hire Zach Goldsmith revealed to Mo that he had recently taken a meeting with Hilton. Goldsmith previously worked for Rick at Hilton & Hyland, which underwent a major overhaul in 2022 after the death of co-founder Jeff Hyland. Goldsmith left the real estate firm in November that year for The Agency, before Hilton also left Hilton & Hyland a month later to start his own agency with his son Barron, Hilton & Hilton.

Hilton, said Goldsmith, “offered me a piece of the company” if he agreed to leave The Agency and work for him instead. “It’s wild when you think of equity in the company. I’ve always liked him and it’s wild he would ask me that. It’s a vicious, it’s wild circle,” added Zach.

Mo was taken aback by the alleged offer, asking in a confessional, “How messed up is it for Rick to offer Zach equity and not me?” He added, “It feels like s–t,” before saying he was somewhat “disappointed and betrayed” by Zach for even considering bailing on The Agency after he “opened up my entire world” to the agent.

Umansky also spoke with wife Kyle Richards about the situation in a later episode.

“You remember I made a pact with Rick that I was never going to recruit or go after his agents? I never did,” he told her. “I felt a little bit awkward after we made that pact. I never broke that, ever.”

Richards simply reacted by saying, “It’s always a situation,” before adding she had no insider information on Rick’s agency since she and Kathy Hilton were on the outs at the time of filming.

In the finale, while speaking with Mo, Zach revealed that while he told Rick “No” right away, he claimed “the offer started getting sweeter” and was told he’d have a say in how the agency was run and would have a “piece of the company.”

Though he said he had to consider taking the offer “for my family,” he turned it down in the end. “I’m committed and I have no desire to leave. I’m here to stay, bro.”

During the recent RHOBH reunion, Kathy claimed Mo did poach “a few” people from her husband when he started his own agency. Kyle, however, downplayed her allegation — saying Mauricio “built his group within Hilton and Highland” before leaving.

Paris Hilton also fiercely defended her father after a Bravo fan page shared a promo clip of Mo’s initial conversation about leaving her dad’s agency — slamming her uncle for talking about the specifics on camera. “My father is a consummate gentleman and has always taken the higher road. He would never speak negatively about his family — especially in the press,” Paris wrote. “Frankly we are all sick of him using the Hilton name every chance he gets to plug his lame show. It is enough already.”

She later deleted the comment.