Aventura investor awarded $14M in real estate deal gone bad
BY ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
An Aventura real estate investor was awarded more than $14 million by a Miami-Dade jury, which found he was the victim of theft and conspiracy by his partners in a West Palm Beach real estate investment.
The case focused on the investments that Franco Investments and its principal, Moises Franco, made in 2003 and 2004 in Pine Run Developers, an Aventura company that owned a 9.88-acre parcel in Palm Beach County. Plans called for developing the vacant parcel into 77 townhomes.
Franco invested $1 million to purchase just under 35 percent interest in Pine Run Developers. He was promised a return of $4.5 million in less than two years, but ended up with nothing, said attorney Robert Zarco.
The individual defendants in the case were all of Franco's partners: Michael Levin, Hannah Levin, Jose Corkidi, Irving Carpman, Max Carlos Lederman and Jacques Aghion.
``These people stole his dream and his money,'' Zarco said. ``They milked the property of its value. They put a loan against the property and distributed it among themselves. They didn't give him one penny.''
The jury found that $1.47 million was taken from the company's bank accounts inappropriately. The jury also ruled in Franco's favor against his partners in two related cases after a seven-day trial that ended last week.
The jury awarded civil theft damages of $2 million, which are automatically tripled according to law. Plus, the judgment includes $2.7 million in prejudgment interest and attorney's fees.
In a related case, three of the individual defendants -- Lederman, Aghion and Corkidi -- were found guilty of conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty. Franco received an additional $2.7 million verdict in this matter.
Zarco says the case is a lesson to potential real estate investors.
``Make sure you are careful about who you get into partnership with,'' Zarco said. ``Be actively involved, make sure you keep an eye on the checkbook and make sure your interest in the property is properly recorded in public records.''
The case focused on the investments that Franco Investments and its principal, Moises Franco, made in 2003 and 2004 in Pine Run Developers, an Aventura company that owned a 9.88-acre parcel in Palm Beach County. Plans called for developing the vacant parcel into 77 townhomes.
Franco invested $1 million to purchase just under 35 percent interest in Pine Run Developers. He was promised a return of $4.5 million in less than two years, but ended up with nothing, said attorney Robert Zarco.
The individual defendants in the case were all of Franco's partners: Michael Levin, Hannah Levin, Jose Corkidi, Irving Carpman, Max Carlos Lederman and Jacques Aghion.
``These people stole his dream and his money,'' Zarco said. ``They milked the property of its value. They put a loan against the property and distributed it among themselves. They didn't give him one penny.''
The jury found that $1.47 million was taken from the company's bank accounts inappropriately. The jury also ruled in Franco's favor against his partners in two related cases after a seven-day trial that ended last week.
The jury awarded civil theft damages of $2 million, which are automatically tripled according to law. Plus, the judgment includes $2.7 million in prejudgment interest and attorney's fees.
In a related case, three of the individual defendants -- Lederman, Aghion and Corkidi -- were found guilty of conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty. Franco received an additional $2.7 million verdict in this matter.
Zarco says the case is a lesson to potential real estate investors.
``Make sure you are careful about who you get into partnership with,'' Zarco said. ``Be actively involved, make sure you keep an eye on the checkbook and make sure your interest in the property is properly recorded in public records.''
No comments:
Post a Comment