A corporation formed by the French government is trying to block any potential sale of six Miami area properties by developer Leon Cohen and his father, Maurice.
Last year, the Cohens proposed a 93-story skyscraper in downtown Miami, at 330 Biscayne Blvd. They sought land use approvals and hired an architect.
The Cohens are appealing a default judgment in August in New York State Supreme Court over financial fraud allegations related to a Manhattan hotel redevelopment. The New York lawsuit alleges Leon Cohen, of Fisher Island, defrauded a French lender in a multimillion-dollar transaction.
Now, the French corporate successor to that lender, CDR Creances, is trying to collect the money it has claimed, and has asked for a temporary injunction barring sale of the Cohens’ properties in Florida.
CDR Creances is represented locally by Miami-based law firm Kenny Nachwalter and in New York by Douglas Kellner of Kellner Herlihy Getty.
“We’re prepared to prove they stole $20 million out of the hotel, and another $30 million when they sold it,” Kenny Nachwalter attorney Marcos Jimenez told Miami Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel in a Nov. 12 hearing in the judge’s chambers. “At the same time, they were acquiring the Florida properties. We believe we can show direct correlation.”
According to CDR Creances’ Miami-Dade complaint, the Cohens “engaged in a long-term, ongoing conspiracy to defraud CDR” of $92.5 million lent to a Cohen-controlled company in 1991 to finance the acquisition of the Flatotel in New York City. The complaint refers to “a labyrinthine web of affiliated shell companies located in Florida, New York, Delaware, Lichtenstein, the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Quebec and France to conceal their actions.”
The French corporation claims the Cohens sold the Flatotel to a Bahamian company controlled by hotelier Simon Elias in 2000 without disclosing the transaction to CDR or making any payment on the loan.
According to a press release from Kellner’s office, CDR has filed notices of lis pendens for six Florida properties it believes are controlled by the Cohens or by entities controlled by them: 429 Lenox Ave., Miami Beach; 7213 Fisher Island Drive, Fisher Island; 5930 N. Bay Road, Miami Beach; 330 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 268 Park Drive, Bal Harbour; and 1475 Collins Ave., Miami Beach.
The complaint says Maurice Cohen lives in Miami Beach.
During the Nov. 12 hearing, the Cohens’ attorney, William Petros of New York, sought to dissolve the lis pendens notices, which are formal notifications that warn prospective purchasers of the Cohens’ properties that litigation is pending. Zabel asked for written proposed orders from both sides, and said she would rule in 10 to 14 days.
Petros argued that CDR Creances’ efforts to chase money from New York to Florida are an “argument for another day” because the Cohens are appealing the New York judgment.
“They [CDR Creances] allege the money has transferred, that the companies were created to move money from New York,” Petros said. “But, the case law in Florida is clear: That argument simply does not suffice.”
Petros told Zabel the Cohens have a potential buyer for some of their properties.
A news release from Kellner said the Florida real estate assets owned by the developers and related parties could be used to satisfy, in part, a $266 million judgment entered in August by the New York court.
New York Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub wrote the decision against the Cohens and other defendants on Aug. 13 in connection with alleged civil fraud at the Flatotel.
His ruling said the “defendants’ long-standing patterns of default, lateness and abject failure to comply with court orders amounts to willful conduct, which not only warrants, but necessitates award of default judgment.”
Leon Cohen and his company, Maclee Development, received initial approval from a Miami panel in January for the Empire World Towers project, which would have 1,557 residential units. At the time, real estate analysts questioned the feasibility of the project because of hurricane codes, height restrictions, the ongoing credit market crunch and the downturn in real estate markets.
source: bizjournals.com
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French company seeks to prohibit Miami area developer’s land sales
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Rory Vanucchi
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