PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 30th, 2016, the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach has granted the receiver, who has been paid for by South Atlantic Regional Center, to receive offers to restructure the asset and present these to the court for consideration.
This is a significant outcome for the EB5 investors, and Palm House Hotel, LLLP, the lender. The lender has alleged they have been defrauded by the Matthews family, Robert Matthews, Mia Matthews and Gerry Matthews, outlined in a civil RICO suit filed by General Partner, SARC and Palm House Hotel, LLLP that involves fraudulent documents prepared by several attorneys, purchases of luxury yachts, lavish homes, luxury cars, jewelry, vacations and the like.
It has taken many months to put together the forensic accounting of the multiple companies, off-shore accounts and entities, properties that were purchased in the general contractor's name, family trusts and other means specifically designed to hide millions of dollars of transactions using several accounts, over several years.
The order dictated by the judge is being drafted by Henry Handler, attorney for Palm House Hotel, LLLP, and will become public record in the coming days. Judge Hafele heard testimony related to the obligation of Palm House, LLC to preserve the EB5 immigration status of many EB5 investors.
Westport Capital Partners, represented by Phil Hudson, stated clearly they were prepared to fund the completion of the project in a manner likely to preserve the immigration status of EB5 investors. Proposals will be presented to Cary Glickstein, the Receiver, who in his testimony clearly identified his role in getting the project going again.
Also discussed was the immediate funding of the Receiver through release of over $2M in EB5 funds that have been recovered from Alibi, Ltd., a company beneficially owned by Mia Matthews, Mr. Robert Matthews' wife, where EB5 funds were misdirected from the Palm House Hotel construction to acquire a 150' yacht. In a previous hearing, the Matthews family admiralty attorney admitted to the Maritime Court that the funds used to acquire the yacht were misdirected from Palm House, LLC into a Cayman corporation, which is beneficially owned by Mia Matthews.
"Palm House Hotel, LLLP will fully cooperate with any purchaser of financial means that has the ability to preserve and advance the immigration status of our clients," said Mr. Joseph Walsh, General Partner of SARC who is the General Partner of the Palm House Hotel, LLLP.
"We welcome input from the Limited Partners in the case going forward to finalize a solution that is most beneficial to all parties concerned. Our many months of diligent and costly litigation have led to this significant outcome for the benefit of the investors and the immigration needs," said Mr. Walsh
South Atlantic Regional Center and its affiliates have funded this investigations and the outcome reflects a consistent and determined approach to complete the project and provide a path to each Limited Partner in their effort to receive immigration status in the US. "We are delighted with the results, because this represents the first steps to restarting the project, creating the Job Creating Entity, as required by the USCIS in the EB5 program and creating a clear path to retrieve the funds fraudulently used by the Matthews family and others," said Mr. Joseph Walsh. "Our hope has always been for our partners and their success in achieving their ultimate goal of immigration status in the United States. It has taken many thousands of hours of discovery and millions of dollars of expense to achieve this opportunity to unravel this alleged fraudulent scheme perpetrated by the Matthews family on innocent investors," Mr. Walsh said. "Often the justice system in America is slow and methodical but justice does have her way. Our many attorneys and counselors have forged a path to a good outcome that will benefit the investors, the immigration, the city of Palm Beach and the project," commented Mr. Walsh.