(Trinidad Guardian) Former CL Financial executive chairman Lawrence Duprey and his wife, Sylvia Baldini, have once again found themselves trying to prevent foreclosure by a Florida bank.
However, after instituting legal action to foreclose a mortgage on Lot 2, The Harborage, in December 2013, against Baldini, Duprey and the Harborage Association, the plaintiff, The Bank of New York Mellon, The Bank of New York Successor Trustee to JP Morgan Chase Bank, as Trustee for the Structured Asset Mortgage Investments II Trust, terminated the lawsuit in July 27, 2015.
The notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice and release of lis pendens was made weeks after the property was sold for US$3,750,000. (In US law, a lis pendens is a written notice that a lawsuit has been filed concerning real estate, involving either the title to the property or a claimed ownership interest in it.)
On July 9 this year, they sold their luxury waterfront residential home in Harborage Isle, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The property is said to be one of several multi-million dollar properties owned by Baldini in the exclusive waterfront neighbourhood. It is located at 2 Harborage Isle Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316. Several real estate Web sites list Baldini as owner of properties 1, 2, 3 and 9 of the 18 properties in the gated community. Lot 9 has been foreclosed on.
According to The Warranty Deed document, the Lot 2 was sold to Marisabel Tamayo. The indenture (a deed executed by more than one party) was made on July 9 between Baldini and Tamayo. The Power of Attorney document states Tamayo appointed Federico Jose Tamayo of 3430 Saddlebrook Lane, Weston, FL, as her true and lawful attorney to contract, or agree to buy and to encumber the property. And to also make, accept, receive, endorse, sign, seal and execute, acknowledge and deliver deeds, mortgages, promissory notes and other closing documents related to the purchase and sale of the property. Baldini was also a former director in CL Financial.
Several calls to Duprey’s home and mobile were unsuccessful.
In another matter, the couple owed US$3.2 million in outstanding mortgage payments on Lot 9 on the same Harborage Isle.
The final foreclosure judgment on that property was made in the Broward County 17 Judicial Circuit Court on September 8, 2014. Sunday Guardian received copies of the court documents. It was ordered and adjudged that a motion for summary judgment was granted the plaintiff (Jem Lending, LLC, a Florida limited liability company) and service of process had been duly and regularly obtained over Baldini and Duprey and The Harborage Association, a Florida corporation.
Baldini and Duprey owed Jem Lending the following:
Principal due on the note secured by the mortgage foreclosed: US$2,500,000—interest from 4/11/13 to 7/31/14. US$654,166.74—interest from 8/1/14 to 9/8/14: US$54,166.71. Per diem interest (US$1,388.89) at 20.00 per cent.
In addition, to court and other costs, the grand total is US$3,218,478.24.
These legal proceedings came almost seven months after similar action was taken in April 2013, when Duprey and his wife sold their multi-million hotels in Miami to prevent foreclosure. They sold three multi-million hotels, under a company registered as Sable Resorts Inc, to prevent foreclosure by a Florida bank to which they owed $30 million (TT).
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The website of Zillow Group, www.zillow.com, an online real estate database company, states the property Lot 2 was last sold in July 2015 for US$3,750,000. The property sits on 5,570 square ft and has three bedrooms and five baths.
Lot 9 is on the market for US$7,500,000. It was remodelled in 2011. Its description states it has newly designed areas overlooking the waterway and gardens. It has six bedrooms and seven baths on 7,841 square ft.
The description for Lot 1 Harborage, which is listed as off the market, is, “An extraordinary waterfront opportunity to create your own vision of paradise on 100 feet of waterfront.” The property has 6,400 square ft of living area and over 22,000 square ft of premier property. It was last sold in October 2008 for US$3,075,000, according to Zillow.
The more luxurious property, Lot 5, is on the market for US$32 million and has six bedrooms and nine baths on 17,037 square ft. It features a tennis court, fitness centre, pool, patio and wet bar.
In a separate court document, a Final Deficiency Judgment, Iberiabank, of Bradenton, Florida, has been ordered to recover damages from Sable Resorts, Duprey, Sable Investments Company and Graybar Financial Services, jointly and severally, in the amount of US$762,451.96, stipulated fees and costs totalling US$130,000, and interest which amounts to US$814,309.60.
A deficiency judgment is an unsecured money judgment against a borrower whose mortgage foreclosure sale did not produce sufficient funds to pay the underlying promissory note, or loan, in full.
