Superior Court Judge Dale Radcliffe on Wednesday ordered Bank of America to hand over Success Village bank accounts to attorney Barry Knott who the judge appointed last week to resolve the heat and hot water mess created by the ex board of directors and management.
Ex board leader Ty Bird had access to the accounts. Two years ago when Bird and company took over, the 900 unit, 2,000 resident co-op had more than $2 million on hand funded by monthly common charges to pay taxes, utilities and improvements. Taxes and utilities were not paid while the boiler system failed with no resolution.
Court testimony revealed the co-op now only has $3,400 on hand. Where did the money go? Millions to lawyers and consultants. Better to pay them than throw the switch for heat and hot water?
A whole bunch of folks, including federal law enforcement officials, are digging for possible criminal charges.
When Knott presented the Boston Avenue Bank of America branch office with the court’s order, he was stymied. Likely, a BOA lawyer got in the way.
Knott referred the circumstance to lawyers for Bridgeport and Stratford that had initiated the call for the judge to appoint a receiver to take over. Judge Radcliffe called the parties into court and ordered a bank lawyer and local branch manager to recognize Knott as the financial overseer for Success Village.
Bird and company no longer manage the co-op.
Meanwhile, Knott is working in earnest to rectify the boiler issues.
How many more Bank accounts are out there?
Sonny, two as far as we know.
Pretty soon there will be a parade of orange jumpsuits shuffling down the state courthouse walkways in Bridgeport as some Success Village BOD members and their embezzlement partners are brought to account for the federal and state crimes involved in the theft of condo association funds over a period of years.
And, since this is Bridgeport, it certainly isn’t unthinkable that this situation will bleed into local politics at a couple of levels…
Things will start to get interesting, even as the scramble goes on to keep the people of Success in their homes safely, with heat and hot water. The failure to do so will not play out well as the heating and election seasons merge to a head in the next month.
It appears that there is movement around SVA issues that have been sidetracked for too long such that no one is bragging about the quality, quantity, or communication regarding any resident issues.
# Self-governance broke down at least two years ago, but perhaps previous practices did not concern resident-owners much……. and previous court action directing Board members to work together, was ignored.
# The delivery of hot water and heat were the precipitating causes for Health and Safety Departments to take a close look. They did not fail overnight. These are expensive systems in the overall. But it seems that a patchwork of temporary solutions have been attempted by residents or by “management” so current status or results are likely different, depending on whom you speak with.
# In Bridgeport, where most of the 900 units are located, the lack of a City Department to observe or direct residents of condos or co-ops has been unavailable for over 20 years. A series of Mayors have failed to appoint qualified local residents to a Fair Housing Commission, with the opportunity of seeing that “fairness” is observed, without which serious financial obligations may burden the City with unexplored financial responsibilities.
# There is more to note, especially the cavalier attitude of “the management” who brought us to this point, but only when the financial accounts are restored in orderly fashion will the public see where spending of resident funds, without sufficient owner participation or direction, occurred.
OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT and HONEST values in organizations and operations are not new subjects to anyone who has read past comments of mine. Patience is required. Time will tell.