{"id":18321,"date":"2012-02-22T10:10:22","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T15:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=18321"},"modified":"2012-02-22T10:12:59","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T15:12:59","slug":"ginn-fraud-charge-upheld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/02\/ginn-fraud-charge-upheld","title":{"rendered":"Ginn Fraud Charge Upheld"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Ginn Sur Mer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A U.S. judge has denied requests by Credit Suisse and Cushman & Wakefield to dismiss fraud charges made by a former investor in the Ginn Sur Mer development.<\/p>\n

In a recent court document obtained exclusively by Guardian Business, Judge Ronald E. Bush offered a \u201creport and recommendations\u201d concerning the high-profile case involving four resorts seeking billions in damages.<\/p>\n

The defendants claim Credit Suisse and Cushman & Wakefield engaged in \u201cpredatory lending practices\u201d that caused these developments to collapse. Through a \u201cloan to own\u201d scheme, Credit Suisse and Cushman & Wakefield artificially inflated the value of the resort projects and induced investors to borrow \u201cunreasonably excessive amounts\u201d, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Credit Suisse allegedly charged tens of millions in \u201cexorbitant\u201d loan fees which caused the projects to become financially insolvent and fail.<\/p>\n

One of the plaintiffs in the case, L.J. Gibson, was an investor and property owner in Ginn Sur Mer.<\/p>\n

According to the court document, the plaintiff class \u201cis so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the plaintiffs, with approval from the court, proposed separate funds to be created for stakeholders in the four luxury resorts allegedly victimized by the bank.<\/p>\n

In this most recent court document, filed on February 17, the judge offered a mix bag of rulings on various Motions to Dismiss by Credit Suisse and Cushman & Wakefield.<\/p>\n

In the case of L.J. Gibson and Ginn Sur Mer, the judge opted to not dismiss both the fraud and negligent misrepresentation claim. Likewise, breach of fiduciary duty was also not dismissed, Judge Bush ruled, as well as the tortious interference with contractual relations claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point here is not to endorse plaintiffs\u2019 breach of fiduciary duty claim against Credit Suisse but, rather, to point out that plaintiffs have stated a plausible claim at this point in the litigation,\u201d the court read. \u201cWhether the claim ultimately prevails remains to be seen. Therefore, it is recommended that Credit Suisse\u2019s Motion to Dismiss be denied as to plaintiffs\u2019 breach of fiduciary duty claim. Plaintiffs\u2019 breach of fiduciary duty claim against Cushman & Wakefield is premised upon Credit Suisse\u2019s alleged breaches of its own fiduciary duties to the plaintiffs \u2013 that is, by virtue of an alleged conspiracy between the two defendants.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of Cushman & Wakefield specifically, the judge also upheld the plaintiffs\u2019 negligence and Class Allegations claims.<\/p>\n

Comprising nearly 900 homes, two championship ocean-front golf courses, 4,400 condominium hotel units, two marinas and a casino, a medical facility and a private airport expansion, investors allege the $4.9 billion project in Grand Bahama was on track before Credit Suisse forced it into default in 2008.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of millions had already been invested in the venture.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Ginn Sur Mer and its subsidiary development defaulted on loans it took on after mortgaging the land to the tune of $276,750,000 in favor of Ginn-LA Conduit Lenders Inc. These rights were transferred to Credit Suisse.<\/p>\n

The bank insists these alleged \u201cpredatory loan practices\u201d are baseless.<\/p>\n

The other resorts seeking damages in the case include Tamarack Resort, Yellowstone Club and Lake Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

By Jeffrey Todd,
\nThe Nassau Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A U.S. judge has denied requests by Credit Suisse and Cushman & Wakefield to dismiss fraud charges made by a former investor in the defunct $4.9 million Ginn Sur Mer development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[151,118,247,47,229],"class_list":["post-18321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-court","tag-development","tag-fraud","tag-investing","tag-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}