Dreier Bankruptcy Trustee Sues Over Anguilla Property

A bankruptcy trustee is suing an Anguillan developer to recover the approximately $1.5 million Marc Dreier spent on property on the Caribbean island, one of the former lawyer’s many acquisitions before his Ponzi scheme crashed and burned.

Chapter 7 trustee Salvatore LaMonica filed the lawsuit Monday, court papers show, part of his quest to recover any personal assets not seized by the federal government so Dreier’s assets can be paid. The lawsuit seeks to recover the payments that Temenos Development received for two real-estate parcels on the grounds that Dreier didn’t receive fair or equal value in the deal.

LaMonica accused Temenos, which builds, markets and sells estate homes in Anguilla, of “unlawfully” withholding the property from Dreier and converting the property for its own use. As a result, LaMonica says Dreier’s bankruptcy estate is owed at least $1.5 million in damages.

Efforts to reach Temenos Tuesday weren’t successful.

The Anguilla property isn’t available for LaMonica to seize and liquidate because it was among the properties forfeit to the federal government—like the $10 million luxury New York condo, the $18 million yacht and the two beachfront homes in the Hamptons—in connection with Dreier’s criminal proceeding.

Dreier, as loyal Bankruptcy Beat readers will recall, is now serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted on charges related to his sale of $700 million in bogus promissory notes. The scheme bilked hedge funds and other investors out of more than $400 million, and Dreier has been ordered to make restitution of $367.7 million to his victims. Both Dreier and his defunct law firm, Dreier LLP, are under bankruptcy protection.