53° M/CLOUDY, Lawsuit calls for payback
Last Modified: Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
MANATEE COUNTY - A new lawsuit accuses a politically well-connected Bradenton businessman of using his dead father's business to avoid paying back a $250,000 investment.
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A Pinellas County woman says Paul Sharff, a governor-appointed member of the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport Authority, has refused to pay back the money her father gave him four years ago.
Sharff told her it was not his obligation because it was a loan to his father's now-defunct business, Bankers Mortgage and Investment Corp.
Margaret Blydenburg says letters show Sharff was the person working on behalf of Bankers Mortgage, even though his father, who has the same name, was listed as the director.
Sharff also kept making monthly interest payments on the investment after his father died and his company was dissolved.
Sharff is well-known in Manatee County political circles, working in an unofficial capacity with Jeb Bush. He was on then-attorney general Charlie Crist's transition team, was just elected the county's Republican committeeman, and at one time headed its Republican Party.
Margaret Blydenburg's lawsuit accuses Sharff of dismantling Bankers Mortgage to avoid paying back people who made investments with him.
As proof, the lawsuit shows the state received paperwork May 5 to dissolve Bankers Mortgage and claimed it had no debts. The document is signed by Paul A. Sharff Sr., who died April 29.
Bankers Mortgage continued to put out "investment account" statements through August, when the promissory note became due. Sharff is not registered to make such investments, the state said.
Sharff said the dispute had "something to do with my father" and directed questions to his attorney, State Rep. Bill Galvano, who did not return a call for comment.
Blydenburg asked for the $250,000 last month so she could distribute it as part of the will for her father, Robert Oerter, her attorney said.
Oerter gave the money to Bankers Mortgage in 2004 under a promise it would pay interest for four years.
Sharff first wrote to Blydenburg and offered to come to an agreement, according to documents provided by her attorney, Robert Turffs.
"At the decline of my father's health The Bankers and Mortgage and Investment Corporation went out of business and is not longer a corporation," Sharff wrote in an Aug. 4 letter. After meeting with Blydenburg's daughter, he tried a different approach.
"Although it is not my personal obligation, I will make every effort to satisfy the note to your father's estate," Sharff wrote to Blydenburg.
"I have listed 2 condominiums at City Walk Condominiums for sale ... I will continue to send your interest on the loan to Mr. Oerters checking account till the condo's sell and as long as there are not other contentions with the estate."
This story appeared in print on page BN1
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Comments
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October 12, 2008 7:39:56 am
RE: Link
He is a good man and will keep his word. I don't see why there is a lawsuit or a news article about it. She is getting paid the interest and will get the rest when possible. This sounds like a greedy lawyer to me.
October 12, 2008 7:45:09 am
The note is overdue. Legal action is the only way to protect your interests when the original terms aren't met. Promises not in writing mean nothing. Written promises that weren't approved by the plaintiff are also meaningless in this case.
October 12, 2008 11:33:57 am
[QUOTE]Originally posted by dhowland:
RE: Link
He is a good man and will keep his word.When you sign a promissory note, that is "your word." When it comes due, that is when you are obligated to pay it and will, if you are a "good man."
Promising to pay it later than the due date and predicating such payment upon the sale of some asset or another that was not part of the original agreement is "breaking your word."
It made the paper because it is another part of the mortgage/financial crisis these "good men (and ladies)" have gotten us into with shaky lending practices.
October 13, 2008 4:27:44 am
Look at the Bradenton/Manatee/ Florida state/ Washington good ol' boy lineage here. I "betcha" the list of investors owed money reads like a manatee society, who's who column. Let's see...served in unofficial capacity to the ex-governor, ran a limo service escorting republican grand puhbas, had off duty sheriff deputies cleaning the limos, cozy with Band Benderson and NDC Construction who partnered in business with a senator in the building of condos Sharff bought. All politics are local. Corruption starts at home. Anything else? "You betcha".
October 13, 2008 2:45:56 pm
If these charges are true, to wit:"As proof, the lawsuit shows the state received paperwork May 5 to dissolve Bankers Mortgage and claimed it had no debts. The document is signed by Paul A. Sharff Sr., who died April 29." and furthermore that Paul Sharff was not properly and or legally registered with the State of Florida and or the financial regulatory agencies of the Federal Government then WE MUST DEMAND A GRAND JURY investigation of this woman's charges....did this man who may not have even graduated high school, but purchased a more valuable sheepskin in the form of bought and paid for political campaign contributions to Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist and a un-holy host of other's.....Because if in this savage emotional climate of famlies losing their lives and life's savings dreams and memories to MORTGAGE FRAUD and Interstate Racketeering justice must be served....these are enormous "IFS"....but just because Sharff says he didnt do anything wrong DOES NOT NECESSARILY MAKE IT SO.....Open up all the books and records....did he forge his father's signature after the mans death....can a former governor help him....will the woman's plea before the bar of justice be DENIED as a resulkt of a WHITEWASH.....may this publishing house please continue their pursuit of this woman's cause....Do we really know WHO IS PAUL SHARFF ????? TRAGIC...he might yet end up a felon...UNABLE TO VOTE
October 13, 2008 9:34:57 pm
What does this tell us?; "...a politically well-connected Bradenton businessman...". Is this a foreshadowing of the outcome?
Robert Vesco is "a politically well-connected businessman." He bilked women and families out of millions of hard earned dollars.
Marc Rich (represented by Scooter Libby) is "a politically well-connected businessman." He bilked women and families out of millions of hard earned dollars.
Jack Abramoff is " a politically well-connected businessman." He bilked women and families out of millions of hard earned dollars.
Each of these men are federal felons and have been pardoned of their crimes against the innocent citizens of America because they are " politically well-connected businessmen."
Are these men (and Sharff) businessmen or are they each unto his own fashions simply bunko-artists, conmen and flim flammers???
Is Sharff's blaming of his father (posthumously, at that. MORBIDLY) to stiff investors out of their money his own macabre version of "the death tax"?But legally, he (SHARFF) blew himself up into a million teeny tiny pieces of trash, rubbish, garbage if, IF, he reported to our very own guardians, stalwarts who stand with us against the "Barbarians at the Gate" the State of Florida Banking Regulators that Sharff's Bankers Mortgage and Investment Corp. "HAD NO DEBTS.".....are these documents not signed under penalty of perjury????..Please continue your investigation. If Sharff turns out to be just another blood-sucking vampire, parasite...you've done a public service. Sharff is strong on public service. He must want you to vindicate him.
October 14, 2008 1:43:59 pm
other contentions? he says he's got 2 condo's for sale!!
"I have listed 2 condominiums at City Walk Condominiums for sale ... I will continue to send your interest on the loan to Mr. Oerters checking account till the condo's sell and as long as there are not other contentions with the estate."
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