Luxury Resorts, a North Carolina based company that is owned in part by Peter Loftin has filed a lawsuit against WestLB, the mortgage company of Casa Casuarina, former Miami home of Gianni Versace. Known as the sight of Versace’s murder, the problems between the current property owner and the lender started in December of 2006. After finalizing a $25 million mortgage deal on the property, Casa Casuarina’s owners planned to pay the previous lender, Bank of America, $14 million dollars. Unfortunately, what started as a smooth business transaction quickly became a serious legal matter.
The owners of Casa Casuarina allege the mortgage holder, WestLB, was planning to sell the mortgage without the owner’s permission to an unnamed third party. Adam Steinberg, the attorney representing Luxury Resorts, has stated WestLB attempted to add signature pages to a loan document that Luxury Resorts never agreed to. The attorney also stated WestLB claimed the document was a finalized loan agreement even though the bank knew this was not true. The lawsuit alleges the German based lender planned to profit from the sale using documents that were never shown to the property’s legal owners.
Filed in Miami-Dade Circuit court in December 2011, the civil suit initiated by Casa Casuarina alleges their mortgage holder, WestLB, attempted to use fraudulent transfer, forgery, mail fraud, and wire fraud to deprive Luxury Resorts of its property. The suit claims that the actions of WestLB have directly led to Casa Casuarina and Luxury resorts losing property interest and income through rentals. Casa Casaurina also alleges the bank’s actions have damaged Luxury Resort’s reputation in the business community and the Florida real estate community.
Casa Casuarina has requested a jury trial in addition to being awarded damages for the alleged actions of WesLB. Attempts to contact the New York branch of German based WestLB have met no response.