Developer: No effect on Benicia property
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Lawsuits related to a dispute between Albert Seeno Jr., his brother Thomas and their former Nevada business partner, F. Harvey Whittemore, won’t affect any plans for a large Benicia parcel owned by the Seeno family, Seeno Jr. said Thursday.
In a letter to The Benicia Herald, Seeno wrote, “Please be advised that the current issues with respect to our former business partner in Nevada will have no impact, financial or otherwise, on any potential development plans we may have in Benicia or any of our California or Nevada homebuilding operations.”
Wingfield Nevada Group Holding Company, Tuffy Ranch properties and the Foothills at Wingfield — three Seeno-interest Nevada companies — filed suit Jan. 27 in Clark County, Nev., Business Court, accusing Whittemore, a Nevada attorney and businessman, and his wife, Annette, of misappropriating millions of dollars.
The suit said the Seenos noticed discrepancies in financial records about May 2010, and started an investigation.
That suit said Whittemore confessed to several years’ worth of theft, diversion of funds, asset misappropriation and breach of fiduciary duties, particularly money caretaking; as well as using company funds for unauthorized personal matters and for political donations to Whittemore’s advantage; embezzlement; and misuse of company assets.
“The egregious acts of Whittemore as alleged in this Complaint have cost Wingfield, its affiliates, and the Seenos tens of millions of dollars,” the suit said.
The Whittemores responded Feb. 1 with a suit of their own filed in the U.S. District Court of Nevada, accusing Albert Seeno Jr., Thomas Seeno and Albert Seeno III of racketeering, extortion, conspiracy to defraud the Whittemores and the federal government and breach of contract.
Their suit said they are owed about $30 million by the Wingfield Nevada Group, and that their family has been damaged in excess of $60 million.
The suit also said Seeno has falsely accused the Whittemores of embezzlement and other criminal activity, and forced the Whittemores out of the Wingfield Nevada Group.
“For over a full year now, the Whittemores have been living under the threat of death, serious bodily injury and/or criminal and civil prosecution because of actions threatened by the Seenos,” the suit said.
Both suits have requested trials by jury.
In his letter to The Herald on Thursday, Seeno Jr. responded, “The malicious claims that have been made from our former partner in a highly sensationalized lawsuit and reported to the press are blatantly untrue and offensive.
“This is an attempt by a desperate man to divert attention away from the prior lawsuit filed against him for embezzlement of company funds and his personal misdeeds. It is nothing more than a press release in the form of a lawsuit.
“When the time is right in Benicia, we hope to work with the staff to develop a project that will make economic sense and be a proud addition to the city of Benicia.”
The Seenos are a family of developers. The late Albert Seeno Sr., the son of an immigrant fisherman, died last year at 84; he started the Albert D. Seeno Construction Company in 1938. It has built homes, apartments and commercial centers around the Bay Area.
Two of his sons, Albert Jr. and Tom Seeno, took over that business when their father began transitioning into retirement. While Seeno Jr.’s letter said the Nevada lawsuits won’t affect plans for the local property, there are no plans currently filed at City Hall for any development on the Seeno parcel on Benicia’s north side.
In a letter sent June 29, 2010, to then-City Manager Jim Erickson, Seeno Jr. announced he was withdrawing the applications originally filed in 2005 for a business park he and his son, Seeno III, had proposed for 285 acres of their 527-acre parcel by Lake Herman Road.
That withdrawal came after years of meetings and discussions about the project, including the imposition of about 200 conditions placed on the project in a 2009 City Council resolution to which Seeno had agreed to keep the project alive.
Seeno’s announcement came a few days before the Council was considering terminating the application, citing difficulties in communicating with the developer.
At its June 1, 2010 meeting, the Council said Seeno needed to support city-initiated planning processes that includes his property, and that he should propose a solution to Benicia’s loss of impact fees that have increased during the past five years. Those were some of the conditions of the application’s April 6 extension.
The extension also required the applicant to give the Council semi-annual updates.
In a reply to the city’s action dated May 6, 2010, Seeno III promised the progress reports, but the Council decided that was the only issue his letter addressed.
Seeno III said in that letter the delay in developing the park didn’t alter the impact fees imposed on the project, and that it “would be a waste of state taxpayer resources” to embark on design or planning procedures until the economy starts improving.
Seeno said there might be alternative uses for the land.
But in a June 29, 2010 letter, Seeno Jr. accused Mayor Elizabeth Patterson of “slanderous comments about me and my family on the public record,” adding that “they certainly make me question why I or anyone else would consider proceeding with a development project in the city of Benicia.”
Once the letter was received, Patterson questioned its timing and the withdrawal of the Benicia Business Park Master Plan and Vesting Tentative Map applications.
She said the timing was related to the 2011 city elections, when she would be running for re-election.
“They don’t want a strong mayor who stands up to Seeno. They don’t want a mayor who insists on protecting the hills, air and water, and avoiding big-time traffic increases. And they don’t want a mayor who asks for assurances in writing.”
Patterson, who was opposed by then-Vice Mayor Alan Schwartzman in the 2011 race, won re-election, and Schwartzman returned to the Council to complete his current term.
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So, it appears there is more to the lawsuit against Seeno then meets the eye.
I think I will wit hold judgment until both lawsuits shake out
I find it to be pretty amazing that Albert Seeno Sr. started the company at the age of 11.
Seems wrong, but the information — double- and triple-checked — came from a 2011 obituary in the Chronicle. We’re trying to find other sources. Ed.
He might have just been a child prodigy, a well funded child prodigy.
I don’t find that the accomplishments of Albert Seeno Sr. should be worthy of our attention, for he is in no position to propose anything to Benicia. However, the legacy of misdeeds and non-feasances of companies of his son, Albert Jr., with respect to environmental protections or requirements to be followed during development of Seeno – owned property and adjacent lands should remain in our minds at all times that the City negotiates anything with Albert Jr., and with Albert III, if and when plans for development of such property are presented in the future. The city and county need to exercise caution.
Given the sensational nature of the Nevada soap opera in which Albert is presently cast, I’d suggest watching the unfolding of plot complications in this ppv show, and paying attention to the supporting cast, as well. It could be entertaining, but one shouldn’t say that in should influence our thinking about local projects until we have much more substantive information.
FBI arrests Seeno executive, offers first glimpse into 2010 raid
By Matthias Gafni
Contra Costa Times
© Copyright 2012, Bay Area News Group
Posted: 02/15/2012 09:06:55 PM PST
Updated: 02/16/2012 01:07:52 PM PST
Powerful East Bay family sued, accused in killing plot
Document: Lawsuit accuses Seenos of racketeering, extortion
A Seeno company’s top sales director in Contra Costa County has been arrested on charges of bank and wire fraud in a scheme that allegedly inflated the value of four homes she was trying to buy in a struggling Pittsburg development owned by her employer.
The arrest of Carey Hendrickson, 36, of Martinez, comes two years after the FBI raided the Seeno family development offices, during which dozens of agents carted off boxes of evidence but failed to bring any charges, until now.
It’s not clear if the case against Hendrickson is more widespread, but it fits what the mortgage industry calls a “builder’s bailout,” which entails inflating the value of homes to help prop up sales and allow developers to maintain a stronger cash flow during down times.
A 15-page criminal complaint filed Friday in San Francisco federal court targets Hendrickson, who works as the district sales manager for Discovery Sales, a subsidiary of Seeno Homes that is owned by the Seeno family. Hendrickson turned herself in to the Concord FBI offices Monday and had her first court appearance that day. She is free on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 23. If convicted, she could face up to 50 years in prison and a fine of more than $1 million.
An FBI affidavit, compiled from seized Seeno documents and interviews with former employees, alleges Hendrickson tried to buy four houses simultaneously in August 2008 in the Seenos’ San Marcos development off
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Highway 4 in Pittsburg. By purchasing them at once, Hendrickson could hide from lenders the extent of debt accumulating on her credit report, the FBI said. She was able to purchase three of the homes, but the fourth loan broker became suspicious, and Hendrickson backed out.
In filling out the paperwork, Hendrickson hid the down payment and mortgage assistance Seeno Homes promised her, the FBI said. In turn, Seeno Homes failed to disclose those builder incentives in the paperwork it submitted to the lender, leading the bank to issue loans based on inflated sales prices, according to the FBI affidavit.
As the company’s licensed real estate agent, Hendrickson was responsible for overseeing regulatory compliance for the company’s sales staff and should have known the scheme was illegal, according to the FBI.
Calls to Hendrickson were referred to her interim attorney.
“We are deeply disappointed that, after a two-year investigation in which no charges were filed, the U.S. attorney decided to file a complaint on the day that Ms. Hendrickson’s attorney, John Runfola, left for vacation,” Hendrickson’s interim attorney, Brendan Hickey, wrote in an email. “Despite this apparent attempt to force her to appear in court without proper representation, Ms. Hendrickson is looking forward to engaging in the legal process to clear herself of any wrongdoing.”
Calls to a Seeno attorney and the company’s Concord offices were not returned Wednesday.
But in an recent interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal, Albert Seeno Jr. said the Feb. 19, 2010, FBI raid yielded no charges. His Nevada-based attorney, Kent Robison, told the newspaper that federal officials were investigating a corrupt politician to whom the Seenos had donated money during a campaign and were collecting documents.
This month, a Nevada lobbyist sued Albert Seeno Jr., his brother Thomas Seeno and his son Albert Seeno III in federal court. Harvey Whittemore, a longtime friend of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, accused the father and son of threatening to kill him, among other allegations, after a business deal went sour. Last month, the Seenos sued Whittemore, claiming he embezzled money from the company they shared.
The FBI investigation found Hendrickson was paid directly by an arm of Seeno Homes, a corporation called Collateral Financing Group. From May through July 2008, the funding group paid Hendrickson almost $480,000, which she immediately used to pay her down payments to the title company to buy the homes, the FBI said. She returned $122,000 after the fourth house deal fell through, according to the FBI affidavit.
Another Seeno company, West Coast Homebuilders, paid Hendrickson $169,000 spread over 14 payments between June and December 2008. Seeno contracts seized during the 2010 raid show that West Coast Homebuilders promised to assist her mortgage payments for the Martinez home she lived in.
Three banks issued loans on the Pittsburg homes, essentially agreeing to fund house purchases that were underwater at their inception, the affidavit said.
The sales tactic of offering to pay a buyer’s down payment and the first year of mortgage payments without disclosing that incentive to lenders is part of an emerging scam called a “builder’s bailout,” according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
Asked whether the tactic used in the Hendrickson complaint was used to lure other Seeno Homes buyers across the Bay Area, an FBI spokesman declined to comment.
The affidavit, however, hints at a widening net.
In an Aug. 23, 2007, email from Hendrickson to her Seeno sales staff titled “Appraisers,” she detailed how to keep them out of the loop.
“It would be very wise, based on all the wonderful things we are trying to do for our customers, to only relay design credits and/or closing costs, should you be asked about community incentives,” she wrote. “Offering up incentive information to the appraisers has destroyed the scheduled closings on two homes in the last couple weeks and we have been fighting to get new comps (comparable sales data) to appraisers this week.”
Struggling builders often resort to the “builder’s bailout” scam in order to quickly move inventory at inflated prices to maintain their large lines of credit with banks, according to Freddie Mac.
As the housing market continued to wallow, various Seeno enterprises needing capital borrowed at least $1.24 billion in construction lines of credit between June 27, 2008, and Oct. 30, 2009, according to Contra Costa deed of trust notes. This was around the time that former business partner Whittemore alleges in his lawsuit that the Seeno brothers told him they owed more than $500 million in income taxes.
In the end, the housing market caught up to Hendrickson. She lost two of the San Marcos houses to short sales last year, costing the lenders about $250,000, the affidavit alleges.
If other Seeno buyers also took the hidden down payment and mortgage assistance, there could be a glut of foreclosures in those communities, an expert said.
Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026.
Will Gregory seems to think no one can read. Will have you nothing better to do than repeat old news. It was all over the place today. By the way I had a long discussion about this topic two weeks ago. This is not new. It may now just be getting to the papers for Will Gregory to reproduce old news.
Ok with me. Had not read this article. Thank you Gregory…
Is it possible , you think, that Gregory can write any less than 2000 words about ANY subject? Is he getting paid by the word to write this pap? Just curious.
conquitadori asked:Is it possible , you think, that Gregory can write any less than 2000 words about ANY subject
The words are not his, he merely posts the words of others, when those words seem to match thoughts or ideas that he cannot, or will not, express himself.
It is too bad as he may have something to add to discussions, but we will likely never know.
I think that it doesn’t require three posts to attack Will Gregory for his post; do you guys find smug comfort in numbers? On the other hand, it would be convenient for some to have the proximity of the information he posts and the article that leads this thread.
Are you gentlemen that conserned with Web bandwidth issues that you are interested in limiting W.G.’s right to speech in this forum? Certainly it is preferable to having re-appear in newsprint pages.
Paul
I see no mention of anyone placing a limitation on WG.
You have included mine as an “attack” of WG, I would say that word is a mischaracterization of my comment as I simply stated in succinct terms the facts regarding the posting habits of WG.
There are some guidelines regarding posting that are generally adhered to in most forums, including such things as NOT USING ALL CAPS WHEN TYPING. Posting 1500 word missives falls into that category.
Simply posting a link to the source and paraphrasing why it is important would be encouraged.
DDL:
Thanks for the advise; I’ll try to be more selective in how I respond, and I appreciate the procedural guidelines.
Thanks, again, Paul
The WG issue goes much deeper.
Cryptic! Do you propose to elicidate, or is this all so obvious that we should all see what you see here?
Your problem Paul. It appears you have no facts. It is not just here. There is much more.