Thursday, October 1, 2015

Hudson Holdings - Has Eye on Lake Worth's Casino

Comment Up

Well, who are they? We know that John Szerdi works for them. We know that Wes Blackman does too. We know that they are buying up a lot of parcels within the City of Lake Worth one of which was  the historic Gulfstream Hotel that they purchased for $7,225,000 million in May of 2014.  Nothing has been done at the hotel since they bought it. They brag about how they are now one of the top taxpayers in the city. What is their goal? To buy up the city? Steven Michael has made his money from development and his Hedge Fund.

Hedge Funds are limited partnerships of investors that use high risk methods, such as investing with borrowed money, in hopes of realizing large capital gains. Could that be what's going on in Lake Worth and other cities or have they actually begun to renovate these properties?

They are spending a ton of money over the last few years. Last year they bought the Sunday House in Delray and promised all sorts of things for it and the surrounding area just like they promised here with the Gulfstream Hotel. All together, 7 acres of property, at Atlantic Avenue and Swinton Avenue, were acquired by affiliates of Hudson Holdings with Hudson spending $22 million. They have submitted plans to Delray that will change the area dramatically. In April 2015, they bought the Starks Building in Louisville for $14.25 million. 

You know what Donald Trump says about Hedge Funds..."They're getting away with murder. They're paying nothing, and it's ridiculous. I want to save the middle class." said Trump. Well Hudson says its "saving our city" and wants to take over at our casino and pool to save us from ourselves even calling WPTV Channel 5 and the Palm Beach Post using them for their purpose and providing embellished and/or false information.  The ITN is over so why is this guy still hanging around?

Below is a synopsis of a complaint that essentially says that Steven Michael failed to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade.

Narrative for 0212526 – MICHAEL, STEVEN ALAN **
**COMPLAINT: On October 15, 2012, NFA issued a Complaint charging Stonehenge and Michael with submitting misleading information to NFA about the status of the SD3 pool; failing to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade; using inflated figures in its promotional material; aggregating the funds of SD1’s different investment classes together in the SDMaster trading accounts thereby making the equity of participants in investment classes with higher funding levels available to margin the positions of participants in investment classes with lower funding levels; mis-allocating pool funds to pay Stonehenge and Michael’s expenses; making untimely reimbursements and redemptions; using misleading offering memorandum for SD1; and failing to supervise the overall operations of the firm.

The Complaint was filed only a few years ago and NFA charged Stonehenge with failing to obtain acknowledgements confirming that investors met the definition of a QEP. (A QEP is a sophisticated person who participates in a commodity pool or opens a managed account. The categories of persons who qualify as QEPs are listed in CFTC Regulation 4.7(a))

He failed to provide a disclosure document to individuals it solicited to invest in the SD3 pool; submitting inaccurate PQRs; failing to prepare SD1 account statements in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles; and allowing SD1 to make a loan to Stonehenge. He was charged $50,000 personally and Stonehenge was charged an additional $50,000.

Michael was charged with failing to abide by the terms of the settlement and Decision in a 2010 BCC case.  What happens if he gets control of our property?

Read about it

You need to know who you are jumping in bed with and no one can really ever figure out hedge fund guys. As Donald Trump further stated, ""The hedge-fund guys didn't build this country. These are guys that shift paper around and they get lucky." We don't want them shifting around any more paper in Lake Worth (how many plans have they told us about now?) and we don't want them "getting lucky" by bulldozing down our Olympic pool and managing our property.

So before this goes any further, let's get a complete background check including five years of financials before three people on a dais can turn over the key to our casino complex.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

A good idea would be to vote these people out of office in March.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for always mentioning that Blackman works for this company.He should put some sort of disclaimer on his blog as his goal now will be to attack with a vengeance to ensure HH gets its way. Bonus time? He's now using the racist attack to go after his competition. We don't need any more clowns in this town.

Anonymous said...

HH could have been a force for good in this town. A good developer would be working on Gulfstream, a good developer would be putting for a good plan for cleaning up or redeveloping the So. Federal corridor. A good developer would stop playing games with our beach, our casino and our pool, but they see (as we should) that we are a unique town with lots and lots of valuable waterfront property. I wouldn't be surprised that after they get their way at the beach, they will target the golf course for development, give these folks an inch and they will take a mile.

You would think our elected officials could see through this dog and pony show, but I think there is a strong likelihood that there are more back room deals going on.

We must remain extra vigilant as there are a lot of people in this town that will go for their story because its appealing and because, frankly, we do need help and we do need a more expansive tax base. It is clear they have a great PR team and or friends in the news media so we must counter the lies with the truth.

Anonymous said...

Is this the one that wanted hot dog stands? Moon Pies? He is playing with sand castles.

Lynn Anderson said...

LOL. I believe it was Anderson & Carr that brought up the push carts. Stupid idea.

Anonymous said...

Hudson also bought the Huntington Bldg in Cleveland for $22 million in 2015 with plans for commercial and residential development. They are also involved in a lawsuit filed by Seven Palms Resort on So Federal in LW for an issue of contract/debt. Details on County website for civil complaints. Remember at the Casino meeting when he claimed he was not involved in any lawsuits??? This one names him, Greenbaum, and Hudson Holdings.

Lynn Anderson said...

The City should tell them--Look, the ITN is over; you withdrew from the process blaming it on the city, whatever. We have not solicited any more proposals on the casino so get lost. Bye, bye.

Anonymous said...

give it to them--lake worth isn't doing the job---let it go -let it go