RICO charges filed against Hudson Holdings

Remember these bums?

Well, former Lake Worth commissioner John Szerdi should remember them...he worked for them. Then we have Wes Blackman, former chair of the Historic Resource Preservation Board--he worked for Hudson Holdings too. We can't forget Greg Rice, Chair of our Planning & Zoning board, campaigning for it all, as well as the PAC for which he was affiliated, Friends of the Gulfstream, which had an ethics complaint filed against it in July 2013. It pulled a lot of dirty tricks back then.

On top of the above three, we have three city commissioners still in office: Scott Maxwell, Mayor Pam Triolo and Andy Amoroso who gave Hudson Holdings every little thing their heart desired like upzoning at the Gulfstream Hotel area as well as declaring an entire election null and void, won by the people on heights.

Anonymous Lake Worth Graphics Artist

Respectful Planning PAC won at the ballot just a few years ago getting 56% of the vote to keep the heights to 45 feet. Thanks to everyone who worked on this with special gratitude to Laurel Decker. Then the city attorney pulled a fast one on the people--so did the commission. They did not care about democracy, only giving developers what they wanted.

Changing Florida's Future, a PAC out of Tallahassee, sent out mailers supporting the election of Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso that were funded by Hudson Holdings in the amount of $9,000. Hudson Holdings knew who their friends were.

The Gulfstream Hotel sits there and rots to this day. But wait a minute--we had a husband and wife team that blitzed into the city...supposed developers, Amy and Amrit Gill from St. Louis who told us that they were ready to embark on a $100 million project to renovate the historic building. The city fell for it and so did the residents. I wonder if any investors fell for it too? Where are these people?

Hudson Holdings had a lot of connections in St. Louis as well as failed projects. Was there not a red flag for the City of Lake Worth with this husband and wife team when it appeared out of nowhere from St. Louis? It really makes one wonder what really is going on. No one can continue to have two left feet.

The caveat for these "supposed" new developers to go forward with the hotel? They insisted that the residents approve a ballot measure in March 2020 that would allow property built adjacent to the hotel to match the Gulfstream’s 87-foot height. City guidelines limit building height east of Dixie Highway to 65 feet. Mailer after mailer was sent out to voters promoting this measure. Who was behind this mailer? It sounds like a Steven Michael tactic. The City knows nothing about this husband and wife team any more than they did about Hudson Holdings. Have they done one bit of due diligence?

Two years ago, south county developer Bill Milmoe and vitamin kingpin Carl DeSantis filed a RICO lawsuit against Hudson Holdings. It was settled and it was reported that CDS (the DeSantis group) now owns the property. Details of the settlement were kept secret and sealed.  But the owners are still HH GULFSTREAM LAND HOLDINGS LLC according to the Property appraiser's office.

**Now one of the original investors in the Hudson Holdings "enterprise" regarding the Gulfstream Hotel just filed suit under RICO statutes because of Steven Michael's and Avi Greenbaum's continuing individual and enterprise misconduct." The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties.

COMPLAINT