Norlarco Debt Won’t Die With Debtor

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A multi-million dollar liability won’t be put to rest with the death of a key figure in the Florida land-bust case, which already has claimed three credit unions. Attorneys for Frank D’Allesandro, a Florida developer who partnered with the three failed credit unions on a speculative real estate venture, Monday told a federal judge the estate will continue to defend against a bevy of lawsuits even though D’Allesandro died in a boating accident last month. D’Allesandro, national homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises and television real estate promoter Russell Whitney, along with Norlarco CU, Huron River Area FCU and New Horizons Community CU, are being sued by hundreds of investors who bought homes through Millionaire University, a get-rich-quick scheme that sold homes in the Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres developments near the Gulf of Mexico. D’Allesandro’s body was found last month floating in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New Jersey, where the Florida developer was visiting his mother, miles away from his overturned kayak. Police ruled the drowning an accident. The Florida developer was a partner in D'Alessandro and Woodyard Commercial Realtors, which helped originate a plan to sell pre-leased homes to thousands of investors that were financed in partnership with Norlarco CU, Huron River Area CU and New Horizons Community FCU, which all have been taken over by NCUA after the failed real estate speculation project fell apart. D'Alessandro's firm offered closing, financing, property management and procurement of tenants for the pre-leased properties. Lawyers for both sides of the suits met in U.S. District Court Monday to begin plotting a possible consolidation of the various cases, in preparation for a trial. The court ruled the plaintiffs in the case have 30 days to either amend their suits in light of the D’Allesandro death, or resolve the case through negotiations.