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Judge Demands Action On Landlord's Tardy Payback

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2007

Previous Coverage: Injured Landlord's Mother, Attorney At Odds

TAMPA - As Steven Green remains incapacitated in a New York hospital, a team of managers is working to prevent collapse of the real estate investor's company before he can pay more than $4 million in court-ordered restitution.

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   Steven Green

The rush to make restitution was revealed during testimony at a federal hearing Monday. U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew said at the hearing she would allow Green more time to pay but still wanted a payment plan to begin immediately.

Because of Green's medical condition, Bucklew also reset the date for Green to report to prison. Now, he is scheduled to report July 3.

Green, once one of Tampa's worst code violators with the low-income housing complexes he operated, was sentenced in February to 33 months in prison on tax evasion and fraud charges. He also was ordered to repay more than $4 million in restitution to Wells Fargo Bank.

Green had defrauded the bank by using a false Social Security number on a $9 million mortgage application for the Amberwood apartment complex on North Florida Avenue.

After passing sentence, Bucklew had given Green time to get his affairs in order before reporting to prison.

In May, he was hit by a car outside a New York nightclub and has been hospitalized since. Attorneys say Green has extensive brain injuries that prevent him from making his own decisions. He was in a coma for 40 days and remains unable to care for himself.

Monday, Bucklew said Green must pay an overdue $10,000 fine by the end of the week. The fine was supposed to have been paid in February. Bucklew said she was surprised to hear that it was not.

"Had I known," she said, "I would have taken Mr. Green into custody, but I did not know. I guess that's shame on me."

Green's attorney, Edward M. Kratt, asked that the payment schedule for the $4.11 million in restitution begin in February.

Bucklew said Green must pay $100,000 by Dec. 31. By Feb. 1, another $112,675 is due. On March 3 and April 4, Green must make a payment of $500,000, and he must pay the remaining $3 million by May 2.

The financial manager for Green Realty Development, Auston Dimitry, testified Monday that Green acted as chief operating officer and chief financial office for the company.

After Green's accident, Dimitry said, he and a team of managers put together a quick 90-day plan to help avoid a "fire sale" of properties. When it became apparent Green was not going to take over the company again, the managers hired a trust company to create a long-term plan for selling assets and paying Green's debts.

Dimitry said none of the company's $11 million in assets is liquid. Several properties, however, are in the sales process. That includes company properties as well as Green's million-dollar homes in New York and Nantucket Island, Mass.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Mosakowski asked Dimitry why he and other managers got a pay raise and restitution had not been paid.

Dimitry said the managers worked on a relatively small salary but made bonuses. Now that bonuses are not possible, they reconfigured their salaries.

Still, he said, he will make about one-third less compensation than he expected under the original deal, and he is performing significantly more work. Ultimately, he said, the managers are "planning our own demise" as they sell the company's assets.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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