Sunday, July 10, 2016

David Connolly's misrepresentation that he recovered properties owned by his investors on their behalf

David and Donna Connolly, owners of Connolly Propertties LLC, didn't purchase shares in the properties they formed LLC's to purchase and operate.  Rather, they were issued shares so that they would receive distributions in return for arranging the purchase of and operation of each property.

Therefore the funds used to purchase a property came exclusively from investors.

In September 2008, Siesta Park LLC commenced operation.  This property had at least a 90% occupancy, and also it should have had a $120,000 cash reserve.  However, records indicate that Connolly absconded with the assets of Siesta Park to his general account, letting it be lost to foreclosure even with a sufficient cash flow to pay the mortgage.  Within only two months, Connolly Properties failed to pay the mortgage on time, and again in February 2009 Connolly Properties paid the mortgage late.  By May 2009, the Siesta Park mortgage was in default - a victim not of "the economy," but rather David Connolly's defalcation of its assets.

Siesta Park was transferred by David Connolly in a deed dated April 29, 2011, to his partner's son Joseph Colasuonno, with no notice whatsoever to investors in Siesta Park.  Ownership is under the holding company "Siesta Realty LLC".  David Connolly sent a letter dated July 7, 2011 to investors, stating that "we" have recovered Siesta Park, and investors' equity was reduced to 20% of its original amount.

It is believed that a similar set of events surrounded the transfer of a much larger property, Allentown Apartments LLC, to Colasuonno under the new company "Allentown Metro Holdings LLC," including a letter to investors stating that ownership had been reduced to 20% of its original value.  Siesta Park was about a $2.4m property, Allentown Apartments about an $8m property.

Here is the letter that was sent to Siesta Park investors, on the letterhead of the company that replaced bankrupt Connolly Properties, Fidelity Management:




The only problem is this letter contained a material misrepresentation, which appears intended to lull investors into believing they continued to have an interest in Siesta, when in fact Connolly had relieved them of any ownership whatsoever a few months earlier.  He didn't issue any ownership papers, and on questioning in 2015, he stated that the letter above was "premature".  The only problem with this explanation is that the deed is dated April 29, 2011 and was recorded June 22, 2011.  So this letter appears to have had one purpose only - to mislead investors and cause them not to ask questions.

Here us Connolly's response from his current home in federal prison, after a March 2015 letter of inquiry was sent to his wife Donna, 50% partner in Connolly Properties, and who received 50% of the distribution checks in return for Connolly Properties mismanaging Siesta Park into foreclosure:


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Connolly's amended habeas petition, and the government's response

On May 18, 2016, Connolly filed his amended habeas petition, seeking to vacate or modify his sentence.  It contains yet another new argument - that there are two Securities Acts (1933 and 1934), and that he was charged under one Act but the "alleged" offenses are covered by the other Act.

Edit 7/6 3pm - you simply must read Connolly's statement in support of his petition, linked to below
Exhibit to Connolly's amended petition:

On July 5, 2016, the US Government filed its reply, which appears to effectively debunk each of Connolly's arguments.
Exhibits to Government's reply:

Status of appeal as of April 2015 and did Connolly know his investments were securities?

As of May 4, 2015, there are two docketed items in parallel awaiting the judge's consideration - whether to allow Connolly to amend his 2255 petition, and the 2255 petition itself.

Connolly's 2255 petition claimed that he was charged improperly - that the venue was inappropriate because his transactions were primarily intrastate (they were not - the most substantial and misuse of funds was associated with Hillside Valley, located in PA), and ineffectiveness of counsel in not challenging the errors in charging that he claims.

Connolly's original 2255 petition dated 8-13-2014
Government's reply to Connolly's 2255 petition dated 10-25-2014

Since the 2255 petition was submitted, Connolly's lawyer is now trying to amend the argument, and claim Connolly's counsel was more than ineffective - that he stole from Connolly and had a motivation that he remain in prison and not file an appeal. Furthermore, the claim now is that Connolly didn't believe he was dealing in securities and had no knowledge of securities regulations - thus he can't be charged with securities fraud. This is not supported by the evidence, as seen here.

Connolly's answer to government's reply dated 3-11-2015
Exhibit to Connolly's answer to government's reply:


Connolly's justification to amend his petition dated 3-12-2015
Victim letter to Honorable Judge William Martini in rebuttal of Connolly's claims in various filings dated 3-16-2015
Government reply to Connolly's justification to amend his petition dated 4-23-2015

There was no further activity until 2016, when the judge ruled to permit Connolly to amend his petition.