Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

A reputation for failed ideas

Critics say the Tarpon yacht resort visionary pushes big projects he doesn't deliver.

By ELENA LESLEY
Published June 17, 2007

Building a yacht resort facing the Sponge Docks isn't the first big idea Jerry Fletcher has ever had.

There was the "equine Disney World" near Lake City, as one former associate described it. And the redfish fishery in the Panhandle, designed to appeal to yuppie palates throughout the world.

Two weeks ago, the Tallahassee developer mesmerized the audience at a Tarpon Springs commission meeting with his grand plan to transform the city's waterfront into a playground for the rich.

The only problem, say many of those who know Fletcher, is that his ambitious plans don't always materialize into actual developments. And they have ended in legal disputes more than once.

"He's had a number of projects that never went anywhere, " said Stephen Masterson, a Tallahassee lawyer whose client countersued Fletcher over a planned equine resort. "He goes from one failed idea to another."

"He totally defrauded my client, " said lawyer Phil Snyderburn, who represented a man who won a nearly $700, 000 judgment from Fletcher and his company, Bayland Fisheries Corp. "It was outrageous."

Fletcher declined to comment for this story. Former Congressman Mike Bilirakis, whose firm is representing Fletcher locally, was unavailable for comment. But another lawyer from his firm, Spiro Verras, said he thought Fletcher was involved in a number of marina and hotel projects in Florida, but "the only project I'm really familiar with is" the megayacht proposal.

Fletcher will come before the City Commission on Tuesday requesting to start negotiations for the proposed resort. At the last commission meeting, he outlined plans for the project, which he said would cost $700-million to build and would pump at least $300-million annually into the regional economy. By comparison, the Trump Tower in downtown Tampa was to have cost $300-million; the Memorial Causeway in Clearwater cost $70-million.

Fletcher also promised to help the city's working waterfront by reserving dock space for shrimp boats and organizing a fisheries co-op.

Given the number of zoning changes and the potential impact of the project, commissioners put off the decision for two weeks.

Those who know Fletcher encourage the City Commission to wait even longer.

"I had to testify to his reputation for truth and veracity, " said Tallahassee lawyer Vinse Barrett, who at one time represented Fletcher. "In the legal community, I said his reputation was horrible."

Barrett was one of a number of investors in a late 1980s fishery project spearheaded by Fletcher.

Bayland Fisheries Corp. planned to raise redfish and hybrid striped bass in Panacea. Redfish, often used in spicy Cajun dishes, had become increasingly trendy, and even the Campbell Soup Co. was interested in the product, Fletcher told a St. Petersburg Times reporter in 1988.

Fletcher told the Tarpon Springs commission that he had experience developing fisheries in the Panhandle. He also mentioned his work as a former state auditor with experience investigating tax fraud cases. His personnel file from the Department of Revenue shows he worked there from 1968 to 1976.

But Bayland Fisheries, Barrett said, "totally went down the drain, and lots of people were left holding the bag."

One got his money back - by going to court.

Investor George Mariani Sr., the late mayor of Belleair, sued Fletcher and his partners for defrauding him of $100, 000 by ignoring an agreement to hold his investment in trust for 30 days before spending it, in case he changed his mind.

Mariani was solicited in 1988 by Bayland president Fletcher, his partner R. Ward Rodgers and former Speaker of the Florida House Don Tucker to invest in the fishery, court documents said.

He was told that Bayland was sure to be successful and that the company already had a lucrative contract with a buyer in Israel.

But Mariani was unsure of the venture and requested the 30-day refund clause. Fletcher agreed in writing.

A few days after turning over the money, Mariani asked for a refund. But the money had already been spent.

"As soon as it landed in the account, it was gone, " attorney Snyderburn said. "They used it to pay car bills, utilities."

Mariani filed suit in Leon County. Fletcher and Rodgers denied they were liable, according to court documents. Tucker argued that he was purely a passive partner and had no knowledge of the company's accounting. In fact, he had filed suit against Fletcher because the Bayland president would not allow him to review the company's records.

The jury was out less than an hour, Snyderburn said.

"They all got whacked, " Snyderburn said. "The jury was appalled by what had happened."

Rodgers and Bayland Fisheries Corp. were ordered to pay $428, 480 under the civil theft statute. In a later judgment, Fletcher and Tucker were ordered to compensate Mariani $161, 814 for sale of unregistered securities and $50, 000 each for breach of fiduciary duty.

Another of Fletcher's former associates also claimed the developer defrauded her, but she hasn't been as successful in recouping damages.

April Holton, a nurse from Tallahassee, was persuaded in 2000 by her financial adviser to pledge $700, 000 in annuities -nearly all her family savings - as collateral on a loan for Fletcher, said her lawyer, Masterson.

As president of One Hundred Horsemen Inc., Fletcher had drawn plans to develop five equestrian megaresorts in the United States and eventually four others worldwide, according to court documents.

He was starting with a facility near Live Oak in northern Florida west of where Interstates 75 and 10 meet.

Holton's adviser assured her "that the big guys were going to come in soon, " but Fletcher needed the loan for seed money, Masterson said.

Soon after, Holton started to get nervous. No development was happening in Live Oak, and when she called various New York investment houses supposedly on board with the project, they told her they had no interest.

In a panic, she faxed a note to her bank saying she worried that her financial adviser had misled her. The bank declared the loan in default and demanded Holton surrender the annuities she had pledged.

"She would have been completely ruined, " Masterson said. The $700, 000 the bank loaned Fletcher was gone - Masterson said it was never determined what happened to the money - and liquidating the annuities prematurely came with a number of financial penalties.

A series of lawsuits followed. Fletcher sued Holton and the bank in Leon County. Holton countersued. The bank sued Holton in Suwannee County.

After some negotiation, Holton reached a settlement with the bank. She lost most of her savings but did not go into bankruptcy, Masterson said. Fletcher and Holton's suits against each other have never been officially resolved.

Meanwhile, the equine resort was never built. Fletcher said the project foundered "because of the bank tainting the development plan with innuendoes of 'fraud, ' " court documents said.

But Masterson thinks the project was never really viable.

"How could a little nurse from Tallahassee bring down this Rockefeller-style deal?" Masterson asked.

In a still unresolved 2005 divorce filing in Leon County, Fletcher listed a potential liability of $850, 000 to Holton. But he listed no personal assets. He wrote that his wife, Diane, paid all his living expenses.

"We've never found a way to get any money out of him, " Masterson said.

Jared Leone contributed to this report. Elena Lesley can be reached at elesley@sptimes.com or (727)445-4167.

[Last modified June 16, 2007, 19:35:09]