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The week in reviewBy Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, TROUBLE WORSENS FOR GREATSTONE: GreatStone Mortgage Co. surrendered its license to do business in Florida on Wednesday. The mortgage company, based in Carrollwood, can no longer engage in mortgage lending or brokering in this state. Officials at Florida's Department of Banking and Finance said they are investigating the company's conduct. The troubled mortgage lender has been under federal scrutiny for what housing officials have called "predatory lending" practices. Officials from the state Department of Banking and Finance filed an administrative complaint after GreatStone officials refused to let state inspectors audit the company's records. The agency indicated that it also could fine the lender, which specializes in telephone marketing of high-risk mortgages from a strip shopping center at Waters Avenue and N Dale Mabry Highway. GreatStone attorney Robin Gronsky informed the state Office of Comptroller that the company was refusing an audit "upon the advice of counsel." At its peak, GreatStone employed about 800 employees, did about $1-billion in mortgages a year and tried to convert Carrollwood's Hamlet neighborhood into a gated corporate enclave. But the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development placed the company on probation after auditing its records and finding that GreatStone has a mortgage default rate nearly twice the national average. As its problems with state and federal regulators have mounted in recent months, GreatStone has closed branches throughout the nation and laid off hundreds of workers. The company's checks are not being cashed, according to a company memo obtained Thursday. With GreatStone's future in doubt, its top executives have been making some moves, in some cases literally. Brian Stulman, a GreatStone corporate executive and brother-in-law of GreatStone chief executive Corey Brower, incorporated another mortgage company called B.A. Temple Mortgage Corp. on Aug. 29 with a mailing address of 14839 N Florida Ave. in Tampa. Two days later, Stulman incorporated a second company called E.J. Benchmark Leasing Services Inc. at the same mailing address. Also, movers Thursday loaded onto three trucks the contents of the home where GreatStone chief Brower lived with his wife, Sandi, at 3332 Westmoreland Drive in the Hamlet. The crew from Rex Moving carried out everything from a solid brass baby cradle to sofas and kitchen tables. GreatStone executives and family members own at least 14 homes in that subdivision. INTERMEDIA JOBS IN JEOPARDY: WorldCom's gain may become the bane of hundreds of employees at its recently acquired Intermedia Communications of Tampa. As widely anticipated,the Justice Department has agreed to waive a requirement that WorldCom sell the New Tampa-based phone operations of Intermedia as a condition for buying the company. WorldCom, which wanted Intermedia only for its Maryland-based Web hosting company Digex, had previously indicated trouble finding a buyer for Intermedia's remaining voice and data operation. The original Justice Department directive to sell the voice and data operation as a single unit may have given Tampa Bay area employees the best chance to keep their jobs. Some industry observers now think layoffs are likely given WorldCom's well-established telecom capabilities. WorldCom won't discuss Intermedia's fate, calling it premature. Intermedia's head count of 4,000 employees nationwide is down about 700 from a year ago. At its New Tampa headquarters, it has about 1,200 employees, down about 200 from its high in early 2000 before the tech market meltdown. USF GETS TRAUMA INSTITUTE: The only trauma training institute in the United States will move the bulk of its operations to the University of South Florida from Tallahassee's Florida State University, university officials said. USF's role will change from a training site to the home base of the Traumatology Institute, which teaches professionals such as police, counselors and firefighters how to help those who have endured shock and pain. The institute's founder said the center needed to move to an urban hub. "It's become very clear that we needed to grow," said Charles Figley, an FSU social work professor. According to the institute's Web site, the move should be completed Sept. 17. Officials said the research arm will stay at FSU. WORKPLACE ROMANCE DEBATED: To hear Commissioner Jim Norman tell it, the sex police are coming to Hillsborough County. The Carrollwood Republican was joined by several of his fellow county commissioners in saying a proposed anti-fraternization policy for county employees was an overreaction, at best, and possibly unenforceable. "One person in city government (does something), and now we're going to have the sex police," Norman said. Despite those concerns, the commission Wednesday asked the county attorney to craft a policy that would ban employees from having sexual relations with people they supervise. The policy will be written and brought back to commissioners for a later vote. Norman and Commissioner Jan Platt were on the losing end of the 5-2 vote. The proposal was initiated by Pat Frank in the wake of a scandal over allegations that city housing director Steve LaBrake brokered a cut-rate deal on a new home for his girlfriend and employee, Lynne McCarter. Commissioners Tom Scott and Stacey Easterling raised concerns about how the county should react if a relationship is discovered. Nevertheless, they agreed to consider a written policy.
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