$44 thousand in delinquent taxes... and other problems
Scott Schwebke provides further information this morning regarding Ogden River Project "moneyman" Gadi Leshem's Cover-All, inc. bankruptcy troubles. Ace reporter Schwebke's been doing his homework and reports that Leshem is delinquent by approximately $44,000 in 2008 property taxes, factoring in the downtown 42 parcels held in his own name, together with another 11 parcels held in the names of surrogates.
Ironic, isn't it? Over the past several years Boss Godfrey and his loyal acolytes have been telling us that the whole purpose of consolidating all these downtown properties into the moneyman's portfolio was to improve the city's tax base. And now Gadi's taking a free ride... on the taxpayers' backs.
According to Gadi's spokeman, however, these tax delinquencies are merely inadvertant error and present no problem at all. "...[T]he property tax matter is an oversight, is not related to the Cover-All bankruptcy filing, and will be taken care of,” Alex Auerbach assures Mr. Schwebke. Seeing will be believing, of course.
We also wonder whether he or his spokeman tendered the same lame excuse ("Oops! we forgot") to his Cover-All employees, when he shafted them just prior to the Christmas/New Years' holidays with $100 thousand (or more) in rubber payroll checks.
Mr. Schwebke also reports that Mr. Leshem's lawyers successfully prevailed on an emergency motion Thursday by Cover-All's lawyers to use an unspecified portion of creditor Bank of the West's cash collateral so the company can continue to operate. We'll presume that the money that's been pried loose by the Bankruptcy Court judge is intended to take care of those disgruntled employees whom, last time we heard, were feeling mighty steamed about those "hot checks."
Although it will no doubt be months before the smoke clears on the Chapter 11 matter, we're betting that even now, Boss Godfrey wishes he never heard of Gadi Leshem. Rumor has it that Godfrey is preparing to soon unveil another Grand Development Scheme involving the Mount Ogden Golf Course. With the Leshem albatross hanging around his neck, it's a sure bet his next moneyman will draw much closer scrutiny than was previously devoted to Leshem.
Further comments, anyone? Schwebke provides plenty of material to discuss.
