A breakthrough in alleged real estate fraud case against the ‘King of Coconut Grove’
When Phillip Sylvester first met Doug Cox and Nicole Pearl, he was impressed by their charm, skill and professionalism. Cox, with his experience in construction, knew how to build houses. Pearl, with her real estate license and University of Miami law degree, knew how to sell them.
Given Sylvester’s expertise in finance and his wife’s background as an architect, he figured the two couples made a “dream team” for developing homes in Coconut Grove.
But forming a partnership with Cox turned out to be the worst mistake of Sylvester’s career, one that cost him $8 million in a business deal gone awry and cost home buyers $22 million in deposits, and an incalculable amount in broken dreams.
All, they claim in lawsuits, were conned by Cox, owner of Drive Development and Send Enterprises and self-proclaimed “King of Coconut Grove.”
Sylvester has made it his mission to reclaim the 27 Grove properties Cox was attempting to sell and get back the money Cox’s creditors lost. By brokering a breakthrough in the alleged fraud case, Sylvester is one step closer to his goal.
Cox, accused in the suits of running a real estate Ponzi scheme, signed double and triple purchase contracts with unsuspecting buyers on the same house. He did it again and again on more houses for sale without disclosing to buyers that contracts already existed. He collected deposits that escalated in price as the houses escalated in value over four years. Yet 12 townhouses on Coconut Avenue, lacking only finishing touches and certificates of occupancy, still sit empty, a row of pristine ghost homes in one of the hottest markets in the country.
Buyers who put down their life’s savings and were promised they were two or three months away from closing have been living on hold and losing hope that they’ll ever be able to move in. Cox kept postponing closing dates with them while Pearl recruited new buyers who put down fresh deposits. Cox also took deposits on a dozen undeveloped lots, two more townhouses and a single-family home in the Grove.
But, in paying a debt to Cox’s chief creditor, Sylvester is not only removing an impediment that would have stalled progress for years in court, but clearing a path for victims to recover at least half their money.
The settlement of a $33 million loan by Altamar Financial Group to Cox was approved by MiamiDade Circuit Court Judge Thomas Rebull on Dec.
19. Sylvester will put up the money in exchange for first dibs on buying the properties from the courtappointed receiver who controls them.