Dem lotta money woes
Party, private finance issues for exiting boss
Brooklyn Democratic powerbroker Frank Seddio might be handing over the reins of one of the nation’s biggest county political organizations, but he still has business to finish outside the political arena.
A former cop and the current head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, Seddio’s handling of the party’s finances raised hackles for months — and progressives cited it as reason for change, starting at the top.
But Seddio’s management of Democratic coffers is not the only financial distress plaguing the Kings County politico.
Seddio and his former business partners in several endeavors, Dexter and Djenane Bartholomew, are still struggling.
In one pending legal action initiated four years ago in federal bankruptcy court in New Jersey, an investor accused the Bartholomews of fraud and embezzlement — implicating Seddio as well. The investor, Marie Conde of New Jersey, claims she lent $1.5 million to Seddio and the Bartholomews.
“To fund the August 2012 loan, Conde liquidated assets, borrowed money from family and mortgaged her house,” she claimed in the complaint. The court documents accuse Seddio and Dexter Bartholomew of transferring parcels of land to a separate entity owned by the two without her knowledge.
Seddio, 74, claims the complaint with Conde has been resolved. “We settled that lawsuit. She’s been paid,” he said Tuesday. “She’s long gone.”
But the most recently available court records, submitted
Wednesday, show the “parties are continuing settlement negotiations” and that the next hearing is set for March 19. Conde’s lawyer and the attorney handling the Bartholomews’ bankruptcy did not respond to a request for comment.
Seddio (inset) is also potentially on the hook to pay $2.2 million in debt he’s been battling over in Kentucky stemming from a Golden Corral franchise. According to legal papers filed in December, a Kentucky court ruled against Seddio. Seddio said Tuesday the issue “will play itself out in the courts.”
Meanwhile, Conde’s complaint filed in New Jersey stems from a 2015 bankruptcy filed by the Bartholomews — and Seddio was neither part of the original bankruptcy nor was he named in her complaint as a debtor. But what is of note in the New Jersey bankruptcy case is who else was owed money — and one loan in particular.
According to the bankruptcy filing by the Bartholomews in July 2015, along with the debt to Conde, the Bartholomews state they owe a $400,000 mortgage guaranty to Fortis Capital LLC on a July 12, 2013, loan.
The Fortis Capital listed on the bankruptcy filing shares the same Brooklyn address with the Fortis Property Group, the entity at the center of the battle to convert Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital to condos.
Fortis eventually won, and went ahead with plans to develop condos at the site after the State University of New York sold the hospital. At the time, SUNY was being represented by Frank Carone, Seddio’s former law partner and the chief lawyer for the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Law firm Abrams Fensterman, which hired Carone and Seddio in 2011, has also represented Fortis.
The city, under Mayor de Blasio, preserved some health care at the hospital site, but the deal was viewed by many in the neighborhood as a loss of a valuable resource.
The outcome represented a significant about-face for de Blasio, who, when running for mayor in 2013, promised to keep the hospital intact and was arrested on July 10 that year protesting its shutdown.
The sale of the hospital led to scrutiny from federal prosecutors, who appeared to focus on whether political contributions played a role in the ultimate fate of the site. It is unclear if the investigation is ongoing.
When asked about the Fortis loan, Seddio maintained he’d never heard of the company.
“I don’t even know who Fortis is,” he said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
A representative from Fortis did not respond.