Fraud Charges on Pat Smith WestPac?(2024)

Originally Syndicated on February 21, 2024 @ 10:57 am

Westpac is a California-based real estate development and management corporation with operations in California, Hawaii, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Michigan. Pat Smith WestPac was named CEO of the company in 1998. The company also has offices in Australia.

Projects overseen by Westpac include almost 5,000 apartments, seven hotels, five senior care facilities, and a range of condominiums, office buildings, and single-family subdivisions. Its projects and those it has obtained through joint ventures with banks and private investors comprise this group of initiatives.

Nearly 25 years of achievement are symbolized by the Pat Smith WestPac era, with Pat Smith overseeing projects worth over $7 billion. Building LEED-certified projects has become a top priority for the company as a result of Smith’s tireless efforts to increase WestPac’s environmental consciousness.

The corporation is affiliated with four other companies in addition to WestPac Communities, WestPac Development, WestPac Hospitality, and WestPac Investments. In recent years, WestPac Campus Communities has been the company most involved in new buildings. 

Former Base Village developer Pat Smith WestPac is sentenced to one day in jail by the judge

Pitkin County Jail ordered Pat Smith WestPac, the original developer of Snowmass’ Base Village, to spend a whole day in jail after he repeatedly disregarded a court order, according to documents made available to the public.

Smith has until June 1 at midnight to report to jail, per a court transcript. The legal battle over property rights that Smith’s neighbors Betty and Preston Henn are having with Smith is what led to the sentencing.

The former president of Related WestPac, the former joint venture that developed Base Village, is Californian developer Smith, who also owns a home close to the base of Aspen Mountain. After losing oversight of the project amid the crisis, Smith departed Related WestPac in February 2009.

But the main reason for Boyd’s ruling was that Smith had three times violated a court order that forbade him from improving a walkway on the Henns’ land. Smith’s address is 660 S. Galena St.; it is known as WestPac Aspen Investments. The Henns’ house is at 550 S. Galena St., next door.

Property records show that Smith paid $4.225 million in May 2002 for his home. The Henns bought their house for $4 million in July 2004.

Access to the Smith residence requires passing through the Henns’ front yard, across a covered footbridge, and taking an elevator up the Residences at Little Nell. The footbridge ends at the edge of the Henns’ property; another twenty-five feet is Smith’s property.

In March 2015, a jury trial was held for the Henns and Smith, who had both accused the other of trespassing, following nearly seven years of litigation over the access.

In exchange for Smith building paths on the Henns’ land, the jury granted them $100,000 in actual damages and $50,000 in punitive damages.

According to court documents, Smith enhanced the previously described walkway in 2011, 2013, and 2014 despite a 2010 court order prohibiting him from doing so. Since such contempt-of-court violations were not included in the prior year’s jury trial, 9th Judicial District Judge James Boyd issued an order on March 15.

Smith was found in contempt of court three times by Boyd’s order, noting that Smith “chose to engage in self-help three times in manners that violated the terms of the injunction.”

Smith left the path with a “sloppy and muddy surface,” according to Boyd when the flagstone and ground were later removed. Smith had permitted for grout to be placed in the cracks between the flagstones. In 2014, Smith approved a thick coating of gravel to be added to the pathway.

The transcript of an April 5 sentencing hearing states that Smith showed contrition for his actions.

He stated in his court statement, “I’ve experienced a great deal of stress and anxiety in my life just trying to get to my front door.”The author stated, “I believe I acted carelessly… a few times over these seven years as different situations arose over the access way of this walkway to my front door.” This has been going on for seven years.

At the April 5 hearing, Boyd said that Smith’s 48-hour jail sentence might be shortened if he paid a $20,000 fine for being in contempt.

“Mr. Smith, it’s not only to this contempt but just unfortunate that you and the Henns have had all of this conflict over something important in one way, but it’s become an awfully big deal for what it is, as well,” Boyd told the hearing on April 5.

It was not possible to get in touch with Smith’s lawyer Joe Krabacher or Aspen-based lawyer Matt Ferguson, who represented the Henns. 

Regarding an oil cleaning deal, a former Base Village developer is being sued 

An action has been brought by investors in Ocean Therapy Solutions (OTS), an actor-linked company that provided BP with equipment for cleaning up oil spills after the Gulf catastrophe. Pat Smith WestPac is the former president of the Related WestPac development entity located in Snowmass Village.

OTS investors Alec Baldwin of New York and Spyridon Contogouris of Louisiana filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans against Smith, his business WestPac Resources, LLC, Costner, and Rabobank N.A.

According to the lawsuit, Smith created a fictitious bank account in OTS’s name, deceived Contogouris and Baldwin about an expected equipment sale to BP, and then used money received from BP to fraudulently buy out the two investors’ shares in OTS.

Lawsuits are brought in Base Village’s receivership

More than $200 million is being sued in two different New York court lawsuits against a joint entity that tried to build the Base Village in Snowmass.

Hypo Real Estate Capital Corp. is asking Related Companies and former Related WestPac president Pat Smith for $195 million as part of a payment guarantee on loans for the project.

Hypo further requests $10.6 million in damages for purported misconduct involving the use of a project as collateral for employee housing.

According to a complaint filed in Pitkin County District Court by four lenders, Base Village purportedly owes $48.5 million in loan-related charges in addition to $386 million in loan debt. The lenders have recently placed the 400,000-square-foot property under receivership and are attempting to foreclose on it. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, former Related WestPac president Pat Smith WestPac has encountered legal issues on several fronts. Smith’s activities have had serious legal repercussions, ranging from disobeying court orders about property issues to becoming entangled in litigation surrounding his involvement with Ocean Therapy Solutions (OTS) and the Base Village construction. The intricacies and difficulties associated with real estate development and commercial transactions are brought to light by these examples, underscoring the significance of abiding by the law and industry ethics.