A Shelton man is suing the Town of Oxford, claiming officials mishandled a tax auction last year and won’t return a $100,000 deposit he put down on a Hawley Road property.
In a lawsuit filed March 12, Angelo Melisi says he agreed to pay $600,000 for the property, which the town was auctioning because its owner allegedly owed taxes, interest, and other fees totaling more than $1 million.
But days after the auction, his lawyer got a terse letter from an attorney representing the property’s owner calling the sale “nefarious and illegal” and promising to sue him if he tried to take possession of the land.
Why “nefarious and illegal?” Because, the company, Greenwich-based JJT & M, said, it paid its taxes, but the money was stolen by the town’s now-imprisoned former tax collector, Karen Guillet.
Oxford First Selectman George Temple said Friday (March 22) that the town is on solid legal ground and said the lawsuit doesn’t have merit.
Background
Last year the town held a tax auction for 66 Hawley Road, a 12-acre property used by SteelVault Datacenters LLC.
Click here for more information about the auction, from a story by the Oxford Patch.
At the time the town said the owner of the property, a Greenwich-based company named JJT & M, Inc., owed $480,000 in back taxes.
Costs, fees and interest on that amount made the total the company owed to the town $1.2 million.
Two days before the auction, property owner JJT & M sued the town, saying they had paid all their back taxes and had the canceled checks to prove it. The lawsuit is still pending.
The auction proceeded. Melisi said he was the only bidder. He offered $600,000 for the property and gave a $100,000 deposit to a state marshal to hold as a trustee.
Company Alleges Guillet Stole Its Payments
On July 2, the lawsuit says — four days after the auction — Melisi’s lawyer got a letter from JJT & M’s attorney.
The town’s auction was bogus, the company’s attorney said, because the back taxes had been paid — but stolen by former Oxford Tax Collector Karen Guillet.
“It is clear that the former tax collector converted tax revenue, including my client’s payments, and that this non-judicial tax auction is the Town’s way of abdicating responsibility for their failure to supervise her,” the lawyer, Aymen Aboushi, wrote in the letter.
Guillet would eventually plead guilty to stealing $243,902 in taxpayer money. A pending lawsuit the town has filed against her pegs the amount she stole at $671,768.
Click here to read background on the Guillet case.
Melisi’s lawsuit said town officials and the state marshal handling the auction, Arthur Davies, sold him the property under false pretenses.
They never revealed the claims about Guillet stealing JJT & M’s payments, nor the fact that Guillet had been arrested.
“The fraudulent non-disclosures caused the Plaintiff to bid when in fact, had it been disclosed that there was a dispute about whether taxes were owed, the Plaintiff would not have bid since he did not want to get embroiled in a lawsuit with the current owner,” the lawsuit says.
Davies declined to comment on the case when reached Thursday (March 21) morning.
Melisi, who lives in Huntington, according to business records at the Secretary of the State’s office, asked for his $100,000 deposit back the day he received the letter, according to the lawsuit.
He also said he sought a meeting with First Selectman George Temple and Davies, who was holding the deposit check.
At that meeting, Melisi’s lawsuit says Temple promised the town would return his $100,000 if they could not get the JJT & M lawsuit dismissed within six months.
Still Waiting …
The lawsuit says that six-month period came and went and the lawsuit hasn’t been dismissed, nor has Melisi gotten his $100,000 back.
The lawsuit also claims the town cashed Melisi’s check.
In the lawsuit Melisi claims money damages, with interest, in addition to attorney’s fees and punitive damages.
A specific dollar amount is not stated in the lawsuit, only that Melisi’s alleged damages exceed $15,000.
Oxford Reaction
Oxford’s First Selectman and Town Attorney blamed the confusion over the sale on JJT & M, which they said declared bankruptcy in December to avoid having to turn the property over to Melisi.
Town Attorney Kevin Condon said Thursday (March 21) that he hadn’t yet read the specifics of Melisi’s lawsuit, which will be referred to the town’s insurance carrier to defend.
He also pointed out that JJT & M filed for bankruptcy in late December, days before the end of a “redemption period” during which they could have paid their back taxes and kept control of the property.
If that had happened, Melisi would have gotten his deposit back, with interest.
Condon said JJT & M’s bankruptcy claim “has no merit,” and that he believes it was filed “in order just to stall” the sale of the property to Melisi.
Temple, the FIrst Selectman, said Friday that he believes the town was within its rights in its efforts to sell the property.
“I don’t think that from what I can see that there’s a lot of merit to the lawsuit,” he said. “Everything was done in accordance with state statute. I think we’re on pretty solid ground.”
Temple also dismissed the validity of JJT & M’s lawsuit and bankruptcy filing.
“They’re trying to buy time (to keep from paying the taxes owed on the property),” Temple said. “And time is out.”
The first selectman said JJT & M’s claims that Guillet stole their payments doesn’t add up.
“They have the burden of proving they paid the taxes, and we haven’t seen that,” Temple said. “I’d be happy to see any canceled checks.”
The Valley Indy left a message seeking comment with JJT & M’s attorney Thursday (March 21) morning, as well as the lawyer representing Melisi.
