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The house on Sagg Main Street while it was under construction. SOUTHAMPTON TOWN
A developer has been accused of trying to evade creditors by transferring his share of a Sagaponack mansion to his wife.
Acadia Realty Trust recently filed suit in State Supreme Court against Armstrong Capital President Benjamin Ringel, whose $12.5 million mansion had in 2012 been on the verge of a foreclosure auction. On 3 acres, the 15,000-square-foot mansion, with 7 bedrooms, 8.5 baths, pool and tennis court, was completed in 2009 by local developer Michael Davis.
According to The Real Deal, Acadia won an $11.5 million judgment against Mr. Ringel and others last year after a New Jersey shopping center they owned failed to make good on its loans. The more recent suit charges Mr. Ringel with having shifted his interest in 219 Sagg Main LLC, the limited liability company that now owns the Sagaponack mansion, to his wife, Yael, before the court judgment in order to avoid having to use the mansion to pay off that debt.
The Bank of Smithtown had initiated the earlier foreclosure action against the house, saying Mr. Ringel owed more than $7.8 million on it, but Southampton Town records list the LLC as the owner, with Mr. Ringel as the primary correspondent. According to The Real Deal, Acadia says the Ringels’ combined stake in the mansion is $4 million, with the rest of the home’s value still tied up in debt. Acadia wants Mr. Ringel to put $2 million of that $4 million back into his own stake in the LLC and turn it over to Acadia.
Acadia recently renewed an application to hold Mr. Ringel in contempt of the judgment order. In papers filed on June 1, its attorney, Adam C. Silverstein, asserts that Mr. Ringel has continued to use and enjoy his Hamptons mansion “all the while that he has been stiff-arming creditors.”
Mr. Silverstein did not return a call for comment. Luisa M. Kaye, an attorney for Mr. Ringel, noted that “Acadia and companies owned by Mr. Ringel partnered and did business for a 13-year period,” but said that “it is our policy not to comment in regard to ongoing litigations.”
27east on Jun 3, 2015