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Monday, October 12, 2009
GOP chairman settles fraud suit brought by brother
Butler County GOP Chairman Tom Ellis and his brother quietly settled a lawsuit last week that claimed the Republican leader defrauded his mother and brother out of more than $500,000.
The suit, brought by Stephen Ellis in June, was dismissed Thursday, Oct. 8, after a pretrial hearing with Common Pleas Judge Matthew Crehan, according to court records.
When called, Stephen Ellis said the suit was settled out of court. But he would not discuss the terms of the settlement.
“According to the settlement, we’re not allowed to really disclose very much other than it was settled,” he said.
“We resolved it in the way that it should have been resolved in the first place, and not publicly,” Tom Ellis said. “We’re not going to go into any of the details.”
Tom Ellis continues to deny the allegations made by his brother. “There was absolutely no truth to any of that,” he said.
Those allegations were that Ellis sold a 20-unit apartment complex in Seven Mile to his mother at a loss, then mismanaged the property and pocketed some of the rent. It also claimed Ellis borrowed money from his mother and never paid it back.
The suit alleged fraud and breach of contract, seeking the full amount of allegedly misappropriated funds and clear title to the apartment complex.
The suit said Tom Ellis sold the Seven Mile Apartments to his mother for nearly $1.4 million, which was more than the property was worth, and made $251,000 in the deal. He then managed the property, misappropriated much of the rent proceeds and borrowed more than $251,464 from his mother and brother to keep the property out of foreclosure, the suit alleged.
The suit claimed that Ellis did not deposit rental checks for five months over a one-year period, and $68,494 in rent proceeds are unaccounted for.
“The monthly shortfalls were caused in part by Defendant Tom Ellis’s practice of keeping or diverting a portion of the rent income from the Seven Mile Apartments to the Defendants’ personal use and benefit,” the suit said.
The suit said the apartment complex operated at a loss of more than $24,000 per year, which Ellis wrote off on his taxes though his mother owned the property.
He then coerced his mother to revoke the power of attorney his brother held over her and sell the property back to him in May for $100,000, leaving her on the hook for $1.15 million, the suit claimed.
The suit also claimed Ellis bought a condominium in Wayne Twp. from his mother for $87,900, paid her $58,462, borrowed that full amount from her, then transferred the property back into her name.
The suit also claimed Ellis borrowed $57,556 from his mother in short term loans and never paid it back.
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Sheriff Jones to address Tea Party
Press release from Liberty Twp. Tea Party:
Butler County Sheriff, Richard K Jones will be the featured speaker at the next Liberty Township Tea Party meeting at the Princeton Pike Church of God on October 19th at 7:00PM! Liberty Township, OH, October 8th, 2009: The Liberty Township Tea Party will hold their next Tea Party meeting at the Princeton Pike Church of God on October 19th, 2009 at the Princeton Pike Church of God at 7:00 PM, Butler County Sheriff, Richard K Jones will be the featured speaker. Sheriff Jones will address immigration issues in Butler County. In addition to Sheriff Jones, Ken Korn will present “Four Minutes with Our Forefathers” an ongoing series presentation that examines the constitution what it is, how it was written, and why it is important. The Health Care Sub-Committee will provide a short update and there will be a question and answer period. All concerned citizens in Liberty Township and the surrounding area are invited to attend this event. The Liberty Township Tea Party is a grassroots, non-partisan, organization of private citizens united by our shared values and deep concern about excessive regulation and wasteful government spending. We have three core beliefs: Fiscal Responsibility; Limited Government, and Free Markets. We were founded in the summer of 2009 with a desire to organize with like-minded individuals; with an interest to educate ourselves, and others, about significant current events that are negatively impacting our country and families; and with a commitment to work in concert with other concerned citizens to bring about positive, public policies that are consistent with our core values.
