Court grants injunction in Groton Housing Authority lawsuit
New London — A New London Superior Court judge on Thursday granted a temporary injunction prohibiting the Groton Housing Authority's former director and property manager from acting on behalf of the authority and its affiliates.
The housing authority's former Executive Director, Robert Cappelletti, and former Property Manager Jamie Lee are ordered to not take any action involving equipment, bank accounts and properties owned by the housing authority, its nonprofit Greater Groton Realty Corp., Northeast Redevelopment LLC. and Northeast Redevelopment Services.
Cappelletti and Lee must disclose usernames, passwords, account numbers and pin numbers for associated accounts and computers by 4 p.m. March 21.
They are prohibited from transferring, selling, purchasing or taking other action on assets owned by the housing authority, Greater Groton Realty Corp., and a number of limited liability companies.
Judge Scott Chadwick granted the injunction after lawyers for the housing authority and Greater Groton Realty Corp., Cappelletti and Lee came to an agreement on the injunction.
The stipulation states that neither Cappelletti nor Lee admits the allegations in the Verified Complaint or that grounds for an injunction exist."
A password-protected copy of backup data from the desktop computer, email accounts, QuickBook and other accounts will be provided to the court. Judge Chadwick said a hearing will be held to receive the information and to potentially entertain a motion to seal it.
Lee, attorneys for Cappelletti, Lee and the Groton Housing Authority, and Groton Housing Authority Board Chair Robert Frink and Vice Chair Nancy Codeanne would not comment Thursday after the court order.
The lawsuit
In January, Cappelletti was suspended as executive director of the Groton Housing Authority, which then ended its shared services agreement with the Meriden Housing Authority. Lee, who was placed on administrative leave, resigned from her position.
The Groton Housing Authority and Greater Groton Realty Corp. filed a lawsuit on Feb. 21 accusing the two former employees and possibly others of denying "access to their computers, checking accounts, and financial records as part of what appears to be a substantial misappropriation or misuse of Housing Authority credit, cash, tangible assets and equity."
The complaint alleges that Cappelletti had listed for sale, without authorization, property owned by the Greater Groton Realty Corp. in Winchester, which he had purchased without the knowledge of Greater Groton Realty Corp. and the Groton Housing Authority, and that Lee had refused to turn over records.
The lawsuit accused them of breach of fiduciary duty, common law fraud, constructive trust, civil conspiracy and violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The lawsuit says Northeast Redevelopment LLC was created as a property development arm of the Groton Housing Authority. The lawsuit accuses Cappelletti of creating another limited liability company, Northeast Redevelopment Services LLC, to transfer or use "Northeast Redevelopment LLC assets for his personal gain.
Among other allegations, the lawsuit accuses Cappelletti, who is listed as the Meriden Housing Authority executive director and secretary of its development nonprofit Maynard Road Corp., of using Groton Housing Authority funds to make payments to Titan Capital. Titan Capital gave a loan to the Maynard Road Corp.
The lawsuit claims that Cappelletti executed a loan agreement on behalf of Northeast Redevelopment LLC. for equipment. He then leased some of the equipment to Maynard Road Corp. without consent of the bank, and the bank is pursuing a court action to recover the equipment and full payment of the defaulted loan.
The lawsuit alleges that Cappelletti on behalf of Greater Groton Realty Corp. executed promissory loan notes to Maynard Road, though it is unclear if the funds were sent or if they were repaid, and authorized a $400,000 promissory note on behalf of Greater Groton Realty Corp. to Delta Absorbents. It says that $100,000 from a Pequot Village I & II and Grasso Gardens account was wired to Leasing Innovations Inc., and the relationship between the housing authority and Leasing is unclear. The lawsuit also alleges that Lee wired $56,000 to a person believed to be a relative of Cappelletti.
The lawsuit further alleges that Cappelletti in 2019 purchased property in Fitchburg, Mass. for $1.4 million on behalf of Arden Ventures LLC., of which Lee and Cappelletti are members and which has the address of the Groton Housing Authority. He presented a development proposal for an apartment complex for which he said Greater Groton Realty Corp. would be the property manager and Northeast Redevelopment Services the developer. Greater Groton Realty Corp. did not authorize this.
The complaint further claims that Lee and Cappelletti signed a consent of all directors on behalf of Greater Groton Realty Corp. that said the board approved purchasing the Fitchburg properties for $1.4 million, but neither Greater Groton nor Groton Housing Authority approved this.
Town Manager John Burt said last month that the authority is investigating its finances and working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Groton Housing Authority Board Chair Robert Frink said in a statement last month that the housing authority retained Rose Kallor LLP, which has started an internal investigation, and also anticipates retaining a forensic accountant.
k.drelich@theday.com
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