A Mount Kisco contractor transferred ownership of his home to two trust funds, according to a Staten Island firm, to avoid a $1.8 million debt.
Windham Contracting Corp. accused Richard J. Petrosa II and Melissa Petrosa of fraudulently deeding their home to the trusts to shield it from creditors, in a complaint filed Aug. 23 in Westchester Supreme Court.
Richard Petrosa did so “for the sole purpose,” the complaint states, “of rendering himself judgment proof.”
The 1.7 acre property and 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house on Taylor Road, near Mount Kisco Country Club, is worth about $1.8 million, according to an estimate by Realtor.com.
The Petrosas bought the property in 2013 for $1,337,500 and transferred it in December 2017 to two qualified personal residence trusts for $0.
A personal residence trust typically allows homeowners to continue living in their home while removing the property from their estate to reduce gift taxes to a beneficiary.
Windham depicts the timing of the trusts as suspicious.
The Staten Island firm had worked as a subcontractor for Hailey Development Group, founded and operated by Richard Petrosa, on projects in Manhattan and Brooklyn from 2014 to 2015.
Petrosa diverted funds from the projects to avoid creditors, Windham alleges, and “to pay for work on his home.”
Windham sued Petrosa and Hailey for nearly $1.5 million in Manhattan and Brooklyn supreme courts.
But Petrosa and Hailey Development “continuously delayed both actions,” according to the complaint, and the courts eventually awarded Windham more than $2.1 million in default judgments.
But by then, the Petrosas had transferred the Mount Kisco property to the trust funds.
Now Richard Petrosa is chief operating officer for U.S. Crane & Rigging, Ridgewood, Queens, the complaint states, and he plans to sell his house and move to Florida to work in the crane company’s Fort Lauderdale office.
Windham is asking the court to bar the trust funds from selling the home, return the property to its pre-trust funds status, and award Windham $1.8 million.
Windham is not alone in trying to enforce alleged debts against the Petrosas. The IRS filed tax liens in 2018 for $595,816 in income taxes from 2013 to 2014 and more than $2 million in business taxes from 2015 to 2017.
FCS Concrete Corp., of Congers, Rockland County, sued the Petrosas in January for $80,000 the couple allegedly owes on $280,000 in concrete work done on the house in 2014.
Attempts to reach the Petrosas for their side of the story failed.
Windham is represented by Manhattan attorneys Jonathan A. Samter and Arthur J. Semetis.
