L.I. developers say partner diverted funds from Mohegan Lake and Cortlandt Manor projects

Nassau County real estate developers have asked Westchester Supreme Court to dissolve three companies, claiming that their partner diverted $914,487 and other funds from projects in Mohegan Lake and Cortlandt Manor.

“It is no longer possible to carry on the business,” Bert and Muriel Brodsky state in petitions filed in Westchester Supreme Court against partner and co-manager William Catucci Sr.

Efforts to reach Catucci for his side of the story were unsuccessful.

Several family trusts controlled by Muriel Brodsky own half of Lake Mohegan Mansion LLC, the developer of a 22-acre property known as Fieldstone Manor. Catucci owns the other half and co-manages the property with Bert E. Brodsky, the founder and chairman of BEB Capital of Port Washington.

Lake Mohegan Mansion bought the property for $2.3 million in 2002 from the Missionary Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis, according to Westchester property records. It includes a mansion house and 14 lots on 22 acres at Lexington Avenue and Strawberry Hill Road.

The Brodskys allege that Catucci recently received $914,487 on an insurance claim for damages to the Mansion House, where he lives. Catucci never advised his partners about the damages or the insurance claim, according to the petition, and he deposited the money in his personal bank account rather than in the company account.

They also claim that Catucci altered a document, in an attempt to defraud the company. The letter of intent had given Catucci the option to buy the 14 lots for $150,000 each, according to the petition, but he changed the price to about $35,700 each, lowering the total price from $2.1 million to $500,000.

Catucci also had a 25% interest in two companies that own bungalows on Regina Avenue and on East Main Street in Cortlandt Manor. He is responsible for collecting rents, but is allegedly refusing to give the payments to the companies.

The Brodskys are asking the court to order a financial accounting of the enterprises, dissolve the companies, order the properties to be sold and distribute the net assets to the owners.

They are represented by Richard L. O”™Rourke and Andrew P. Tureaud of Keane & Beane PC in White Plains.

Update: The parties discontinued the lawsuit by stipulation on March 10, 2021. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.