Armonk businessman Mark Mariani files for bankruptcy owing $12.2M

Armonk entrepreneur Mark J. Mariani, beset by lawsuits and a floundering townhouse project, has filed for bankruptcy.

Mariani declared assets of $177,241 and liabilities of nearly $12.2 million in a Chapter 7 liquidation petition filed Feb. 26 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, White Plains.

The petition depicts a man living well beyond his means. Mariani estimated $21,195 in family monthly net income and $34,843 in expenses, leaving a monthly shortfall of $13,648.

Beginning in 1990 as a landscaper, Mariani has run several enterprises at 45 Bedford Road, near the center of Armonk. He formed Mariani”™s Garden Market Inc. in 2005, operating as a nursery and garden center on the 4.2-acre property. Other companies include residential and general construction, equipment rental and a charter aircraft business.

In 2018, he formed a partnership to develop townhouses on the Bedford Road property. He borrowed $10.35 million from the Galinn Fund, an Elmsford private lender controlled by his townhouse project partners, George Galgano and David Linn, according to court records.

Galgano and Linn have accused Mariani of mismanaging the partnership and running out of money to get the property rezoned in a lawsuit that seeks to dissolve the company.

Last year, Galinn sold partnership loans to NCD Acquisitions of Garden City, Long Island. NCD filed a foreclosure action last year, claiming it is owed $10.7 million on property worth $8 million to $9 million.

Linn and his wife, Luciana, sued Mariani last year for allegedly overcharging them by $2.5 million on building their dream home in Purchase.

Mariani does not own a house, according to the bankruptcy petition. Instead, he rents one for himself and two adult children for $15,000 a month and another for his wife for $6,328 a month. His residence is a 7-bedroom, 10-bath, 11,895-square-foot house, according to Zillow, on a 2.45-acre lot with a swimming pool and tennis court.

He listed about $151,000 in financial assets and $26,000 in personal and household items.

Unsecured claims include $8.85 million to NCD Acquisitions, $2.4 million to the Galinn Fund, $607,500 to the Internal Revenue Service, $78,500 in taxes to Connecticut for 2018 and 2019 when he lived in Greenwich, and $50,000 in taxes to New York.

Attorney James Berman of Bridgeport, Connecticut, represents Mariani.