Pines condo association files for bankruptcy amid legal battle with ex-managers
An embattled Pembroke Pines condominium association, where a former property manager is being accused of misappropriating funds, has declared bankruptcy, according to court records.
Windmill Lakes V filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on June 4, identifying up to $50,000 in assets and between $500,000 and $1 million in liabilities, documents show.
The complex, located at 8842 SW Third St., has five two-story beige buildings containing 64 units and was built in 1989.
Listed among its unsecured claims are City of Pembroke Pines utilities, parking management services, homeowners association fees, and outstanding dues for legal services and several lawsuits.
Past legal woes
Windmill Lakes V’s bankruptcy is the latest development in the complex’s ongoing legal saga with ex-employees, court records show.
In January, former property manager Michael Curtis was charged with two felony charges first-degree grand theft and use of another’s ID without their consent.
Police say Curtis, whose 2017 contract established he and his company, B.D.M. Property Management, would manage the complex through 2027, used former board members’ signatures to sign checks and transfer association funds to businesses linked to him, according to an arrest report.
These included B.D.M., Private Parking Managers and All Florida Rental Management. State records show the latter two have Curtis listed as the companies’ president and title manager, respectively.
Curtis, who self-surrendered in late January and bonded out, has requested a trial by a judge and pleaded not guilty, court records show. He’s scheduled to appear in court again on Aug. 14.
Windmill Lakes V is now under the oversight of court-appointed receiver John Paul Arcia, who was chosen in February.
Months later, the condominium complex was served papers by B.D.M. assignee Bruce Cramb, Curtis’ stepson.
In a lawsuit filed in September, Cramb accused the complex of breaching its contract with B.D.M. by failing to secure property insurance or pass a structural integrity and repair recertification assessment, exposing B.D.M. to suits from residents and failing to recompense for the damages.
He’s demanding $311,244 on behalf of the property management firm — the same amount listed as Windmill Lakes’ largest unsecured claim in its bankruptcy filings — for the remaining time on the contract, attorney fees and past legal fees.
A unit owner who submitted a motion to intervene on the complex’s behalf says Cramb’s suit “is a sham” for wrongly accusing the complex of failing in duties that he is responsible for as property manager, court documents show.
The unit owner dubbed the B.D.M. assignee as Curtis’ “straw man” in filings and attached a recommendation issued in January by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations to suspend Cramb’s community association management license for a year.
Attorney Elias Hilal, who is representing Curtis in his criminal case and filed Cramb’s suit against Windmill Lakes V, told the Pembroke Pines News that the complex’s Chapter 11 filings have no ties to B.D.M.’s president.
“The recent filing for bankruptcy had absolutely nothing to do with Michael Curtis or any of the allegations of theft,” Hilal told the Pembroke Pines News in a June 10 statement.
A 90-day stay on all litigation requested by Arcia, who wrote that the complex is in a “state of operational crisis,” expired in late May, court records show. No future hearings have been scheduled as of June 10.
