Palm Beachers’ bankruptcy soaks party planner Bruce Sutka, dozens of others
Tags: bankruptcy, Bruce Sutka, Dawn Prosser, Jeffrey Prosser, Jose Lambiet's Page2Live
| Tuesday 16 March 2010 12:22 pm
Sutka
Legal eagles in the bankruptcy of Palm Beach millionaire Jeffrey Prosser and his wife, former Norton Museum of Art director Dawn Prosser, have started going after locals who did business with the Prossers after they were hauled into bankruptcy court in 2007.
First in line: Flamboyant star party planner Bruce Sutka, who’s been told to give back the $200,000 that the telecom moguls paid him for their daughter Michelle’s wedding in the U.S. Virgin Islands!
“I did the daughter’s wedding two and a half years ago,” Sutka said. “It was great. He paid. Everything was fine, and then I get this letter about how I might have to pay to the bankruptcy the money I received. Are you kidding me? They’re not going to get anything.”
As many as two dozen other businesses in the area have received the same letter, including Michael Reich, of Master Travel and Cruises in Royal Palm Beach.
“The Prossers rented almost an entire cruise ship built for 400 people and went on a cruise with 20 friends,” Reich said. “They sent me a check for $101,000. The bankruptcy lawyers want the money back.”
For more on the Prossers’ troubles, look below or click
Dawn Prosser, with hubby Jeffrey
“The little people, the workers and the small business owners, are caught in the middle of this,” said U.S. Virgin Islands lawyer Russell Pate, who represents Reich and others who are being asked to pay back money handed to them by the Prossers. “It’s a failure of the bankruptcy system.”
It wasn’t so long ago that the Prossers owned the biggest telephone, cell-phone and Internet companies in the Caribbean — a maze of corporations bought with investors’ money.
But lawsuits disgruntled lenders who claimed that the Prossers used the business as their personal piggy — and the Prossers love the finer things in life — eventually pushed the company into bankruptcy.
When reached at his $7 million, 12,000-square-foot home — on which, by the way, the Prossers owe $130,000 in property taxes, according to county records — Prosser said Sutka shouldn’t worry.
“All actions in the bankruptcy have been stayed,” Prosser said. “Bruce is going through an unfortunate situation. We’re dealing here with vindictive lawyers.
“As always, Bruce did a fabulous job with the wedding.”
Crazy! Keep the damn money. You provided a service and were paid for it.
It’s the crazy lawyers hungry for MORE money for them.
Greedy lawyers! Tort Reform!
typical pickle smoker!!!!
Lil, you have no idea what you’re talking about. This story has nothing whatsoever to do with tort reform. Out of touch and overzealous lawyers yes.
I agree. You provided the service and were paid for it. It’s your money. Lawyers are the ones who are ruining this country. That is why everything is the way it is. So easy to file a lawsuit these days for the smallest things
Can somebody please explain why anybody should be compelled to do such a thing? That’s like buying a meal in a resturant, eating it and paying for it, then having one of your creditors come in the door and say to the owner of the restaurant. Im sorry these people cant afford to eat here. Give the money they just paid for their meal to me so I can spend it someplace else. Typical lawyer BS they will try to scare people into compliance with their crap. Tell the scum bag lawyers to piss up a rope!!!
Shakespeare had it right when he said “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.
(I’m half-joking)
These hard working people that provided services to the Prossers’ should give it back; thank you very much for your understanding
Only a damned lawyer would conceive the idea of money being returned AFTER services are rendered.
You people have the wrong scapegoat. Its the bankruptcy system and the trustee who gets paid to jerk people around. The victims scream for money back and the trustee tries to get some back from the people who get paid. The system tries to spread the pain around to as many people as possible.
On another note, the law also says that if you get paid for services rendered then you don’t have to return the money.
Finally, to the person who said we need tort reform - you are mistaken. This is not a tort, so tort reform has nothing to do with it. We need bankruptcy reform.
Just another florida scammer that is taking other people down with him because his love for money, seems like a common occurrence with their type. No surprises here, as long as the system continues to fail why not.
So let me get this right…. If you are a business owner you now need to ask you clients for their financials and I guess a promisory note that states you are not in bankrupcy or stealing money from your company. Who is the idiot that aloowed this lawyer to come up with such a stupid idea.
DO NOT GIVE A PENY BACK..
This is standard bankruptcy law. What the lawyers are doing is called a preference action. When you are in or approaching bankruptcy, you are not allowed to pay some people money in preference of others. The reason for that is sound. The money in the estate should be equally or fairly distributed, in accordance with bankruptcy laws, among all creditors, not just those whom you choose to pay. Otherwise people could pay their friends or whoever they chose and stiff the rest. If you are repaid a debt from someone who just filed or is about to file bankruptcy, do not expect that you have gotten a good deal. Expect that the court may require the return of the money. So don’t spend it. However, just because the lawyers file this action does not mean the court automatically will require the return of the money. There is some leeway and allowance for certain types of expenditure. In short, no funny business here and not something being done by greedy lawyers. It is a common and justifiable legal step in such cases.
These are some ugly losers.Surely there is a first class cot in the Graybar mansion for them.
Does this mean the corrupt off-duty cops with the Broward County Sheriff’s Department have to return the money they received from Scott Rothstein? Why doesn’t the trustee in that case try to “claw back” money from them to repay investors that lost money in that Ponzi Scheme?
Keep the money Bruce. The legal system sucks. Lawyers suck too. Reform is needed.
That is the dumbest thing I had ever heard in my life, and I’ve been alive for 90 years. People has rights and this is a vialation of their rights.
I wonder if the daughter’s marriage didn’t work out, and now the Prossers realize that they spent a RIDICULOUS amount of money.
Sick stories come from these people, but are very entertaining to most of us.Thanks
Karma is a b- otch! Bruce has been working his employees for weeks without pay because he is so bad at managing money. He’s going to lose the money! He deserves to!!!
You rich people all stick together. Prosser fraudulentlty used investor’s funds for personal gain. He used business checking account to pay for these services. Had he used his personal account vendors would have been free to keep funds. Word to wise demand personal checks for payment on services rendered for services OBVIOUSLY NOT business related.