You just have to shake your head when you read about Credit Suisse, the huge bank that has made some colossally bad real estate loans -– with the emphasis on colossal. These are the folks who thought a nearly $700 million loan to the Ginn Resorts was a smart move. They ate it, and could not even secure the three Ginn communities they had bankrolled. This is the same bank that paid more than $500 million in fines for having abetted a scheme for the Iranian government to secure Western technology.
Now, we learn that Credit Suisse could potentially be put out of our misery via one of the largest court penalties in the history of mankind. The bank, along with real estate service firm Cushman & Wakefield, is being sued for $24 billion (no, that is not a misprint) by property owners and developers at four conspicuously upscale resorts -- Ginn Sur Mer (Bahamas), Lake Las Vegas (Idaho), Tamarac (Idaho) and Yellowstone Club (Montana). The complicated and twisted tale involves forgery, ex-marital loathing, and lots of intrigue.
Florida real estate maven and blogger Toby Tobin has done an outstanding job of chronicling much of the intrigue. You can read his account at GoToby.com.
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Follow-up: The other day we wrote about the great second baseman, Robbie Alomar, Jr, who most baseball experts thought was a cinch to be elected today to the Baseball Hall of Fame today. We had suggested Alomar's story of redemption after a lapse of judgment could serve as a template for Tiger Woods. Sad to report that Alomar, who many baseball experts believe is among the best to play his position ever, fell eight votes shy of the number necessary for induction. We hope the same experts are correct that he wll be a shoo-in next year. (Personal disclosure: I think I own a couple of his rookie baseball cards. Go Robbie!)