GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) — A newly filed lawsuit compares the schemes of famous fraudsters Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff to a woman’s investments in the Celebration Pointe plaza project.
Patricia Shively, 74, claims she was misled into investing and guaranteeing loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the project. With Celebration Pointe filing for bankruptcy protections, Shively faces “financial ruin.”
On Tuesday, attorneys representing Shively say they filed a lawsuit against developer Viking Construction and owner Svein Dyrkolbotn as well as wealth management firm Koss Olinger and partner William Olinger, among others.
According to the lawsuit, Shively turned to William Olinger and his company to manage her fortune after her divorce from insurance magnate William Shively.
The suit compares Olinger to a “con artist” who viewed Shively as an ideal “mark.” As a housewife during her 33-year-long marriage, she relied on the financial advisors to manage her significant assets.
Dyrkolbotn, the owner of commercial development company Viking Construction, reportedly had a close friendship and many financial relationships with Olinger. Their children also all attended Oak Hall, a private school in Gainesville, and both men served on the board.
The suit alleges Shively wasn’t told of the so-called “conflict-of-interest” when Olinger began investing her money in Dyrkolbotn’s Campus View South in 2009.
The first investment returned her $1.7 million loan in full with a 7% interest. After the first, smaller real estate investment was a success, Olinger convinced Shively to fund Celebration Pointe.
It started with a few loans that over the course of more than a decade, resulted in Shively contributing $100 million to the project. A small amount of the money was repaid; however, Shively never received any dividends, interest, distributions, or equivalent equity.
When Viking Construction hit a financing wall, Olinger and Dyrkolbotn convinced Shively and her trust to personally guarantee more than $300 million in loans for the Celebration Pointe construction.
Olinger reportedly convinced Shively to take out mortgages on the homes she bought for her children to fund the project.
As TV20 previously reported, debtors filed petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief for the Celebration Pointe project on March 14, 2024.
Despite putting hundreds of millions of dollars into the project, the lawsuit alleges that Shively’s interests weren’t prioritized. She continued to fund the project as the bankruptcy was negotiated.
The lawsuit alleges Olinger and Dyrkolbotn agreed to a bankruptcy plan that put Shively on the hook to pay millions to debtors, money she doesn’t have. Now, if she fails to pay, the bankruptcy plan could fall apart.
Lenders have also filed 12 lawsuits against Shively as the borrower or guarantor on the loans. She stands to lose everything if the lawsuits prevail.
Shively was one of many Koss Olinger clients invested in Celebration Pointe. The lawsuit alleges her money was used to backfill the other investments in a “Ponzi-like scheme.”
The lawsuit ultimately asks the court to hold the defendants liable for violating fiduciary duties, fraud, gross negligence, misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and conversion.
TV20 reached out to the named parties. Our reporting will be updated if requests for comment are returned.
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