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Investigator grills Lee County manager on questionable investments
Don Stilwell
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BONITA SPRINGS — In about two hours of questioning Thursday afternoon as part of a commission-ordered investigation, Lee County Manager Don Stilwell gave his account of his real estate investments with his son-in-law.
Stilwell’s son-in-law, Samir Cabrera, has been indicted on 12 federal fraud charges.
Stilwell’s dealings with Cabrera were already being questioned before Stilwell’s name — or, at least, his initials — appeared twice in the text of the most recent indictment late last month, as the recipient of more than $120,000 from Cabrera and his wife, former NBC-2 news anchor Jessica Stilwell, who is Don Stilwell’s daughter.
Those payments were among the financial dealings Stilwell explained to the independent investigator, Michael Crain, at a meeting inside the county administration building, Stilwell’s attorney Patrick Geraghty said.
Crain, of Fort Lauderdale, was hired by Lee County Attorney David Owen after commissioners requested a review of Stilwell’s investments when questions were raised about whether he had lied about his financial stake in one of Cabrera’s projects called Daniels View.
“I think the investigation is going to support Mr. Stilwell’s position,” Geraghty said. “He has done absolutely nothing wrong. He did not lie to anyone. He certainly did not tell any untruth to Commissioner (Brian) Bigelow.”
As for the payments to Stilwell listed on the federal indictment — as part of two money laundering counts facing Cabrera — those were repayments of loans Stilwell had made to his daughter and her husband, Geraghty said. He said he had “no idea” why the payments were included in the indictment.
The first payment to Stilwell was for the $76,000 Stilwell took from a home equity line of credit in 2006 to help the couple buy property in Cape Coral, he said. Cabrera and Stilwell’s daughter repaid him with some interest.
The other payment was to repay a $50,000 loan to Cabrera and Jessica Stilwell so they could close on a condo in Fort Myers in June of 2006. Stilwell loaned the couple some money he had just received as part of a divorce settlement.
“She (Jessica Stilwell) called her father, asked if he would help them,” he said. “It was his daughter. It had nothing at all to do with Daniels View or any of that.”
What Stilwell couldn’t answer and doesn’t know, Geraghty said, was where the money to repay the loans came from.
Overall, Geraghty said, the pattern is of not the most-savvy business decisions on Stilwell’s part when it came to deals with Cabrera.
“He lost his backside taking care of his son-in-law,” Geraghty said, estimating that Stilwell has lost about $300,000 on his real estate deals.
Ahead of the meeting Thursday, the independent investigator had requested a number of financial documents from Stilwell, including tax returns from the past several years.
“We gave him everything,” Geraghty said.
Crain also asked about the meeting Stilwell had with Cabrera and others involved with his deals in September 2006, and he asked about other investments Stilwell had made with Cabrera.
“Mr. Stilwell did all of this voluntarily. There were no subpoenas because there was no subpoena authority by anyone,” Geraghty said.
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NDN needs to tone done the image of Stilwell. I was gazing at his massive forehead and went temporally blind. Kind of like looking at the sun or something. If any of you other readers suffer the same malady perhaps we can instigate a class action assault.
#1 Posted by LGoldstein on September 4, 2008 at 8:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Like any public sector administration and lawyers are going to figure this one out.
Hard to believe the kid conned the old man out of 300K, and the daughter hasn't divorced the stud yet.
I can't decide who is smarter.
#2 Posted by volochine on September 5, 2008 at 1:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Goldstein-
He must have a some magic you don't ---he got a settlement from the divorce!
DDS is going to proven innocent in the end. I hope he sues the Bigelow's for defamation of character.
Add the weezle Charlie Green to the suit--we all know whose behind this you jack azzes!
#3 Posted by Boldt on September 5, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Volochine: You were first correct by saying "hard to believe." He did not get conned out of anything. He was a willfull participant, feeding at the well. Fire him for stupidity or self interested financial arrangemnts. But just fire him.
#4 Posted by denrob14 on September 5, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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