Trump Tower developers collar "The Very Rev. Father Barney"
Claiming they were duped out of $150,000, developers of Trump Tower Tampa have sued an ex-convict from Indiana who failed to deliver a $200-million loan.
SimDag LLC is pursuing civil theft charges against “the Very Rev. Father Barney Canada,” a self-proclaimed clergyman who spent three years in federal prison for ripping off businesses in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Canada ran an “advance fee scheme” in which he collected millions of dollars in fees but failed to deliver loans.
SimDag attorney Jeffrey Warren said Father Barney, by withholding information about his criminal past during negotiations earlier this year, lured his clients into a contract he didn’t intend to uphold.
SimDag struggled for two years to get financing for its 52-story luxury condo high rise. Developers licensed the name from New York real estate mogul Donald Trump. Father Barney, head of a company called Providence Funding, appeared last spring as the project’s financial savior.
“The fee was paid and the loan was supposed to close simultaneously,” Warren said. "The fees got paid and then nothing. My clients didn’t know they were bamboozled until it was too late.”
Canada’s Indiana attorney, Thomas “Chip” Lewis, didn’t return a call from the Times.
Since last summer, when the Times broke the story of Canada’s activities, several businesses have contacted the newspaper to say that they, too, paid Father Barney for loans that never materialized.
“We got duped,” a Canadian businessman who lost $25,000 said in an e-mail. “I look forward to seeing Barney Canada doing a second stint behind bars.”
With the implosion of the real estate market, SimDag filed for bankruptcy in June. The lawsuit against Canada falls within the confines of the bankruptcy court.
“We don’t think he has any defense,” Warren said of Canada. “We think it was all a shell.”
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It will be Mr. Canada's THIRD time behind bars not second.
Posted by: jj | January 05, 2009 at 02:19 PM
If I recall correctly, Canada's second conviction involved several years of house arrest. So the man's quote is technically correct as it stands. Unless Canada had burglar bars on his home windows...
Posted by: James Thorner | January 05, 2009 at 02:39 PM