Jeffrey Siskind: Lawsuit against Wellington attorney alleges fraud
Wellington-based attorney Jeffrey Siskind bilked investors, including an imprisoned drug kingpin, out of millions in cash and real estate, new explosive allegations in his company’s bankruptcy case reveal.
Siskind, who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in 2018, improperly moved money from clients and investors to, among others, himself and his wife, Wellington Councilwoman Tanya Siskind, says the 59-page lawsuit filed late Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in West Palm Beach.
Among the clients the bankruptcy trustee alleges Siskind bilked: convicted pill-mill operator Christopher George, who accused Siskind of stealing $2 million and his family house.
Bankruptcy trustee Robert Furr is seeking court permission to bring into the bankruptcy case all of Siskind’s companies to stop what he termed “fraudulent transfers.” Among them, Furr accuses Siskind of using ill-gotten gains to buy a $59,500 Mercedes-Benz for his wife in 2015 and to give her $17,000, mostly in 2016.
In notifying defendants of the lawsuit, the bankruptcy trustee’s attorney Jesus Suarez sent it to Tanya Siskind’s Village Council email account, which immediately caused it to be shared it with the rest of the Village Council, a move Jeffrey Siskind said was meant to embarrass his wife.
The trustee’s allegations come nearly a year after a Palm Beach Post investigation revealed many of the details spelled out by the trustee.
Siskind initially filed the Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January 2018 on behalf of his company, Chance & Anthem LLC.
The bankruptcy trustee seeks a permanent injunction and an expedited hearing date to stop Siskind and the other defendants from trying to sell off or hide assets.
Siskind maintains he acted with the consent of his clients and investors and denies any illegal activity on his part.
“It’s ridiculous,” Siskind told The Palm Beach Post on Wednesday. “It’s a typical attempt to cast regular business actions in an improper light.”
Regarding the claims against his wife, Siskind said she never came to his law office.
“I never shared with her the day-to-day,” he said, adding that Tanya Siskind “is happy to serve” as a councilwoman for her $800 monthly village salary.
The councilwoman did not return calls for comment but in the past has denied any involvement in his businesses.
Furr says Jeffrey Siskind used money from investors and clients of his law practice to:
– Transfer more than $800,000 to himself.
– Pay more than $175,000 for personal boats and aircraft.
– “Inexplicably transfer” more than $160,000 into his attorney trust account.
– Withdraw more than $119,000 in cash, including payments to Walmart over a 30-month period.
– “Place millions of dollars of real estate purchased with investor funds in the hand of his associates and nominees.”
“It cannot be disputed that the transfers were made to the defendants with the actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud creditors,” the trustee argues in a related filing.
Siskind faulted Robert Gibson, his former paralegal, with whom he had a falling-out that led to an ongoing legal fight in which each accuses the other of everything from fraud to legal malpractice to “vexatious litigation.”
“It is in so many ways like a really bad divorce,” Siskind said.
Siskind has said Chance & Anthem had two primary business ventures: CannaMED Pharmaceuticals, a medical cannabis venture in Maryland that went bust after failing to obtain a grower’s license; and a mansion renovation project next door to Siskind’s own home in Wellington’s posh Southfields neighborhood, which he called “the project house.”
In reality, Furr charges, Siskind used Chance & Anthem — along with several other corporations, also named as defendants in the lawsuit — to move more than $3 million in investors’ money and real estate for his benefit.
The corporations were never operated as “a bona fide business,” Suarez wrote in the lawsuit. “In truth, it was little more than a shell used by Defendant Siskind to defraud creditors, conceal assets, and facilitate his use of assets placed in his trust by clients and investors.”
But Siskind said the businesses were more than just shells.
“They were real businesses with real employees,” he said, adding that CannaMED at one time had 10 employees.
The lawsuit describes step by step and with graphic presentations how Furr says Siskind tricked investors and clients out of money and real estate.
In one instance, Furr found documentation that shows Siskind used some of pill-mill operator George’s $2 million to pay posh resorts and private clubs including the Keys-based Ocean Reef Club, The Beach Club on Palm Beach, President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and the Old Guard Society of Palm Beach Golfers. George hired Siskind to create a family trust with the money.
"I was a member for years before I got into these investments," Siskind said of the clubs, adding that he did not belong to the Old Guard Society. "I must have paid a bill for my father there," he said.
Siskind is optimistic that he will prevail.
“They’ve got to prove fraud,” he said. “And it’s a high bar. They’re not going to be able to do it.”
In a related filing, the trustee acknowledged that high burden of proof but argued there are several “badges of fraud” to back his fraudulent transfer claims.
Also included as defendants in the lawsuit are:
– Frank Zokaites, a longtime friend and business partner of Jeffrey Siskind and his father, the late William Siskind.
– Zokaites Properties LP and Wellington 3445 LP, corporations led by Zokaites.
– Gibson, Jeffrey Siskind’s former paralegal, who Furr said holds title to the home Siskind allegedly stole from George.
– Jeffrey Siskind-led corporations including OB Real Estate Holdings LLC, Siskind Legal Services LLC, Florida’s Association of Community Banks and Credit Unions Inc. and Sympatico Equine Rescue Inc.
Siskind has in various filings estimated Chance & Anthem’s assets at anywhere from $28 million to $1,200, including a computer Furr now says was “dissipated by Siskind” before Furr’s appointment.
Claims in the bankruptcy have totaled more than $6.3 million. They include about $2.8 million from the George family and investors David Fiore and Carl Stone; $526,000 from investor Richard Neff; $600 for pool service at Siskind’s “project house;” $670,000 to longtime Siskind client Frederick Volkwein; and about $29,000 in rent for the Maryland property formerly occupied by CannaMED.
Suarez also filed lawsuits on Furr’s behalf against four companies seeking return of money paid by Chance & Anthem but which benefited Siskind, not the corporation. One of those companies is Mercedes-Benz of Palm Beach, to which Chance & Anthem paid $59,500 for Tanya Siskind’s car in October 2015, records show.
Tanya Siskind also received $17,000 in transfers from Chance & Anthem’s bank account, according to financial records included with Furr’s lawsuit. All but $500 came between March 2016 and November 2016. She was appointed to the Wellington council in April 2016 and won election to her current four-year term in March 2018.
The suit includes tables that pair allegations of specific wrongdoing to either Chance & Anthem or another of what Furr alleges are Siskind’s alter ego companies.
Siskind said the trustee is seeking to reclaim as much as he can because “it’s a money game” for them.
“It’s all about them earning their fees,” he said.
The defendants next will have a chance to respond to Furr's lawsuit.
While running for Florida attorney general, Wellington lawyer Jeffrey Siskind was accused in several lawsuits of theft and fraud tied to several businesses. Among his accusers: pill-mill kingpin Chris George and his ex-wife, Dianna; former strip club owner David Fiore; and West Palm Beach businessman Frederick Volkwein.
What The Post reported
