Connecticut
Ex-CT politically connected developer gets 5 years in prison for real estate swindles in three states
Politically connected real estate developer Robert Matthews was sentenced to more than five years in prison Monday for tens of millions of dollars of frauds in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida.
The 65-year old Matthews, now a resident of West Palm Beach, was charged with the crimes of conspiracy, money laundering, and tax evasion for real estate swindles that the government argued were responsible for losses to banks and investors of more than $30 million.
Matthews, who’s real estate deals were attracting law enforcement attention in Connecticut more than three decades ago, faced 15 years in prison under the advisory sentencing guidelines used by federal courts. His lawyer argued that a two-year sentence would be appropriate, an unusual acknowledgment by the defense to the scale of the financial damage Matthews inflicted.
At the end of a four-hour sentencing hearing in Bridgeport, the judge imposed a sentence of a total of 65 months.
Matthews previously had pleaded guilty to a variety of frauds associated with resort hotel projects on Nantucket and in West Palm Beach, and a luxury home in Washington Depot in Litchfield County.
He admitted financing the Florida and Connecticut deals with a scheme that raised money under a state department visa program allowing foreign nationals legal entry to the U.S. by investing at least $500,000 in a U.S. development projects that employ 10 or more people.
In Matthews case, he collected $500,000 each from 61 foreign nationals, ostensibly to redevelop a run down Palm Beach resort, the Palm House Hotel, that Matthews said would rival former President Donald Trump’s nearby Mar-a-Lago resort.
Prosecutors say in court filings that the foreign investors, many of whom were trying to reach the U.S. to educate children, lost more than $30 million. Matthews, they said, spent money on a 151-foot yacht called the Alibi and charity balls for the Palm Beach glitterati, while paying off loans, forestalling foreclosures on other properties and underwriting another crooked real estate deal in Washington Depot, in Litchfield County.
Matthews has been a longtime player in political and real estate circles in Connecticut and a player whose work has been followed for just as long by federal law enforcement.
He was interviewed by FBI agents as long ago as the 1990s about a $25,000 cash payment to former Waterbury Mayor Joseph Santopietro. Matthews, who was trying to develop downtown property at the time, was not charged. Santopietro was ultimately accused, convicted and sentenced for taking payoffs from bankers and other real estate developers.
Mathews surfaced repeatedly during the administration of former Gov. John G. Rowland. He and partner Wayne Pratt, then a well-known Woodbury antiques dealer, agreed to rent – and later, buy for an amount far above the market rate- a Washington, D.C. condominium Rowland was trying to unload. Matthews later complained that he got taken to the cleaners when Rowland changed him $5,000 for the appliances.
Matthews and Pratt were in the news not long after when they offered for sale an original copy of the Bill of Rights they had acquired. The deal fell apart when it was determined the document had been filched from the North Carolina archives by a union soldier during the Civil War.
Under the sentence guidelines used in federal court, the 65-year old Matthews could have faced from 12 to 15 years in prison. He previously pleaded guilty to a dozen fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and tax crimes.
The offenses date to 2007, when Matthews is accused of cheating a banking lender of millions of dollars ostensibly borrowed to develop a resort on Nantucket. As was the case with the Palm House Hotel between 2012 and 2018, Matthews is accused of spending much of the money on himself. Prosecutors said Matthews later uses some of the Palm Beach visa money in what was a Washington Depot bank fraud in 2014.
“While running these various scams, the defendant evaded at least $2,750,000 in tax, penalties and interest based on his failure to pay taxes in 2005 and 2007,” the prosecution said in a court filing. “Using shell companies and bank accounts in the names of other people, the defendant put real property, personal property, and cash assets beyond the reach of the Internal Revenue Service.”
The Palm House Hotel was Matthews’ most audacious project. In the prospectus provided to foreign investors, he described himself as rich and famous, and he is shown in posed photographs with Trump, as well as former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.
Matthews boasted in the Palm House Hotel promotional material of having a “World Renown Advisory Board,” with Trump and the Clinton’s as members. In fact, neither Donald Trump nor the Clintons were on the board, the government said.
WESTMINSTER, Vt. (WCAX) – They may be considered a pest in Lake Champlain, but state wildlife officials say sea lamprey call the Connecticut River home.
While the population in Lake Champlain is controlled as a nuisance species, lampreys make up an important part of the Connecticut River ecosystem. Every year, sea lampreys spawn in the river as far upstream as Wilder Dam in the Upper Valley, and in many of the tributaries including the West, Williams, Black, and White Rivers.
In this week’s Wildlife Watch, Ike Bendavid traveled to Westminster, where Vermont Fish and Wildlife biologists are working to protect spawning habitat on the Saxtons River.
Copyright 2024 WCAX. All rights reserved.
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A New Yorker has turned his new home in Connecticut into a pop-of-color “dollhouse” after dreaming of such a space ever since he was a child.
Jonny Carmack, 31, bought his Danbury, Connecticut, home in 2020 after needing to escape Manhattan during the pandemic.
He said that this particular three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom home was the first space he toured — and that it was the perfect size but didn’t have the perfect look, SWNS reported.
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However, he’d been dreaming of turning a property into his personal “dollhouse” ever since he was a kid, he said.
“When I bought this house, I knew I wanted to use it as a landing pad for my creativity,” he said.
Jonny Carmack, pictured here, told Fox News Digital he’s grateful for the supportive online community that’s been weighing in on his colorful home. (Jonny Carmack / Fox News)
Today, after spending roughly $20,000 on renovations, Carmack has a color-filled space that is hard to miss.
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Thanks to some help from Facebook Marketplace and HomeGoods, Carmack bought unique secondhand items to turn his new space into something special.
Carmack has multiple rooms in his home that are full of colorful items. (SWNS / SWNS)
“I knew what I wanted the themes of my home to be, and now I have been finetuning them to push my personality out there more,” he told SWNS.
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Carmack has a fruit room, a bakery dining room, a blue lounge, a pink parlor, a pop art bathroom, an ice cream bathroom and more themed spaces within his Connecticut home.
The homeowner said he added over $100,000 in value to his home thanks to the colorful renovations and decorative items.
The dining room of the home features shades of green, pink and blue throughout. (SWNS / SWNS)
Carmack noted that his favorite space in the home is his kitchen.
He said it has the best lighting, and that he loves to use it for cooking and hosting.
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Carmack told Fox News Digital that his rooms were inspired by special people and places he idolized.
“Each room is designed around the vintage 1980s furniture I curated over the last 3 to 4 years,” he said. “And my biggest inspirations have been Dolly Parton, Barbie and colorful Floridian tack.”
Carmack, who moved to Connecticut a few years ago, said he’s dreamed of creating a real-life dollhouse for as long as he can remember. (SWNS / SWNS)
He also told Fox News Digital that he’d always been drawn to “dollhouse aesthetics” as a child and would often imagine himself living in such a place.
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He said, “I tried to force myself into the more tame and modern stylings as an adult and decorated many spaces in various shades of beige and white before being brave enough to go bold!”
A man has added $100,000 worth of value to his Connecticut home thanks to renovations and items he bought secondhand. (SWNS/Jonny Carmack / SWNS)
Carmack has posted about his unique space on Instagram, where he has over 177,000 followers.
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He told Fox News Digital he’s grateful to the creative community online that loves his home space as much as he does.
AAA just released their annual report on 4th of July travel. The goal of the information dump is to make folks aware of the peak (worst) travel times for holidays. Some of this is common sense and other time periods may surprise you.
Connecticut has its own quirks that need to be accounted for but the national guidelines are pretty standard across the board. Here are the Best and Worst Travel times for this coming (2024) 4th of July holiday.
Best Travel Times By Car:
- Monday July 1 – Minimal Traffic Expected All Day
- Tuesday, July 2 – Before Noon
- Wednesday, July 3 – Before Noon
- Thursday, July 4 – Before Noon
- Friday, July 5 – Before 10am
- Saturday, July 6 – Before 10am
- Sunday, July 7 – Before 11am
- Monday, July 8 – After 7pm
Worst Travel Times By Car:
- Tuesday, July 2 – 2-6pm
- Wednesday, July 3 – 2-7pm
- Thursday, July 4 – 2-7pm
- Friday, July 5 – 11am-4pm
- Saturday, July 6 – 10:30am-2:30pm
- Sunday, July 7 – 2-8pm
- Monday, July 8 – 1-5pm
I have done the 4th of July road trip so many times I can tell you horror stories that would melt your face. For many years I went to Florida for the week of the 4th of July. We would leave in the middle of the night, 2am, 3am, 4am. The years we fooled ourselves into thinking any kind of day driving would be OK, became a nightmare. Even if you leave at 6am, you hit monstrous traffic in the Washington D.C. area that brings you to a standstill for hours.
Crowded vehicle traffic and the only motorcycle in America
Do yourself a favor, no matter which direction you are headed, take the AAA numbers and get even more extreme. If you can embark at 2am, you should. Happy 4th of July in advance, it is the single-greatest holiday we all celebrate.
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