DAN'S PAPERS, April 3, 2009 Page 15 www.danshamptons.com
Left: Ron Guldi, Center: A Southampton home involved in the mortgage fraud scheme, Top Right: Douglas MacPherson, Bottom Right: Carrie Coakley
Sex and Real Estate A Dominatrix, Mortgage Fraud, $50 Million & Westhampton By Dan Rattiner In January, detectives raided the law offices of George Guldi in Westhampton Beach and made off with 52 filing cabinets filled with information. Guldi, who had been our Suffolk County legislator for 10 years and since leaving office in 2003 has been a well-respected attorney, was out to lunch at the time. He went ballistic. The detectives had come with a warrant that would allow them only to make off with files involving a mortgage scheme. Instead, they took ALL his files, including, he said, pictures of clients’ children and other files relating to his law practice. He could not operate without these files, he said
he would sue for improper entry and theft, but the detectives returned more than 30 of the filing cabinets the next day and he calmed down. A week later it came out that the police were investigating the sale of the home of Guldi’s late father on Mecox Road in Southampton. It had been sold and the buyer had received a mortgage for $3.7 million from Wachovia Bank. (This was not unusual at that time.) However, it seemed that $1.8 million wound up in Guldi’s account rather than the buyer’s account. And no mortgage payments were being paid. An interview with the buyer, a man named Bill Apkinar who lived in Glen Cove, elicited from him the claim that he thought his identity had been
stolen. He said he knew nothing about the sale. Last week, the roof fell in. In what is turning out to be a scandal involving sex, bondage, mortgage fraud, $50 million, identity theft and illegal aliens, this case is now making front page news. Guldi was nabbed, but the primary figure arrested was Douglas MacPherson, a prominent Westhampton businessman who owns Magic’s Pub, the Artful Dodger, the Sunset Café, a Westhampton bed and breakfast and as many as many as 40 private homes, mostly in Westhampton and Quogue, but also in other communities in these parts. He also owns the Soho Weekly, a newspaper in Manhattan. He (continued on next page)
PARKING, PERIWINKLES, OBAMA, OSAMA, WORLD TRADE By Dan Rattiner Here a roundup of this week’s news. In Manhattan, it was announced that the Freedom Tower, currently under discussion, would henceforth be known as World Trade Center One. The reason for the name change was, according to a spokesperson, that the term “freedom” might incite the radical Muslims to attack it, whereas the name World Trade Center One would not. I have three thoughts about this. 1. The Freedom Tower is going to stand 1,776 feet tall, nearly half again taller than any other building in the city. Calling this building World Trade Center One is like telling a guy who is
seven feet tall that if he wears sunglasses, people wouldn’t notice him. 2. Renaming it World Trade Center One is an insult to the memory of World Trade Center Two. 3. The radical Muslims knocked down World Trade Centers One and Two at least partly because they were named World Trade Center. Although, after eight years, it’s still a puzzle to many people about exactly what it is that radical Muslims want, it is not for lack of their telling us. They have said repeatedly that they are opposed to world trade and westernization. They think its existence is an abomination
against God. Perhaps you have noticed that in recent times every culture but one has embraced world trade and westernization. China, India, Japan, Europe, Central America and South America are all on board with Benettons and Gaps and Burger Kings. Only the radical Muslims aren’t on board. And they say westernization interferes with their ability to practice their religion. Thus, the fatwah. Perhaps it would be a good thing if we carved out the interior of that fat needle sitting as the top quarter of the Freedom Tower and made it into a nondenominational chapel for all — a (continued on page 18)