Three investment firms with ties to some of Wall Street's most famous companies have raised their deposits in a legal dispute over now-bankrupt Tampa-based Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp.
Fortinbras Enterprises is managed by the famous Ben Black. The two Silver Rock funds were once affiliated with his famous fund manager Michael Milken. and HT Investments last week accused Lighthouse's former CEO, the White family, of misleading investment firms about the extent of Lighthouse's financial problems after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana in 2021. ) has filed a new lawsuit against Patrick White and his father, Lawrence White.
In a separate lawsuit filed in New York, investors allege that TigerRisk Partners, now part of global insurance brokerage firm Howden, also sought to raise capital just before Lighthouse went into receivership in 2022. It alleges that the company misled investors.
The lawsuit comes six months after the fund accused Lawrence White of being an insider when One Florida Bank loaned Lighthouse $19 million in 2019. Although the bank was repaid, the investment fund lost most of its $65 million investment, the lawsuit alleges. The case is still pending in Florida's Orange County Circuit Court.
Whites and Tigerrisk are not named as defendants in the 2023 lawsuit, but the complaint details their alleged deceptive practices and lack of communication. A new complaint against White reiterates this claim, with the Florida complaint asking a judge to place a “constructive trust” in a family trust controlled by Patrick White.
Patrick White declined to comment on the case, other than to say the plaintiffs have little defense. The fund had already been allocated a portion of Lighthouse's remaining assets after Lighthouse was deemed bankrupt in 2022. He noted that the trust could be bound as a trustee.
“They really don’t have anything,” White said.
Defendants in the latest lawsuits have not yet filed answers or motions to dismiss. In the One Florida Bank case, the bank's lawyers said the lawsuit was misguided and that the investment fund's managers knew all along that the bank would have its $19 million loan repaid.
“Plaintiffs rolled the dice. They took a risky bet by investing in an insurance company that was in distress due to the effects of a major hurricane,” the defense motion states.
Last week, Fortinbras Enterprises took the unusual step of sending out a press release about the latest lawsuit, alleging that the white party worked with Tiger Risk to misrepresent and obfuscate the facts regarding the Lighthouse loss, and that the insurance company was He accused Louisiana regulators of secretly placing him in a conservatorship. An investment contract has been signed.
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