Dundee Township park board member tries to back out of $17.5K settlement
A Dundee Township Park District commissioner being sued by his family business is trying to back out of an agreement ordering him to pay $17,500 over 18 months.
Frank Scarpelli Jr. of East Dundee owes $500,000 to the Meadowdale Shopping Center, the center's attorney argues in court records. He recently settled a lawsuit in Cook County in which his late aunt and cousin accused him of systematically siphoning $2.8 million from a trust.
Scarpelli has not been charged criminally and his lawyer says his client never signed the Meadowdale settlement.
The Meadowdale Shopping Center sued Scarpelli in 2018, arguing he diverted rent funds, charged personal items on company accounts and overcharged the center for materials and supplies while managing day-to-day operations until he was fired in February 2015.
The two sides agreed to have Scarpelli pay $17,500 over 18 months, according to court records. If he paid $1,000 a month for 17 months and $500 in the final month, Meadowdale would forgive his debt.
"For purposes of this agreement, Scarpelli agrees that he currently owes MSC (Meadowdale Shopping Center) the sum of $500,000 and MSC agrees that so long as Scarpelli make all payments stated herein in a timely fashion that the payment stated herein shall satisfy Scarpelli's debt to MSC in full," read part of the settlement.
In July, Scarpelli filed a motion asking Kane County Judge Mark Pheanis to vacate the agreement. "Frank never agreed to these terms and other terms in the draft by the plaintiff," his motion said.
Scarpelli's lawyer, Joseph Marconi, called the Meadowdale litigation a "ridiculous lawsuit" and said his client would fight it and possibly countersue.
"It's more complicated than to say it was a misunderstanding," Marconi said. "It was a series of events where people came to the wrong conclusions."
Marconi said his client got bad information from his former lawyer and was not in court in June when a judge entered a judgment against Scarpelli.
Marconi said his client doesn't owe Meadowdale any money; Scarpelli wanted to settle the suit for $17,500 to avoid more legal fees.
Attorneys for the shopping center argue Scarpelli used the delay in the case to disburse his assets and reduce his ability to pay Meadowdale.
Scarpelli's cousin, Anne Marie Poincelet, of Chicago, sued Scarpelli in 2015, arguing that he systematically siphoned $2.8 million while overseeing and administering the estates and trusts of Poincelet and her mother, Pamela, over two decades.
Pamela Poincelet was one of eight children to Leonard Besinger, who developed numerous malls and shopping centers in and around Carpentersville. Frank is Besinger's grandson, and the family business includes income from several Meadowdale apartment buildings and Meadowdale Shopping Center.
Marios Karayannis, an attorney for the shopping center, argues in court records that Scarpelli, "upon information and belief," entered into a "multimillion agreement" to settle the Poincelet lawsuit in early 2019.
Marconi said the two sides had a confidentiality agreement to end the Poincelet litigation.
The two sides are due in court on Sept. 9 on the Meadowdale case.