Will settlement against Dundee park board member stand? Court to decide in November
A judge could decide in late November whether a $17,500 settlement should stand in a lawsuit against a Dundee Township Park Board member that was filed by his family business.
The Meadowdale Shopping Center sued Frank Scarpelli Jr, of East Dundee, 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.
This year, the sides reached an agreement in which Scarpelli would pay $1,000 a month for 17 months and then $500 in the final month and Meadowdale would forgive a $500,000 debt that Scarpelli owes, according to Kane County court records.
Monday, the two sides appeared before Kane County Judge Mark Pheanis, and Scarpelli sought to vacate the settlement, arguing his attorney on a different lawsuit didn't inform him of the settlement.
"It's a lot of bull that he owes $500,000," said Joe Marconi, one of Scarpelli's attorney's.
Pheanis set a Nov. 22 hearing date to determine whether to vacate the settlement or to order Scarpelli, who has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing, to pay up.
"We did it a year ago. We gave him a huge break and here we are still arguing about it," Marios Karayannis, attorney for the shopping center, said outside of court.
The two sides are due back in court before Pheanis on Nov. 22, when Scarpelli and one of his former attorneys may be called to testify.
Attorneys for the shopping center have argued Scarpelli has 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 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 Scarpelli is Besinger's grandson, and the family business includes income from several Meadowdale apartment buildings and Meadowdale Shopping Center.
Karayannis argues in court records that Scarpelli, "upon information and belief," entered into a "multimillion agreement" to settle the Poincelet lawsuit in early 2019.