A lingering legal dispute born out of the Justin French debacle has been put to rest.
A long-running lawsuit involving the Bank of Hampton Roads and David Gammino, a Richmond contractor and former business partner of French, was dismissed last week, according to court records.
David Gammino
Court filings included no explanation for the dismissal of the case, in which the bank had sought more than $14 million in damages from Gammino and his firm City & Guilds. The dismissal helps avoid a trial that had been scheduled for September in Richmond Circuit Court.
“The case was dismissed because the bank has resolved its concerns regarding my role in the loans,” Gammino said Monday. He would not comment further on the dismissal.
Bank of Hampton Roads filed the suit in June 2012, arguing that Gammino and his development company had a hand in allegedly defrauding the bank of more than $13 million on two of French’s unfinished construction projects in Scott’s Addition.
Gammino and his attorney argued that the case failed to show he and his company had any duty to the bank. Gammino worked for French on the two historic tax credit rehab projects in question at 3031 and 3122 Norfolk St. He was not hired by the bank.
Justin French
Gammino says he, too, was left hanging by French’s fraudulent ways.
“Anybody who had a business or personal relationship with French paid the price for that,” Gammino said. “I paid a heavy price for that relationship.”
The Norfolk-based bank took over a loan originally made to French by the former Bank of Richmond. It was found that French took millions in cash draws from the loan for work that hadn’t been done. He later admitted to the bank that the money was commingled with other funds to go toward work on other projects.
The bank had claimed that Gammino, City & Guilds, and French signed off on certified claims for millions of dollars in cash construction draws for work that hadn’t been done.
The mess spawned a separate lawsuit filed by two other Virginia banks that shared in the funding of the loan on the two projects.
Essex Bank and Lynchburg-based Select Bank sued Bank of Hampton Roads in December 2010 for $11 million, claiming that the bank failed in its duties as lead lender by allowing the alleged fraud to take place.
That case has also been dismissed.
Bank of Hampton Roads eventually foreclosed on the two Norfolk Street properties and sold them at auction to local developer Louis Salomonsky. His company is planning apartments at the sites.
Doug Glenn, chief executive of Bank of Hampton Roads, did not return a call by press time.
Rick Matthews, an attorney with Virginia Beach law firm Pender & Coward who represented the bank, did not return calls for comment on the dismissal.
Gammino was represented by Richmond attorney David Hopper of Cook, Heyward, Lee, Hopper & Feehan. Hopper did not return a call by press time.
French was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison in West Virginia for running a massive tax credit scam.
A lingering legal dispute born out of the Justin French debacle has been put to rest.
A long-running lawsuit involving the Bank of Hampton Roads and David Gammino, a Richmond contractor and former business partner of French, was dismissed last week, according to court records.
David Gammino
Court filings included no explanation for the dismissal of the case, in which the bank had sought more than $14 million in damages from Gammino and his firm City & Guilds. The dismissal helps avoid a trial that had been scheduled for September in Richmond Circuit Court.
“The case was dismissed because the bank has resolved its concerns regarding my role in the loans,” Gammino said Monday. He would not comment further on the dismissal.
Bank of Hampton Roads filed the suit in June 2012, arguing that Gammino and his development company had a hand in allegedly defrauding the bank of more than $13 million on two of French’s unfinished construction projects in Scott’s Addition.
Gammino and his attorney argued that the case failed to show he and his company had any duty to the bank. Gammino worked for French on the two historic tax credit rehab projects in question at 3031 and 3122 Norfolk St. He was not hired by the bank.
Justin French
Gammino says he, too, was left hanging by French’s fraudulent ways.
“Anybody who had a business or personal relationship with French paid the price for that,” Gammino said. “I paid a heavy price for that relationship.”
The Norfolk-based bank took over a loan originally made to French by the former Bank of Richmond. It was found that French took millions in cash draws from the loan for work that hadn’t been done. He later admitted to the bank that the money was commingled with other funds to go toward work on other projects.
The bank had claimed that Gammino, City & Guilds, and French signed off on certified claims for millions of dollars in cash construction draws for work that hadn’t been done.
The mess spawned a separate lawsuit filed by two other Virginia banks that shared in the funding of the loan on the two projects.
Essex Bank and Lynchburg-based Select Bank sued Bank of Hampton Roads in December 2010 for $11 million, claiming that the bank failed in its duties as lead lender by allowing the alleged fraud to take place.
That case has also been dismissed.
Bank of Hampton Roads eventually foreclosed on the two Norfolk Street properties and sold them at auction to local developer Louis Salomonsky. His company is planning apartments at the sites.
Doug Glenn, chief executive of Bank of Hampton Roads, did not return a call by press time.
Rick Matthews, an attorney with Virginia Beach law firm Pender & Coward who represented the bank, did not return calls for comment on the dismissal.
Gammino was represented by Richmond attorney David Hopper of Cook, Heyward, Lee, Hopper & Feehan. Hopper did not return a call by press time.
French was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison in West Virginia for running a massive tax credit scam.