Glenn Straub booking photo. Photo courtesy of Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.Wealthy Wellington Developer Glenn Straub Arrested Over Liens
The developer of the Palm Beach Polo Golf and Country Club was jailed on charges of filing false liens and larceny.
January 17, 2020 at 01:44 PM
4 minute read
Litigious Wellington developer Glenn Straub was arrested Friday after an extended investigation on charges of filing fraudulent liens and larceny.
Straub, 73, was released from Palm Beach County jail hours later after posting $11,000 bail. He is best known for developing Wellington's 2,200-acre Palm Beach Polo Golf and Country Club, which includes a championship golf course and 45 neighborhoods.
He was charged with two counts of fraud of filing a fraudulent lien and one count of larceny over $20,000 and less than $100,000, according to the sheriff's office.
Straub has been under criminal investigation stemming from a 2017 civil lawsuit one of his companies, Palm Beach Polo Inc., filed against an ex-girlfriend seeking to foreclose on the liens on homes she owned.
The Palm Beach Post, which first reported on Straub's arrest, said Jessica Nicodemo claimed she became a target of Straub because he was angry she broke up with him.
Nicodemo proceeded to file a counterclaim in the case and in December won a partial summary judgment in Palm Beach Circuit Court to remove the liens.
A statement from Straub's company, Palm Beach Polo Inc., said he will fight the charges and expects to be exonerated.
The company called this a case of a "vindictive ex-girlfriend" who turned a civil dispute into a criminal case by "spinning false tales to law enforcement."
The civil case was over unpaid construction liens filed not by Straub but one of his companies, the statement emailed by Jose Lambiet said.
"The complainant/ex-girlfriend is clearly seeking to embarrass Mr. Straub, a high-profile Palm Beach businessman, by publicly airing her false accusations," the statement said.
Nicodemo's attorney countered saying Straub told Nicodemo during a phone call recorded by the sheriff's office that he filed the liens as a way to control her because he didn't want her to move away and that she didn't owe him anything.
"The criminal charges send a strong message that Glenn Straub is not above the law," attorney Elizabeth Parker said in an emailed statement.
Straub is part of some high-profile civil suits in South Florida, including a long legal saga over Palm Beach's Palm House Hotel project. Straub pushed to reverse a bankruptcy sale of the property to a London hotel company affiliate based on an old mortgage.
In another civil case, a Straub company sued D.R. Horton Inc., claiming last September that the nation's largest homebuilder backed out of a big lot purchase at the Tesoro Club at a cost of at least $20 million in lost revenue and related damages.
Straub bought Atlantic City's former Revel Casino Hotel in 2015 and sold it in 2018 for more than double the price of the once-bankrupt property.
Straub has been a fixture in South Florida real estate for decades. He owned the Miami Arena before its demolition and was an unsuccessful bidder for the former Versace mansion in Miami Beach.
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