Glastonbury Financial Advisor in Lawsuit Involving Former Mayor Found Liable For $1.45 Million

Two more defendants in a lawsuit involving were found “personally liable” to a Maine retiree who alleges that the group swindled him out of $600,000 in retirement savings with a bogus scheme to invest in a Hungarian resort and casino.

A Maine Superior Court judge ruled earlier this month that Thomas Renison and Allan Stadler were each personally liable for $1,445,801.80 in damages to Frank Jablonski, a Kennbunk resident who invested $600,000 worth of his retirement savings into a project known as the in May of 2008 that he claimed Renison and DiRosa enticed him into.

According to court documents, Jablonski said that DiRosa, who served as mayor of Manchester from 1987 to 1989, and Renison, a Glastonbury financial advisor, promised him that his money would be returned within six months along with a $400,000 profit in exchange for the initial investment. In addition, Jablonski claims that he was told that the money would be placed in an interest bearing account that would yield an additional 10 percent annual interest on the $600,000 investment, that any penalties, surrender charges and taxes incurred by the withdrawal would be paid by the investment group, and that he would also receive an additional $6,500 per month to replace the lost income from his annuities.

But the project never materialized, and Jablonski claimed that DiRosa and Renison continually refused to return his money. Investment documents provided to Jablonski by Rension and DiRosa list several prominent names as members of the project’s advisory board, , PGA golfer Nick Faldo, former Executive Director of the Hartford Civic Center Frank Russo, and several others; all have denied involvement in the project.

DiRosa and Renison were arrested by the FBI for conspiracy to commit wire fraud on June 2 based on Jablonski’s complaint. Stadler, a Connecticut-based architect, was folded into the civil suit by Jablonski’s attorney, Durwood Parkinson, based on documents that list him as a member of the project’s board of directors.

The judgment, issued by Superior Court Judge G. Arthur Brennan, finds both Renison and Stadler personally liable for the original $600,000 that Jablonski paid to the group, $400,000 for the amount Jablonski was promised based on his initial investment, $200,000 for the tax penalty that Jablonski suffered from taking money out of an investment annuity in order to make the investment, $52,301.87 for the withdrawal penalty Jablonski had to pay, and $253,500 in estimated lost income from the investment, plus interest and costs, because the investment documents the group provided to Jablonski contained a number of “material misrepresentations.”

, a New York-based businessman who is listed on investment papers as a member of the board of directors for the project as well, was found personally liable to Jablonski in a lawsuit for the same amount of damages earlier this year.

Parkinson said that the civil suit against DiRosa will be postponed until his criminal trial is disposed of. The criminal charges against Renison are not being pursued at this time, according to Parkinson.

Any civil suits filed against the defendants have no bearing on the criminal charges.