Cumberland Farms’ Haseotes Family in Multi-Million Dollar Feud
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
The Haseotes family, who owns Cumberland Farms and in 2015 was #73 on Forbes list of America's Richest Families, is back in court - this time over family-owned land in Massachusetts.
George Haseotes is in Providence Superior Court this week suing his sister, Lily (Haseotes) Bentas and V.S. Haseotes & Sons Limited Partnership for what he alleges is Bentas’ refusal as the Managing Partner of the Partnership to release records and documents regarding properties owned in Massachusetts.
SLIDES: See Haseotes v. V.S. Haseotes & Sons Lawsuit BELOW
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe suit alleges the following:
Bentas, acting both individually and in her capacity as Managing General Partner, has deliberately, maliciously and unreasonably deterred and prevented Haseotes from receiving the requested document and important information concerning the Partnership’s financial affairs, operations, and dealings with third-parties and business affiliates.
Upon information, and belief, Bentas has caused or permitted individuals…to enter onto one or more of the properties owned by the Partnership and to spread tons and tons of sludge produced by Earthsource, Inc. a Massachusetts corporation, without proper consideration paid to the partnership. Upon information and belief, such sludge, if not properly applied, may have deleterious effects on the Partnership properties.
Haseotes is suing for breach of fiduciary duty -- and $7.5 million in damages.
Latest Haseotes Family Feud
While it was on the "Richest Families" list in 2015, the Haseotes family did fall off the list in 2016, when Forbes reported:
"The Haseotes family owns and operates 600 Cumberland Farms convenience stores and provides gas to some 2,500 Gulf stations throughout New England, New York, the Mid-Atlantic states and Florida through its Cumberland Gulf Group. It's one of the largest wholesalers of refined petroleum products in the region. Greek immigrants Vasillios and Aphrodite Haseotes founded the company in 1939. Today their grandson Ari Haseotes serves as president and CEO. Ari's aunt, Lily Bentas, is chairman of the board."
The Haseotes’ prior family feuds have been well documented, with Boston Magazine recently mentioning the family’s bankruptcy filing in 1992 as one of “Three Public Family Feuds Among Boston’s Most Powerful;” Courthousenews.com reported “Keeping Feud Quiet is Trick for Billionaire” in 2015 regarding an incident involving alleged trespassing.
George Haseotes is being represented by Rhode Island lawyer Mike Kelly, who spoke with GoLocal about the trial.
“George Haseotes has a 25% part in the partnership -- he and Lily (Haseotes) Bentas are owners of Cumberland Farms,” said Kelly. “We have claims against her personally for breach of fiduciary duties and refusing to give records to my client, and failing to take action in regard to to partnership."
“The Partnership has $40M of property, and she's failed to take action to sell the property. It's her being hostile towards her brother George,” said Kelly. “There's some questionable management of the properties, which in total is about 3,000 to 4,000 acres."
Kelly also spoke to the “sludge” reference in the suit.
“It is material that is from a sewage facility in Massachusetts, and the manager of the partnership allowed all this sludge to be placed on land -- which George has objected to over the years,” said Kelly. “Allegedly its fertilizer. To be fair, its been approved by the Department of Environmental Protection in Massachusetts. But it hasn't been spread properly.”
Seeking Damages
“George is seeking $7.5M in damages as a result of mismanagement of the partnership,” said Kelly. “We want the partnership dissolved and the property sold immediately, which has been for sale for 15 years. [Bentas] has been in charge of the partnership since 2010 and never listed the property."
“This case has been pending since April. This family has been fighting with each other since 1990 -- and in 2000 they had a lawsuit in Delaware against each other,” said Kelly. “In this case, George testified [Monday] that this is all because [Bentas] is hostile to him, and machinations at Cumberland Farms.”
Bentas’ lawyer Michael Marino did not respond to request for comment.
Related Slideshow: The Power List - Judiciary and Lawyers, 2016
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