State Landfill Sues Over Bad Land Deals
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
A state agency is suing two dozen real estate owners and others responsible for selling over-priced and contaminated properties to the state landfill, costing taxpayers more than $15 million.
The suit alleges that the defendants colluded with former commissioners and employees at the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, which manages the landfill, to “enrich” themselves at the state’s expense.
“Defendants knowingly and systematically caused RIRRC to purchase multiple properties at prices vastly inflated over the market value, directly manipulated so-called ‘market values’ to disguise purchases as reasonable, and caused RIRRC to purchase properties with major environmental problems, leaving responsible for remediation and cleanup,” Resource Recovery claims in its suit, which was filed in Providence County Superior Court last Friday.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe defendants include former Johnston Mayor William Macera’s widow, Maureen Macera; his sister, Lynn Tzitzouris; and Jeffrey St. Sauveur, the son of a former commissioner at the state landfill.
The suit charges the defendants with civil conspiracy, fraud, negligence and malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract. In all, there are 58 counts of wrongdoing documented in the 72-page suit.
Last week, a GoLocalProv investigation reported that Resource Recovery had sued the Travelers insurance company, hoping to recover some of the wasted money under an insurance policy that covered employee theft.
The suit over the real estate deals is the latest chapter in a corruption scandal exposed in a state audit last year. In all, an estimated $75 million in taxpayer money was wasted through widespread wrongdoing and mismanagement at the landfill, according to the audit.
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