UPDATE: Terminella released the following statement today, October 19.
It is beyond curious that this lawsuit was filed just before the mayoral election in which I am a candidate. To believe that was simply coincidence strains ones imagination. I am more than a little upset with this outfit, from whom I have never borrowed a dime, suing me and, even more so, by them suing my wife. I suppose this case points out that fact that if you have $165 dollars anybody can sue anybody for anything.
Tom Terminella
BENTON COUNTY, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Fayetteville real estate broker Tom Terminella is accused of hiding assets in an effort to avoid paying creditors, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, October 13, in Benton County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit was filed by Rogers lawyer Brian Ferguson on behalf of Halon V LLC.
Four companies are named in the lawsuit, The Terminella Company, Monica’s Meadow, Wedington Mine, and Johnson Mine, in addition to John Does.
The plaintiff alleges that Tom Terminella not only defrauded creditors, “he violated the spirit of federal and Arkansas minimum wage laws,” according to the 16-page complaint.
The lawsuit states, “It is clear that Monica owns the Terminella Company on paper only. She does not
act as the owner of a business,” Graph 107 states, “This is because the Terminella Company is operated fraudulently and abusively to divert assets and revenues that would normally be Tom’s to outside the reach of Tom’s creditors all the while allowing Tom to benefit from same.”
The court document describes a repeated history of purchasing properties through one of the four companies, turn a profit, and funnel the money back to those companies. “The reason the [companies] failed to make any payment to [Tom] was to put essentially every dollar of [Tom]’s current and future assets and income out of the reach of his creditors.”
The lawsuit is requesting for Tom Terminella to surrender equitable interests from the businesses.
BACKGROUND
The Circuit Court of Benton County entered a judgment against Tom and in favor of First State Bank (FSB) on July 30, 2009. The case was extended for 10 years and brought back to the court stating that the unpaid balance of the judgment, as of September 9, 2019, was $806,000.
The judgment was assigned to Halon from FSB around October 2019.
On October 22, 2108, Halon issued a writ of execution to has the Washington County Sheriff levy/seize all personal property as explained in the writ.
The Sheriff returned the writ the following month stating, “he found no property upon which to levy.”
The lawsuit explains Tom Terminella was impacted by the 2008 recession and his development projects went into foreclosure and judgment were filed against him.
The Fayetteville native is one of three candidates running for mayor in the 2020 election on November 3, challenging Lioneld Jordan.
