Nearly 50 proof of claims filed against Beattie Development

Southwest Florida builder Beattie Development has collected dozens of lawsuits and millions of dollars in debt. He has left many with unfinished homes and drained bank accounts.

In September, we told you Beattie said his company was in $11 million of debt. In October, in a liquidation court hearing, he blamed the downfall of his company on his CFO.

“I didn’t have control over those, those financial day-to-day operations,” Paul Beattie said.

Since then, dozens of customers have filed what’s called a “proof of claim.” It’s a way to try and get some of their money back.

The Lee County Clerk of Courts website shows 48 proof of claims filed. Others not listed on the website also say they filed. Those asking for money are homeowners and subcontractors, even the City of Cape Coral filed a proof of claim.

“It was extremely daunting. We spent hours upon hours compiling information,” David Bucci, a former customer of Beattie Development said.

He hopes for results after filing the claim saying, “Anything is better than nothing.”

Bucci said he knows, he probably won’t get much.

“We just don’t think there’s just crunching the numbers and doing the math real fast. We don’t think there’s going to be, I mean, he’s $11 million in debt. I mean, I don’t think there’s any anything left. You know, it’s just like, I don’t know. We’re just gonna have to see how that pans out. But I just don’t think the money is there,” Bucci said.

It’s still a mystery where the money went.

“I don’t know how he sleeps at like at night. He’s ruined, so many lives. So, you know, there’s so many people out there that just turned upside down,” Bucci said.

Alan Hamisch knows this case well. He is not involved but has followed it from the beginning.
He agrees with Bucci about crunching the numbers.

“What’s going to happen is it’s going to close out pretty quickly. Most of the claims are going to be accepted as is, because there really isn’t much to distribute. I’d say there’s a couple 100 bucks a creditor,” Hamisch said.

An assignee has to go through each claim… Which could take up to year.

“They want to determine whose claims are valid, whose claims are overstated, understated, and at the end of the day, they wanted to have a physical number of what the total claims are,” Hamisch said.

Just in the last few weeks, the DBPR has removed all licenses from Beattie Development.

“He can’t hurt anymore people. That’s, you know. So that’s a huge win,” Bucci said.

Bucci who is on year five of not moving in, should be moving into his dream home in just weeks.

“We’ll be moved in, you know, right when the weather starts to get warm so we can go in our pool. You know what they say? Patience comes to people who wait, so we’re patient and we’re ready to get in here. it still hurts. It’s going to hurt for a while,” Bucci said.

As of now, Paul Beattie is no where to be found. Neither is the money.

Cape Coral Police told WINK News on Thursday that they are still investigating. Beattie’s attorney has not answered out requests.