Six months later, Property Administrators case still shrouded in mystery
More than six months have passed since a federal investigation was launched into the finances of Property Administrators Inc., a Hilton Head Island property management firm that oversaw the operations of dozens of neighborhoods.
But the case is still shrouded in mystery. It could be many more months before officials determine whether money was stolen.
Recently completed forensic audits of PAI's records confirm money is missing from some of the accounts of an unknown number of clients.
But how much money is missing and where that money went remains unclear. Officials and attorneys associated with the case are saying little as they await the results of the investigation.
"There is money missing from certain accounts and from others, there's nothing missing," said IMC Resort Services Vice President Craig Fenstermaker, whose company was appointed by a Beaufort County judge to temporarily manage the accounts of some of PAI's clients.
He and other IMC Resort Services officials would not provide further details, however, citing pending civil lawsuits over the missing funds.
Bluffton attorney and state Rep. Weston Newton also declined to comment. He is representing more than a dozen of the former Property Administrators clients in a civil lawsuit against the company and its owners, Don and Ann Christy.
More than 20 regimes and property owners' associations on Hilton Head Island were left without access to their financial records when PAI abruptly and without explanation closed at the end of February.
In the immediate aftermath, three of the former clients announced that more than $1.2 million was missing from their bank accounts managed by PAI.
In the days that followed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a criminal inquiry.
This summer the FBI turned over electronic data from company computers it seized days after the closure, and IMC Resort Services IT professionals were able to unencrypt those accounting files over several weeks, according to an IMC Resort Services summary filed at the end of July. The company has turned those files over to the clients and completed its court-appointed responsibilities, Fenstermaker added.
Accountants hired by each of the former clients have poured over those records to complete forensic audits, which have been used by some clients to file insurance claims on missing funds, Fenstermaker said. He and Newton would not identify which properties had filed claims.
The civil lawsuit against the Christys and PAI is pending in circuit court.
This summer the former clients filed to subpoena Lisa Arnold, Property Administrators' former staff accountant, but they have not yet been in contact with her, Fenstermaker said. That subpoena was served to Arnold at the end of July in Hancock, Md., by a Washington County Sheriff's Office deputy, according to court records.
The status of the federal criminal investigation remains unclear.
No criminal charges have been filed against Don or Ann Christy in the case, according to federal records.
Attempts Thursday to reach the FBI in Columbia were unsuccessful. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Columbia declined to comment.
Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook at facebook.com/IPBGZach.
Related content:
- Former Property Administrators clients secure accountant to help search for missing money, May 29, 2015
- Property Administrators closure: Where's the money? March 27, 2015
- Lack of regulation makes condo regimes easy targets for fraud, March 27, 2015
- Judge orders Property Administrators to turn over all money, documents, March 6, 2015
- Property Administrators took $94,000 from Centre Court villas, regime says, Feb. 27, 2015
This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Six months later, Property Administrators case still shrouded in mystery."