“Unbeknownst to Sterling and/or LeBlanc (but known to Welfont and Master’s), Master’s with Welfont/Marcell as their broker as seller, were in the process of negotiating a subsequent sale of the Property to [JP Property Management LLC],” the suit stated, “at a price substantially less than fair market value, but substantially more than the cash received by Sterling from Master’s in connection with the bargain sale.”
The suit says that in February 2017, Sterling received a qualified appraisal stating that the property was worth $4,612,000. Sterling sold the property to Master’s for $650,000 on March 8, 2017.
Sterling alleged that the $650,000 was, without its knowledge, “deposited by JP into an escrow account.” Sterling also claimed that within hours of Master’s purchasing the property, the charity sold it to JP for $1,262,000.
In 2021, the IRS informed Sterling that the company had not gotten a legitimate qualified appraisal. Moreover, “the true fair market value was the $1,262,000, the price at which Master’s sold and/or flipped the property to JP hours after the bargain sale involving Sterling,” the suit said. Therefore, Sterling’s actual allowed deduction was $612,000 instead of $3,962,000.
This case ended in 2025 in a voluntary dismissal with prejudice. “Voluntary dismissal with prejudice” means that the plaintiff decided to end the lawsuit, the case was dismissed without holding the defendant liable, and the plaintiffs cannot refile the case. One reason why such a dismissal might happen is the plaintiffs decided to stop pursuing the case in court; another is the parties reached a settlement out of court.
J&A of Louisiana, LLC v. Bryant et al. (Voluntary Dismissal With Prejudice)
In the earliest of the five lawsuits against Welfont, J&A of Louisiana, LLC, Leonard Q. “Pete” Abington, and Calvin H. Jones sued Andrew Bryant, BAA, and Welfont. Federal court records begin in July 2020. J&A stated that in 2017, J&A listed a tract of land near Stonewall, Louisiana, for sale, and Welfont approached the company, suggesting a bargain sale.
The charity Welfont suggested for the bargain sale was the same one that appeared in the AMPCO case: Food Assistance, Inc. The appraisal came back valuing the property at $1,150,000. J&A claimed that the appraiser did not actually visit the property. J&A also claimed that Welfont had possession of the appraisal prior to closing the sale but did not send it to J&A until after closing documents were signed.
J&A sold the land for $28,182 on Dec. 5, 2017, according to the suit. J&A paid off $139,713 in mortgage debt and claimed the deduction. J&A said that six months later Food Assistance sold the property to Deborah Dowden Dees for $210,000.
TAG and Lynda Scull are mentioned in the lawsuit, although they are not listed as defendants.
In 2019, the IRS informed J&A the deduction was invalid. “As a result, J&A has been deprived of all or virtually all of the sale price for the subject property and is left to pay penalties and interest,” said the plaintiffs.
This dismissal of this case was finalized in 2023. As with the Sterling case, it ended in voluntary dismissal with prejudice.
Godley & Rock Hill City Plaza LLC v. Welfont et al. (Active)
In December 2024, plaintiffs Kathryn B. Godley and Rock Hill City Plaza (a North Carolina limited liability company) filed a complaint against Welfont, William J. Zapf, TAG, Lynda Scull, BAA, Andrew Bryant, Christopher Bryant, Acts Community Development Corporation, and Rock Hill City Plaza (a Texas limited liability company).
Acts Community Development Corporation is the charity in this lawsuit, which is active as of this writing. Godley, who said she is the 99% owner of the Rock Hill City Plaza located in North Carolina, alleged that the Rock Hill City Plaza located in Texas “was formed in Texas in 2017 with the same name of the owner of the Property sold by Defendants to the Charity Buyer for the specific purpose of acquiring the Property from the Charity Buyer.”
Godley’s suit claims that Welfont suggested a bargain sale to Godley after seeing a Rock Hill North Carolina property for sale in the spring of 2017. Similar to the claims in the previous lawsuits, Godley alleges that while she was pursuing the bargain sale with Welfont, Welfont was at the time secretly negotiating a subsequent sale of the property, in this case to Rock Hill Texas.
