Well-connected Miami business wiz faces a barrage of lawsuits
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/12/v-fullstory/2112584/well-connected-businessman-faces.htmlOnly days after Haiti’s massive earthquake, entrepreneur Claudio Osorio boarded a private jet with an entourage of movers and shakers: former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning, ex-U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, one-time FEMA director David Paulison, Miami businessman Chris Korge and Osorio’s philanthropist wife, Amarilis.
The Gulfstream G550 belonged to Ryan Freedman, the young scion of a wealthy New York family, who had loaned $3.75 million to Osorio’s latest venture, InnoVida, a manufacturer of high-tech, prefabricated wall panels for low-cost housing.
The jet was loaded with a team of doctors and tons of medicine for the Haitian people, but the humanitarian trip was also the public relations opportunity of a lifetime for Osorio and his new company.
Now, more than a year later, the promise of that flight seems like a distant memory: Osorio has made no progress on his pledge to build a community of InnoVida “cabins” in Haiti, where tens of thousands still live in tents and other make-shift shelters. Instead, Osorio himself confronts the stark reality of a major court fight with several angry investors and lenders, who say the Venezuelan-born entrepreneur deceived them. Korge, Freedman, pro basketball star Carlos Boozer and others are suing the high-flying Miami Beach businessman and his company for tens of millions of dollars amid allegations of fraud.
InnoVida’s board of directors — which once boasted marquee names such as Clark, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Miami condo king Jorge Perez in company promotional materials — has also been disbanded.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/12/v-fullstory/2112584/well-connected-businessman-faces.html