Politics & Government
Township Officials: Fulton Documents a Start, More May Be Needed
The bank turned over 130 pages of documents related to the RiverWinds loan Wednesday.
Just days after related to the project, Fulton Bank turned over 130 pages of documents, delivering them to the township's attorneys Wednesday morning.
But despite the sizable sheaf of paper, township redevelopment counsel Mark Cimino said his initial look at the information indicates more may be necessary.
“Unfortunately, the documents raise more questions than they answer,” he said. “There’s a few areas of concern.”
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The big one is still exactly where the money went from the $9.945 million loan. Cimino said his initial look into what Fulton Bank turned over doesn’t tell him everything he needs to know about the disbursements, and where ended up.
“We don’t have a complete picture at this point,” he said.
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It seems possible the township will need to get more information related to the loan, but Cimino said he’s waiting to finish a full review of what he has now before making a determination on how to proceed.
“I was hoping for more, but it’s something I’m going to have to address with counsel for the bank,” he said.
Bank officials said Fulton’s legal team had been working on the request for the past several weeks, researching a decade's worth of documents to pull together what West Deptford had requested related to the RiverWinds loan.
“We hope that they find this information’s helpful,” said JoBeth Mauriello, Fulton Bank’s director of marketing in New Jersey.
The bank has also requested the township withdraw the court complaint, which Cimino said may happen after a thorough look at what the bank has turned over thus far—but not before then.
“We’ve waited months now,” Cimino said. “We need the opportunity to review these documents.”
The package of papers also came with a sign-off dated July 31 by Arret Dobson, one of the two brothers who developed the course and tennis center under now-bankrupt master developer NamWest, Cimino noted. Dobson had declined to comment previously on the matter, citing his own need to review the documentation.
What will come next will depend on a more in-depth look at what Fulton Bank has turned over so far, Cimino said, but he didn’t have an exact timeline for how long that might take.
“We’re going to approach this methodically,” he said.
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