I doubt that METABANK was either a good neighbor or a good friend to Boesen: USURY is a moral sin. METABANK Is only concerned with making a bigger profit.
Locker’s florists now owned by Iowa bank
By Doris Hajewski of the Journal Sentinel
March 18, 2009
Locker’s, the Milwaukee area’s largest floral business, is now owned by MetaBank of Iowa, entangled in a financial scandal that has been making headlines in newspapers there.
Meanwhile, Locker’s Pointe, the retail/condos building in Wauwatosa where the business is headquartered, is in a foreclosure action by Waterstone Bank. William Bruss, senior vice president and general counsel for the bank, said the bank expects to get the deed to the property at Swan Blvd. and W. North Ave. to settle a suit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
The lawsuits follow the suicide last summer of Edward J. Boesen of Des Moines, Iowa, a co-owner of Boesen The Florist, a multistate floral business that included Locker’s. Since Boesen’s death in July, 13 lenders, including three in Wisconsin, have filed claims against his estate for a total of about $50 million, according to Iowa court documents.
The Des Moines Register, citing Iowa’s banking superintendent, reported last fall that banks stand to lose as much as $30 million when the estate is settled because they failed to exercise due diligence when making the loans.
Several lawsuits filed in Polk County, Iowa, by the banks accused Boesen of using a fraudulent brokerage account statements as collateral to obtain loans, according to reports by Des Moines Register investigative reporter Tom Witosky.
Boesen, who was 43 years old, died of an intentional overdose of an over-the-counter drug on July 15 as his business dealings were unraveling, according to Witosky’s reports. [So as Boesen’s businesses began to go under, he was given more loans which only served to make the problem worse for him since there would be even more fees attached to them. Boesen was in a no-win situation.]
Probate court documents filed in Iowa show a claim of $2.3 million from Waterstone Bank; a $405,172 claim by Anchor Bank; a $19,016 claim from Tri City National Bank; and a $1,352 claim from the Milwaukee Yacht Club against the Boesen estate.
The Wauwatosa condos, at the site of the original Locker’s greenhouse, originally housed a Locker’s retail store, an Alterra Coffee shop and Chocolaterie Stam on the ground floor. The chocolate shop has since closed. Residential condos are on the two upper floors of the building.
The Locker’s business has been through several ownership changes in the past decade. The longtime floral business was one of four well-known florists in the Milwaukee area that were acquired by a firm by the name of Gerald Stevens in 1999. The other florists were Baumgarten Krueger, Alan Preuss and Harvey O. Preuss.
Gerald Stevens was started in 1998 by former Blockbuster Entertainment executives Gerald Geddis and Steven Berrard. The partners aimed to make their company the category killer in the fragmented floral industry. By spring 2001, Gerald Stevens was in bankruptcy.
At the time, a local manager said the failure was partly due to the economy, but mostly because the company wasn’t able to integrate all of the 400 stores it had acquired into one computer system.
Des Moines-based Boesen, which had 15 stores in Iowa, also was part of the Gerald Stevens group. Boesen brothers Ed, Tom and Frank bought back their stores and also acquired the Milwaukee stores around the time Gerald Stevens filed for bankruptcy.
According to a report in the Des Moines Register, Ed Boesen had numerous other business ventures, including real estate development and ownership of the Ankeny airport, a small general aviation facility north of Des Moines.
The Milwaukee floral locations are operated under the Locker’s name at 9125 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa; 7530 W. Oklahoma Ave.; and in the Milwaukee Public Market. The company also has a design center in West Allis. Three other locations, in Mequon, Menomonee Falls and Brookfield, were closed before Boesen’s death, according to Emma Todt, director of operations for Locker’s.
“We’ve centralized the business,” Todt said. Locker’s retained its staff of 50 people after the closings but has cut hours for all employees, she said.
Wisconsin court records show lawsuits filed between 2003 and 2005 by the state Department of Revenue against the local Locker’s operations to collect a total of $37,690 in delinquent taxes. The debt was paid in November 2006, court documents show.[This would have been public information. And yet, METABANK still loaned Boesen money; this makes no sense.]
Ben Guenther, chief lending officer and president of MetaBank Northwest Iowa Market, declined to comment on the bank’s plans for the Locker’s business. A Register report last fall said the bank intends to sell it. [Why yes, METABANK needed the liquid assets, i.e. money – that is what METABANK is all about making more money for themselves.]
[The actions of METABANK are too lopsided to be of value in re-building our economy. It is the actions of banks like METABANK and Meta Bank that caused this current economic recession/depression. When banks realize that they actually need to treat customers like real human beings and not “targets” then the problems in the economy will be solved. Until that time, there isn’t any hope. METABANK is working very hard to keep things as they are. What will it take to get the kind of changes in place that will actually protect consumers then? If you can vote and you can write, you must do that to demand the proper consumer protections which are lacking at this time.]
http://www.jsonline.com/business/41469317.html
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/ November 23, 2011Value of Boesen partnerships could spur lawsuit
TOM WITOSKY TWITOSKY@DMREG.COM
THE DES MOINES REGISTER
MAY 12, 2011 ET
A dispute over the value of four Boesen family partnerships, including Boesen the Florist, has surfaced in the probate of the late Edward Boesen’s estate and could result in litigation, a report filed by the estate’s lawyer says.
James Monroe, who is administering Boesen’s estate, disclosed the dispute but with few details in a status report filed last week in Polk County Probate Court. The report was filed as part of a request to continue estate proceedings beyond the three-year time limit for final settlement.
[ Yes METABANK can engage in protracted litigation and does.]
A hearing on Monroe’s request for extension of the time limit is scheduled May 26. Boesen, a well-known Des Moines businessman, died of an intentional overdose of over-the-counter drugs on July 15, 2008, as his five-state enterprise was beginning to unravel.
Monroe has predicted that Boesen’s creditors will receive very little from the estate because most of Boesen’s businesses were insolvent at the time of his death. Since his death, Boesen’s estate has had more than $60 million in claims filed by creditors demanding repayment. During the hearing, Monroe has said the estate has tried to sell as many assets as possible, but has had great difficulty obtaining much money for them.
[The land and title to those properties would have some money, and METABANK went after everything.]
The valuation of the Boesen partnerships is critical to obtaining a final settlement of the estate. Money obtained from the sale of assets as well as from the value of Boesen’s interest in the family partnerships is to be pooled and then divided among creditors determined to have valid claims against the estate.
Monroe’s report says that the dispute involves the value of four Boesen family limited partnerships – Boesen Family Enterprises LLC, Boesen Land LLC, Boesen the Florist LLC and Beaverdale Investment LLC.
“The other members of said organizations have offered the estate an extremely low figure to buy out the estate’s interests,” the report says. “The estate is currently valuing the various businesses for an acceptable figure; however, litigation may be necessary.
“In addition, the report said Boesen Family Enterprises received $2 million in life insurance following Boesen’s death “and has refused to pay at least one-third of said $2 million to the estate even though the estate owns a one-third interest in said organization.”
[Meta Bank went after all of Mrs. Boesen’s assets. She knew nothing of these loans. Usually insurance isn’t paid when the death is a suicide.]
County property records disclose that
Beaverdale Investment holds title to eight parcels of property mostly in Beaverdale and valued at $724,650.
In addition, Boesen Land holds title to a strip mall at 2629 Beaver Ave that is valued at $1.1 million.
Monroe declined to comment Wednesday.
Bob Douglas, an attorney representing the Boesen partnerships, could not be reached for comment.
Monroe also reported that the estate has settled with Metabank over the sale proceeds of a Las Vegas printing operation in which the bank claimed to have a priority interest.
[Yes, METABANK is only about making a profit off of vulnerable people. Look at METABANK attack this estate!!!!]
Sale price of the company was $282,000, and those proceeds will be split between the estate and Metabank after deducting $10,000 in attorney fees, the report says.
[Attorney’s fees for the Boesen Estate. METABANK’s CEO most likely acts as their in house counsel. This estate process has gone on for years. I pity Boesen’s wife and any children if he had some.]