A general contractor that specialized in building luxury Wellington equestrian estates filed for bankruptcy protection, as he faces fraud allegations from clients who say he doctored receipts and did not complete work.
Records show both David Forkey and his business, Pegasus Builders, filed Chapter 11 reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida on May 30. In each filing, Forkey listed between $1 million and $10 million in assets and between $1 million and $10 million in unsecured claims.
The filings throw into question a pending lawsuit brought by former clients Suzanne and Barry Porter against Forkey and Pegasus Builders, filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. They allege the contractor defrauded them of millions of dollars using doctored receipts and false accounting.
Barry Porter, who goes by BG Porter, is a private equity executive and operating partner at New York City-based venture capital firm Arsenal Capital Partners. He and his wife own Sleepy P Ranch in Wellington, the equestrian capital of the U.S., where their two sons are competitive showjumpers. The village is known for its luxury equestrian estates, where the sport’s wealthiest competitors train. In 2022, a trust linked to billionaire Bill Gates sold an estate for $26 million. Last month, billionaire Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, whose great-grandfather founded the toymaker Lego, bought a compound for $25.5 million.
The Porters were longtime clients of Forkey’s Pegasus Builders. In 2012, they hired the firm to build an equestrian estate at 13831 Quarter Horse Trail in Wellington, records show. The couple said they were happy with the finished estate and sold it in 2023 for $24 million, according to property records.
In 2021, they bought the Wellington properties at 13218, 13210 and 13226 Southfields Road and 3655 Middleburg Drive, with plans to develop a family compound for themselves and a spec estate to sell, Suzanne Porter said.
They once again hired Forkey’s Pegasus Builders in 2022, and over the course of several months paid him $6 million for labor and materials, according to the complaint. They filed the lawsuit against Forkey in August of 2022, alleging the contractor did not use their funds to buy materials or pay for labor as promised, and that he had allegedly knowingly deceived the couple.
“He would make changes on the Village of Wellington’s invoices and present them to me,” said Suzanne Porter. “I uncovered all of this when I tried to clawback the money myself from the vendors.”
Forkey and his attorney deny the allegations, saying the lawsuit is a nuisance claim.
“The Porter/Sleepy Ranch LLC lawsuit, like any other court action, is stayed by the bankruptcy filing. That said, the Debtor will eventually demonstrate the falsity of these claims,” Forkey’s lawyer, Aaron Wernick, said in a statement.
While bankruptcy filings do stay court actions, the Porters were granted the right to pursue punitive damages in their case against him in May, just weeks before his bankruptcy filing, court records show. Punitive damages are not dischargeable in reorganization proceedings. In his own bankruptcy filing, Forkey estimates that he owes the couple $2.3 million, while the couple argue they are owed much more. Punitive damages mean a jury could eventually award the Porters more than they are owed in compensatory damages.
“I want him held accountable,” Suzanne Porter said.
