Sergio Pino’s widow, Tatiana, and their daughters filed a new lawsuit against Pino’s longtime mistress and others they claim were involved in allegedly fraudulent transfers in the days before and after his suicide.
Sergio Pino, a prominent South Florida homebuilder, died in July 2024 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound as FBI agents were closing in on raiding his waterfront Coral Gables home and arresting him over allegations he attempted to murder his wife through poisoning and the hiring of hitmen.
Pino founded Coral Gables-based Century Homebuilders Group, one of the biggest Hispanic-owned homebuilders nationwide. He and Tatiana Pino were in the midst of a highly contentious divorce when he died.
His death sparked a fight over the future of Century Homebuilders. Pino had a longtime girlfriend, Nancy Pastor, whom he had started dating in the early 2000s, according to court filings.
Pastor’s involvement at Century Midtown in Doral is at the center of this latest lawsuit. Tatiana Pino, Century Homebuilders (which Tatiana Pino now leads as president), Century Real Estate Fund GP, and the former couple’s daughters, Alessandra and Carolina Pino, sued Pastor, Century Midtown Club and Fitness Center LLC, attorney Eugenio Duarte and Century’s former CFO Joseline Pereira last week in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
The lawsuit focuses on trust and lease documents created or amended by Duarte in March and July of last year related to Century Midtown, a mixed-use development with condos, apartments and a clubhouse.
“In July 2024 as Sergio Pino’s multi-year efforts to kill Tatiana, his joint partner/owner by the entireties of CHG, failed, and with the FBI and the police closing in, certain documents related to the collateralized clubhouse were purportedly executed by Sergio without the consent of the bank, his project partners, Tatiana, or those he sought to transfer control to all of his interests in Century Fitness and the Clubhouse, among other things,” the complaint states.
The documents include a 99-year lease and two trusts, which Tatiana Pino and her daughters allege are likely invalid and were meant to benefit Pastor, according to the complaint.
“These efforts were criminal, fraudulent, intentional and otherwise wrongful,” the lawsuit states.
Pastor’s attorney, Michael Schlesinger, said in a statement to The Real Deal that Pastor did not receive any copies of the trusts until after Pino’s death. Schlesinger wrote that Pastor’s “successful efforts in the sales and management of Sergio Pino projects led to Mr. Pino and his companies profiting by millions” and that she was put in management positions because of her experience.
“To set the record straight, for over the past decade that Ms. Pastor was affiliated with Mr. Pino’s businesses and ventures, she never witnessed Ms. [Tatiana] Pino involved in any business transaction until she took over after his untimely death,” he said. “Ms. Pastor has never done anything illegal and has always been ethical and transparent in all Estate matters.”
The trust signed and dated March 11, 2024 has metadata that demonstrates it was actually created and sent on March 13, 2024. Tatiana and her daughters allege the March 11 date is not a coincidence. It’s about the time when Sergio learned the Feds were onto his alleged plot to have Tatiana Pino killed. It’s when one of the hitmen, Bayron Bennett, had his court hearing following his arrest.
The second trust was dated July 15, 2024, one day before Sergio’s death.
Pereira, Century Homebuilders’ former CFO, directed Duarte to prepare the 99-year lease of the clubhouse at Century Midtown. In an email included in the complaint, Duarte expressed his concerns over a transfer.
“Each transfer, assignment, appointment, etc., can potentially alter the relationship with third parties (or even require the consent of third parties) and we have to be careful not to make any decisions in haste without considering all the possible consequences with Century’s relationship with others,” Duarte wrote. “All changes should be made considering the ultimate purpose, consequence, and need for each change. I do not want to question any decisions, but I am concerned that some of these changes are not needed, and in fact they may bring detrimental consequences.”
Duarte did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ownership of the Century Midtown property at 2038, 8075 and 8175 Northwest 107th Avenue is creating issues for the sale or refinancing of Century Town Center, the lawsuit alleges.
CBRE was hired to secure lenders or potential buyers for the property. But it has not been able to obtain a refinancing because third party lenders “determined that the existing partners would not be acceptable guarantors,” which means that Century Midtown would have to be sold or recapitalized with a new partner, according to the complaint.
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