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Ben Thompson - American Businessman to Take Legal Action Against Anna Nicole Smith After Failing to Vacate [his] House

Developer To Sue In Anna Nicole Controversy:

By Bianca Symonette -
Nassau, Bahamas:

The Anna Nicole Smith permanent residency controversy took another turn on Thursday with American businessman G. Ben Thompson telling reporters in Nassau he plans to take legal action against the former Playboy model after she failed to vacate the waterfront mansion on the Eastern Road where she is staying.

Mr. Thompson claimed again that he is the rightful owner of the million-dollar home. Ms. Smith received permanent residency in The Bahamas based on the fact that she bought a house here, immigration authorities have said repeatedly.

Speaking to reporters at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel, Mr. Thompson said Ms. Smith never paid a nickel on the house, and he wants her evicted.

"All the money to facilitate the purchase of the house came from us. She does not have a penny in that house. The remodeling of the house, a new air condition put in…she has done nothing. We paid painters, electricians, plumbers, and generator people. We paid everybody. The only thing I think she is paying for is the maid since we stopped paying for her," Mr. Thompson claimed.

He said he was shocked to find out that Ms. Smith would make claims that the home was a gift and in fact felt as if he was double crossed by her.

Mr. Thompson said he has no knowledge of Ms. Smith’s financial background, but he said he was of the opinion that she would be able to repay him either from funds received from photo shoots or from a settlement, which Ms. Smith is expecting from litigation that came after the death of her late husband J. Howard Marshall.

Emerick Knowles, Mr. Thompson’s new counsel who is a senior partner at Alexiou Knowles and Co., claimed that there are grounds for Mr. Thompson to demand that Ms. Smith vacate the home because Mr. Thompson has produced a deed, which has been stamped by The Bahamas government.

Mr. Knowles said attorneys at Callenders and Co. could be called as witnesses if the matter goes to court. Therefore, he said they cannot sit as counsels.

Mr. Knowles added that he intends to file a writ immediately.

"After looking at the papers we are convinced that Mr. Thompson has a claim for possession of the property to require (Ms. Smith) to vacate the property for trespass and we also have a claim for slander of title. The actions of her attorney, Wayne Munroe on the (Love 97) broadcast on Tuesday damaged Mr. Thompson’s title and we intend to make a claim in respect of that," Mr. Knowles said.

He said he intended to complete the writ on Thursday and hoped to serve Ms. Smith on Friday.

During the press conference, Mr. Thompson’s son-in-law, Ford Shelley, explained details he said led up to the purchase of the Horizons mansion.

He claimed that while Ms. Smith is still considered a friend of the family the house she resides in belongs to his father-in-law, Mr. Thompson.

"This is not a very pleasant moment for us; we don’t want to be here today, but based on what has happened we have to defend ourselves," Mr. Shelley said.

He said that their family had been friends with Ms. Smith for about a year and she had expressed a desire to move to The Bahamas to escape the media and paparazzi in the United States.

"We helped facilitate the purchase of the home on the Eastern Road. My father-in-law and I did. We came over and found the house and she asked us to assist her as far as the purchase and we did. We purchased the home and prior to signing the agreement for purchase we had instructed Callenders and Co. that they needed to get a note and mortgage signed prior to recording the deed in her name," Mr. Shelley said.

"We did not want to have her sign the note and mortgage before her attorney Howard K Stern could be here to witness it to make sure it was to his satisfaction. Because we trusted and love her, to get it signed was not a matter that we were concerned with at the time because the deed was held in trust. It was not recorded and Anna was going through a rough time with her pregnancy and we didn’t feel like putting pressure on her."

According to Mr. Shelley, after Ms. Smith’s son, Daniel Smith, died in The Bahamas in September, he and his family flew back to The Bahamas and after a few days he requested that Ms. Smith sign the note and mortgage so that the deed could be recorded in her name.

"I instructed Callenders and Co. to get this done for her protection so that her residency could be finalized in The Bahamas. I was present at the house when the immigration officer conducted the interview for her to get her residency. I never knew this would happen so when she said (told the immigration officer) that she had purchased the home we did not question her because we knew she would have signed the note and mortgage like she said she would," Mr. Shelly claimed.

However, he said that the tables turned after Ms. Smith refused to sign and claimed that the house was a gift.

"To say that this home was a gift or to say she owns the house is not correct. The deed was conveyed in her name, but it was not a recorded deed. It was given to her because she needed utilities to be cut on," Mr. Shelley claimed.

"We had numerous conversations and I have e-mail correspondents up until the 27th (of October) where she in her e-mails stated that she would start making payments. We told her as far as payment for the house, we did not want her to pay us back the next day. We considered it would take a year for her to pay us back. We told her to pay us when she could but we needed the note and mortgage signed to protect our interest."

Mr. Shelley claimed the deed which Ms. Smith’s attorney, Mr. Munroe, said he has saw and viewed as authentic is in fact not valid because it is not recorded or stamped by The Bahamas government.

"The deed that we have is recorded. We paid the tax on it and it is recorded in my father-in-law’s name, which is G. Ben Thompson," Mr. Shelley said.

"We don’t have that type of money to just give a million dollars away."

Mr. Thompson is hoping that the courts will accept the e-mails as proof that Ms. Smith had an agreement to repay him for the home. He said he has e-mails dating from late September up until October, stating that she would make payments.

3 November 2006

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