Refreshing Our Memory on Wallace Bajjali

On Nov. 16, 2010, the Amarillo City Council, then called Commission, was to vote on a master development contract with Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, LLC. The Amarillo Independent had posted an investigative story on Wallace Bajjali to the Independent website and distributed a copy of that story to commissioners. Here is the commission’s 15-minute discussion on Nov. 16.

This followed by a week an hour log discussion by David Wallace to the then- City Commission, which can be accessed here.

An extensive interview by The Amarillo Independent in early December 2010 can be found in two parts, here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

The story would also be published in the Nov. 18 edition of the Independent. 

Court to Wallace Bajjali: Pay Up!

By Sarah Okeson

For The Amarillo Independent

The founders of an embattled development firm that left Joplin, Mo., and Amarillo, Texas, in the lurch after promising to help both cities with revitalization plans were sued Thursday in federal court in Texas.

Abandoned Wallace Bajjali office in Joplin, Mo. - Sarah Okeson/For the Independent

The lawsuit, filed in Houston, names David Wallace and Costa Bajjali. Both resigned recently from the firm they founded, Wallace Bajjali Development Partners.

The lawsuit says the two men owe $1.5 million they had agreed to pay in a previous federal lawsuit that involved allegations of a Ponzi scheme. That lawsuit didn’t involve any admission of wrongdoing.

The payments in the previous lawsuit were due Dec. 31, 2014. That case was brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The lawsuit Thursday was filed by Thomas Taylor III who was the receiver in connection with the earlier federal court case.

Taylor didn’t respond to an email sent earlier this week before the most recent lawsuit was filed.

Joplin officials learned Monday that both men have stepped down from the firm. Some officials in Amarillo admitted they knew of the development firm’s problems for quite sometime, although the exact timeline isn’t clear. The men’s resignations came just days after the Dec. 31 deadline in the federal lawsuit.

A spokeswoman for Joplin did not immediately respond to an email asking for a reaction to the latest federal lawsuit involving Wallace and Bajjali.

In Joplin, the office of Wallace Bajjali in a historic downtown building has been vacated and company telephones there and in the firm’s Sugar Land, Texas office have been disconnected.

Joplin officials have said that they paid Wallace Bajjali about $1.68 million to help the city redevelop after the May 2011 tornado that devastated the city. Amarillo has paid Wallace Bajjali almost $1 million to help it with downtown development. Those expenditures don’t include public money for infrastructure and property acquisition to support plans pushed by Wallace Bajjali and Downtown Amarillo Inc.

The lawsuit filed by Taylor also names two funds connected with Wallace and Bajjali.

A spokesman for the Missouri state auditor has said that the auditor is examining the relationship between Joplin and Wallace Bajjali.

Wallace Bajjali audit target in Joplin - Special council meeting there tonight - UPDATE

By Sarah Okeson

For The Amarillo Independent

The state auditor for Missouri is examining the relationship between Joplin, the Missouri city devastated by a 2011 tornado, and Wallace Bajjali Development Partners,  the firm both Joplin and Amarillo have turned to as master developer. Contracts between the Sugar Land, Texas-based firm and each city came despite the firm’s history of legal problems.

“I can confirm that we are conducting an audit of the city of Joplin and that we have looked at the relationship between the city and Wallace Bajjali,” Spence Jackson, a spokesman for the Missouri state auditor said in an email to The Amarillo Independent.

Jackson would not comment on whether the auditor has subpoenaed anyone from Wallace Bajjali in its investigation.

Joplin hired the firm to help redevelop the city after the May 22, 2011 tornado, but the company moved out of the space it had leased in a historic downtown Joplin building about a week ago, according to a property manager.

“They had told us a few months before that they were going to be moving closer to the project site,” said Ginger Sweet, the project manager.

She would not comment on whether the firm owed back rent. The phone in the company’s main office in Sugar Land, Texas, has been disconnected. Company officials did not respond to a message left on their website.

The Joplin City Council has scheduled a special meeting for 5:45 p.m. Monday to talk about legal action or litigation.

Lynn Onstot, a spokeswoman for Joplin, said she expected the City Council will talk about Wallace Bajjali. “I’m sure there will be options discussed,” Onstot said. “I’m not sure if a decision will be made.”

Joplin Mayor Mike Seibert would not comment to the Independent about Wallace Bajjali.

“The city does not have legal confirmation of the status of WB,” he emailed the Independent this morning.

Wallace Bajjali and three of its limited partnerships were ordered to pay $1.2 million in 2012 to settle a federal case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Wallace Bajjali didn’t admit to any wrongdoing in the case.