A week ago Sunday, the St. Pete Times' Adam Smith wrote one of the defining articles on the Florida Democratic Senate campaign, when he reported on Jeff Greene being a man "widely disparaged by current and former employees, former tenants and political consultants as a self-absorbed cheapskate."
Now Forbes is weighing in, with a story published on its website late Monday afternoon, reporting that Greene paid $115,000 in 2007 to settle a libel suit, filed by an employee of a property management firm that he worked with.
But declarations from seven individuals made under penalty of perjury in 2006 say that Greene had a habit of making abusive statements to the employees of both LRA Property and LB Property. In addition, those declarations say Greene had frequently failed to sufficiently fund his trust account to pay invoices for work done on his properties, and that Greene also accused LRA Property officials of stealing money. "I have spoken many times with Jeff Greene," said Cecilia Blackstock, an administrative assistant who fielded Greene's calls at LRA Property and LB Property, in a declaration. "Most of the time on the telephone, Mr. Greene is abusive and rude." Blackstock said Greene told her an LRA Property official stole money and that "LRA employees are lazy, incompetent and stupid."
That is just one of several employees at LRA Property who accused Greene of being abusive.
This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.