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Article Courtesy of The Palm
Beach Post
By Mike Diamond
Published November 16, 2019
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PBSO says Korinne Modica, 34, funneled tens of thousands from the HOA’s account
and used the money for shopping, dining, travel and other personal spending.
A
Lake Worth Beach woman is facing criminal charges for allegedly stealing $82,000
from the Knightsbridge of Polo Club Homeowner’s Association.
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Korinne Modica, 34, is alleged to have
defrauded the HOA from Sept. 1, 2017, through Feb. 28, 2018,
by transferring funds out of the Knightsbridge HOA account
into an account controlled by the Boca Raton-based Trex
Management company that employed her as its executive
assistant. Kenneth Modica, the owner of Trex, is Korinne’s
father.
Knightsbridge, which is a community in the Polo Club in Boca
Raton, consists of 80 homeowners. Its president, Brent
Barish, grew suspicious when $1,000 quarterly checks from
homeowners went missing in late 2017. He told investigators
he was unsuccessful in his efforts to obtain a detailed
accounting of the funds from Trex and its owner. The HOA
obtained a $107,300 judgment against Trex and Kenneth Modica
on Oct. 24, 2018. The judgment has never been paid. |
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Korinne Modica
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The master association of the Polo Club was not affected by the fraudulent
activity.
Barish said the insurance company “made us whole” after the Knightsbridge HOA
assigned the judgment it obtained against Trex and Kenneth Modica to the
insurance company.
“What happened here was a real tragedy,” said Barish. “We initially thought that
Kenneth stole the money but it became clear to us that it was his daughter. This
is a story of a child’s greed destroying the life of her father.”
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office launched its own investigation after the
Knightsbridge HOA filed a complaint that resulted in Korinne Modica being
charged in October with “organized scheme to defraud” and “grand theft over
$20,000.” No one else has been criminally charged.
Investigators says she used the money to purchase airline tickets, make ATM
withdrawals, eat at restaurants and make a number of retail purchases. The
transfers occurred at times when the Trex account was either very low or
negative, which means, according to the PBSO reports, that Trex used the money
to stay solvent.
The investigation found that Trex illegally transferred $37,000 from the
Knightsbridge account directly into its own account and then transferred another
$56,900 from Knightsbridge into the accounts of two other HOA clients managed by
Trex — Hollows, which is also at the Polo Club, and Boca Tierra, which is not
part of the Polo Club. Funds from those two HOA accounts were then transferred
to Trex’s account.
Although no criminal charges have been filed relating to the Hollows and Boca
Tierra, PBSO found that the transfers into and out of accounts maintained for
the Hollows and Boca Tierra were also unauthorized.
PBSO charged Korinne Modica after she acknowledged that the funds were under her
control and she was responsible for their administration. She said she planned
on putting the money back into their proper accounts but could not offer an
explanation of why that never happened. She told PBSO she has had difficulty
dealing with a number of personal issues.
During an interview with a PBSO detective, Korinne Modica asked what she could
do “to make this go away.” The detective’s response: “It isn’t going away.”
She wanted to speak with victims of the fraud about paying them back. She was
warned not to do that as she could be charged with witness tampering.
Her arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 25.
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