You won’t find this one on Swip Swap.
The oceanfront Serenata Club in Ponte Vedra Beach is slated for foreclosure auction next month after its owners found themselves buried in $14 million of debt and unable to continue operations, court papers reveal.
The action follows an long run of financial tumult marked by unexplained closures, unmet payrolls and fed up members.
Owners Molly and Jeffrey Butler attributed at least some of their money woes to a COVID-19 loan scam that was eventually prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York.
The St. Augustine couple have been hit with lawsuits from multiple creditors over the past several years, and were unable to salvage their ownership of the private club, where new memberships require a $13,000 initiation fee.
Following another stretch of locked doors in January, Butler sent an email message to fuming members.
“As is public knowledge, we were victims of a crime last year during the process of refinancing the club,” she wrote. “We have been playing catch-up ever since and it is not easy. I have been promised by lenders that they could quickly close with us only to be let down.”
According to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, mastermind Anthony Sasso promised quick loans to the Butlers and dozens of other small businesses owners around the country who were struggling to stay solvent during the pandemic.
Sasso and accomplice Kelly Fontaine convinced their marks to pay various upfront fees but never provided the promised loans.
Instead, he used roughly $1.4 million in total proceeds to splurge on expensive Manhattan dinners, rare cigars, and shopping sprees at high end outlets like Brooks Brothers and Bruno Cuccinelli, according to a court complaint. Sasso was eventually sentenced to 3 to 9 years in prison.
But court papers show that the Butlers owed a long list of creditors far more than was taken from them in the pandemic scam.
They were hit with numerous lawsuits in recent years, including a single claim for more than $8 million in December 2023 from a firm called DLB Funding.
The couple also ran a ReMax franchise in St. Augustine, and were sued by the parent company earlier this month for breach of contract for more than $240,000. That case is still pending.
The auction is slated for September 12.
Built in 2001, the Serenata reopened under new management in February.
Stay tuned to The Citizen for more on this story.
Are you a current or former Serenata member or have additional information about this story? Please email us at newsdesk@sjcitizen.com.
