From Bad to Wurst

Heydasch and one investor who wouldn't give his name say Philipp generally uses investor money for a down payment for the buildings. Then he gives investors shares in exchange for their cash.

The scheme of offering shares in a company that operates an apartment building is particularly tempting to Germans unfamiliar with U.S. law. "These people don't realize that any idiot can form a company here, and that these shares are quite literally not worth the paper they're printed on," Heydasch says.

"He may or may not go through procedures to convert them into condos, but in the meantime he fleeces the building," Heydasch says. "He'll grab the rent money, which is usually all cash." Very little of this money ever goes to mortgage payments, property taxes, or upkeep on the buildings, Heydasch alleges. Most of it, Heydasch adds (echoing three other Philipp associates), goes straight into financing Philipp's lavish lifestyle. "He's very much a party animal," Heydasch says with amusement.

"Carsten," a German investor interviewed for this story who asked to be identified by a pseudonym, is still hoping to get some return on his investment with Philipp. Carsten declines to say how much he invested because he's afraid Philipp might be able to identify him. "Maybe he sues me, or he makes sure I don't see a penny," he frets.

He agrees with the Teichfuhses that Philipp must be stopped.
"Here, it costs years and money, before you have, maybe, your money back," Carsten laments. "People just say, okay, forget it, it's not worth it to fight from Germany, to hire an American attorney, deal with language problems, then maybe go to court in America. That is what Anton is calculating and planning."

Philipp dismisses both Carsten's and Heydasch's objections. He traces Heydasch's criticism to bitterness over a bar complaint Philip filed last year. The dispute arose when a group of mostly German investors hired Heydasch to represent them in a squabble with Philipp over a medical office building in North Miami Beach. Philipp, who owned part of the building, tried to block sale of the place. That battle ended when Heydasch's clients paid Philipp a $6000 settlement. Philipp filed the complaint against Heydasch for his conduct in the case, claiming conflict of interest, among other things. The complaint was dismissed in February.

"Axel Heydasch is obviously very pissed at me," Philipp states. As for the dismissal, Philipp snorts, "The Florida Bar? A joke. They protect their own."

He insists he does not abscond with the funds his buildings generate. He states that he's committed to involving his fellow Germans and occasionally Austrian, French, and Swiss citizens in the booming condo-conversion business in Miami Beach. He emphasizes that each one knows what he's getting into, and that he has "many happy investors."

A woman who claims she is a former employee of Philipp's EFS Properties confirms Heydasch's description of the more predatory aspects of her onetime boss's approach to finding foreign investors. An ex-receptionist who asked to be identified only by her first name, Brenda gestures around her kitchen in the Sevilla Apartments, pointing out what she says are hints of Philipp's dismal management.

There's no stove, and the top of a gas pipe is covered with a plastic bag. An air conditioner doesn't work. The freezer of her refrigerator is barely cold enough to work as a fridge; the bottom section is room temperature. Brenda reports that her apartment floods regularly. She says her apartment is an example of what many tenants must endure in the Sevilla.

Philipp denies that Brenda ever worked for EFS or Sevilla Ventures. "She was hired and fired by Miguel Acosta, who was an independent real estate broker selling units for me," Philipp says. He says she's just upset because he's trying to evict her for nonpayment of $2600 in rent.

He adds that he is quite proud of the rent-to-own plan, which Brenda criticized. To qualify for a mortgage on a $60,000 condo, for example, a prospective owner would usually require a $20,000 down payment, he says. But EFS accepts $2000 as a down payment and provides a second mortgage for the rest of the $20,000.

"We have very many happy clients," Philipp crows. "Without our program it would not be possible for them to own real estate. I shouldn't be telling you my business secrets. I started this in Stuttgart, then every broker woke up and started copying me. I did the same thing in New York. Now everybody will copy me on the Beach."

Over several weeks Philipp twice offered to give New Times names and phone numbers of satisfied investors and rent-to-own clients. By press time, he had not done so.

Brenda says the reason she faces eviction has a lot more to do with Miguel Acosta than Anton Philipp. As soon as she was hired, Brenda says, Acosta withheld rent money from her paycheck. When she told him she would rather get all of her pay, the burly Acosta said sure, but on one condition: "That I sleep with him," Brenda says, with a disgusted look on her face.

She eventually complained to Miami Beach police about Acosta's alleged harassment. After Brenda described numerous occasions when Acosta groped her, Miami Beach officers advised her in December to contact both the State Attorney's Office and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.