Repossessing The Phantom Zamboni
BEVERLY, MA — There’s yet more legal trouble for the North Shore man behind the failed plan to bring an IndyCar-style Grand Prix race to Boston two years ago.
A Beverly firm says in court papers that it was duped into a deal with John F. Casey to purchase a second-hand Zamboni ice resurfacer for $80,000, which it would then lease back to Casey for $2,151 a month.
Just one problem: The Zamboni apparently never existed.
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Lawyers for NFS Leasing are now calling it the “Phantom Zamboni” in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Salem Superior Court.
The suit also names Casey’s wife, Gayle, as well as NorthEast Rink Systems of Stoneham and its president, David McCarthy of North Andover.
Back in 2015, Casey, a Boxford resident, and his now-defunct business, Casey Summit, owned a skating rink on Route 1 in Peabody.
According to NFS’s complaint, Casey approached one of its sales reps with a copy of a sales invoice from NorthEast Rink Systems, showing that Casey had just purchased a Zamboni from them. He told the sales rep that NorthEast had already delivered the Zamboni to his rink but that he hadn’t paid for it yet.
His proposal was that NFS pay for it, then rent it to Casey under a 42-month agreement.
The leasing company got a new sales invoice from McCarthy, which included a serial number for the machine, 1167. NFS then wired the payment to McCarthy.
Both Casey and his wife agreed to personally guarantee the lease agreement.
But soon, Casey Summit defaulted on the agreement.
In February 2017, “NFS began efforts to locate and repossess the Phantom Zamboni,” the complaint says.
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