Assemblyman Schroeder and Business Associate Both Claim $300K Payment

The owner of a $300,000 wire transfer from a Dubai-based company is being disputed by State Assemblyman Robert Schroeder and Dinis DeAlmeida of LDA Corportation, who both claim to be entitled to the money, according to a complaint filed by Provident Bank March 22.

Provident filed the complaint seeking an order to have an interpleader, a procedure in which a party holding property requests a court determine who that property should be given to. The bank is also seeking to have its attorney and court costs covered.

API received a wire for $307,581.50 on January 4 in their account at the Nanuet, N.Y. Provident Bank branch, according to the complaint. The payment came from Prolog Solutions, a Dubai-based company which provides "logisitic support solutions."

That same day, DeAlmeida transferred $300,000 from the API account to an LDA account at the same bank, according to the complaint. Schroeder told the bank later that day that DeAlmeida "was not entitled to" the money. DeAlmeida then brought a newspaper article to the bank about Schroeder's indictment on charges that he allegedly stole $1.8 million from investors and wrote bad checks worth another $3.4 million. 

Schroeder went to the bank the next day and said he wanted to close the first API account and open a new one because he was "expecting another large transfer," according to the bank's complaint. The bank decided to consult with their security department before taking any action.

"Once Provident has been provded with information that funds received by it may be proceeds from a criminal enterprise, Provident cannot simply release these funds to persons claiming to be entitled to these funds," the bank stated in its complaint.

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office served the bank in order to seize API's money on January 7. The bank froze the API account and the $300,000 from the Dubai wire transfer. 

Schroeder and DeAlmeida each attempted to persuade Provident that they were the rightful recipient of the wire transfer, according to the bank's complaint.

"From the perspective of Provident, either DeAlmeida or Schroeder submitted an altered document to try and induce Provident to release funds to them," the bank alleged in its complaint.

In February, the Attorney General's Office sent a letter to the bank stating that the proceeds appeared "to be a legitimate payment for services provided by Prolog Solutions to All Points International" but did not specify whether API or LDA is entitled to the money.

An attorney for Schroeder did not immediately respond to calls for comment. DeAlmeida could not be reached and a phone number for LDA was no longer in service.

Schroeder and his companies were banned from doing business with the federal government earlier this year. The next hearing for the state's charges against him has been scheduled for May 17.

Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Jim Leggate at Jim.Leggate@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.