The consultant Fort Myers hired to scope the redevelopment of City of Palms Park is run by a man whose Marco Island home federal prosecutors are trying to seize, and the city says it is proceeding as planned for now

The consultant the City of Fort Myers hired to scope the redevelopment of City of Palms Park is run by a man whose Marco Island home federal prosecutors are now trying to seize, WINK News reported on Thursday. The city says it is proceeding as planned for now.

The firm is Card and Associates, based in Indiana and founded by James Card. Its Fort Myers contract covers scoping, feasibility and pre-construction work at City of Palms Park, the city-owned former spring training ballpark, and is valued at up to 356,180 dollars. The city has paid the company 66,237.50 dollars so far. Demolition at the site is under way.

What the federal filing alleges

On July 16 federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking a 6.625 million dollar waterfront home on Marco Island titled to James Card and his wife, Martha.

The complaint concerns the Mishawaka Fieldhouse in Indiana, a 38 million dollar project paid for with municipal bonds and state READI grant money, according to WSBT 22, which reported the filing on July 17. Card's company was paid 5.3 million dollars on the construction work. Prosecutors allege that more than 2.2 million dollars moved through business and personal accounts and went toward the Marco Island house, and that mortgage paperwork described the money as gifts to Martha Card that she would not have to repay.

The complaint says Card "intended to devise a scheme to defraud and to obtain money by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses" in connection with the project. That is the prosecutors' allegation in a civil case.

James Card has not been criminally charged and none of the allegations has been proven. WSBT reported that it asked Card about the lawsuit and did not hear back. WNDU reported that the City of Mishawaka said it recently became aware of the allegations and had no knowledge of the conduct described.

This desk did not read the complaint. No case number or filing court is named here, because none could be confirmed against a court record.

What Fort Myers says

The city told WINK News it is proceeding as planned for now, though that could change as the process moves forward. It said it has not made any commitment to Card and Associates beyond the current scoping and feasibility work, and that the agreement allows termination through written notice.

Richard Kolko, a retired FBI agent who reviewed the complaint for WINK, said there is "nothing here that puts 2 and 2 together that says that this company dealing with the city of Fort Myers has conducted any illegal activity."

Why it matters locally

The exposure so far is 66,237.50 dollars of city money on a contract capped at 356,180 dollars. The larger question is the stage after this one. City of Palms Park is a city-owned site in Midtown Fort Myers, demolition has started, and design and construction contracts are where the money would actually get large.

The answerable questions for residents are how much more the city commits before the forfeiture case resolves, whether the design and construction work goes back out to procurement rather than being added to the current scope, and whether the termination clause gets used.