The former managing partner of a large Atlanta real estate firm faces a lawsuit that claims he stole millions of dollars from the firm. The lawsuit, obtained from a source by Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik, was filed Monday at Fulton County Superior court, and alleges that Nat Hardwick, a partner in Morris, Hardwick and Schneider, had taken at least $30 million from firm accounts and from escrow accounts belonging to Landcastle Title. The lawsuit alleged that Hardwick took ‘approximately a $1,000,000 to pay providers of private jet services,’ and made ‘$4,000,000 in wire transfers to casinos.’ The lawsuit also alleges that Hardwick covered up his actions until they were discovered by auditors.
Ed Garland, an attorney for Hardwick, called the allegations ‘false,’ and said ‘Nat looks forward to clearing his name.’
‘Nat became aware of a problem with the accounting earlier this summer and immediately alerted his partners and initiated a review by outside auditors,’ Garland said in a statement.’’¦Anybody who knows Nat knows that he loves the law firm, its employees, the attorneys and the firm’s many loyal clients. He would never knowingly or intentionally take money he was not entitled to or harm the firm or its clients in any way,’ Garland said. ‘The law firm was profitable, and Nat believed that all of the money he received was properly distributed to him as his share of the profits of the firm.’
What does this have to do with NASCAR and the #66 / #87 Jay Robinson Racing / / Michael Waltrip Racing team?
LandCastle Title, Smart Ben and or Morris-Hardwick-Schneider have been on the #66 Toyota and on the #87 Toyota as a sponsor in many races during the 2014 season The last two races Brett Moffitt has driven the #66 Toyota with Royal Teak Collection as the sponsor at Bristol and no sponsor on the car at Atlanta.
From the PR announced on January 30, 2014: Veteran NASCAR team owners Jay Robinson and Joe Nemechek of NEMCO-JRR have partnered with a group of five business leaders including Atlanta based, Nat Hardwick, managing partner of Morris|Hardwick|Schneider and CEO and Chairman of The Board of LandCastle Title, to form Identity Ventures Racing. Identity Ventures Racing will be led by managing partner, Jay Robinson, crew chief, Scott Eggleston and driver, Joe Nemechek. And it was announced the same day: Michael Waltrip Racing announced a partnership with Jay Robinson Racing enabling the #66 Toyota Camry to race in all 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup events.
The #66 Toyota has attempted to make all the races in 2014 and the #87 has made 2 of 5 attempted races in 2014.
No word on how or if this will affect either team.
See more articles about this at Atlanta Journal Constitution, wsbtv.com, ABA Journal and housingwire.com.(9-2-2014)
UPDATE: There is no trouble with the ownership of the #66 team which is owned by Michael Waltrip and Jay Robinson. The Nat Hardwick situation will have no effect on the plans of the #87 Team either as Nat Hardwick’s shares totaled less than 25% of Identity Ventures Racing. ‘The only remaining race scheduled for the #87 is Talladega in the Fall and the #87 will certainly be there,’ said team owner Jay Robinson.(JRR)(9-2-2014)
