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This post is one in a partnership between the Rochester Beacon and veteran reporter Gary Craig, featuring articles published on his Substack site.
After more than two years of trying to stabilize the businesses of check-kiting restaurateur Kathy Mott, the work of the court-ordered receiver is now done.
Certified public accountant Mark Kercher was appointed as receiver in April 2024, not long after Mott was accused in a civil lawsuit by Five Star Bank of a check-kiting scheme alleged to have fraudulently moved nearly $19 million.
In mid-September, U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci Jr. officially terminated the work of Kercher, who in recent months scuffled with Five Star Bank over money from Mott’s operations.
Geraci’s order came after a Sept. 3 hearing where he decided that Five Star Bank did not, for now, have to turn over more than $284,000 that the bank had held from Mott-connected accounts.
Kercher had sought the money to cover his remaining costs and the costs for lawyers who assisted him. The money was not from illegal schemes, Kercher and his lawyers argued, and should not be held captive by the bank.
The bank contended that Kercher had done little to help Five Star recoup its losses. Kercher has maintained he was largely focused on paying individuals, employees and businesses that had suffered because of Mott’s crimes.
Mott awaiting sentencing
Mott has pleaded guilty in federal court to check-kiting and is scheduled for sentencing in December. Her sentencing has been postponed multiple times as a federal investigation continues, likely to determine whether others were complicit in her crimes.
At the Sept. 3 hearing, Geraci praised Kercher’s work while noting that there was little left for payments.
“I’m not disparaging you for that at all,” Geraci said. But, he said, Five Star and some businesses had received nothing from the sale of Mott businesses while the receiver and his attorneys had been paid “almost a half million dollars.”
“You can’t get blood out of a stone,” Geraci said. “You went through this whole procedure to find there’s no assets.”
Kercher did a “good job” working with Mott businesses and properties and making sales, Geraci said.
Mott owned Monroe’s Restaurant in Pittsford, Crescent Beach in Greece, wedding venues, and other businesses locally.
The future of Crescent Beach
When Mott purchased Crescent Beach in 2023, there was hope that the decade-long shuttered lakefront restaurant would find new life. Her plans called for a party room, design throwbacks to its past luster, and docking for boaters.
Over the past two years, Kercher has worked with town of Greece officials and others to find prospective buyers. There has been some interest, but nothing substantive.
Kercher said at the Sept. 3 hearing that he still had hopes for the property. Jesting, he referenced the current kerfuffle over what Lake Ontario should be called.
Here is part of the court transcript:
MR. KERCHER: … What remains, and I think we mentioned this last time that we were in the courtroom, is the Crescent Beach property, which has …
THE COURT: That’s worth nothing. It’s falling apart. There’s nothing there.
MR. KERCHER: Well, a lot of Lake America frontage, right?
THE COURT: What’s that?
MR. KERCHER: A lot of Lake America frontage right now, right? So—it’s a joke. It’s worth …
THE COURT: It’s worth what? It’s falling apart. It owes taxes.
MR. KERCHER: I have an appraisal of $2.4 million.
THE COURT: The property is deteriorated entirely. It’s been sitting there for how many years?
MR. KERCHER: Pardon me?
THE COURT: How many years has it been sitting there, ten years?
MR. KERCHER: I wouldn’t know.
THE COURT: A long time.
MR. KERCHER: Again, I’m not a real estate expert, but it does have some value, but I won’t debate that. But … that is an asset that remains, and you know … I have continued to show interested parties, you know, for this last three, four months, you know, continue to do anything I could to do to find the assets.
Some payments for the receiver
At the time of the termination of the receivership, Kercher was owed $66,079 in court-approved fees and his lawyers $105,924 in court-approved fees.
Geraci did allow more than $56,000 from the sale of a piece of Mott’s personal property to be used to cover some of those costs on a prorated basis.
An ongoing state civil case, the offspring of Mott’s financial woes, could also determine the fate of the $284,000 at the center of the Kercher-Five Star legal imbroglio.
Geraci’s termination order allows him to reinstate Kercher as receiver. Should money become available from the state court proceedings, Geraci could determine its distribution.
Gary Craig is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer. A retired Democrat and Chronicle reporter, he now writes on Substack.
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I am wondering who paid to have the building “protected” by the concrete barricades that appeared over the summer. They may stop vehicles from getting close to the building but they won’t stop vandals from damaging it.
The Crescent Beach building is of course a total write-off. Unless someone wants it for a mold ranch. The land however is valuable. The question is whether it’s worth more to a developer as a venue site or as lots for 2 or 3 homes.