Ex-Legis. Guldi grilled in developer suit

Disbarred former Suffolk legislator George Guldi said Friday that he did nothing wrong in helping to block real estate developer Robert Toussie from acquiring surplus Suffolk County land.

Guldi was testifying under subpoena by Toussie, whose civil suit accuses Suffolk County officials of acting illegally by blocking him from acquiring the property even though he was the highest bidder at county land auctions in 2001 and 2002.

Escorted from the county jail by correction officers who stood nearby as he testified in Federal District Court in Central Islip, Guldi was questioned by one of Toussie's lawyers, Scott Balber.

Balber said that Guldi led the opposition to Toussie's purchases supported only by complaints from residents of a Gordon Heights development who had filed a class-action suit against the developer for building shoddy housing, and articles in Newsday about his business activities.

Guldi said he hadn't looked into the accusations, but Balber didn't give him time to elaborate. Balber said Guldi ignored a letter from another of Toussie's lawyers claiming Toussie had a right to the land and the legislature's actions in blocking the purchases were "arbitrary and capricious."

This led to the following exchange:

Guldi: "He [the lawyer] used that language . . . [but Toussie] doesn't have a right to the parcel until he obtains legislative approval. He has no contract without that legislative approval."

Balber: "You are not a lawyer anymore, so, are you?"

Guldi: "I was at the time, and I still have the training."

Balber: "Right. But you were disbarred, right?"

Guldi: "Correct, sir. But that still doesn't make it right. He still can't create rights that his client doesn't have by putting them in a letter."

Guldi smiled through this exchange and most of his other testimony. He's serving a 4- to 12-year sentence for mortgage and insurance fraud and grand larceny.

Toussie, once one of the county's largest landowners, is suing Suffolk for $21 million, claiming it discriminated against him by not selling the properties in which he was the highest bidder in 2001 and 2002, and barring him outright in 2004 from the surplus property auction.

In addition to Guldi, Toussie's attorneys say they plan to call other former county legislators who were involved in blocking Toussie's purchases.

Toussie has not been convicted of any crimes and in 2010 he and a local mortgage bank settled the Gordon Heights suit for $455,000 but denied the allegations.