Developer Jay Odom Sues Former Business Partner For Racketeering

In Brief:

•Jay Odom filed a RICO lawsuit against former business partner Robert Smith, accusing him of a two-decade-long conspiracy involving fraudulent lawsuits and defamation.

•The lawsuit alleges Smith manipulated legal and government agencies to damage Odom’s reputation and business, stemming from their real estate dealings.

•Odom seeks damages, attorneys’ fees, and an injunction to prevent further false accusations.

Walton County-based Real Estate Entrepreneur Jay Odom has filed a RICO case against his former business partner Robert Smith.

A RICO case (formally known as a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act) is an accusation made in a court alleging an organized crime enterprise did something illegal. To convict someone of RICO violations, an attorney would have to:

Prove a corrupt enterprise exists or existed.
Prove it has affected interstate commerce.
Prove the defendant was associated with or employed by the enterprise.
Prove the defendant engaged in Racketeering activity.
Prove “the defendant conducted or participated in the conduct of the enterprise through the pattern of racketeering activity through the commission of at least two acts of racketeering.”

“This is interesting in a legal sense because they are using a civil RICO cause of action,” said local attorney Matt Ausley of Good Life Legal, “It is extremely complicated and difficult even for an experienced attorney to navigate. And for that reason, it is rarely used. This will be an interesting one to follow.”

What Happened

According to the lawsuit filed by Odom, Smith and unnamed defendants “manufactured a greed-driven lawless scheme to mislead and weaponize government agencies and courts into his taxpayer-funded personal cudgel.”

The suit alleges the activity has taken place over the last two decades and that “Smith’s obsession with destroying Mr. Odom is so consuming that he habitually studies stockpiles of documents about Mr. Odom in a high-security safe room within his home.”

The events covered in the lawsuit began in 2002, when Odom, Smith, and Smith’s father partnered to buy land that is now Hammock Bay. When the real estate market downturn came in the late aughts, the lawsuit alleges the Smiths requested to take their assets out of the deal. Odom, according to the document, let them. Eventually, the filing says, Hammock Bay could not pay its loans back to various creditors, and Odom went to the Smiths to ask them to return the money to help establish positive cash flow for the business. The Smiths, according to Odom’s attorneys, refused.

Odom then bought out the Smiths’ interest in the project in 2007. Less than a year after the buyout, the Odom Group’s attorneys say Smith came back with a lawsuit to demand more money in the form of residual payments. The two parties settled.

In 2017, Smith sued Odom again – Odom’s lawyers claim that the residual payments from Odom were insufficient and didn’t follow their settlement agreement in 2007. Odom’s lawsuit alleges that the law firm Smith used, the Clark Partington Law Firm was a part of the conspiracy as well.

Additionally, the lawsit alleges that Smith attempted to besmirch Odom’s name through his involvement with the Destin Regional Airport, creeated a lawsuit that involved federal agencies through the ‘False Claims Act,’ attempted to decieve numerous law enforcement agencies into pursuing action against Odom.