Armand Assante is making a legal Hail Mary pass to prevent his 222-acre horse farm in Orange County from being auctioned off in foreclosure.
Direct off a flight from Europe, the star of “Gotti” strode into the state Supreme Court in Goshen with his lawyers yesterday and argued for a temporary restraining order to halt the May auction.
“It’s my home. It’s something I built with my father,” the hard-working actor told me. “It’s the legacy I want to leave to my children.”
Besides asking for Judge Catherine Bartlett to recuse herself on grounds that she and her law clerk are biased, Assante’s lawyer Tom Vlasti introduced new evidence that Assante is the victim of predatory lending.
In 2005, the actor got a $1.5 million, 30-year mortgage from Eastern Savings Bank in Maryland. The interest rate of nearly 10 percent was double the national average, and the bank could demand full repayment after five years.
Vlasti claims Eastern used fraudulent tricks to up the interest rate and refused various settlement offers from Assante because it planned all along to foreclose on the property, which is worth about $3.5 million.
“I wasn’t targeted because I’m a celebrity,” said Assante, 64, who declared bankruptcy in 2011. “I was targeted because I have an equity-rich property.”
“I have fought nine years to expose what Eastern has done, and it has almost broken me. Through God’s grace, and the courage of those in the state and federal courts to work against injustice, I will be vindicated.”