Even more charges in inter-Opus squabble

Former employees of Opus West are hurling embezzlement and racketeering charges at the fallen Minnetonka-based commercial real estate company as the Opus legal challenges continue to pile up.

The 16 former Opus West employees, including Tom Roberts, the longtime head of the division, have accused top Opus executives of embezzling $32.4 million in compensation and pension fund obligations and transferring the money to the Rauenhorst family trusts that own Opus, at a time when the trusts were making lavish donations to the University of St. Thomas and the College of St. Catherine (now called St. Catherine University), according to the complaint filed last week in federal court in California.

The pension-fund money was wired to banks in the Twin Cities at least six times over a number of years, it said. It was part of the normal business operation, according to the suit.

The two family trusts, set up for the children and grandchildren of 82-year-old Opus founder Gerald Rauenhorst, own substantially all of the once-mighty Opus.

Roberts alone is owed $17 million, according to the lawsuit. Other employees are allegedly missing some of their salaries, other types of deferred compensation or promised bonus incentives.

The latest lawsuit comes on the heels of a juiced-up amended complaint that Phoenix-based Opus West filed last week in federal court in Dallas against top executives and directors of the parent corporation for manhandling its divisions to bolster the Rauenhorst family coffers.

The new lawsuit quotes Bible verses in an unusually personal dig at Gerald Rauenhorst, well-known in the Twin Cities as a major contributor to Catholic causes. The trusts gave $20 million in 2008 to St. Catherine and $25 million in 2009 to St. Thomas, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also claims that embezzled proceeds helped bankroll Gerald Rauenhorst's venture with Best Buy founder Richard Schulze to buy distressed real estate. That company, Founders Properties, formed in March, is mostly made up of the old Opus Properties, an entity ultimately owned by the Rauenhorst family trusts that manages an existing portfolio of about $1 billion of property.

Founders Properties President Andrew Deckas called the new accusations that Opus West money was used to found the new venture "nonsense."

'Over the top'

Opus spokeswoman Winston Hewett called the lawsuit "extremely over the top."

The company hasn't been served with the complaint yet, she said. She said that the former Opus West employees didn't work for either Opus Corp., the parent company which is winding down, or the Rauenhorst family trusts and that neither the trusts nor Opus Corp. owe them money.

Dennis Ryan, a lawyer at Faegre & Benson who represents Opus Corp. and the Rauenhorst family trusts, called the lawsuit "ridiculous" and dismissed the employees as "a subgroup of creditors that hope to get something for themselves that they don't have to share with the rest."

"There's almost nothing in there that's accurate," Ryan said.

The Twin Cities development community has watched in great shock at the fall of Opus Corp. The company was once one of the world's top 100 contractors and redefined the Minneapolis skyline with such monuments as the soaring Capella Tower at 225 S. 6th St. and the Ameriprise Financial Center tower at 707 2nd Av. S. Opus also built the Mariucci Arena at the University of Minnesota and more than 20 buildings for the University of St. Thomas, Rauenhorst's alma mater.

Despite a sterling reputation, Opus was crushed by the commercial real estate bust and has been shutting down the main organization and reassembling and rebranding its remaining parts in a complicated series of legal maneuvers and sales. Three of the five regional Opus divisions filed for bankruptcy last year, including Phoenix-based Opus West.

The Opus West bankruptcy has spawned several legal actions that accuse the parent company of siphoning off $193 million from the western division into the Rauenhorst family trusts between 2003 and 2008 when the Phoenix division was in danger of insolvency.

Named defendants include the Rauenhorst family trusts -- the two trusts set up for Rauenhorst's children and grandchildren -- Rauenhorst's son and former Opus Chief Executive Mark Rauenhorst, and other Opus executives. The lawsuit makes 11 claims, including interference of contractual obligations, fraudulent transfer and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a federal act that allows for extended penalties for crimes committed as part of an organized group.