Buyer of Poway office tied to Wilkes charity

14 Feb 2007 // When prosecutors indicted Poway businessman Brent Wilkes yesterday, they announced their intention to seek property totaling more than $12 million from Wilkes and his alleged co-conspirator, New York financier John T. Michael.

But Wilkes recently sold his most valuable piece of property – the Poway headquarters of his flagship company, ADCS Inc. – for an undisclosed price to a real estate investor who formerly sat on the board of a Wilkes family charity.

On Jan. 30, just two days before the headquarters had been slated to go on the block in a foreclosure auction, Wilkes sold the property for an undisclosed price to a partnership headed by Alan D. Gold. Wilkes and Gold have declined to answer questions about the transaction.
Wilkes has been in financial trouble since his name became connected with the Randy “Duke” Cunningham corruption case. His last known federal contract came in summer 2005. A story questioning the sale of Cunningham's home appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune in June 2005.

With no contracts from the federal government, Wilkes' company wound down its operations. Although Wilkes has not officially dissolved ADCS, it has no remaining employees.

Wilkes owes at least $682,412 to Merrill Lynch Financial Services; $252,228 to De Lage Landen Financial Services; $149,427 to Xerox Corp.; and $597,308 in county property taxes.

“It's unfortunate that people get into uncomfortable situations, but we are extremely interested in making sure that these taxes get paid,” said Dan McAllister, the county's treasurer and tax collector. “All citizens have a right to be angry when somebody's not pulling their fair share.”

In late December, First American Title Insurance announced it would foreclose on Wilkes' headquarters and put it up for auction by Feb. 2 on behalf of creditor Union Bank, which alleged that Wilkes had failed to pay more than $12 million on his mortgage.

Shortly before the deadline, the bank postponed the auction to March 29 as Wilkes worked on a sale to a limited partnership named Ironwood Twelve LLC.

Ironwood Twelve's address is the law offices of Wilkes' former corporate attorney, Paul Smithers, who signed as the registered agent for the partnership. In the past several years, Smithers was also the registered agent for at least two Wilkes-owned companies.

Like Wilkes and Smithers, Gold is an alumnus of San Diego State University.

In 2002 and 2003, Gold contributed $50,000 to the Wilkes Foundation, a charitable group that Wilkes founded to benefit San Diego Children's Hospital and other organizations. During that time, Gold also sat on the board of the foundation's main fundraising event, A Tribute to Heroes, which honored Cunningham and several other people at its inaugural dinner in 2002.

Gold has been active in the local real estate industry since 1983, working for such firms as the John Burnham Co. and Northland Financial Co. Since 2004, he has headed BioMed Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust specializing in biotech laboratory and office space.

Smithers previously helped Gold create limited partnerships to buy properties for the BioMed portfolio. Kent Griffin, BioMed's chief financial officer, said he was not aware of Gold's purchase of the ADCS headquarters. He said he does not believe the purchase was intended for the portfolio of the publicly traded company.