Farm Credit of Florida has dropped its $2.78 million foreclosure lawsuit against Francis Alfred “Alfie” Oakes after both parties reached an undisclosed agreement.
A notice of voluntary dismissal was filed in Collier Circuit Court on Nov. 20 by the lender, an agent of Florida Federal Land Bank Association, which sued Oakes Farms OP LLC, Oakes, his wife, Deanne, and Synovus Bank on Oct. 14. The lis pendens — a first step in a foreclosure — also was released.
Synovus was listed as a defendant because it loaned the couple money to rebuild after Oakes Farms market on Davis Boulevard was flooded and heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian in 2022. County records show the couple made two payments in March, partially paying off that loan, and this month, they paid off a $2 million mortgage and promissory note from Sound Point Funding Corp. In February, a $22,684 lien filed by an environmental company also was satisfied.
The couple had faced seizure of collateral, including farm equipment and crops, if they didn’t pay the default amount. Six properties, including crops, 114 pieces of equipment, machinery and fixtures, were used as collateral for the $4.1 million farm loan: 925 New Harvest Road, farms at 7455 and 7526 Sanctuary Road; crop land at 1260 Deer Run Lane in Naples and 6157 Pringle Lane in Immokalee; and a packing plant at 837 E. Main St. in Immokalee. The collateral includes everything in all buildings, including doors, windows, cabinets, carpeting, beds, drapes and other items.
Equipment and crops on a farm Alfie Oakes leases, Half Circle L Ranch, which straddles Collier and Hendry counties, also was used as collateral, as were crops and a storage facility he uses at Gargiulo Produce Inc. in North Naples.
The foreclosure is unrelated to a Nov. 7 raid that involved the U.S. Secret Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Services and IRS at the couple’s home at Villages of Monterey in North Naples and a packing plant at 925 New Harvest Road in Immokalee. The DCIS investigates Department of Defense-related activity and Oakes has about $274.8 million in DOD contracts under Oakes Farm & Distribution Services LLC, which is listed at 4206 Mercantile Ave. in East Naples. That investigation is pending.
In September 2021, Oakes removed his name from state business records involving the distribution company and replaced it with Oakes Farms Accounts Payable Manager Jessica Ochoa and Jawan James, who is listed as the distribution services’ owner. The Mercantile Avenue address also houses another of Oakes’ businesses, Fruit Dynamics, which was raided by state insurance investigators a decade ago. Oakes said at the time that he purchased the business and retained its employees and was unaware of the employees’ fraudulent identification paperwork.
