Don Mihalik of DMCM Builders – Charged with the Bankruptcy Cases? The Truth Exposed (Update 2024)
Don Mihalik is one of the ex-board members of KB Homes, a notorious firm responsible for multiple deaths and frauds.
While at KB Homes, Don used his position to award projects to his criminal friend Edward Contino and put numerous lives at risk. Many victims of the KB Homes scam are suffering to this day.
Don Mihalik faced a lawsuit as well but to avoid paying anything to the victims, he declared bankruptcy. The ploy worked and he didn’t have to pay much (if anything) to get the case resolved.
That’s not all.
The bankruptcy was peculiar considering how he transferred a home for $1 before filing bankruptcy and transferred it back to himself a few years later for the same amount.
Here are the legal documents for Don’s bankruptcy:
To understand how dangerous Don Mihalik is, you must first understand his involvement in one of the biggest real estate scams of Florida, the KB Homes scam.
What is Bankruptcy?
Through the legal process of bankruptcy, individuals or other entities that are unable to pay their creditors back can seek partial or complete relief from their debts. Bankruptcy usually happens by a court order that is frequently requested by the debtor.
Many people are still suffering because of what went on there. The following points will shed more light on what happened and why you should avoid doing business with Don Mihalik:
KB Home Lawsuit: What Transpired
KB Home is a homebuilding company based in the US. They used to be a Fortune 500 company from 2000 to 2008 and offer customers homebuilding services. Although they have been in the industry since 1957, they made the news when hundreds of their customers began experiencing problems with their newly constructed houses.
The company is receiving complaints even to this day about how poor their houses are.
Don Mihalik used to be on their board of directors and under his leadership, the company constructed numerous defective houses. Furthermore, he handed the contract to his friend who did the construction on behalf of KB Homes and ruined more houses.
The Florida Attorney General filed a KB Homes lawsuit for its gross negligence. As a result, the company had to spend $77 million to fix the shoddy construction of 1,688 houses it had built.
Various victims came forward and highlighted how traumatizing it was to go through everything.
For example, Crystal Adamson shared that she was a first-time buyer and it was supposed to be the American Dream. But it was only a nightmare for her for years.
Crystal had purchased a house in Don Mihalik’s KB Homes in 2009. She told the media that within a few months of the purchase, the house began falling apart in the literal sense of the word.
“I noticed the carpet in the upstairs bedroom was wet. It looked like there was pollen on the carpet”, she told the media. She further said, “Over a few days it progressively got much larger and I lifted up the carpet and found all of this mold underneath”.
Moreover, Crystal wasn’t the only victim facing the issue of mold.
Thousands of KB Homes reviews highlight that they faced similar issues. A 9-year-old girl died of the mold.
Victims like Crystal weren’t able to live in their homes because they were inhabitable. Not only were they paying for houses but had to spend money on additional reconstruction.
While the lawsuit has settled, it’s unclear how much every victim was able to get in restitution.
During all this, Don Mihalik was enjoying a lavish lifestyle, free from any consequences.
Don Mihalik’s Role in KB Homes
Don Mihalik used to be on the board of KB Homes alongside Frances Dolly Graziano and John Hibbert. They all signed off with the firm before the construction on all homes was completed.
Don and his pals did nothing to repair those houses either. Their excuse was they didn’t have the funds which is why they signed off.
Eventually, Don Mihalik even declared bankruptcy just so he could avoid paying anything in the KB Homes lawsuit.
A whistleblower revealed that Don had illegally removed more than $48,000 from the company’s funds to hire Eddie Contino. At the time, Eddie was an unlicensed contractor with a shady history.
Don Mihalik hired him to do the electrical work on the houses, which KB Home was supposed to do. Furthermore, it was revealed later that Don was getting kickbacks from Contino as well.
Because of his payment to Contino, the company wasn’t able to make certain payments in time. Later, Ann Quinn joined the board of directors at KB Homes and she said that the next year’s board would deal with the repairs.
However, many homeowners could still not live in their poorly constructed houses.
Moreover, the meeting where Don Mihalik and his friends decided to sign off with KB Home, was completely private. They didn’t tell the company owners that the homes were unfinished and that they were broke.
In the settlement agreement with the association, Don Mihalik and the rest said that all the work contemplated by the Settlement and Release Agreement dated October 12, 2012, was completed to the Association’s satisfaction.
In a secret board meeting, Don Mihalik and his friends decided to use the firm’s reserve funds to pay Edward Contino. Moreover, the receipts have no addresses, and all of them are handwritten.
Here are the receipts:
Basically, Don hired Edward without a board vote to do work which KB was supposed to do. Edward Contino later revealed that he paid up to $20,000 in kickbacks to Don.
Later, the DBPR found that Willowbrook had violated several rules by paying Edward Contino through its reserve.
Even after all this had happened, the Association later elected Don Mihalik as its Vice President.
He resigned from that position rather quickly.
The Latest Venture of Don Mihalik: DMCM Builders
The KB Homes horror stories are still available online. However, Don Mihalik was able to get away with it unscathed through shady dealings and legal loopholes.
Recently, he has re-launched himself as the founder of DMCM Builders and Developers. He claims to be the Vice President of Business Development at DMCM Builders and Developers, LLC.
The company is based in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.
You should not trust him or his company. There are many examples of scammers relaunching their firms to scam more people.
Conclusion
Don Mihalik is promoting himself as a real estate guru but fails to mention anywhere where he learned about this industry. He played a huge role in the KB Homes fiasco but refused to do anything about it.
Instead of trying to help the hundreds of people, he fled and filed for bankruptcy to ensure he wouldn’t need to pay anything.
Now, he is relaunching himself through DMCM Builders. You should avoid dealing with him as many fraudsters relaunch themselves for the sole purpose of running more fraudulent schemes.
Beware of Don Mihalik.
Shame on Mihalik and his friend Edward Contino for killing people!
He’s a total player…even after doing so many scams he is still going strong…like WTF
This is a serious global problem…these people should be accountable for the wreck they do to a person’s financial and mental health
I was just surfing about the potential builders around Florida and came across this article…Really Helpful!
I’ve heard a lot about this John Hibbert guy…he’s a total fraud.
Because of them, I’ve seen my friend go through shit… he even took a huge loan for his office place…he noticed dampness in the almirahs, and many important documents n other assets got destroyed…after more searching, he found more such molds in different places in the office
My grandparents also gave them the contract for their first-ever house…the house turned out perfect after the construction…but after half a year the nightmare started, the first floor started leaking and they found mold under the carpets.
I know this, a relative of mine got scammed by this guy…almost one-fourth of her house collapsed into debris and even after numerous complaints this company dint pay any heed.
I know this, a relative of mine got scammed by this guy…almost one-fourth of her house collapsed into debris and even after numerous complaints this company dint pay any heed.
Did you all know that he is now a teacher at Lakewood Ranch High School?! The kids sleuthed him out & are concerned. So, we can all see how sad our education system is here these days, if this is who they are hiring.
My uncle bought a house too on Bradenton and barely after 2 years, their condominium feel off…it was total moldy…and these KB people had nothing to say on it, and they just ghosted him
I was about to get trapped in this KB Homes too but before signing the contract my sister made me aware that he’d scammed her friend’s parents too…Although government needs to see to it that the companies provide proper penalties to the victims
KB homes and the licenses of people who worked there should be banned
Here in India too these kinds of cases are prevalent and no one does anything about it… at least people need to be aware of frauds like him…good job!
What is the state even doing…victim should be getting all the house money with penalty of going through all of this shit
Really disgusting! How such companies fool people and flee away
This is what happens when greed takes over your mind. You don’t need to be a mafia boss to harm others. Sometimes a crooked businessman is enough.
My aunt had bought one of those mold homes. She faced so many problems because of that house. And here is Don, trying to bury all that past and launching a new construction firm as if nothing happened.
Government should maintain a proper record of people like Mihalik and his friends and circulate it so that no more people go through all this
Mihalik is a big-time scammer…I’ve seen many around me getting scammed by this guy…
There will be no end to a man’s suffering if these fraudsters keep living and getting work in the civil society…they need to be held accountable and jailed
People like them do exist these days?! IDK what is the States even doing about it
Government officials need to stay alert on such matters. Allowing people with such history and past to open and operate businesses is not a good idea.
My friend’s house walls legit withered away with no bolts n screws…it was a new house that she bought from this KB Homes
When the victims were struggling to live in their poorly constructed homes, Don was counting his money and laughing at them. This man is pure evil. He and all the other KB homes executives need to be held accountable for their actions.
Whoever does business with DMCM builders need to know who they are dealing with.
This man is a monster and a fraud.
If they hire DMCM builders for constructing their homes they would be ordering a free upgrade of mold and hazard.
Sad to see how far our capitalist society has fallen. I pray for everyone who suffered because of this man????
I’m a resident of Manatee County only and this is real… I’ve seen people who went with KB homes and got badly scammed
How is he not thrown in jail? This man should be arrested and tried in court. What’s more bothering is how this fraudster is allowed to open and run another construction company. I suspect he would only market his company in regions where people were not affected much by the whole KB homes disaster.