St. Thomas Social Owner Files $10M Lawsuit Against Banco Popular Following Fraud Arrest

The operator of St. Thomas Social and one of its owners have filed a $10 million lawsuit against Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and its parent company, alleging the bank’s actions led to the arrest of local business owner Brett “Mac” McClafferty late last month.

The complaint, filed Wednesday in Superior Court by Social Hospitality Group Inc., operator of St. Thomas Social, accuses Banco Popular and Popular Inc. of negligence, defamation, abuse of process, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit claims the bank wrongly reported fraudulent banking activity connected to checks deposited into the company’s account, which ultimately led to felony charges against McClafferty.

According to the filing, the dispute traces back to late 2023 after Social Hospitality Group opened business accounts at Banco Popular. Around that time, the company says an associate of the business, Dino Toscani, connected the restaurant with a man identified in the lawsuit only as “Pemberton,” who was seeking to host a multiday “medical symposium” at St. Thomas Social. A $40,000 check tied to the proposed event was deposited by the restaurant’s former general manager and initially accepted by the bank before later being returned.

The complaint alleges that when the check was returned, a bank officer contacted McClafferty but did not say the check was fraudulent. Instead, the lawsuit states that the bank advised the business to obtain a replacement check from Pemberton. According to the filing, Toscani — who the complaint describes as communicating with Pemberton on behalf of the restaurant — later obtained another check from the same source, which was deposited and also returned. The bank eventually advised the business to stop accepting checks from Pemberton and seek another form of payment, the complaint states. The event never took place after Pemberton died unexpectedly on St. Croix.