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The Blystone Company

2 days ago

This Philly Business Went ‘Up in Smoke’

Imad and Bahaa Dawara were charged with burning down their business. The brothers owned a hookah lounge in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia. One day, the landlord of the property that housed the hookah bar threatened to evict the brothers because of overdue payments. On that same exact day, Imad bought a $750,000 insurance policy on the building. Within two weeks, a fire broke out in the hookah lounge. The authorities claim Bahaa started the fire. Over 150 people had to relocate due to the fire and multiple stores closed because of the aftermath of the fire.

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The Blystone Company

3 days ago

This Maryland Businessowner Got Burned

Adcor owner, Demetrios Stavrakis, was found guilty for burning his company to the ground to claim the insurance money. His company was experiencing losses in the millions year after year starting in 2011 and Stavrakis was defaulting on multiple loans. He was using personal money to inject into his company to pay off loans as well as selling off profitable divisions of his business to pay off debt. Nothing was working and the end was nearing for Adcor. The owner took it upon himself to solve the problem. On July 28th, 2015, the owner used tape to disarm one of the features on the security system so someone could go into the building undetected. Around midnight, someone disarmed the building alarm with the proper code keyed into the alarm system. A half hour later, another alarm was disarmed in another portion of the building. By 1:30am, the fire was already noticeable and the authorities were notified. When all was said and done, the insurance claims totaled over $21 million. Only a portion of the money was used to retool the facility and the rest was used on luxury cars and jewelry. Stavrakis is facing mandatory minimums of 5 and 10 years for different offenses committed while burning his company to the ground.

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The Blystone Company

5 days ago

Traversing the Snow: Things You Need to Know

- Keep your gas tank full to potentially prevent the gas line from freezing
- Ensure your tires are properly inflated and consider investing in snow tires for safer travel
- Put emergency supplies in your trunk (shovel, water, bag of salt)
- Do not warm your vehicle up in an enclosed space to avoid carbon monoxide buildup
- Understand that bridges and roadways not exposed to normal sunlight will still be icy when other roads are not

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