Woolbright settles seven-month legal dispute with former finance director

Shopping center owner Woolbright Development has resolved a seven-month legal dispute with former finance director Jonathan Porter, whom the company had accused of fraud. Terms of the out of court settlement between Porter, the company and president Duane Stiller were not disclosed. Woolbright sued Porter after he was fired in January, alleging that he stole a database with information on about 2,300 shopping centers. He filed a countersuit, claiming he’d been asked to make “misrepresentations, fabrications and fraudulent statements to equity partners and lenders about project costs,” and that he was fired when he refused. Porter, who started working for the company in 2004, also said he was asked to keep two sets of financial records in order to conceal Woolbright’s expenses from third parties. [GlobeSt]