Kaplan alleges how he was scammed

After being criminally accused in late January by Regions Bank of orchestrating a $10 million check kiting scheme, prominent Sarasota real estate investor, developer and entrepreneur Marvin Kaplan is speaking out.

Kaplan says in a 46-page counterclaim filed Wednesday in the 12th Circuit Court in Sarasota he orchestrated nothing.

Kaplan alleges, with specific chronological details, that Larry Starr, a longtime Sarasota and Longboat Key tourism entrepreneur and one-time Business Review entrepreneur of the year, along with the owners of Fayettville, N.C.-based Smith Advertising & Associates conspired in a Ponzi scheme that duped Kaplan.