The only branch of Solera National Bank is at 319 S. Sheridan Blvd. in Lakewood. (BusinessDen file)
Armed with corporate documents won through litigation, two shareholders in Solera National Bank are making fresh allegations about the Lakewood firm’s decision to buy a small fleet of aircraft at the behest of its board chairman, who continues to defend the purchases.
“While the company touts the bank’s focus as ‘supporting a growing and diverse Colorado economy,’ the true intention is to serve the lavish lifestyle of Solera’s executive chairman,” according to an Oct. 1 lawsuit from the local investors, Rob and Lola Salazar.
“The (bank’s) board has permitted Quagliano to run wild with practically limitless, unchecked authority to use corporate resources for his own personal agenda,” they allege.
Michael Quagliano, an Illinois native who lives in Florida, is the majority shareholder and chairman of the publicly traded Solera National Bank, which opened in 2006 with a focus on Hispanic customers. Its only location is at 319 S. Sheridan Blvd. in Lakewood.
“I respect Mr. Salazar because he is a shareholder but I wish that he would quit looking for a narrative to make us look bad,” Quagliano said by phone last week. “If he has some concerns and he’s looking for the truth, I want to inform him. And quite frankly, we want to do things better. I know he’s a smart guy, successful guy. So, maybe we can do things better.”
Rob Salazar, whose family office Central Street Capital has real estate projects in Glendale and Globeville’s Fox Island, first sued Solera’s holding company last September, seeking access to its books so that he could investigate what he called “Quagliano’s self-dealing.”
Early this year, a judge in Delaware’s Chancery Court partly sided with Salazar and ordered Solera to turn over flight logs and some documents related to purchases of company aircraft. The Salazars now say that the trove of records prove Quagliano wasted Solera’s money. Quagliano counters that the bank’s nine planes and one helicopter are profitable.
“Our bank has a strategy. He talks about a ‘fleet of planes.’ That fleet of planes we lease for a very, very good return,” Quagliano said. Flight schools pay to use Solera’s aircraft.
Quagliano adamantly denies the most salacious accusations in the Salazars’ lawsuit, including that he convened a meeting of Solera’s eight-person board in December 2020, ensured he was the only board member in attendance, and voted to buy a $5 million corporate jet. The plane’s first flight allegedly took Quagliano and his girlfriend on a New Year’s vacation to Miami.
Michael Quagliano is the majority shareholder at Solera National Bank in Lakewood. (TikTok)
An unnamed whistleblower within Solera alerted the company’s audit committee about the “rushed” jet purchase, which was made against the advice of its CEO and without its board of directors’ approval, the Delaware judge determined in February. The board removed Quagliano as chairman and hired a forensic accounting firm to review the airplane purchase.
That firm’s final report “noted numerous instances in which it appears that Quagliano used the aircraft for personal use without properly reimbursing the bank for the cost of said use,” according to Judge Bonnie David’s ruling. But a week later, Quagliano’s allies on the board of directors reappointed him executive chairman and set his annual salary at $500,000.
Solera has since continued its plane-leasing strategy. Quagliano said the bank is doing “fantastic,” with earnings climbing from $6 million in 2020 to $16.7 million in 2023.
“I wish there was something we could do for Mr. Salazar to make him and every shareholder happy but at the end of the day, those are pretty impressive numbers,” he said.
Quagliano and the Salazars all note that the planes carry tax advantages if they are primarily used for business reasons. Quagliano said they are; the Salazars say they are not.
“His flagrant use of a plane to fly himself and his family to sporting events and holidays around the country threatens to deprive the company of an over $4 million tax benefit clawback, plus any associated penalties for misrepresenting the company’s airplane usage,” they say.
Central Street Capital founder Rob Salazar, right, at a July 2024 groundbreaking ceremony. (BusinessDen file)
Quagliano is @TheRealRedPantMan on TikTok and a courtside staple at Denver Nuggets games, where he dances around and takes selfies in his signature trousers.
“It’s upsetting that he said I went to games in it,” Quagliano says. “He didn’t tell the truth.”
“The prices of airplanes have done very well. We’ve sold four of those planes and every one was sold for a profit,” he adds, claiming that first plane was sold for a $926,000 profit.
The Salazars are suing Quagliano and Solera’s six other board members, who they accuse of fealty to Quagliano and breach of fiduciary duties to the Salazars. The couple seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order requiring Solera to reform its internal policies.
“The board has done nothing to adopt any procedures to protect the company from Quagliano’s conduct,” the Salazars allege, “which has cost the bank tens of millions of dollars.”
Jordan Wright, a Solera board member, said in a statement that the planes are profitable.
“From the inception of our airplane leasing business through Q2 2024, Solera National Bank has generated a total net income of approximately $900,000,” he said.
“Because of our work in the airplane leasing space, we identified several lending opportunities for would-be pilots,” according to Wright, who said he was speaking for the entire board. “In the last four years we’ve closed 30 loans to said pilots, which equates to approximately $50 million in loans and has earned the bank approximately $5 million in interest income.”
The only branch of Solera National Bank is at 319 S. Sheridan Blvd. in Lakewood. (BusinessDen file)
Armed with corporate documents won through litigation, two shareholders in Solera National Bank are making fresh allegations about the Lakewood firm’s decision to buy a small fleet of aircraft at the behest of its board chairman, who continues to defend the purchases.
“While the company touts the bank’s focus as ‘supporting a growing and diverse Colorado economy,’ the true intention is to serve the lavish lifestyle of Solera’s executive chairman,” according to an Oct. 1 lawsuit from the local investors, Rob and Lola Salazar.
“The (bank’s) board has permitted Quagliano to run wild with practically limitless, unchecked authority to use corporate resources for his own personal agenda,” they allege.
Michael Quagliano, an Illinois native who lives in Florida, is the majority shareholder and chairman of the publicly traded Solera National Bank, which opened in 2006 with a focus on Hispanic customers. Its only location is at 319 S. Sheridan Blvd. in Lakewood.
“I respect Mr. Salazar because he is a shareholder but I wish that he would quit looking for a narrative to make us look bad,” Quagliano said by phone last week. “If he has some concerns and he’s looking for the truth, I want to inform him. And quite frankly, we want to do things better. I know he’s a smart guy, successful guy. So, maybe we can do things better.”
Rob Salazar, whose family office Central Street Capital has real estate projects in Glendale and Globeville’s Fox Island, first sued Solera’s holding company last September, seeking access to its books so that he could investigate what he called “Quagliano’s self-dealing.”
Early this year, a judge in Delaware’s Chancery Court partly sided with Salazar and ordered Solera to turn over flight logs and some documents related to purchases of company aircraft. The Salazars now say that the trove of records prove Quagliano wasted Solera’s money. Quagliano counters that the bank’s nine planes and one helicopter are profitable.
“Our bank has a strategy. He talks about a ‘fleet of planes.’ That fleet of planes we lease for a very, very good return,” Quagliano said. Flight schools pay to use Solera’s aircraft.
Quagliano adamantly denies the most salacious accusations in the Salazars’ lawsuit, including that he convened a meeting of Solera’s eight-person board in December 2020, ensured he was the only board member in attendance, and voted to buy a $5 million corporate jet. The plane’s first flight allegedly took Quagliano and his girlfriend on a New Year’s vacation to Miami.
Michael Quagliano is the majority shareholder at Solera National Bank in Lakewood. (TikTok)
An unnamed whistleblower within Solera alerted the company’s audit committee about the “rushed” jet purchase, which was made against the advice of its CEO and without its board of directors’ approval, the Delaware judge determined in February. The board removed Quagliano as chairman and hired a forensic accounting firm to review the airplane purchase.
That firm’s final report “noted numerous instances in which it appears that Quagliano used the aircraft for personal use without properly reimbursing the bank for the cost of said use,” according to Judge Bonnie David’s ruling. But a week later, Quagliano’s allies on the board of directors reappointed him executive chairman and set his annual salary at $500,000.
Solera has since continued its plane-leasing strategy. Quagliano said the bank is doing “fantastic,” with earnings climbing from $6 million in 2020 to $16.7 million in 2023.
“I wish there was something we could do for Mr. Salazar to make him and every shareholder happy but at the end of the day, those are pretty impressive numbers,” he said.
Quagliano and the Salazars all note that the planes carry tax advantages if they are primarily used for business reasons. Quagliano said they are; the Salazars say they are not.
“His flagrant use of a plane to fly himself and his family to sporting events and holidays around the country threatens to deprive the company of an over $4 million tax benefit clawback, plus any associated penalties for misrepresenting the company’s airplane usage,” they say.
Central Street Capital founder Rob Salazar, right, at a July 2024 groundbreaking ceremony. (BusinessDen file)
Quagliano is @TheRealRedPantMan on TikTok and a courtside staple at Denver Nuggets games, where he dances around and takes selfies in his signature trousers.
“It’s upsetting that he said I went to games in it,” Quagliano says. “He didn’t tell the truth.”
“The prices of airplanes have done very well. We’ve sold four of those planes and every one was sold for a profit,” he adds, claiming that first plane was sold for a $926,000 profit.
The Salazars are suing Quagliano and Solera’s six other board members, who they accuse of fealty to Quagliano and breach of fiduciary duties to the Salazars. The couple seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order requiring Solera to reform its internal policies.
“The board has done nothing to adopt any procedures to protect the company from Quagliano’s conduct,” the Salazars allege, “which has cost the bank tens of millions of dollars.”
Jordan Wright, a Solera board member, said in a statement that the planes are profitable.
“From the inception of our airplane leasing business through Q2 2024, Solera National Bank has generated a total net income of approximately $900,000,” he said.
“Because of our work in the airplane leasing space, we identified several lending opportunities for would-be pilots,” according to Wright, who said he was speaking for the entire board. “In the last four years we’ve closed 30 loans to said pilots, which equates to approximately $50 million in loans and has earned the bank approximately $5 million in interest income.”
