A Lewiston housing investor is suing his former business partner – the target of an ongoing federal investigation for possible fraud – claiming he mismanaged the pair’s rental properties and diverted thousands of dollars to himself and his wife.

Vincent Lobozzo of Lewiston filed a lawsuit in Cumberland County Superior Court in November against Travis Soule of New Gloucester.

The two had owned dozens of apartment buildings together. Soule, at one time, had struck a deal with the city of Lewiston to redevelop the former Libbey Mill into a multimillion dollar project.

Soule is the subject of dual investigations conducted by the Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Lewiston Police Department. He is suspected of having forged the name of a heating contractor on checks paid by the city with federal money for replacement of heating systems in Lewiston apartment buildings, according to city officials.

Lobozzo and Soule had been business partners in several corporations that owned Lewiston and Auburn residential investment real estate.

But those partnerships were strained last year and Lobozzo sued in a complaint that claimed Soule diverted income from the jointly owned buildings, pocketed cash rents and overpaid himself for managing the properties.

Lobozzo offered examples of how and when Soule allegedly transferred money from business accounts to the account of Soule’s wife, Karen, and wrote checks from business accounts to cash for himself.

Soule also failed to collect rents and neglected to pay property taxes on some of the buildings and was so late with electric bills that power was disconnected from one apartment complex, the suit said.

Lobozzo filed motions for the court to attach $500,000 of Soule’s assets, but a judge declined.

Lobozzo backed his claims with sworn affidavits by bookkeepers at the office of the management company that Soule ran.

Christine Leighton, Landmark Real Estate Management Company Inc.’s receptionist-turned-bookkeeper, swore in a statement that she saw Soule take cash from tenant receipts before she had a chance to process them. Other times, cash would be attached to receipts when they went into Soule’s office, but the cash disappeared by the time the receipts came out of his office, she said.

Lobozzo’s wife, Patricia Lobozzo, worked in Soule’s office for more than three years as bookkeeper and clerk. She swore in a statement that she examined the books after she left and found instances where Soule had allegedly written himself checks from business accounts for personal use.

“Lobozzo has lost over $1 million through the mismanagement, conversion and fraudulent conduct of Soule,” she said in her sworn statement.

Soule answered Lobozzo’s complaint, denying his accusations, and filed a counterclaim.

In it, Soule claimed Lobozzo had agreed to joint management of their buildings, but Lobozzo refused to take part, Soule said. So, Soule took over Lobozzo’s duties.

When market values dropped in 2008 and energy prices soared, Soule struggled to keep creditors at bay because heat and hot water were included in tenants’ leases, Soule said.

When Soule asked Lobozzo for money last year to keep up with business expenses, Lobozzo refused, Soule said.

After waffling, Lobozzo agreed to assume management duties of one of their properties, Soule said. Lobozzo sought to have a third-party take over management of the businesses, said Soule, who objected to the proposal.

He said Lobozzo took all profits from the property he managed and didn’t share them.

“Lobozzo has taken the precisely same actions he complains Soule took,” Soule wrote in his counterclaim.

When Soule was “forced” to enter an Alternate Sentencing Program in September for 10 days, he said Lobozzo “directed a hostile takeover of the management” of the joint businesses.