Miles Plaskett
Special Counsel
Duane Morris LLP
200 South Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 3400
Miami, FL 33131-2318
USA
Phone: +1 305 960 2243
Fax: +1 305 397 1921
Email: MLPlaskett@duanemorris.com

Miles L. Plaskett is a member of the Firm’s New Markets Tax Credit Practice Group, which represents investors, community development entities, leveraged lenders and for-profit and non-profit sponsors in the development of projects through the Federal New Markets Tax Credit program. Representative transactions of the Firm’s New Markets Tax Credit Practice Group have included community centers, university-related mixed-use projects, hotels, shopping centers, and medical centers that have been structured with conventional leverage loans, sponsor leveraging and the leveraging of a variety of grant sources, including tax-increment financing. Mr. Plaskett concentrates his practice on corporate law, project and municipal financing, financing transactions, and hotel and resort development with special emphasis on the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Caribbean. Mr. Plaskett represents corporate clients seeking tax benefits pursuant to the Virgin Islands Economic Development Program and in maintaining compliance with Program requirements. He has appeared before the Virgin Islands Legislature, the Virgin Islands Economic Development Commission, the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority and the Virgin Islands Division of Coastal Zone Management on behalf of corporate, development and financial services clients. Mr. Plaskett is a native of the U.S. Virgin Islands and has been licensed and admitted to practice in the Virgin Islands since 1990.

Mr. Plaskett is admitted to practice in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands and is a member of the American Bar Association and the National Association of Bond Lawyers. He is a 1988 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and a graduate of Georgetown University.

Areas of Practice

• Corporate Law
• Municipal Finance
• Corporate Finance
• Commercial Finance
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Private Equity/Venture Capital

Representative Matters

• Represented RAIT Financial Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, in connection with the $55 million redevelopment of its PlazAmericas™ Mall in Houston, Texas, through the Federal New Markets Tax Credit program. U.S. Bank provided the tax-credit equity, and the Urban Development Fund and the Texas Mezzanine Fund, Inc. provided federal new markets tax-credit authority.
• Represented the Asian Arts Initiative in connection with the acquisition and redevelopment of its new headquarters through the Federal New Markets Tax Credit program. Wells Fargo Bank provided the federal new markets tax-credit allocation and the tax-credit equity for the transaction.
• Represented The Salvation Army in connection with the enhancement of $45 million of Kroc Trust funds through the Federal New Markets Tax Credit Program to generate $17 million of additional tax-credit equity for the development of the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Chicago, Ill. Five community-development entities provided tax-credit allocation for the project, and JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. invested in the tax credits generated from the transaction.
• Represented The Salvation Army in the closing of two new market tax-credit transactions with tax-credit investor JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. for the development of Kroc Corps Community Centers in Quincy, Ill. and South Bend, Ind. The two transactions involved $67 million of federal New Markets Tax Credit authority.
• Counsel to a major New York investment bank with regard to its underwriting of $94 million in rum tax-based Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority Revenue bonds.
• Counsel to a Swiss investment bank with regard to its underwriting of approximately $220 million in gross receipts tax-based Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority Revenue Bonds.
• Counsel to a major New York investment bank with regard to its underwriting of approximately $460 million in rum tax-based Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority Revenue bonds.
• Represented Jason Taylor, defensive end for the NFL's Miami Dolphins, in federal court in the USVI and won an almost $1.55 million court victory after contending a Danish lawyer tried to sell him an island without a clear title.

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association
• National Association of Bond Lawyers
• Virgin Islands Bar Association
• Florida Bar

Admissions

• United States Virgin Islands
• Florida

Education

• Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1988
• Georgetown University, B.S., 1985

Selected Publications

• Co-author, "U.S. Financial Reform: Municipal Securities," Duane Morris Alert, August 24, 2010

Selected Speaking Engagements

• Co-Presenter, "Resources Available to SME's for Doing Business with the Caribbean Basin," 36th Annual Conference on the Caribbean & Central America, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 29, 2012