James Green this year sued a couple in Madison County, claiming that they owe him more than $763,000. Jack Carey, the couple’s lawyer, says in court documents that Green induced his clients into signing a “bogus promissory note.”

In an interview, Carey, former president of the Illinois State Bar Association, said that the litigation is new enough that he hasn’t learned all the details, but the promissory note involved a real-estate project.

“They don’t have $750,000, never did have, never would have – Green knew this,” Carey said. “Essentially, he told my clients that this is just a formality in order to keep these projects going. … My clients were just duped. They should not have signed a note which they could never have repaid.”

Carey knows Carr – they were once law partners – and he says that he also knows Green, whom he describes as “a nodding acquaintance” he hasn’t seen in two decades.

“Would I ever go into business with Jim Green?” Carey says. “Not on your life. There was always something mysterious. He’s a wheeler dealer.”

A crumbling complex

Granite Investments acquired MacArthur Park shortly after the apartments were built in 1969. What the complex is worth today depends on the piece of paper one looks at.

According to Sangamon County property records, the apartments have a fair-market value of nearly $4.5 million. Records in the recorder’s office show that Reliance Bank based in the St. Louis metro area gave Granite Investments an $8 million mortgage on the property in 2008; Carr, however, says that the mortgage also covers eight complexes in Madison County.