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Healey moves closer to suing IndyCar sponsors

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.REUTERS/File

Attorney General Maura Healey is threatening to sue parties connected to a failed IndyCar race in the Seaport District, formally notifying them that she may go to court to collect money still owed to ticket buyers, a Healey spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The attorney general has sent legally required notices of her actions to the local company that proposed the race, Boston Grand Prix, the company’s manager, John Casey, and the national IndyCar body that governs the sport, according to Healey’s office. The attorney general is required to notify the parties five days before filing litigation.

Healey’s move to initiate lawsuits comes after several weeks of investigation into the failed race, which included the issuance of subpoenas for documents, and a day after a deadline she imposed on the parties to produce a reasonable plan to repay ticket holders, or face litigation.

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Plans for the race collapsed in April, and the aftermath has become a pile-up of lawsuits. The national IndyCar organization has already sued the Boston Grand Prix for breach of contract. A one-time race sponsor, Global Partners LP, sued Boston Grand Prix in Essex Superior Court, according to records.

And in a third case, the Boston engineering firm Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates Inc. filed suit against Boston Grand Prix in May, claiming to be owed $446,096, plus ongoing interest, for “thousands of man-hours” of work performed under contract.

The attorney general’s office said Monday that it had received some documents before the deadline and was reviewing them. By Tuesday, Healey had concluded that the repayment plans were insufficient.

Boston Grand Prix has said it ran out of cash after giving back about $400,000 to ticket holders.

Michael J. Goldberg of Casner & Edwards, a Grand Prix lawyer and spokesman, said in a statement Monday that the company was working to develop a plan to repay ticket holders but needed an influx of money.

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“We are now, and have been, in discussions with investors, sponsors, and other stakeholders to ascertain their willingness to contribute to a fund to help pay for refunds to ticket holders, and we have kept the AG’s office fully informed of our efforts,” Goldberg said. “We have also been providing numerous documents and information to the AG’s office in accordance with their information requests. This is a time-consuming process, and, at present, BGP cannot know the timetable for raising any of the needed funds.”

Neither Goldberg nor Casey could be reached Tuesday evening.

IndyCar, in a statement Tuesday, said its objective is to ensure ticket holders are made whole.

“As we’ve stated before, it is the Boston Grand Prix that is responsible for distributing the funds received from all ticket sales,” said Stephen Starks, IndyCar vice president of promoter relations. “To this end, we are continuing our conversations with the relevant parties in Boston, including the attorney general’s office, to reach a resolution to this concern.”

ESPN reported in April that organizers had sold more than 20,000 tickets. General admission tickets were $99; reserved grandstand tickets were $150 to $205, according to figures released by the Grand Prix in March.

Boston Grand Prix organizers arrived in Boston in early 2015, signing a five-year deal with Mayor Martin J. Walsh to hold the race in the Seaport District over Labor Day weekend. The race was planned for a 2.2-mile temporary street course around the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. Long negotiations followed with the city and state agencies that controlled portions of the proposed racecourse, and it seemed this spring that the race promoters were close to locking down agreements. But talks failed, and Casey announced in late April the race was canceled. He accused the city of making unreasonable demands. The city shot back that the promoters were disorganized.

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Healey’s threatened litigation may not be the end of the lawsuits.

Billionaire car dealer Herb Chambers has issued demand letters to Boston Grand Prix and will sue if not repaid $100,000 in lost sponsorship money, said his spokesman George Regan.

Regan on Tuesday accused race promoters of “living large on other people’s dimes” while organizing the race.

Chambers was the “official auto dealer” of the race, according to promotional material produced by the Boston Grand Prix.

Todd Ulrich, a 52-year-old racing fan from Hollis, N.H., said Tuesday night that he is among those still waiting for a refund. He paid about $1,100 on March 11 for grandstand tickets for the event, he said.

Ulrich is pleased Healey is moving toward litigation.

“I think it’s egregious there’s no funds for returns,” he said. Ticket revenue should have been held in a separate fund so it would be available in case the race was canceled, he said.

Ulrich has made complaints to the Better Business Bureau, he said, and initiated a chargeback on his credit card to try to have the charge removed. His chargeback claim has been pending since early May, he said.

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Mark Arsenault can be reached at mark.arsenault@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BostonGlobeMark.