East Coast Stores, Henry Galasso Still Hasn't Returned My Deposit "Earnest" Money For OVER A YEAR NOW! Plainview New York

I had put down an Earnest Deposit of $20,000+ back in February 2014 to purchase 2 Subway Store locations. I succeeded in buying the first one (couldn't do the second one because Subway had a requirement that new franchisees had to own one Subway store for a minimum of three months before purchasing another store. Closed on the first store in July 2014. After two months I learned through unsubstantiated rumors that the second store had been sold to another person because the seller did not have the patience to wait for me to get Subway's approval to buy my second store.

I realized that Henry Galasso still had my Earnest Deposit (which was not applied to the purchase price at closing), so I asked for that to be returned since there was no reason for him to hold on to it any longer. To this date (end of March 2015), I am still owed $8,500 of that money. He keeps delaying me and asking for time. In fact, the last two months he has not been returning any of my e-mails. I suspect his business is having some sort of financial difficulties because he can't even return money which should have been held in ESCROW. If it is in ESCROW, why can't he return in IMMEDIATELY?