http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/08/05/v-print/2490056/465m-verdict-in-alleged-fresno.html
$46.5m verdict in alleged Fresno Ponzi scheme
Posted at 03:10 PM on Friday, Aug. 05, 2011
By Pablo Lopez / The Fresno Bee
A Fresno County Superior Court jury today announced a civil verdict of $46.5 million against the two senior officers of a defunct northwest Fresno business for their involvement in an alleged Ponzi scheme.
Jurors deliberated two days before finding Dan Ramirez, president of HL Leasing Inc., and Andy Fernandez, the company's chief financial officer, liable for the damages.
The verdict in the class-action suit came three days after Judge Donald Black found HL Leasing Inc., Heritage Pacific Leasing and Air Fred, LLC also liable for damages in which more than 1,200 victims lost about $137 million, said attorney Ara Jabagchourian, who represented the plaintiffs.
The two verdicts total about $114.5 million, Jabagchourian said.
"This sends a strong message that fraud won't be tolerated," Jabagchourian said.
He conceded the victims likely won't ever get full restitution. "They will get something back," he said. "But it will be pennies on the dollar."
The alleged scheme bilked more than 800 people from the Fresno area, many of them Armenian Americans.
The jury found Ramirez guilty of fraudulent concealment and aiding and abetting the fraud. Fernandez was found guilty of aiding and abetting the fraud.
A third defendant, Kathleen Otto, was found not liable. Her husband, John W. Otto, was the alleged mastermind of the scheme, but he committed suicide in 2009, leaving Ramirez, Fernandez and his widow to defend themselves in a three-week trial.
HL Leasing opened shop at Shaw and Valentine avenues in 2001. The office closed when John Otto died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on May 11, 2009, in the parking lot of the Palm Desert Visitors Center -- just a few miles from his $2 million home.
http://www.cpmlegal.com/lawyerprofile.php?n=jabagchourian
Congrats Ara Jan!!!!Ara R. Jabagchourian is a principal at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP where he practices civil litigation in numerous areas. He received a dual B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from the California State University, Fresno. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Dean’s Medal from both the School of Arts and Humanities and the School of Social Science.
Jabagchourian received his J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of Law. While attending Hastings, he was a judicial extern for Presiding Justice James Ardaiz of the California Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District and Justice Marvin Baxter of the California Supreme Court.
Following law school, he worked for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition in Washington, D.C., in investigations dealing with conspiracies, monopolization and mergers. In 2001, he joined private practice, working on antitrust matters with an emphasis in antitrust/intellectual property overlap issues.
The American Trial Lawyers Association has selected Jabagchourian as one of the "Top 100 Trial Lawyers" in California for years. He was also selected as a Rising Star in Northern California, an honor bestowed on the top 2.5% of attorneys under the age of 40. For its centennial celebration, California State University, Fresno's College of Arts & Humanities had selected Jabagchourian as one of its Distinguished Alumni.
Jabagchourian has litigation and trial experience in numerous areas, including product defects, medical negligence, catastrophic personal injury, antitrust, construction fraud, corporate dissolution, contract disputes, securities litigation and complex business litigation. Examples of his cases include:
Recently, Jabagchourian recovered the largest individual wrongful death verdict in San Diego County history, when a jury awarded $17.4 million to the wife and three children of a high ranking U.S. Naval Officer, who was killed while riding his bike in a collision with an American Medical Response transport van. Mazurek, et al. v. American Medical Response, et al., San Diego Superior Court Action No. 10-83975 May 20, 2011.
In the case of Davis v. Hope Life Foundation, et al., he obtained a unanimous jury decision related to an out-of-state financial organization that defrauded its customers through sham trusts and promissory notes.
In Siller v. Siller Brothers, Inc., Frank M. Pitre and Jabagchourian obtained a multi-million dollar trial judgment related to a corporate dissolution action filed on behalf of a minority shareholder.
In Murillo v. National Passenger Railroad Corporation, et al., he settled an action against Union Pacific and the State of California Department of Transportation related to the wrongful death of an elderly couple because of an allegedly defectively-designed railroad crossing. The case was brought on behalf of the children and grandchildren of the victims.
Jabagchourian represented Arthur Mkoyan, a Fresno high school valedictorian, and his family, who were facing imminent deportation after seeking asylum from the former Soviet Union in 1992. Arthur and his family were allowed to stay, with Arthur now attending college in California.
Jabagchourian was also appointed as liaison counsel in the matter of In re: Crown Princess Listing Incident, a case involving the substantial tipping of a Princess Cruise Line ship off the coast of Florida. The action involved more than 200 injured plaintiffs. The action was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Jabagchourian also has lectured on numerous legal topics before practicing attorneys and academics, including antitrust litigation, intellectual property, personal injury, trial techniques, evidence, discovery skills and federal government antitrust actions. He has also published several articles on various legal subjects, including including “Establishing ‘Alter Ego’ Liability,” Plaintiff, Vol. 3 No. 12, December 2009; “The Threat of Intervention in Your State Court Class Action,” Forum, Vol. 40 No. 1, January/February 2010; “Getting Your Injury Case Out Of Bankruptcy,” Plaintiff, Vol. 4 No. 3, March 2010, republished in Advocate, Vol. 37 No. 5, May 2010; “The Law On Predatory Pricing In California,” Competition: The Journal of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California, Vol. 19 No. 1, Spring 2010; "Conflicts of Interest Arising from Successive Matters," California Litigation, Vol. 23 No.1, 2010; and "Evaluating Ponzi Schemes," Advocate, Vol. 38, No.2, February 2011. Jabagchourian also actively serves as a judicial arbitrator in San Mateo County.
Jabagchourian is a member of the Consumer Attorneys of California, the San Mateo Bar Association, the San Francisco Bar Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association, and a former board member of the San Mateo Trial Lawyers Association.
