Family Ordered to Return Fraud Property in $4.3 Million Art Theft Case — Lawyer in Jail
Palm Beach estate litigation firms are used to “chasing the money” for their estate clients after winning damages at a Palm Beach probate trial. Once the winning side gets a judgment against a beneficiary or executor, you need begin to satisfy that judgment: getting your Florida probate clients paid. What if the defendant or “bad guy” transferred assets before or during the Palm Beach estate lawsuit in an attempt to hide assets? That’s fraud in Florida and fraud in Massachusetts. Can you sue the family members who the bad guy transferred the assets to? You betcha! Check out this April 2nd, 2014 Massachusetts opinion about an art thief, a Mass lawyer who had the stolen art and was convicted, and the $4.3 Million civil judgment against him and members of his family, which also involved a trust. This fraudulent transfer case saw the stolen paintings go from Mass. to London to Geneva back to Mass. It shows you that one cannot receive stolen property and keep it: you may be ordered to give it back, or worse, pay damages.
Criminal Case of Stolen Art: Lawyer Found Guilty & Sentenced to 7 Years
- thirty-year-old art theft in Massachusetts
- 1979 : suspected thief dies
- Victim’s eventual recovery of 7 stolen paintings from a Massachusetts attorney who had represented the suspected thief prior to suspected thief’s death
- Suspected thief’s lawyer was convicted by a Federal jury of possessing, concealing, or storing the stolen paintings
Art theft and fraudulent transfer case: the facts are set out in much greater detail in the following case: United States v. Mardirosian, 602 F.3d 1, 4, 5, 6 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. —-, 131 S.Ct. 287, 178 L.Ed.2d 141 (2010). iCi
Civil Lawsuit to Recover Stolen Art Against Family
- victim of the theft sued the lawyer for damages
- fraud and conversion (Florida has similar civil remedies which are the subject of many Palm Beach estate trials )
- to recoup over $3.4 million he had spent in his efforts to recover the stolen paintings
- Victim also brought claims under the uniform fraudulent transfer act
- Why? : several transfers of assets by lawyer to his family members following his identity as the holder of the stolen paintings (in Florida, you can’t “hide” assets or transfer assets to third parties or family members in an attempt to be “lawsuit proof” or “judgment proof”. That’s a form of fraud, or a fraudulent transfer, that Palm Beach probate litigators are very familiar with).
- Victim also sued lawyer’s family members
6 Day Civil Trial — Fraud & Conversion
- 6 day trial on the civil claims
- $3 million + in damages
- Jury found lawyer made seven transfers that were fraudulent
- Fraud & conversion damages increased to $4.3 million in damages
- Judge also ordered equitable remedies against lawyer’s family members to identify specific assets that had been fraudulently conveyed – except for one family member defendant re: assets in a shared trust because all the funds in the trust dissipated
Did Trial Judge Error ?
Victim appealed the form of the judgment entered against the family members
Why? on the grounds that money judgments should have been ordered against each of them rather than the equitable remedy of reconveyance
Victim says that the case should not have been dismissed regarding the trust funds transferred to family member
Fraudulent Transfer of $1.1 Million Home
March 13, 2006: soon after lawyer had been revealed publicly as holder of the stolen paintings, he and his wife transferred their $1.1 Million home to wife’s name alone (fraudulent conveyance in Florida? Yes. In Mass ? (read the opinion))
- Jury : this was a fraudulent transfer of lawyer’s one-half interest in the home valued his interest at $531,300 (Mass Supreme Court? read the opinion)
Victim argues that the judge erred by ordering a judgment providing for avoidance of the transfer and attachment of lawyer’s interest, rather than a money judgment against wife
But note that the slip opinion webpage will be removed from the ‘Net when the final opinion is ready for publication. So here is the link to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Website so you can access the final opinion later on: http://www.mass.gov/courts/court-info/sjc/