“An interim agreement allows publication of the novel to go forward, pending resolution of this matter,” Richard Kendall, a lawyer for Los Angeles-based Paramount, said at a hearing today in Manhattan federal court.

Paramount, a unit of New York-based Viacom Inc., sued Anthony Puzo, Mario’s son and the executor of his estate, in February to prevent the publication of a third sequel to “The Godfather,” claiming that it wasn’t authorized.

Puzo countersued in March, saying that Paramount disregarded contractual promises to his father and breached a 1969 agreement. Puzo said the contract between the late author and the studio excluded book publishing rights.

“It’s a question of fact, of how much importance it was to Puzo to reserve publishing rights,” Bertram Fields, a lawyer for the writer’s son, told U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan today. “We’re seeking cancellation of the contract.”

The parties will attempt to resolve the dispute in mediation, the lawyers said.

‘Godfather’s Revenge’

Paramount said in its complaint that after Mario Puzo died in 1999, the company agreed to allow Bertelsmann AG’s Random House to publish a single Godfather sequel, “The Godfather Returns” in 2004. The estate published another novel, “The Godfather’s Revenge,” in 2006 without Paramount’s approval, the studio said. Paramount said the estate informed it last year of plans to publish a third sequel.

That volume, “The Family Corleone” by Ed Falco, was published on May 8, according to the website of Grand Central Publishing.

The first “Godfather” film came out in 1972 and won Academy Awards for best picture and for best adapted screenplay, for which Puzo shared credit. Francis Ford Coppola directed all three Godfather movies.

Nathan said she may hear oral arguments on Paramount’s motion to dismiss the Puzo counterclaims this summer.

The case is Paramount Pictures v. Puzo, 12-01268, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

–With assistance from Bob Van Voris in New York. Editors: Stephen Farr, Andrew Dunn

Attribution:

‘Godfather’ Sequel Published Amid Paramount’s Puzo Lawsuit
Don Jeffrey/Bloomberg News
May 11, 2012
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/05/11/bloomberg_articlesM3VAL60D9L3501-M3VFC.DTL

Mayor Peter Kelly is a disgrace to the city of Halifax and everyone who lives here. He has repeatedly dishonoured council and has destroyed the reputation of city government.

Kelly’s sins are multiple.

Kelly worked with a small cabal of fellow conspirators to work around the city’s normal financial controls and, in violation of the city charter, to secretly give cash advances totalling over $5 million to concert promoter Harold MacKay, even when he knew that MacKay had lost $700,000 hosting one of the biggest-drawing acts on earth, Paul McCartney. And when the cash-advance scheme ultimately went belly-up, costing taxpayers $360,000, Kelly refused to own up to the part he played in the fiasco, claiming he was out of the loop. He allowed another man, Wayne Anstey, to take the blame. The buck stops somewhere else.

Even during the course of normal city business, Kelly has relied on secret council meetings and secret meetings in his City Hall office, going so far as refusing to make his office guestbook public. When public opinion polls showed that the citizenry had lost its patience with the secrecy, Kelly laughingly tried to portray himself as the champion of open government and issued a brazen press release calling for an ““overhaul” of the very secrecy that Kelly himself imposed. “Public debate is the very air that democracy breaths,” read the release. “We must open our windows as wide as possible to achieve that kind of ventilation.”

In years past, it was perhaps possible to think of Kelly as a bumbling fool. But the curtain has been pulled back, exposing Kelly for what he truly is—a calculating grifter, playing the chumps for fools.

The claim that The Coast violated Kelly’s personal life when we showed how he had removed over $160,000 from the personal bank account of a dead woman is laughable, to put it mildly. But the truth of his handling of the Mary Thibeault estate does indeed speak to Kelly’s personal character—and shows that it is rotten to the core.

Unfortunately, this town works such that the powerful are rarely held to account. Councillors don’t have the dignity of office to take action against Kelly. Reporters still chase Kelly around seeking quotes after council meetings, as if the mayor has even a scintilla of moral authority to speak for anyone at all. The cops are giving Kelly a pass. The public may or may not care about Kelly’s multiple sins, but either way is evidently powerless to do anything about them.

If Kelly had any self-respect, he’d do what the community can’t seem to muster the courage to do, and remove himself from office pronto. But no, he doesn’t‚ and he won’t.

We’re symbolically expelling Kelly in this report card, but the truth is we’ll all have to suffer through to October, a testament to his rotten character, and our collective shame.

Attribution:

Welcome to the 2012 City Council Report Card:  Peter Kelly, Mayor
Tim Bousquet
May 10, 2012
The Coast
http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/peter-kelly/Content?oid=3155363

Estate lawyer Stephen M. Newman also resigned as executor and trustee of all of the estates and trusts he set up for the elderly Orchard Park siblings. That means he will not collect any future commissions.

That also means three charities — the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, the Nature Conservancy and the Women and Children’s Hospital

of Buffalo Foundation—will receive the millions of dollars in her trust. The amount is about $9 million, according to the charities’ attorney.

“Her intent has been fulfilled, and all of those amendments that feathered the nests of others are of no moment,” said Daniel C. Oliverio, chairman of the Hodgson Russ law firm, which represents the charities.

In all, the settlement transfers more than $1.6 million to various Farrington trusts from Newman; Nixon Peabody, the law firm for whom he once worked; the Pankauski Law Firm of West Palm Beach, Fla., which has represented Newman; Bank of America, which had been a co-executor of June Farrington’s will; and various escrow accounts.

The settlement did not require Newman or anyone else to admit to wrongdoing.

“After years of litigation, this matter was resolved without any admission or finding of wrongdoing on the part of Nixon Peabody, Bank of America or Steve Newman,” said Terrence M. Connors, one of Newman’s attorneys. “Essentially, Nixon Peabody, Bank of America and Steve returned a portion of the fees and commissions, and the charities and the representatives of the Farringtons agreed to the resolution.”

The settlement in Erie County Surrogate’s Court last week designates June Farrington’s 1999 trust agreement as her estate’s controlling document. All of the later trust agreements and amendments that changed how her money would be disbursed are now deemed “inoperative.”

June Farrington’s 1999 trust — funded with money she inherited from her father’s hand-tool fortune — left all of her assets to the three charities upon her death. When she died in 2008 at age 84, they counted on sharing her bequest.

But the charities discovered June Farrington’s estate had been restructured to eliminate the outright gifts to them. Instead, a perpetual charitable trust had been created, with Newman acting as co-trustee and collecting commissions, to contribute smaller amounts annually to the charities.

A fight over her millions of dollars erupted in Surrogate’s Court.

At one hearing in March, 22 lawyers assembled before Erie County Surrogate Barbara Howe to delve into the contested estates.

In court documents, the charities’ attorneys accused Newman and Joan Morgante, a caretaker whom he introduced to the Farringtons, of a “wrongful scheme” and “working together to weave their way into the Farrington siblings’ estate plans through fraud and undue influence and by taking advantage of June’s and Worth’s incapacity.”

Newman, 67, who catered to wealthy clients from law offices in Amherst and Palm Beach County, Fla., slowly restructured the siblings’ estate plans so that he and Morgante would benefit from their estates, the charities’ attorneys contended.

A will for Worth Farrington, June’s surviving brother, named Morgante as sole beneficiary of his estate—worth more than $6 million.

After Howe named Public Administrator Acea M. Mosey as co-administrator of June Farrington’s estate and also a trustee of other Farrington trusts, Mosey’s attorneys delved into how the Farrington estates were changed and where their money was going.

The law firm of Stanley J. Collesano, working for Mosey, helped trace the money, Oliverio said.

“It kept getting worse and worse,” Oliverio said of Newman’s and Morgante’s actions. “The more investigating there was, the worse it got.”

The agreement releases the parties from further claims against each other — with the exception of the state’s attorney general.

So while Newman has resolved the dispute with the charities over June Farrington’s estate, the agreement does not stop the attorney general from pursuing action against him.

The charities decided against settling for anything less than the full amount to which they were entitled, Oliverio said.

“Most would have settled for less, but not these charities,” he said. “They were prepared to do whatever was necessary to recover every single dollar — and they were successful. They protected their donors’ money.”

At times, the case revealed bizarre twists.

Morgante, 73, headed to Amherst Town Hall with Worth Farrington in October to get a marriage license so the two could wed.

A town clerk refused to issue the marriage license because Worth Farrington did not know his birth date, address and the name of the person who wanted to marry him, among other simple questions.

Morgante at one time was Worth Farrington’s caretaker and lived in a $325,000 townhouse in Amherst that his trust fund paid for.

The scrutiny paid to June Farrington’s estate led to the appointment of a guardian for Worth Farrington. Medical records dating back to 2007 revealed a history of dementia as well as Parkinson’s disease.

Rocco Lucente II, the attorney who appointed his guardian, said the 86-year-old man does not see well, is hard of hearing and suffers from an ailment that impairs his ability to understand the Surrogate’s Court proceedings.

“It became apparent that I would need to undertake action to protect my ward from questionable conduct of certain parties to these proceedings,” Lucente said in court papers filed last week in court.

Lucente said the work of Assistant Attorney General William Malovan and Kenneth Peters, a state attorney general investigator, “uncovered further questionable conduct on the part of Stephen M. Newman and caregiver Joan Morgante.”

Morgante signed the settlement agreement, but it does not require her to pay money back to the Farrington estates.

The conditions Lucente set for agreeing to the settlement include the return of $1.2 million taken from the Worth L. Farrington 2008 Trust.

Attribution:

Lawyer to repay Farrington estates
Patrick Lakamp
May 13, 2012
The Buffalo News
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/buffalo/article854537.ece

“The Ellis County Observer publisher is banned from the Internet, the State seized EllisCountyObserver.com, but Freedom of the Press won’t be silenced, said Dauben in a telephone text message interview.

Dauben, who faces charges in Ellis County of fraudulent use of identifying information in connection with an Internet report he published last year and sexual assault of a 15-year-old male teenager in Navarro County four years ago, is not allowed to use the Internet as a condition of his release on $50,000 bond pending trial in Navarro County.

Dauben said he arranged for a 750-copy run of the newspaper, and that it will be distributed in Ellis County in the coming days. As additional conditions of his release on bond, he is confined to Ellis and Navarro Counties.

The Navarro County District Attorney R. Lowell Thompson brought Dauben before District Judge Lagomarsino last month in attempt to ban Dauben and his attorney from speaking to the media. The judge later ruled against the gag order.

Dauben, whose next court appearance in the Navarro County case is scheduled for June 18, said he wanted to “give the entire world something to talk about” by publishing the latest edition of the newspaper.

“The newspaper is 20 pages of material a whole lot of people in many government agencies didn’t want exposed,” Dauben said.

Dauben said he did not use the Internet in any way in the writing and publication of the newspaper to ensure that he did not violate the terms of his bail conditions. Much of the newspaper was written by hand when he was being held in the Navarro County Jail for two months after the court failed to provide him with a court-appointed attorney after he declared he was indigent.

The publisher said he believes law enforcement officers are looking for any opportunity to silence him by getting his bail revoked or to get him convicted.

Dauben said he plans to send copies of the newspapers to all Dallas media outlets, even though despite the First Amendment issues he has raised they have mostly ignored his case. The absence of recent coverage by Dallas media outlets about his website being seized and a gag order hearing being held follows widespread coverage of his arrest in December.

Several Dallas media outlets also featured Dauben in stories last year about his Ellis County Observer operation and unsuccessful campaign or mayor of Palmer last year.

Dauben said he expects the coverage in the newspaper to irk Ellis County District Attorney Patrick Wilson because of a story about a bar grievance being filed against him.

Other stories include an analysis of the GOP Primary Election, a Cedar Creek Lake mother’s legal battles with Montgomery County in a custody case, a story on Amber Hagerman’s death and a possible suspect in her murder and disappearance and a child pornography raid in Ellis County.

Dauben said he hopes the next issue he is able to publish of the newspaper will be a prison ministry edition.

David Webb is a veteran journalist who has written for the mainstream and alternative media for three decades. He is now a freelancer who lives in the Cedar Creek Lake area. He is a regular contributor to cedarcreeklake.com. E-mail story ideas to davidwaynewebb@yahoo.com.

Attribution:

Ellis County Observer obeys court Internet ban, prints 20-page newspaper that might anger some officials
David Webb
May 13, 2012
CedarCreekLake.com
http://www.cedarcreeklake.com/lake-life–Ellis-County-Observer-obeys-court-Internet-ban-prints-20page-newspaper/210

Fourth District Judge James R. Taylor ruled Monday that while Price had lived in the former “Diff’rent Strokes” star’s home after their marriage ended, the relationship failed to meet the state’s standard for a common-law marriage.

“There is simply insufficience credible evidence to conclude that they were more than occasional roommates,” Taylor wrote in his 18-page decision.

Attempts to contact Price’s lawyers were not successful. A secretary at their Spanish Fork office said that Mitchell Maughan and Todd Bradford were both out for the day.

Dale Price, Price’s father, said his daughter was not available, and that the family was not aware of the ruling.

Price was seeking to establish that she had a common-law marriage with Coleman, who died May 28 at 42, 2010, after a fall in his home, in order to claim Coleman’s estate.

But Anna Gray, Coleman’s friend and CEO of his personal corporation, contended that Price’s claim ended when she divorced Coleman, and that a 2005 will naming Gray as Coleman’s executor is valid.

Gray did not respond to messages seeking comments by deadline.

In an earlier interview, Gray said there is no money left in Coleman’s estate. The house was foreclosed by the bank.

“What I want are his ashes, and stopping his continued mistreatment,” Gray said.

She also wants to ensure his name is not exploited, and is used only for projects he would have approved.

Price and Gray spent two days in 4th District Court this past week arguing the issue before Taylor.

Under Utah law, an unmarried couple can be considered to have entered a common-law marriage if they are old enough and legally capable of being married, live together, assume the duties and responsibilities of marriage, and gain a public reputation as a married couple.

Taylor said Price failed to prove all but the fact that she and Coleman could have gotten married in Utah.

While Price testified that she continued to live with Coleman after the divorce and have sexual relations with him, Taylor said she did not prove that claim.

He pointed to witness testimony that Price had said the relationship was not sexual, that they had separate bedrooms and Price was barred from the house for part of 2010.

“[Price] was publicly abusive to [Coleman] , engaged in an open romantic relationship with another man in the community, was prohibited from entering the home because locks were changed by court order, and has a significant self-interest in the case,” Taylor wrote in his 18-page decision.

Taylor also noted Price withdrew her name from the home’s deed after the divorce, claiming she didn’t want to be responsible for the mortgage should anything happen to Coleman, something someone who was undertaking marital responsibilities would not have done.

While the couple had a joint checking account, Taylor noted that Price used her maiden name on it, with no indication that they were married.

“Finally, they did virtually nothing to create a public impression of their relationship, resulting in a lack of a uniform and general reputation about their status as husband and wife,” Taylor wrote in his decision.

Gary Coleman Decision

Attribution:

Judge: Shannon Price is not Gary Coleman’s common-law wife
Courts » Ruling suggests pair were merely “occasional roommates.”
Donald W. Meyers
May 14, 2012
The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54111101-78/coleman-price-wife-common.html.csp?page=1

“I have found my service on the bench to be rewarding, both professionally and personally, but I believe that the time is right to begin a new chapter in my life,” Lumpkin, 51, said in a prepared statement. “Although I will be leaving the probate court bench at the end of the year, I remain committed to public service, and I look forward to continuing to serve the community in other capacities.”

Marc D’Antonio, the associate probate court judge, is expected to announce his candidacy for probate judge today.

Lumpkin’s decision to hang up the robe comes as she remains mired in a protracted court battle with her brother over control of their parents’ multimillion-dollar estates. Frank G. Lumpkin III has sued his sister for millions in damages, claiming she’s abused her office and delayed the administration of the estates for more than a decade.

Frank K. Martin, the Columbus attorney who represents Frank Lumpkin, said Wednesday they are awaiting a hearing on motions in the case.

“We’re very anxious to get that hearing because this has been going on 11 years now,” he said.

Julia Lumpkin has declined to discuss the case publicly but has denied wrongdoing in court filings, blaming her brother for the impasse and filing a countersuit against him. She did not respond to an interview request Wednesday evening, but her spokesman said the pending case did not factor into her decision to retire from the bench.

“She wants to have more time to spend with her husband and stepchildren and her garden, which she’s very passionate about, and for travel,” said the spokesman, Brad C. Dodds, a Columbus attorney.

“She didn’t believe that she should commit to another four-year term if she is not confident that she would complete it,” he added. “She believes it’s more honorable not to run for re-election than do half-measures. It allows the citizens of Muscogee County to choose their next probate judge.”

Lumpkin was elected to the bench in November 1998 when she defeated R.G. “Bobby” Jones to fill the unexpired term of Probate Judge Barschall Andrews, who retired the summer before. She was re-elected to three more terms.

Julia Lumpkin plans to attend D’Antonio’s announcement, scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Government Center, but she will not make any further comment about her decision not to run, Dodds said.

D’Antonio has served as associate probate court judge since 2009 and worked in the court since January 2006. Before that, he was special assistant attorney general for the Department of Family and Children Services and spent some 15 years “in the trenches representing low-income people in non-criminal matters” as an attorney with the Georgia Legal Services Program, according to a campaign announcement.

“His experience makes him well-suited to handle all of the demands of the probate court from the appointment of personal representatives in estates to safeguarding the rights of vulnerable people including minor children, incapacitated adults and the mentally ill,” the announcement said.

Attribution:

Muscogee County Probate Judge Julia Lumpkin won’t seek re-election
Jim Mustian
May 9, 2012
Ledger-Enquirer
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/05/09/2042934/muscogee-county-probate-judge.html

Rudy Taylor said Thursday he’ll seek a change of venue very soon for Bruce Harkey’s pending trial.

Harkey, 59, is charged with criminal solicitation of capital murder in the March 26 death of his stepmother, Bonnie Harkey.

Prosecutors say they believe Bruce Harkey conspired to hire another man to kill his stepmother so Bruce Harkey could gain control of her fortune.

Taylor said Thursday he believes it is impossible to find an unbiased jury in the town of about 3,000 residents.

Taylor said media coverage of the brutal murder isn’t the real issue, its “word-of-mouth around here,” he said.

He said the rumor mills in San Saba county have far out-paced the truth and because of that he believes there is no one in the county who hasn’t heard of, and probably already decided, Bruce Harkey’s guilt.

Bruce Harkey and the man he is accused of hiring in the murder plot both were in court in San Saba on Thursday.

Bruce Harkey, 59, through his lawyer, was successful in getting his bond lowered from $500,000 to $400,000, but he remained in the Taylor County Jail Thursday afternoon.

Carl Wade Pressley, 28, the accused murderer, had asked District Judge Dan Mills to appoint a new lawyer for him after Pressley fired his first appointed counsel but the judge didn’t make a new appointment.

Bonnie Harkey, whose body was found March 26 in a shallow grave in the bottom of a drainage ditch in Leon County, nearly 200 miles from her San Saba County home, was the victim of a murder-for-hire plot that also claimed the life of her housekeeper, Karen Johnson, according to affidavits released in March.

A preliminary autopsy report said Bonnie Harkey was likely unconscious, but may still have been alive when she was buried in Leon County.

The affidavits say that Harkey’s stepson, who was arrested March 28 on a criminal solicitation of capital murder warrant, offered the woman’s grandson, $500 on March 22 to “make her gone this weekend” and said Pressley would receive $55,000 after Bonnie Harkey’s death.

Bruce Harkey, according to his lawyer, has spent time in federal prison before, in 2003, on a federal firearms charge.

Pressley told investigators the plan he hatched was to have his common-law wife Lillian King, 25, drop him off at Bonnie Harkey’s home where he would hide until King signaled him by ringing the doorbell, the affidavits said.

After a practice run the Friday before her death, King dropped Bonnie Harker off on Sunday, then later called Bonnie Harkey’s home phone and rang the doorbell, which was the signal for Pressley to emerge and ‘take out” the caretaker, the affidavits said.

Pressley said that when the doorbell rang, he went to the front door, grabbed Johnson from behind and pushed her down.

“Pressley advised me he did not ‘give a second thought’ to Johnson and he proceeded with his plant to kill his grandmother,” the affidavit said.

Johnson’s 10-year-old son found his mother dead Sunday in the doorway of Bonnie Harkey’s home at 3799 W. U.S. Highway 190, where he often stayed when his mother was working there.

Johnson may have died of a heart attack, according to the affidavits, but a preliminary autopsy report said a ruling on the cause of death was pending.

After killing Johnson, the affidavit said, King drove Pressley and the kidnapped woman off.

Pressley, who also confessed to killing Bonnie Harkey, according to the affidavits, led authorities to his grandmother’s shallow grave in an RV Park in Hilltop Lakes in Leon County where Pressley had a trailer.

A preliminary autopsy report said Bonnie Harkey died of a combination of “homicidal violence comprising blunt force head injuries and probable asphyxia including drowning.”

Water was found in Bonnie Harkey’s lungs, which indicated she was still breathing when she was buried, Leon County Justice of the Peace Doug Preston said.

Bonnie Harkey was the owner of Harkey Pecan Farm.

A check of district clerk records in San Saba County showed Bonnie Harkey’s children and stepchildren have filed multiple court documents in a fight over who should be listed as Bonnie Harkey’s guardians and what should happen to her considerable fortune.

Bonnie Harkey’s estate, which appears to be at the center of the alleged murder-for-hire plot, is valued at must more than $1 million, according to Darrel Spinks, the lawyer who serves as guardian of Harkey’s estate.

The estate includes a pecan orchard.

When Bonnie Harkey’s husband Riley died, portions of the orchard were willed to Bonnie Harkey and to Riley’s sons, John and Bruce, who were Bonnie Harkey’s stepsons.

Bonnie Harkey’s estate was originally willed to her daughter Connie, the adoptive mother of Carl Wade Pressley but when Connie died, Pressley became the beneficiary, Spinks said.

Pressley, however, sold the inheritance rights to Bruce and John Harkey who are the sole beneficiaries of their stepmother’s estate, including the orchard.

Attribution:

Lawyer For Murdered Woman’s Stepson Wants Trial Moved
Paul J. Gately
April 20, 2012
KWTX.com
http://www.kwtx.com/news/local/headlines/148245095.html

Takacs credits cooperation among police, People’s United Bank, the Fairfield Probate Court and a forensic accountant from the chief state’s attorney’s office with the Thursday arrest of Carmella Jamshidian, 54, of Madison Avenue, Trumbull. Jamshidian, who owns CJ’s Deli on Kings Highway, was charged with first-degree larceny by scheme.

According to Takacs, Jamshidian befriended the three Fairfield seniors — a brother and two sisters, who were not identified by police — after overhearing a call they made from a phone at the deli to a lawyer regarding an inheritance in 2009. The deli owner soon befriended the three, who all lived together in a house within walking distance of the deli. The siblings don’t drive, Takacs said, and lived simple lives. They never had a checking account, always paying bills with money orders. The sisters also had been appointed as conservators for their brother.

“The siblings inherited a substantial amount of money from a wealthy cousin,” Takacs said. “It should have supported them for the rest of their lives.”

But “under the guise of friendship, [Jamshidian] helped them with their bills, food, transportation,” according to Takacs, driving them to the bank and setting up a tab for them at her deli. The inheritance was paid out to the siblings in several installments and Jamshidian offered to store the checks in the deli safe. She was able through the friendship to gain access to their newly opened bank account, and eventually told the seniors they no longer needed to sign the checks because she could do it for them, police said.

A bank employee noticed that “money was flying out of the account,” Takacs said, and because there was a conservatorship in place, contacted the Probate Court, where Judge Daniel Caruso put a freeze on the account and contacted police.

“It was an astounding number of checks,” Takacs told the Fairfield Citizen. “In a one-year period there were 373 checks drawn on their account. Out of the 373 checks, 356 were written to [Jamshidian], the deli or to cash.”

The checks made out to cash were endorsed by Jamshidian. In total, police allege, Jamshidian stole $218,408 from the siblings.

Takacs said Jamshidian declined to be interviewed by police. “I’m pretty sure there are other residents out there who might be victims” of Jamshidian, he said, and urged anyone who believes they may have been taken advantage of by Jamshidian’s to call him at 203-254-4840.

A lawyer has been appointed by the Probate Court to file a civil suit to recoup the scammed money for the siblings, who have all been relocated to new living quarters with the assistance of the town’s Social Services Department, Tackacs said.

“This was definitely a cooperative effort here,” said police Sgt. Suzanne Lussier, a department spokeswoman. “Not only with the criminal element, but the human aspect as well.”

Jamshidian was released on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear May 24 in Bridgeport Superior Court.

Attribution:

Deli owner charged with bilking seniors of $200K
Genevieve Reilly
May 12, 2012
ctpost.com
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Deli-owner-charged-with-bilking-seniors-of-200K-3552071.php

Additional coverage:

Fairfield Deli Owner Charged with Embezzling $218K
She allegedly pilfered the money from three elderly Fairfield residents.
Caitlin Mazzola
May 11, 2012
Fairfield.Patch.com
http://fairfield.patch.com/articles/fairfield-deli-owner-charged-with-embezzling-218k

About this column: The latest crime reports released by the Fairfield Police Department.

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[Editor's Note: Arrest information is supplied by the Fairfield Police Department. It does not indicate convictions.]

A three-year investigation conducted by the members of the Fairfield Police Department and several other agencies lead to the arrest of a Fairfield business owner for allegedly embezzling money from a trio of elderly residents under the guise of friendship.

Carmella Jamshidian, 54, of Madison Avenue in Trumbull, was charged with first-degree larceny by scheme after she allegedly pilfered $218,408 in a single year from three elderly siblings who live in Fairfield, Detective Jason Takacs said. She was issued a $50,000 bond and is due in court on May 24.

The alleged victims — a brother and his two sisters, all in their 60s — inherited a large sum of money from a wealthy relative in 2007, Takacs said.

Jamshidian, who owns CJ’s Deli Shop on Kings Highway Cutoff, befriended the siblings shortly after. The victims were regular patrons of the deli, which was within walking distance from their home, according to the report. The three reportedly had used the deli’s phone to make calls to their attorney regarding their inheritance and police believe Jamishidian had overheard some of these calls.

She offered to help the three open a bank account at People’s United Bank for the inheritance, driving them to and from the bank and offering to house the checks as they came in inside a safe at the deli, police said. She also reportedly offered them a line of credit for buying food from the deli.

According to the report, Jamshidian eventually told the siblings that she no longer needed them to sign the checks to deposit them and that she could take care of their bill payments.

Police believe she took this opportunity to funnel the $218,408 into her own bank accounts. Investigators found that 373 checks were drawn from the account in a single year; 356 of those checks were made out to Jamshidian, the deli, or to cash, Takacs said. The ones made to cash were reportedly endorsed by Jamshidian.

Fraud investigators at People’s Bank noticed money disappearing from the account and contacted the Fairfield Probate Court in 2009. Judge Daniel Caruso froze the assets then to preserve what was left of the balance, Takacs said.

Fairfield police and Vic Sharma, an account investigator at the Chief States’ Attorney’s office, took over the case after the probate court alerted them in 2009. The department filed for an arrest warrant this week and Jamshidian was charged on Thursday.

Attorneys assigned by the probate court are pursuing litigation to recoup the monetary loss to the siblings, Takacs said. The siblings have since been provided aid and direction from the town of Fairfield’s Social Services Department.

Takacs added that case isn’t entirely closed and he believes there are more victims out there. He encouraged anyone who have been the victim of fraud or knows any related information to call the department at 203-254-4840.

About this column: The latest crime reports released by the Fairfield Police Department.

We avoid posting stories like this several times a week, but when this surfaced in our home state of Texas, it seemed to good opportunity to remind that financial exploitation can have many roots.  This YourHoustonNews.com story brought that to mind:

It’s a fact that our nation is growing old. It is safe to say that either you or someone you know is taking care of a parent, relative, or friend. I have an 84-year-young uncle who is in need of constant care. Through no fault of his own, he became a victim of financial exploitation. After an almost two-month battle with identity theft and banks, his situation was successfully resolved.

It is estimated that Texas, senior citizens over the age of 65 make up 12 percent of the state’s population, but they account for approximately 35 percent of crime victims in the state. Most of the crimes committed against seniors are non-violent, but these non-violent crimes leave their scars just as if someone had robbed them at gunpoint.

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend of financial exploitation of our seniors and disabled citizens. Professionals hired by the victim, other strangers, caregivers and, yes, even family members can take advantage of our senior citizens. It doesn’t matter who does it or how it’s done, financial exploitation of seniors and the disabled is illegal.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, commonly known as Adult Protective Services and Children’s Protective Services, has initiated a campaign to reduce financial exploitation of adults. Examples of financial exploitation can include:

• Cashing checks without permission

• Forging a person’s signature

• Misusing or stealing a person’s money or possessions

• Coercing or deceiving a person into signing documents such as contracts or wills, and

• Improper use of conservatorship, guardianship, or power of attorney.

What does financial exploitation look like? Some signs include:

• Sudden changes in bank accounts or banking practices

• Unexplained withdrawal of large amounts of money by a person accompanying the victim

• Unapproved withdrawal of funds by use of an ATM or debit card.

• Unexplained missing funds or valuables

• Forged signatures on financial transactions or property titles.

You can find much more information on financial exploitation by contacting Adult Protective Services at www.everyonesbusiness.org or 1-800-252-5400. Helping yourself to the property of people who are elderly or disabled is a crime. Preventing financial exploitation is everyone’s business.

You can learn more about this topic and other crime prevention topics by contacting the Conroe Police Department Crime Prevention Unit at 936-522-3226 or 936-522-3327. If you have a problem in your neighborhood or want to report drug activity, contact the Conroe Police Department Narcotics Unit at 522-3303. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about this column, contact Sgt. Berry at bberry@cityofconroe.org.

The financial exploitation portions of this story that especially caught Estate of Denial^® attention were the points on “coercing or deceiving a person into signing documents such as contracts or wills” and “improper use of conservatorship, guardianship, or power of attorney.”

While undoubtedly government agencies like Texas DFPS have many responsible, well-meaning employees, that cannot be said of all involved.  This article prompts reminding of another perspective regarding financial exploitation.   The EoD column Can Texans (or anyone) protect themselves from probate abuse? included this observation:

Any reform of the probate system must include understanding its surrounding culture of corruption. A recent column spoke to the network that can support Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) actions. Though often perpetrated by a combination of disgruntled family members, wannabe heirs and members of the legal industry (lawyers, judges and other court-related personnel), financial professionals from CPAs to banks sometimes play a role. In guardianships, questionable involvement on the part of Adult Protective Services (APS) employees, professional guardians and other social workers occurs. Medical personnel responsible for evaluations (physical and psychological) have been known to abet IRA actions as also have proprietors of facilities that house elderly, incapacitated or disabled individuals. Call it asset looting, property poaching or estate hijacking – any of these parties can (and too often do) derive direct or indirect benefit from abusive probate actions.

This point surfaces repeatedly with a candid look at probate abuse which often involves financial exploitation of all ages.  Check the EoD archive for Texas legislative hearings that give first-hand reports of such actions.

Just a reminder….

“It quite simply appears to be a fraud,” Farmington Hills attorney Steven Cohen charged in court papers last month. He represents Helen Robinson and Douglas Barden, who are challenging the validity of the document.

Cohen said the Dykema Gossett law firm and Detroit probate lawyer John Chase Jr. insinuated themselves into Barden’s estate, tried to manipulate probate proceedings to rake in excessive fees and asked a judge to seal the court file to keep the siblings in the dark.

It’s not unusual for families to squabble over inheritance, but Cohen’s legal brief offers the first behind-the-scenes glimpse of a legal battle involving one of Detroit’s best-known power couples: an entrepreneur who parlayed an Inkster cable TV franchise into a multimillion-dollar casino empire and his estranged wife, the late Bella Marshall, who made her mark as a top financial aide as she rose through Detroit and Wayne County governments.

But questions are bound to arise when you have a high-profile couple, reportedly with substantial assets, and the information is being kept under wraps, legal experts say.

“The circumstances that are driving this controversy all started with the secrecy thing, sealing the file,” said Barden’s lawyer, Henry Baskin of Birmingham, who is not involved in the dispute.

He said some of Cohen’s charges are difficult to believe, given the solid reputations of the lawyers involved. But with the proceedings sealed, he said, it’s hard to know who is telling the truth.

Cohen said Chase and Dykema submitted a suspicious trust agreement to the court that gives a large share of Barden’s estate to Marshall, who had feuded with Barden before his death from lung cancer in May 2011 at age 67. Marshall died last week in a freak household accident. She was 62.

Cohen said the trust also designated a large share of the estate to Barden’s daughter with Marshall, Alana Barden, but cut out Don Barden Jr., his son from a previous relationship. Cohen said Don Barden’s son cared for him until he died.

Chase declined to comment.

His lawyer, Eric Carver of Dykema Gossett PLLC, said the accusations “are totally false, baseless and misguided. We will respond to each of these baseless allegations with the probate court, which is the proper forum to decide these issues.”

It’s the second time in less than a year that Cohen and Chase have tangled in a high-stakes estate brawl.

In December, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Wayne County Probate Judge Freddie Burton Jr. to remove Chase from handling the estate of Rosa Parks, the late civil rights icon. Cohen had accused Chase and another lawyer of draining the estate with excessive legal fees and of concocting a phony legal dispute to seize control of Parks’ historically valuable possessions. Chase denied the charges. Those proceedings also were conducted in secret.

In the Barden case, Chase and Dykema have asked Probate Judge Terrance Keith to dismiss a trust challenge filed by Cohen’s clients, who live in metro Detroit.

Chase and Dykema said the challenge is frivolous. Marshall had joined Chase and Dykema in the dismissal request.

Marshall’s estate could benefit if the trust is allowed to stand.

Cohen said the trust agreement that Chase and Dykema filed in the case is fishy.

Besides eliminating Don Barden Jr.’s share of the estate, Cohen said the trust also reduced by 75% the portion Don Barden’s 10 siblings had expected to get.

Cohen also said the trust isn’t signed, which is unusual given Barden’s wealth and stature. Though the trust was stapled to a signed cover sheet, Cohen said there are two versions of the cover sheet, each bearing different dates.

“This is how you prepare a trust if you want to cut corners or commit fraud,” Cohen told the Free Press.

Cohen said Barden had long designated Northern Trust Bank, now Northern Trust, to handle his estate. For reasons Cohen said he doesn’t understand, Northern Trust is no longer involved and Dykema took its place. He said the law firm then petitioned the court to put Chase in charge.

“The family members, none of whom were represented by counsel at the time, failed to object to the petition,” Cohen said in his court filing. “And just like that, Chase, a complete stranger to the family, achieved control over Mr. Barden’s multimillion-dollar estate.”

Cohen said it took seven months for Chase to produce a copy of the trust and a financial accounting of Barden’s assets. He credited Judge Keith for ordering Chase to turn it over.

Though Cohen said Chase’s accounting shows Barden’s estate is in the red — four of his five casinos were in bankruptcy when he died — Cohen said his clients are skeptical.

He also said Dykema has a conflict of interest because it drew up the trust that is in dispute and will be the key witness in testifying about its authenticity.

Barden’s son and seven of Barden’s other siblings initially joined in the estate challenge. But they withdrew after Dykema answered questions they had about the trust agreement, according to their attorneys.

Marshall’s lawyer, Jeffrey Neilson of Bloomfield Hills, wouldn’t comment on the dispute.

A probate expert said Cohen’s allegations raise serious questions about the handling of Barden’s estate.

“It would be highly unusual, given Mr. Barden’s wealth, that there is no signed trust to be found — especially where it was allegedly created during his illness and in favor of a wife who started divorce proceedings against him,” said Troy probate lawyer Andrew Mayoras, coauthor of “Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!”

He said Keith likely will reject Dykema’s dismissal request, for now, and let Cohen investigate through depositions and record requests.

Barden and Marshall had a rocky relationship.

Five months before Barden died, Marshall asked a judge to declare him mentally incompetent and to prevent him from disposing of assets.

Barden accused Marshall of making “scurrilous and scandalous” allegations, countersued for divorce and asked a judge to divide their assets according to a prenuptial agreement. The agreement called for Marshall to receive half of Barden’s assets unless they were divorcing — in which case she would get $1 million.

Marshall also feuded with Barden’s brothers and sisters.

Six months after Barden’s funeral, which Marshall didn’t attend because Barden didn’t want her there, Marshall had him buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.

That outraged some of the siblings, including Douglas Barden, who said his brother wanted to be placed in a mausoleum.

Attribution:

New documents reveal raging court battle over Don Barden, Bella Marshall estate
David Ashenfelter
May 10, 2012
Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/article/20120510/NEWS06/205100558/New-documents-reveal-raging-court-battle-over-Don-Barden-Bella-Marshall-estate?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

Additional coverage:

Barden family still in fight over estate
Will that does not include son, has less for siblings surfaces
Josh Katzenstein
May 11, 2012
The Detroit News
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120511/METRO/205110353/1409/metro/Barden-family-still-fight-over-estate

Nearly a year after Don Barden died, attorneys and his family are still feuding over the business mogul’s estate.

Attorney Steven Cohen of Farmington Hills said a Detroit-based probate lawyer with no prior connection to Barden presented a trust agreement to Wayne County Probate Court that gave the majority of the estate to the businessman’s 20-year-old daughter, Alana Marshall Barden, and estranged wife, Bella Marshall, who died last week.

The document filed by attorney John Chase Jr. did not include Barden’s son from a previous relationship, Don Jr., and left his nine remaining siblings $50,000 instead of $200,000, as in a prior will, Barden’s brother, Douglas Barden, said.

“Mr. Chase has no connection to the family that I know of; however, he somehow came into possession of this trust instrument, and he presented it to the court,” Cohen said. “What we found surprising is that this designation of Bella Marshall was made in the last year of Mr. Barden’s life, at a time when they were feuding and going through divorce proceedings.”

A previous trust agreement gave most of the estate to his two children and little to Marshall, Cohen said.

An assistant at Chase’s office said he wasn’t available for comment. Marshall’s former publicist, Patrice Green, declined to comment.

Marshall died after an accidental fall in her Palmer Woods home last week. She was a longtime official in Wayne County and Detroit and was the city’s first female finance director after being appointed by former Mayor Coleman A. Young.

Eric Carver, an attorney with Dykema Gossett PLLC — the firm that wrote the agreement, disputed Cohen’s allegations in an email.

“Mr. Cohen’s allegations against John M. Chase Jr. and Dykema Gossett PLLC are totally false, baseless and misguided,” Carver said. “We will respond to each of these baseless allegations with the probate court, which is the proper forum to decide these issues.”

Cohen filed a complaint with the court in February against Chase’s trust document, challenging its validity because it didn’t have Barden’s signature. Chase asked Judge Terrance Keith to dismiss the complaint, Cohen said.

Cohen said he expects Keith to determine whether the case should go to trial. Dykema Gossett filed a motion for dismissal in March after Cohen filed the complaint in February. The parties met with Keith last month.

Douglas Barden said the trust instrument in dispute had multiple paragraphs blacked out, and Chase only offered Cohen estimates of the amount of the estate. The brother said he thinks Chase might be using the fact that some of Barden’s casinos went bankrupt to lowball his family and that the document has “been tampered with.”

“What we are really concerned about is we are being kept in the dark about what’s going on in his estate,” Douglas Barden said. “Any sane person would know that my brother wouldn’t leave his son off.”

This isn’t the first time Barden’s siblings have been in dispute with Marshall.

In November, The Detroit News reported she had Barden buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, even though he asked his siblings to have him kept in a mausoleum. Douglas Barden said his brother “had a clear mind” when he wrote his request to be placed in a mausoleum without Marshall’s involvement.