Fotis Dulos will have to turn over documents related to a $500,000 loan by a Greek investor, but his criminal defense attorney will not have to provide a deposition or any documents related to how he’s being paid in the $2.5 million civil lawsuits filed against his client, according to recent court rulings.
But Fotis Dulos may still be on the hook to provide the documents himself — if he has them, his civil attorney said.
Hartford Superior Court Judge Cesar Noble has granted a motion from Norm Pattis, who is representing Fotis Dulos in the criminal charges related to the disappearance of his wife, to squash a subpoena requiring him to provide a deposition in the lawsuits.
Noble also agreed Pattis did not have to supply information on how he was being paid.
“The documents requested are not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,” Noble wrote in his order.
William Murray, representing Fotis Dulos in the lawsuits, said Thursday he had not yet reviewed the recent rulings to determine what they mean for his client. Murray also said he was unsure if his client had any documents related to how his criminal defense team is being paid.
Gloria Farber, the mother of Jennifer Dulos who has been missing since May 24, is suing her son-in-law for $2.5 million in unpaid loans from her family to his high-end real estate company, the Fore Group. Murray has contended the money was a gift and not a loan since there are no promissory notes.
Attorney Richard Weinstein, representing Farber in the lawsuits, is also asking the court to turn over a foreclosure proceeding against Fotis Dulos to Noble.
Weinstein is demanding in court papers filed this week to have Fotis Dulos file a response to the foreclosure notice for the Jefferson Crossing home in Farmington.
Weinstein and Murray have argued vigorously in court filings as the lawsuits are headed toward trial in December.
Murray fought to conceal the funding source from being entered as evidence in the lawsuits and how much Pattis and private investigator Patrick McKenna are being paid.
Fotis Dulos will have to supply all documents related to an apparent $500,000 loan made to him by Greek investor Yannis Toutziaridis and any re-payment receipts as well as any papers indicating repayment of the loans that were made by the Farber family, according to Noble’s most recent rulings.
Fotis Dulos, 52, and Michelle Troconis, 44, have each been charged with two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in the disappearance.
Pattis filed motions in the civil proceedings to avoid disclosing the financial information and to dodge appearing for a deposition in the lawsuit to Weinstein on the grounds he is a third-party to the lawsuits and not directly involved.
Pattis contended in court papers that since he has not been granted permission by his client to provide the financial information on how he’s being paid, according to state law, he doesn’t have to turn over the documents.
Noble previously declined to require an intense financial review of the books of the Fore Group.
However, Fotis Dulos will have to supply financial affidavits furnished for his divorce, which was proceeding when Jennifer Dulos disappeared, an accounting of how much and for what he was reimbursed by the Fore Group for business expenses and any documents given to Pattis related to his Fidelity retirement account.
His former civil attorney, David Markowitz, will also have to appear at a deposition in the lawsuits and supply three years of financial information related to the Fore Group, according to the orders. Like Pattis, Markowitz was seeking to quash a subpoena requiring him to attend a deposition and provide financial information related to Fotis Dulos’ dealings.
Fotis and Jennifer Dulos were embroiled in a bitter two-year divorce when the 51-year-old mother of five vanished.
Weinstein contends Fotis Dulos has not paid alimony or child support since his wife filed for divorce in 2017 and stopped paying the mortgage on his Farmington home last November. Weinstein’s client, who put up $2.3 million in cash collateral so Fotis and Jennifer Dulos could purchase the home in 2012, has filed to foreclose on the property.
Farber, 84, has been granted the right to intervene in her daughter’s contentious two-year divorce and has maintained custody of the couple’s children since Jennifer Dulos went missing. Farber is now seeking sole legal custody of them.
Jennifer Dulos was last seen on a neighbor’s security camera returning home around 8:05 a.m. May 24 after dropping off her five children at a nearby school.
Police believe Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” when she arrived at her Welles Lane, New Canaan, home, where they found evidence that she was the victim of a “serious physical assault” based on blood stains and spatter in the garage, according to arrest warrants.