Michelle Troconis refuses to answer questions in suit

The attorney representing Jennifer Dulos’ mother is asking a judge to compel Michelle Troconis to provide information on Fotis Dulos’ business dealings after she invoked the Fifth Amendment as a response to every question asked during a 45minute deposition this week.

Attorney Richard Weinstein, representing Gloria Farber in the $2.5 million civil lawsuits filed against Fotis Dulos, said Troconis refused to answer any of his questions when she appeared Wednesday for the deposition at his West Hartford office.

Fotis Dulos and Troconis have been charged with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in the May 24 disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.

Troconis’ attorney, Andrew Bowman, fought to quash the subpoena requiring her to be deposed in the lawsuit, which accuses Fotis Dulos of failing to repay the Farber family for loans made to his real estate development company, Fore Group.

A judge previously ruled Troconis must attend a deposition, but said she could invoke the Fifth Amendment to specific questions after Weinstein agreed to not ask about the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.

“In support of this motion, plaintiff (Farber) asserts that the deponent Ms. Troconis has had a longstanding relationship with the defendants Fotis Dulos and the Fore Group; the plaintiff maintains that there are substantial funds owing to the plaintiff as a result of loans from Hilliard Farber to the Fore Group; that the defendant Dulos in particular has wrongly utilized assets of the corporation for his personal use and not for corporate needs,” Weinstein wrote in a motion filed Thursday, requesting a judge to require Troconis to answer his questions.

Farber’s attorney believes Troconis “has knowledge of the affairs of the Fore Group, and was involved in representing it in one capacity or another for some period of time.”

Weinstein called her testimony “quite significant in regard to the conduct of Fotis Dulos and the Fore Group in maintaining, or not maintaining, a separate corporate identity and use of corporate funds.”

Weinstein wants a judge to review his questions and determine which ones Troconis should be required to answer.

“The court would test and determine the appropriate invocation of the constitutional privilege against selfincrimination on a questionbyquestion basis,” Weinstein said.

He is also seeking to have Wednesday’s deposition sealed so Troconis’ criminal case is not prejudiced by any inference of her fears of selfincrimination.

Farber filed the lawsuits against Fotis Dulos and his company in 2018 as her daughter was embroiled in a prolonged divorce

Fotis Dulos and Troconis were arrested on tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges about a week after Jennifer Dulos disappeared. New Canaan police said in arrest warrants that two people resembling Fotis Dulos and Troconis were caught on video in Hartford the night of the disappearance. Fotis Dulos was also seen dumping bags that were later found to contain his wife’s blood and clothing, according to arrest warrants.

Police said Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a “serious physical assault” based on blood evidence found in the garage of her New Canaan home.

New arrest warrants released this month provided a detailed timeline tracing Fotis Dulos’ movements the morning of the disappearance.

According to the warrants, police believe Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” when Jennifer Dulos arrived home from dropping off their children at school around 8:05 a.m. on May 24.

Police said Fotis Dulos used a former employee’s pickup truck to drive to and from New Canaan that day. Police said he then urged the employee to swap out the seats of the truck and had the vehicle washed and detailed several days after the disappearance.

The employee eventually removed the seats, but turned them over to investigators who found Jennifer Dulos’ blood on one of them, the arrest warrants state.

Fotis Dulos is free after posting two $500,000 bonds, but he has been banned from contacting his children, who have been in the care of Farber since the disappearance. Farber, 84, has been granted the right to intervene in the Dulos divorce and is seeking permanent custody of the children.

Weinstein has said Fotis Dulos has not paid child support since his wife filed for divorce in 2017 and is attempting to hide assets, which eventually would be part of the children’s inheritance from the Farber family.