The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Farber’s attorney: Fotis Dulos is using his children as ‘pawns’
STAMFORD — Attorneys representing Gloria Farber in her daughter’s divorce are calling her soninlaw’s recent legal maneuvers thinly veiled attempts to use his five children as “pawns” for his own interests.
Court papers filed last week in the divorce indicate that Fotis Dulos is seeking to have his two oldest children, twin 13yearold boys, represented in custody matters by their own attorney, who would not necessarily seek what was in their best interest but rather advocate for their wishes.
Fotis Dulos is also seeking access to his children’s medical and school records, even though Farber was granted temporary custody after he was charged in the disappearance of their mother, Jennifer Farber Dulos.
“The minor children deserve to have their academic and medical needs met without interference from the defendant and without risk that their sensitive information will be used by the defendant to further his own interests, especially in the press,” attorneys Anne Dranginis and Kelly Scott, who represent Farber, said in court papers filed Wednesday.
Farber, who is an intervener in the divorce, is asking a judge in Stamford family court to deny both motions.
In the two documents submitted in response to motions filed last week by attorney Rich Rochlin, representing Fotis Dulos in the divorce, Dranginis and Scott also maintain that he caused a doctor to stop treating one of the children, has denigrated their mother in the press since her disappearance and had his criminal attorney Norm Pattis release details of a confidential custody evaluation to divert attention “from the grim facts of this matter.”
Jennifer and Fotis Dulos were in the midst of a contentious twoyear divorce and custody battle when she disappeared after dropping their children off at school in New Canaan the morning of May 24.
The children have been with Farber at her Manhattan home since the day her daughter went missing. She sought and obtained intervener status in her daughter’s divorce so she could seek permanent custody of the children.
Fotis Dulos, 52, and his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, 44, were charged June 2 with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in connection with the disappearance of Jennifer Farber Dulos. Arrest warrants indicate two people resembling the pair were caught on video discarding garbage bags that contained items stained with the blood of Jennifer Farber Dulos in Hartford the night she was reported missing. Police concluded based on blood and blood splatter at her New Canaan home that Jennifer Farber Dulos was the victim of a “serious” assault. The extensive search for her has entered its fourth month.
Pattis has said publicly that Jennifer Farber Dulos was either suffering from some health malady she wanted to escape or made herself vanish much like the plot in the novel, “Gone Girl,” where the main character stages her own disappearance to get back at her husband.
The five children are supporting each other through their mother’s disappearance and their father’s arrest “for activities involved in her violent assault and disappearance,” Dranginis and Scott said. It is unclear why Fotis Dulos would want to “split” the children by seeking an attorney for only the two oldest, the attorneys said. “This sends a peculiar message to his other children.”
Fotis Dulos has not seen his children since May 22 and was barred from contact after his arrest in connection with the disappearance of their mother. Before that, he had limited supervised visits due to his conduct in the divorce proceedings including asking the children to lie for him, Dranginis and Scott said.
Fotis Dulos is also being sued by Farber for $2.5 million in loans made by the family to his real estate company, the Fore Group. Recent filings in the lawsuits indicate Fotis Dulos is claiming he has no income and could be $7 million in debt — two admissions that Farber’s civil attorney said makes his attempts to gain custody of the children suspect.
“Even though the defendant has never paid a dime in child support in more than two years, he now seeks custody of the children, but he has not revealed how he can support the children,” said attorney Richard Weinstein, representing Farber in the lawsuits, in a motion filed Tuesday seeking inspections of the finances of the Fore Group and Fotis Dulos.