The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Farber attorney accused of acting like a ‘prosecutor’
The attorney representing Jennifer Dulos’ mother in civil lawsuits has questioned Michelle Troconis “as a prosecutor would,” according to a new court filing.
Attorney Andrew Bowman, representing Troconis in the charges filed against her in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, is again seeking to avoid having his client provide answers during a deposition on her former boyfriend’s finances.
Troconis and Fotis Dulos have been charged with two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in Jennifer Dulos’ disappearance, which reaches five months on Thursday.
The 51yearold mother of five went missing as her family was suing Fotis Dulos for $2.5 million in unpaid business loans to his company the Fore Group. Jennifer and Fotis Dulos were also embroiled in a twoyear contentious divorce and custody battle when she was last seen on May 24.
Attorney Richard Weinstein, representing Jennifer Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, has been vigorously battling Bowman over Troconis’ deposition in the civil proceedings.
Bowman tried to quash a subpoena requiring his client to testify, but a judge overruled the motion, saying Troconis could invoke her Fifth Amendment right to avoid answering particular questions. Troconis appeared at a deposition last month, but refused to answer any of Weinstein’s questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right each time.
Weinstein is continuing to press for Troconis to answer questions regarding the finances of Fotis Dulos and his company. But Bowman contended in court papers filed Tuesday that Weinstein is questioning Troconis “as a prosecutor would” even though he had agreed to not ask about the disappearance.
“An examination of the questioning indisputably demonstrates that (Farber’s) counsel is asking questions that are the mirror image of what a prosecutor would ask,” Bowman wrote in a memorandum filed in opposition to Weinstein’s motion to compel Troconis to answer his questions.
Bowman contends that federal and state case law indicates that Troconis has an undisputed right to invoke the Fifth Amendment when answering questions that could implicate her in criminal proceedings.
The questions asked during the deposition have been sealed from public view. Bowman also argued in the memorandum that his client’s comments to police were not an indication that she is required to answer questions in a separate civil proceeding. Bowman also pointed that Troconis is a third party to the lawsuit and is not being sued by Farber.
Weinstein claims in previously filed papers that Troconis “abused the invocation of the Fifth Amendment privilege” by refusing to answer any of his questions.
Hartford Superior Court Judge Cesar Noble has not ruled on any of the motions regarding Troconis’ deposition in the lawsuits.
Weinstein hopes Troconis could shed light on Fotis Dulos’ business dealings, which he contends would show that he was shuffling money from his highend real estate business to his personal accounts, including travel and meals they took together, according to court papers.
Weinstein said he wants to establish any benefits Troconis may have received from the Fore Group, including access to a car and travel to determine “whether or not Fotis Dulos maintained true separate corporate identity for the Fore Group and the sanctity of that corporation as opposed to using it as his personal piggy bank.”
Attorney William Murray, representing Fotis Dulos, is calling the $2.5 million a gift from the family since there are no promissory notes.
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. Police said the man resembling Fotis Dulos was seen on the footage 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.
The pair were arrested again in early September on another tampering with evidence charge related to a pickup truck belonging to a Fore Group employee that police say was used in the disappearance. Police said video showed Fotis Dulos and Troconis taking the vehicle to an Avon car wash in the days after the disappearance. Those arrest warrants provided a detailed timeline tracing what police say was 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. that morning.
Police said Fotis Dulos likely used the 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.
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.
Troconis is due in state Superior Court in Stamford on Friday for her next pretrial hearing, while Fotis Dulos is scheduled to appear on Nov. 6.