The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Attorney for Farber pushes to question nanny
The attorney representing Gloria Farber in her $2.5 million lawsuits filed against Fotis Dulos wants a judge to expedite his ruling on his motions to depose Michelle Troconis and the family’s longtime nanny.
Attorney Richard Weinstein cited the lawsuits scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 3 as the reason for his requests for the motions to be granted immediately.
Weinstein is asking Hartford Superior Court Judge Cesar Noble to determine which questions Troconis should be compelled to answer after she refused to provide any information during a September deposition.
He is also asking a judge to move ahead with a deposition of the family nanny Lauren Almeida who has been caring for the five Dulos children for five years, according to court documents.
Fotis Dulos and Troconis are facing tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges in the disappearance of Farber’s daughter Jennifer Dulos, who went missing on May 24.
Farber is suing her soninlaw for $2.5 million for unpaid loans to him and his highend real estate business, Fore Group. Weinstein is seeking to depose Troconis, the former girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, and Almeida on their knowledge of the business dealings of the Fore Group. Weinstein contends that both were former employees of the company.
Almeida brought the children to Farber’s Manhattan home on the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared. She also is believed to be the person who allowed officers into Jennifer Dulos’ New Canaan home after her friends reported her missing that night.
Almeida is believed to be helping Farber raise her grandchildren since their mother disappeared. The lawsuits filed against Fotis Dulos were initiated in early 2018, about six months after Jennifer Dulos left him and filed for divorce.
Weinstein contends in court documents that Almeida is willing to be deposed on Friday — one day after the lawsuits are slated for a trial conference before Noble in Hartford.
Weinstein is also accus
ing attorney William Murray, representing Fotis Dulos in the lawsuits, of harassing Almeida by sending an email demanding that she arrive to the deposition in New York with three years of tax returns and copies of any payments, including to student loans or for lines of credit made by Jennifer Dulos or her mother.
Weinstein called Murray’s request by email “totally inappropriate” and said the documents have nothing to do with Almeida’s deposition in the lawsuits, but were a thinly veiled attempt to gather information for his client about his children. A court order has banned Fotis Dulos from contacting his children since his arrest.
“Said requests are an
invasion of Ms. Almeida’s privacy and are meant solely to harass and intimidate the witness,” Weinstein said.
Noble previously denied Weinstein’s request to depose Almeida last week on the grounds the date didn’t give Murray enough time to prepare.
Weinstein also wants Noble to determine which questions among nearly 200 he asked of Troconis that she will be required to answer. Weinstein and Troconis’ attorney, Andrew Bowman, have been sparring over whether she should be deposed since she is a codefendant in the criminal cases against Fotis Dulos.
Bowman has continuously claimed that any response to Weinstein’s questions could be used against her in the criminal case.
According to the war
Weinstein also wants Noble to determine which questions among nearly 200 he asked of Troconis that she will be required to answer. Weinstein and Troconis’ attorney, Andrew Bowman, have been sparring over whether she should be deposed since she is a codefendant in the criminal cases against Fotis Dulos.
rants, 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. May 24.
Police said two people resembling Fotis Dulos and Troconis were seen on video the night of the disappearance in Hartford. Fotis Dulos was also seen dumping bags that were later determined to contain his wife’s blood and clothing, according to arrest warrants.
Police said Fotis Dulos and Troconis also took a red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck belonging to a Fore Group employee to a car wash in the days after the disappearance.
Fotis Dulos also urged the employee to remove the seats, which he did but turned them over to investigators who found Jennifer Dulos’ blood on one of them, according to arrest warrants.