Dragul in “a very seriously bad spot” as trials near
Accused securities fraudster Gary Dragul told a judge late last week that he is in “a very seriously bad spot” as he faces two almost consecutive trials this spring.
At a hearing Thursday in Denver District Court, Judge Andrew Luxen allowed two attorneys representing Dragul in a civil case against him to withdraw over his objections.
“Your honor, I find myself in some awkward territory here because I am being seriously prejudiced by the departure of my attorneys without the ability to replace them and defend myself in the proper manner,” said Dragul, a local real estate investor.
He asked Luxen to delay a three-week civil trial that is set to begin May 8.
“I’ve done everything I can to keep up with the barrage of court cases that have come my way, come my family’s way — my children, my wife, all the people around me,” Dragul told the judge. “So many lives have been destroyed during this process. They’re going to tell you that’s my fault. I think it’s their fault. What’s going on right now seriously prejudices me.”
Luxen refused to reschedule the trial or move back pre- trial deadlines, meaning Dragul must begin preparing for a complicated trial at a time when he is without an attorney.
“Honestly, sir, you’ve been engaged in litigation here for some time and in several different matters,” Luxen told the defendant
Thursday afternoon. “So, I don’t know that the language of everything that’s going on here is completely foreign.”
Attorneys Christopher Mills and Paul Vorndran with Jones & Keller have represented Dragul for the entirety of the threeyear case but said in recent court documents that he has failed to comply with their lawyer- client agreement. Luxen agreed to let them withdraw during a closed- door hearing Thursday that a Businessden reporter was barred from.
Vorndran and Mills declined to comment Friday on why they withdrew.
In the civil case, Dragul is being sued by the receiver of his estate, Harvey Sender, who accuses him of running a Ponzi scheme that took $52 million from 175 investors. Dragul has long maintained that he is innocent of that allegation and all criminal charges.
Sender first sued Dragul and several of Dragul’s business partners in January 2020. Attorneys for Sender urged Luxen not to reschedule the trial Thursday, noting the case’s history.
“This is part of his modus operandi, this is a delay tactic,” attorney Averil Andrews said of Dragul. “He has known since September that his attorneys were going to withdraw … and he has known about this case for three years. It’s time for him to get ready for trial.”
Dragul now has until March 10 to find an attorney, at which time Luxen says he may reconsider Dragul’s request to reschedule the trial until sometime after a separate criminal trial.
“The other side is, for lack of a better word, trying to jam me up so I can’t defend myself. I’m in a very seriously bad spot and I’m not an attorney,” Dragul told Luxen.
In Arapahoe County District Court, Dragul is scheduled to stand trial June 5 on one count of securities fraud. He was indicted five years ago on nine fraud charges related to allegations that he hid information from real estate investors, but prosecutors were forced to drop eight of the charges after realizing a statute of limitations had expired.
In a separate criminal case, Dragul faces five more counts of securities fraud stemming from similar allegations. That case will move ahead after the other is resolved.
Meanwhile, at the civil case hearing Thursday, Dragul verbally sparred, as he often does, with attorneys for Sender over which side is working to reimburse investors who lost money.
“This is impeding us from filing a liquidation plan and getting investors paid,” Sender attorney Michael Gilbert said of the civil case. “They’ve been waiting five years, a long time.”
Dragul pointed to a bankrupt property in Florida that he recently sold to the Philadelphia Phillies for $22.5 million.
“They talk about returning capital to investors but I took a property that they abandoned and turned it into a potential $4.9 million for investors,” Dragul told the judge.