Missing woman’s mother says son-in-law owes her $1.7M
NEW CANAAN — As a woman who has been missing since last week has fought for custody of her five children in a two-year divorce case with her estranged husband, her mother has been in her own legal battle with him.
New Canaan and state police continued Wednesday searching for Jennifer Dulos, who was last seen Friday. The focus of the searched turned to Waveny Park, where Dulos’ Chevy Suburban was found the night she disappeared.
Dulos moved from Farmington with her children to a rented home on Welles Lane after filing for divorce in 2017 from her husband, Fotis Dulos.
The couple had been
married since 2004. That same year, according to court documents, the woman’s family began loaning money to Fotis Dulos, an accomplished high-end home builder in Fairfield County and the Farmington Valley.
It is unclear if Jennifer and Fotis Dulos were married when the loans began, but the family continued giving him money until at least 2015, documents said.
Fotis Dulos used the money to purchase and develop homes in Farmington, Avon and New Canaan and repaid the loans when he sold the properties, according to court documents.
But court papers in two lawsuits filed in 2018 show Fotis Dulos stopped making payments and owes his estranged wife’s family $1.7 million.
Richard Weinstein, an attorney representing Jennifer Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, and her late father, Hilliard, said Fotis Dulos stopped making mortgage payments on the Farmington home months ago.
The mortgage was guaranteed by money put up by the Farber family, Weinstein said.
According to the documents, Fotis Dulos owes the family a total of $1.7 million after defaulting on a loan for a property in New Canaan and for the purchase of the Farmington home where the family lived until the couple separated in 2017.
The lawsuit is still in the discovery phase with the plaintiffs filing motions for a judge to require Fotis Dulos to turn over bank statements and other evidence.
Fotis Dulos allegedly defaulted on a $1.5 million loan to purchase 183 Hemlock Hill Road in New Canaan in 2016, when he sold the property but only paid back $500,000, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Fotis Dulos also defaulted on the Farmington property by not making a $179,000 balloon payment by July 2017 when the loan was due, according to court documents. The six-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot Farmington home is listed for sale at $4.35 million.