FRAUD TRIAL
Ex-hockey great says he lost $40 million in scam Sergei Fedorov testifies in trial of ex-Wellington resident Joseph Zada.
WEST PALM BEACH — The year 2002 was a big one for Detroit Red Wings hockey star Sergei Fedorov.
Known as a skilled skater, the Russian led the NHL team to its third Stanley Cup championship since he came aboard in 1990. He watched his girlfriend, professional tennis glamour girl Anna Kournikova, play at Wimbledon and then married her. He shared his joy with Joseph Zada, a part-time Wellington high-flier who Fedorov believed was helping him turn the millions he was making into even bigger riches. Then, it all began to fall apart. His marriage to Kournikova crumbled. He was repeatedly traded. Finally, he learned that the roughly $40 million he invested with Zada, Get live updates from Palm Beach County courtrooms at @
who also owned a palatial home in the tony Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe Shores, was gone.
Dressed in a white button-downshirt, tie and black slacks, Fedorov described to a federal jury Thursday how he came to trust Zada and why he gave Zada so much money and encouraged friends to invest as well.
“He was very nice when he talked,” the 45-year-old Hall of Famer said in the soft accent of his homeland. “We had very deep discussions. He was very smart. We shared a passion for cars and nice things in life.”
He and Zada were so close that when the Red Wings won the Stan- ley Cup in 2002, Fedorov took the cup to Zada’s Michigan home and passed it around among party guests. He was among 20 people Zada invited to board his private jet at Palm Beach International Airport for an-all expense-paid weekend in Las Vegas. They also traveled to London together.
Fedorov, who in his heyday was considered one of the best hockey players ever, is the star witness for federal prosecutors in the fraud case they are building against Zada in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach. Zada, 58, is charged with 15 counts of fraud and three charges of making false statements on loan applications in connection with what prosecutors claim was a $20 million-plus Ponzi scheme. For all The Post’s Legislature 2015 coverage, go to palmbeachpost.com/floridanews
Like fifirefifighters from Palm Beach and Martin counties, an Olympic equestrian who lives in Wellington, doctors, car dealers and others, Fedorov said Zada told him he could make him rich by investing in oil. Zada said he had connections in Saudi Arabia, Fedorov said.
Zada also said he had a friend, identifified only as Wolfgang, who was a member of a secret board in London that had access to million-dollar deals throughout the globe, Fedorov testifified. Zada claimed Wolfgang, who was in his late 60s, was training him so he could join the board when Wolfgang retired.
Through Wolfgang, Zada became friends with Saudi Prince Abdullah, Fedorov testifified. “My understanding was they were friends and shared a passion for horses and once Abdullah gave him a really, really nice horse,” he said of the prince, who became king of Saudi Arabia in August 2005 and died in January. Zada even indicated he was considered a member of Saudi royalty, Fedorov said.
All the bravado disappeared in 2009 when Zada tearfully told him Wolfgang was dead, Fedorov said. Grief turned to excitement when Zada said he learned Wolfgang had left him $1.5 billion. Zada promised to use the windfall to repay the hockey star the millions he was owed.
Zada showed him papers that indicated his claimed inheritance was legitimate. He sent him regular text messages that “the eagle has landed,” a code they used when exchanging messages about the status of the elusive inheritance. When the money never materialized, Federov fifiled suit.
While he won a $60 million judgment against Zada, like others who won civil judgments against Zada, Fedorov said he never collected a dime.
Instead of retiring, Fedorov said he was forced to return to Russia, where he continued to play for two years and is now general manager of CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League. “I had to move back to Russia to repay my debts,” he said, although he still regularly returns to Miami and Detroit.
Zada’s attorneys have repeatedly insisted that those who claim they invested money with Zada are mistaken.
They point to promissory notes Zada gave Fedorov and others. The notes prove the money was given to Zada as loans, not investments.
Fedorov brushed offff questions about the various promissory notes he received. When he fifirst received one, he said he probably didn’t understand English well enough to read the document. Later, he said, he was too busy playing hockey or dealing with personal issues, like his breakup with Kournikova, to ponder why Zada was describing the investment as a loan.
Even after he began suspecting he had been fooled, Fedorov said he continued to give Zada money. He said he believed Zada would use the money to fifinally get his inheritance. “We’ve just got to get to the fifinish line,” Fedorov said of the expression that became a mantra for him and others who wanted their money back. “To me, it’s a team concept.”
Under questioning from Zada attorney Richard Lubin, Federov readily admitted he had another saying during those years: “Anything for J.Z.”
The trial, which is to continue for another two weeks, resumes Monday.