Glendale News Press, CA
Nov 3 2012
Questions roil Armenian Genocide compensation fund
Man says $574,000 was deposited in account opened in his name.
By Mark Kellam, [email protected]
November 3, 2012 | 12:00 p.m.
More than $1.6 million has been paid out from a compensation fund for
descents of Armenian Genocide victims, according to a status report
filed in a lengthy lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
However, four of the 32 claimants who haven’t been paid have died and
attorneys are seeking direction from U.S. District Judge Christina
Snyder about whether their families – who have verified their lineage
to the descendants – should be paid the funds instead.
Snyder is also being asked to order banks that handled past
transactions from the Axa S.A. insurance settlement fund to check
various forms to see if any fraudulent transactions have occurred. The
request follows some questionable financial activities regarding
compensation funds in the past.
The lawsuit stems from allegations made by Glendale-based attorney
Vartkes Yeghiayan that there were accounting discrepancies in the fund
set up by the French insurer. He has requested an audit of all 3,000
claims.
The accounting firm of Holthouse, Carlin and Van Tright has been
handling the payment of about $2.1 million to 159 claimants. About 75%
of the funding has been paid out so far, according to the status
report.
However, 28 of the 32 remaining claimants have not responded to
multiple attempts by the accounting firm to contact them.
In a past status report, concerns were raised about 17 checks totaling
more than $312,000 that were made payable to compensation claimants,
but appear to have been endorsed by Los Angeles attorney Berj Boyajian
and deposited into an account called Boyajian and Associates at Union
Bank.
Boyajian wrote checks totaling $118,127 to various individuals from
insurance settlement funds that he had deposited into his Union Bank
account, but Boyajian allegedly kept the remaining $194,166 until last
June, according to the status report filed in federal district court.
On June 28, shortly after the previous status report was filed
outlining the suspicious check endorsements by Boyajian, a check for
$194,166 was written from an account for Boyajian’s legal counsel and
deposited into the Axa settlement account, the report states.
Boyajian doesn’t deny the transactions and his attorney submitted
documentation under oath affirming them.
The report also states that Boyajian, citing his Fifth Amendment
rights, refused to answer significant questions during a deposition in
the case.
However, Glendale resident Parsegh Kartalian, the compensation fund’s
administrator, testified in a deposition that he did not know how
Boyajian got ahold of the claimant’s checks, that Boyajian had no role
in the administration of the claims and that he had nothing to do with
deciding which claims would be approved or denied, according to the
status report.
Insurance fund `claimant’ Zaven Haleblian testified during a
deposition that nine settlement checks made payable to him totaled
$574,425 – which is the same amount that was in an account in his name
at First California Bank, an account he knew nothing about until last
April that allegedly was opened by Boyajian, according to the status
report filed with the court.
Haleblian said he never submitted a claim for settlement funds and had
no relatives involved in the Armenian Genocide.
He said he did grant Boyajian power of attorney to manage his account
at Pacific Western Bank because he lives in Syria most of the year.
However, Boyajian’s power-of-attorney responsibilities did not include
opening bank accounts, according to the status report.
After Haleblian’s deposition, Boyajian returned all of the money from
the First California account into the Axa settlement fund, the report
states.
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http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-1104-questions-roil-compensation-fund