Business Fraud Lawsuits and Cases

Business fraud lawsuits occur all the time between business partners and between businesses and consumers. And sometimes businesses cheat shareholders, partners or investors. Our firm has represented all such clients. Some of the types of business fraud lawsuits we handle include:

In multiple cases regarding business fraud lawsuits, our firm has pursued business owners or officers who commingled their personal funds with that of the business, to evade paying creditors, suppliers, workers, and so on. In a small wage and hour case, our firm represented four employees for unpaid overtime compensation. During a settlement mediation, we insisted on being given verified financial statements of the defendant when it claimed it lacked funds to fully pay off the claims. On that basis, the case resolved for $60,000. However, after the first payment was made by an insurer, the defendant refused to make the remaining payments. In order to collect on the judgment on the unpaid sum, which was just $48,000, we sued the business owners and several of their other businesses. We determined that their attorney was their landlord and was paying himself first. We determined that the failed business which owed our clients their wages, had transferred it assets to several other companies controlled by the family. As a result, the case settled during trial for almost $200,000, well above the total lost wages.

Other business fraud lawsuits include deceptive business practices, including price fixing, collusion to defraud consumers, and investment fraud. In a recent business fraud case, our firm obtained a judgment for fraud and conversion against a pastor who took “investment” money from a parishioner, and used it for his other businesses and for his personal interest. He declared bankruptcy, and our firm is pursuing him in bankruptcy court, so as to exclude the debt to our client from the debt that would otherwise be “discharged” in the bankruptcy. We are persistent for our clients.

In an unusual business fraud lawsuit case, our firm represented a Jewish school which had been approached by a corrupt rabbi to help it obtain a “donation” of $500,000 for the organization the rabbi ran, a community center. The rabbi would give 10% of the funds to the school. The school was eager to help the rabbi. What the rabbi didn’t disclose was that there was no “donation”, but rather a contest in which schools competed for Facebook “likes”, with the 20 schools in the nation with the most Facebook “likes” each getting a $500,000 donation from a major department store chain. When the school learned that the rabbi had entered the school into the contest, it discovered that the department store had rules which required that the donation be used only for specified school purposes. But the rabbi insisted that all of the money would go to his community center because they had a “contract” with the school. The school realized that this was a fraud and advised that it could not give the community center 90% of the money without the approval of the department store, and refused to honor the so-called “contract”. The rabbi had his daughter intercept the check and deposit it into an account the rabbi opened in the school’s name. They withdrew almost all of the money. The bank eventually stopped payment and deposited the money with the court. Our firm won a judgment that the contract was illegal and void. It endured 3 appeals, including a Supreme Court appeal (using the help of appellate counsel). The client recovered the entire $500,000.

In another business fraud lawsuit case, our firm pursued a freight forwarding company that was paid, but then did not pay the shippers, making the client, a small business, liable for the losses for undelivered products despite having paid for the products to be shipped. Millions of dollars in damages were incurred. The firm pursued investigations both in Asia and in the United States. The corporate defendant also filed a preemptive lawsuit in federal court against the client, seeking over a hundred thousand dollars from the client. Based on that lawsuit, the defendant filed an “anti-SLAPP” motion against our client on the false basis that the client was only suing the corporation because it had been sued. Our firm beat the anti-SLAPP motion and obtained $25,000 in sanctions against the corporation for filing the motion. Eventually, the client entered into a settlement and was paid back a substantial amount of the losses.

A common type of business fraud lawsuit is making a false contractual promise, that is, a promise to perform in some way, which the person making the promise never intended to keep. The firm has extensive experience in prosecuting false promise fraud and obtaining damages for the client.

Business fraud lawsuits and cases have many challenges, including the level of proof required, which is higher than that for a normal civil trial. Also, it is often hard to prove the mind of the perpetrator of the fraud, that his or her “intent” was to defraud the client. Our firm gets the details right in order to get the best results for our clients.

If you have a case and possible lawsuit similar to these, contact Ken Ralidis at 213.251.5480 today to see how he can help you get the compensation you deserve. We have often obtained results for our clients that are 10-25 times what the initial offer was. Don’t just settle for any attorney that may not have the experience, or a big law firm that doesn’t have the time or resources for a case like yours. Reach out to Ken Ralidis for his experience and the personal attention he offers. We can help you win your case!