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YUMA SUN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014 A5AEAFROM PAGE A1According to evidence presented during Liddle’s trial, he issued loans and loan increases totaling more than $22 million to entities owned in whole or part by Ruiz in a $1 million kickback scheme. At the time, Ruiz and Carl were business partners in three companies called Desert Best Enterprises, Desert Best Distribution and Desert Best Technologies.Ruiz reached a plea agreement for his role in the kickback scheme and testified against Liddle during his 2012 trial.Ruiz was sentenced to 24 months in prison, which he began serving on June 29, 2012. According to online federal inmate records, he currently is at a residential re-entry management facility in Phoenix and is scheduled for release on March 25, after which he will be subject to three years of supervised release.Still pending is a lawsuit filed against the general contractor on a number of projects funded through the fraudulent loans issued by Liddle. Those projects included the Yuma Fun Factory and Top of the Kress, developed by Ruiz, and Reflections Town-homes and Tuscan Ranch, developed by Todd Burch.In the lawsuit, NCUA is seeking more than $9 million in unpaid loans from Robert Schaffer and his company, Quality Development. The complaint alleges that Schaffer was aware of and participated in the fraudulent scheme perpetrated by Liddle, Ruiz and other borrowers. Furthermore, Schaffer allegedly received funds in excess of the value of the services and materials his company provided, according to the complaint.In 2013, Schaffer’s attorney filed two motions. One sought summary judgment for dismissal of three of the counts. The second is a motion for reconsideration of the state court’s order allowing NCUA to substitute as plaintiff for AEA. The credit union originally filed the lawsuit, and defendants have claims against it for “filing groundless fraud claims,” the motion states.A trial has been scheduled for Dec. 9 in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt. In the meantime, the parties are scheduling mediation.As for Carl, U.S. District Judge Neil Walk issued a stipulated judgment dated Dec. 10 in favor of AEA and against Carl, his wife, Margaret, and his company, Shel-Tech Limited LLC, in the amount of $6 million.According to court documents, Carl, a resident of Maricopa County in his 80s and in poor health (he underwent open heart surgery in 2008), was not always aware of the illegal loan activity between Ruiz and Liddle. However, NCUA’s lawsuit states that because Carl signed a personal guaranty for an initial $1.5 million loan to Desert Best Technologies, that guaranty applied to future loan agreements.While Carl was incapacitated, he had assigned a power of attorney in 2009 to his friend, J. Philip Jones. Jones not only signed other documents committing Carl, he also received payments of at least $1.2 million for himself and his business, Biotechnic Products, without Carl’s knowledge, according to a lawsuit Carl has filed against Jones and his company.Carl’s lawsuit alleges that Jones signed a debt modification agreement that Shel-Tech would take on $4.8 million in debt owed by Desert Best Technologies after Carl’s partnership with Ruiz was dissolved. This action was beyond the scope of the power of attorney, according to Carl’s lawsuit.His lawsuit states that “while diverting DBT money to themselves, Jones, Liddle and Ruiz also conspired to fraudulently stick Carl with the fraudulent debt that was allocated to DBT.”Carl’s attorney, Charles Onofry, is now preparing to file a motion in Yuma County Superior Court to consolidate that lawsuit with the complaint Carl had filed against former AEA President Kenneth Bredemeyer and the former AEA board of directors.In addition to the court cases brought by AEA in an effort to recover the money it lost through Liddle’s activities, Bolton ordered Liddle and his wife, Rhonda, to pay restitution of more than $25 million. The restitution, the biggest ever for credit union theft, will obligate Liddle to begin making payments to AEA once he completes his 15-year prison sentence.Liddle currently is incarcerated at the Safford, Ariz., federal correctional facility. He is scheduled for release June 24, 2025, according to online federal inmate records.
Newspaper Details
Yuma Sun
Yuma, Arizona, US
Thu, Jan 09, 2014
Page 5
Full Page
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Yuma C.
AZ, USA 31 Oct 2024
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