Does anyone know anymore on the Contra Costa Times article I have attached
about a secret account of condemnation deposits? <<Secret Account.txt>> Does
this have any relation to the folks we were discussing a few months ago who
wanted to help cities find "forgotten money" for an outrageous finders fee?
Has anyone been contacted about potential money due them? Somehow $81.6
million makes me very curious.......
Mary Dodge
City of Concord
925.671.3182
California
HOME : NEWS : CALIFORNIA
Published Monday, August 28, 2000
Finder of secret account jailed
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- A bribery investigation has uncovered an $81.6
million trust account, kept secret by Los Angeles Superior Court
officials, that includes $18 million in interest owed to government
agencies and individuals.
Officials lifted the confidentiality from the account after a Los
Angeles-area attorney discovered it and schemed with a Superior
Court Finance Division auditor to identify and inform those owed
money from the account, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported
Sunday.
Before they were caught, the lawyer and clerk split $1.5 million in
fees by telling cities and other government agencies how they could
collect $5 million in forgotten money owed them.
Court officials have since revised procedures regarding the trust
and have sent notices every six months since last year to cities
owed money, but have received only six responses. Officials relied
on an internal county audit and the District Attorney's Office
investigation of the bribery case, but no outside audit of the
account has been conducted.
"Very simply, the court's position for a long time was this money
was confidential," said Alf Schonbach, the Superior Court finance
and accounting administrator who oversees the fund. "The court made
no effort to contact persons to whom the money might be owed."
The trust account contains $63.6 million in deposits made by cities
and redevelopment agencies when owners contested the condemnation of
their property in eminent domain proceedings. The deposits were
based on the assessed value of the properties being sought for
public works projects.
Such cases can wind through the court system for years. Some of the
cases date back to the early 1970s.
Schonbach acknowledged that the courts did nothing until recently to
notify people about the account, but said there now seems to be
little interest from the cities that have a responsibility to the
homeowners involved.
"Ultimately, the responsibility really falls on the attorneys in
these cases," Schonbach said. "Given the number of cases heard in
Los Angeles Superior Court, it's unreasonable to believe that a
small accounting staff within the court is going to play nursemaid
and remind these attorneys that they have forgotten to complete
their work."
Most of the money is deposits made by cities and redevelopment
agencies, but Schonbach estimates a small amount is due to
homeowners and their heirs.
"In some of these older cases, people may have moved or are
deceased," he said. "Probably less than 3 (percent) to 4 percent of
the total in that fund is awaiting its rightful owners to come
forward."
Attorney Robert Fenton, 51, of Encino, stumbled onto the account by
accident when his parents' North Hollywood property was condemned.
He had only the best intentions when he developed a plan to track
down money, mostly accrued interest, for cities to which it was
owed, said James Blatt, Fenton's attorney.
"Fenton's conduct in this case was the result of his unlikely
discovery of funds wrongfully possessed by Los Angeles County and
his desire to obtain the return of those funds," Blatt said. "In so
doing, Fenton's judgment clouded, and what he now understands were
bribes were paid.
Using secret account data provided by the court auditor, 32-year-old
Gregory Pentoney of Downey, Fenton recovered nearly $5 million for
cities before the plan was shut down by suspicious officials alerted
by Fenton's contacts with city governments.
In March, Fenton pleaded no contest to giving a bribe to a
ministerial officer, and began serving a 16-month prison term Aug.
11.
Downey pleaded no contest to accepting a bribe and is expected to
begin serving a two-year prison sentence Sept. 8.
Without the plea agreement, each faced a 12-year prison sentence.
