One day Pete Bennett was preparing to litigate SBC Services in a near identical case as Hicks Consulting. One during a hearing in another case Charter v. Authentic Technologies, founder/president Pete Bennett found himself without representation. Bennett via Prepaid Legal retained Attorney Donald Gene Moats. Suddenly Moats failed to appear during a hearing scheduled just after 9/11 but Judge Bruce Van Voorhis saved the case.
Years later his nephew Daniel Van Voorhis son of Attorney Thomas Van Voorhis former Attorney of Ken Berhing of Blackhawk Development vanished from Cull Canyon
HEARING ON OSC RE: FAILURE TO FILE REQUEST FOR ENTRY OF DEFAULT BY PLAINTIFF
DISCHARGED
Minutes You are Not Authorized to View Minutes prior to 12/31/2099
05/14/2002
NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT AND DISMISSAL FILE BY HICKS CONSULTING GROUP, INC.
Not Applicable
05/14/2002
REQUEST FILED & DISMISSAL ENTERED WITH PREJUDICE AS TO ENTIRE ACTION
Not Applicable
05/14/2002
ENTIRE ACTION DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE
Not Applicable
05/08/2002
RESPONSE TO ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FILED BY HICKS CONSULTING GROUP, INC
Not Applicable
05/06/2002 9:00 AM DEPT. 15
HEARING ON OSC RE: FAILURE TO FILE PROOF OF SERVICE BY PLAINTIFF
DISCHARGED
Minutes You are Not Authorized to View Minutes prior to 12/31/2099
04/29/2002
RESPONSE TO ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FILED BY HICKS CONSULTING GROUP, INC
Not Applicable
04/26/2002
HEARING ON OSC WAS SET FOR 5/16/02 AT 9:00 IN DEPT. 15
04/25/2002 7:00 AM DEPT. 15
CHECK FOR REQUEST FOR ENTRY OF DEFAULT
VACATED
04/17/2002
PROOF OF SERVICE BY MAIL W/NOTICE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT OF COMPLAINT FILED 02/07/2002 OF HICKS CONSULTING GROUP, INC AS TO DEFT(S) SBC SERVICES, INC, SIGNED ON 03/11/02 FILED
Not Applicable
04/17/2002
PROOF OF SERVICE BY MAIL W/NOTICE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT OF COMPLAINT FILED 02/07/2002 OF HICKS CONSULTING GROUP, INC AS TO DEFT(S) PACIFIC TELESIS GROUP, SIGNED ON 03/11/02 FILED
Not Applicable
04/15/2002
HEARING ON OSC WAS SET FOR 5/06/02 AT 9:00 IN DEPT. 15
04/15/2002 7:00 AM DEPT. 15
CHECK FOR PROOF OF SERVICE
VACATED
04/03/2002
WE CANNOT FILE/ISSUE YOUR PRF OF SERVICE ON SUMMONS FOR THE FOLLOWING REASON:
Not Applicable
Minutes You are Not Authorized to View Minutes prior to 12/31/2099
03/11/2002
CLERK`S TICKLER TO CHECK FOR REQUEST FOR ENTRY OF DEFAULT WAS SET FOR 4/25/02 AT 7:00 IN DEPT. 15
02/07/2002
CASE ENTRY COMPLETE
Not Applicable
02/07/2002
COLOR OF FILE IS GOLD
Not Applicable
02/07/2002
CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE WAS SET FOR 6/27/02 AT 8:30 IN DEPT. 15
02/07/2002
CLERK`S TICKLER TO CHECK FOR PROOF OF SERVICE WAS SET FOR 4/15/02 AT 7:00 IN DEPT. 15
02/07/2002
COMPLAINT FILED. SUMMONS IS ISSUED
Not Applicable
Minutes You are Not Authorized to View Minutes prior to 12/31/2099
The FBI Fraud Case connected Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association
Former Walnut Creek Investor Sentenced to Over Four Years’ Imprisonment in Real Estate Fraud Scheme
OAKLAND, CA—Benny Chetcuti, Jr. was sentenced yesterday to 51 months in prison, and ordered to pay $21,823,526.10 in restitution, as well as forfeit $3,968,995 in proceeds obtained from a multi-year real estate investment fraud scheme, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson.
Mr. Chetcuti, 60, of Walnut Creek, California, pleaded guilty on October 21, 2014, to two counts of wire fraud. According to the plea agreement, Mr. Chetcuti admitted that between 2007 and 2010, he defrauded private investors who loaned him money under the belief that their loans were backed by equity in real property. In fact, Mr. Chetcuti misrepresented aspects of many of the loans including how much equity was available to secure the loans, the amounts and seniority of loans already tied to the properties, and how the loans were used. He also misled investors about whether their loans were recorded through deeds of trust.
Mr. Chetcuti, was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 27, 2014. According to the indictment, Mr. Chetcuti operated a real estate investment firm, Chetcuti & Associates, since 1998. Chetcuti & Associates was in the business of purchasing and flipping homes for resale after renovation and was funded in large part by loans from private individuals. To carry out his scheme, Mr. Chetcuti used a variety of tactics to misrepresent the equity that supposedly backed his loans. Among the tactics he used were forging deed recordings, forging letters supposedly written by institutional lenders and title company officers, and directing others to impersonate escrow officers. The indictment charged Mr. Chetcuti with two counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343.
The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Jeffrey S. White, U.S. District Judge. The Court found that Mr. Chetcuti’s fraudulent scheme caused more than $3.9 million in losses, attributable to 21 victims. In addition, the Court ordered Mr. Chetcuti to pay more than $21.8 million in restitution for the losses his real estate investment business caused. The Court also sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release and explicitly barred him from participating in any real estate, banking, or lending-related activities. The defendant was ordered to self-surrender to federal authorities on June 4, 2015, at which time he will begin serving the sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Huang is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Vanessa Quant and Yvette Baird. The prosecution is the result of a multi-year investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration also assisted with the investigation.
The Sore Losers Funding STAND! connected to Federal Indictments, Convictions and Racketeering.
After years of courtroom observations Pete Bennett started blogging about murders of witnesses connected to high profile cases such as Susan Kennedy who served time in jail with Susan Polk.
Ms. Kennedy father was for many years former President of Bay Alarm Co. More details on Susan's unfortunate legal affairs lead to the Howard Brothers of Danville back to back arson victims worth over 2 Million but today are homeless.
Don't forgot almost all litigants defeated in Contra Costa County Superior court end up homeless and in some cases dead.
Pete Bennett took this picture at the Locust Street Starbucks owned by Regency Centers with leasing managed by CBRE.
Susan Kennedy
Raised in Danville
Graduated from San Ramon Valley Unified
Gambled, Landed in Jail with Susan Polk
I would say she is a dead witness
She was the nicest person who worked Tony LaRussa ARF when she was murdered in 2016.
Lesher's Estate Sued By Widower / Daughters violating will's rules, he says
Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published
Raising the stakes in the battle over Margaret Lesher's $100 million estate, her widower has filed a lawsuit claiming her daughters are subverting their mother's wishes by trying to block his $3 million inheritance. Attorneys for T. C. Thorstenson announced yesterday from Arizo na that they are asking a judge to order the Lesher estate to pay up, including the inheritance, equity in the couple's $1.7 million Scottsdale ranch and a bronze statue of a buffalo -- valued at $195,000 -- commissioned by Lesher for her cowboy husband.
The suit alleges that Lesher's four daughters are violating a no- contest provision in her will and therefore are risking losing their own inheritance.
"They have breached their fiduciary duty to a beneficiary," Thorstenson's civil attorney, Jerry Busby, said in an interview yesterday. "And this has been directed and controlled by the daughters."
Lesher, 65, drowned last May in an Arizona lake under mysterious circumstances while camping with Thorstenson, her husband of six months. Authorities ruled her death an accident.
POST-NUPTIAL PACT
In the weeks before her death, Lesher, the heiress to the Contra Costa Times newspaper fortune, had tried to get Thorstenson to sign a post-nuptial agreement limiting his claims on her property. In November 1996, she amended her will to give Thorstenson $3 million within 90 days of her death.
But Lesher's trustees have alleged in a lawsuit filed on behalf of her estate that Thorstenson doesn't deserve that money because he concealed his second marriage, which ended in divorce in 1992 amid accusations of domestic violence. And they accused the hard-living buffalo trainer of numerous infidelities during his marriage to Lesher.
In Thorstenson's countersuit, filed Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court, his attorneys claimed that Lesher's daughters instructed her attorneys not to pay Thorstenson, in direct opposition to their mother's will. Any beneficiary challenging the terms of Lesher's will is entitled to no more than $1.
"I can't help but think the daughters must have been behind this and put their stamp of approval on it," Busby said.
But Lesher's longtime accountant and one of her three trustees denied yesterday that her daughters are responsible for the lawsuit against Thorstenson.
"That's an interesting theory," Stephen Blanding said. "But this isn't being controlled by the girls in any way, shape or form."
TRUSTEE NOT SURPRISED
Blanding said he wasn't surprised by news of Thorstenson's lawsuit and its anti-contest claims. "I don't know if it's even a problem," he said. "This is just the next step in the battle."
Last Thursday, Blanding and Lesher's attorneys traveled to Arizona where they delivered an ultimatum to Thorstenson's lawyer, Larry Debus, to accept a much smaller payment from the estate or be sued. The meeting ended after just a few minutes with no agreement.
"We deemed it very insulting," Busby said. "I can say it was a low- ball offer."
"We feel he's owed what he's entitled to and nothing more," Blanding responded yesterday, declining to say exactly how much the estate was prepared to pay.
Thorstenson's attorneys are asking an Arizona judge to order the Scottsdale home sold, with half of the proceeds paid to Thorstenson and the other half put in trust.
They are also seeking a $40,000 Corvette listed in Thorstenson's name, a $15,000 boat and $325,000 in personal property and furniture, according to the lawsuit. Busby said Thorstenson will retain legal counsel in California in preparation for what could be a protracted court battle.
Both sides now have about two weeks to respond to the respective complaints.
Blanding said Lesher's attorneys were not ruling out the possibility of an out-of-court settlement but he said any overtures must now come from Thorstenson.
"We have no plans to initiate another offer," he said. "If there's something they'd like to discuss, they should do that."