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ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FUND AUDIT DENIED
Mark Kellam
Glendale News Press
latimes.com
Aug 9, 2011
CA
District judge instead orders account administrator to voluntarily
provide payout details
A U.S. district judge on Monday denied a motion to conduct an audit of
a multimillion-dollar compensation fund for descendents of Armenian
Genocide victims, instead ordering the account administrator to
explain payout discrepancies.
Glendale-based attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan had sought the independent
audit after discovering that a fund established by insurance carrier
Axa S.A. contained nearly $2.5 million more than originally thought.
But U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder said the audit would cost
too much time and money and was unnecessary if Glendale resident
Parsegh Kartalian, the fund's administrator, could provide adequate
information.
Kartalian has just a few weeks to sit down voluntarily with attorneys
Brian Kabateck, Mark Geragos and Roman Silberfeld, who represent
Yeghiayan.
If Kartalian does not meet with them voluntarily, Silberfeld said he
will return to Snyder and ask her to order him to testify in court.
Silberfeld said the check amounts "vary wildly" from $159 to more
than $200,000. Records also show descendants received multiple checks,
but some of them were never cashed.
"Why were people getting multiple checks when, theoretically, one check
would do?" Silberfeld said. "There is only one person apparently on
the planet who can tell us why that is, and that's Mr. Kartalian."
He also stressed that it is the responsibility of attorneys to figure
out what happened. It is not the responsibility of the France-based
settlement board, which simply decided who was eligible for claim
payouts.
The board has been pushing for the independent audit.
"The settlement board isn't running this show. The court is running
this show," Snyder said in court. "I think Mr. Kartalian owes an
explanation not to the settlement board, but to this court."
When reached by phone on Tuesday, Kartalian said he had not been
contacted about a meeting.
Several years ago, New York Life Insurance Co. and Axa agreed to
establish separate funds for a total of $37.5 million to pay claims
that they failed to compensate descendents of Armenian Genocide
victims who bought policies between 1875 and 1923.
Geragos, Kabateck and Yeghiayan were co-counsels on the class action
lawsuit.
About 100 people still need to be compensated through the fund,
said Kabateck, adding that it was he and Geragos who discovered the
additional $2.5 million and found the claimants who still needed to
be paid.
Kabateck said the process should be fairly easy to pay the 100 people,
based on a formula that was drawn up for distribution of funds when
the settlement agreement was created.
A status hearing on the case is scheduled for Sept. 26.
From: Baghdasarian
Mark Kellam
Glendale News Press
latimes.com
Aug 9, 2011
CA
District judge instead orders account administrator to voluntarily
provide payout details
A U.S. district judge on Monday denied a motion to conduct an audit of
a multimillion-dollar compensation fund for descendents of Armenian
Genocide victims, instead ordering the account administrator to
explain payout discrepancies.
Glendale-based attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan had sought the independent
audit after discovering that a fund established by insurance carrier
Axa S.A. contained nearly $2.5 million more than originally thought.
But U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder said the audit would cost
too much time and money and was unnecessary if Glendale resident
Parsegh Kartalian, the fund's administrator, could provide adequate
information.
Kartalian has just a few weeks to sit down voluntarily with attorneys
Brian Kabateck, Mark Geragos and Roman Silberfeld, who represent
Yeghiayan.
If Kartalian does not meet with them voluntarily, Silberfeld said he
will return to Snyder and ask her to order him to testify in court.
Silberfeld said the check amounts "vary wildly" from $159 to more
than $200,000. Records also show descendants received multiple checks,
but some of them were never cashed.
"Why were people getting multiple checks when, theoretically, one check
would do?" Silberfeld said. "There is only one person apparently on
the planet who can tell us why that is, and that's Mr. Kartalian."
He also stressed that it is the responsibility of attorneys to figure
out what happened. It is not the responsibility of the France-based
settlement board, which simply decided who was eligible for claim
payouts.
The board has been pushing for the independent audit.
"The settlement board isn't running this show. The court is running
this show," Snyder said in court. "I think Mr. Kartalian owes an
explanation not to the settlement board, but to this court."
When reached by phone on Tuesday, Kartalian said he had not been
contacted about a meeting.
Several years ago, New York Life Insurance Co. and Axa agreed to
establish separate funds for a total of $37.5 million to pay claims
that they failed to compensate descendents of Armenian Genocide
victims who bought policies between 1875 and 1923.
Geragos, Kabateck and Yeghiayan were co-counsels on the class action
lawsuit.
About 100 people still need to be compensated through the fund,
said Kabateck, adding that it was he and Geragos who discovered the
additional $2.5 million and found the claimants who still needed to
be paid.
Kabateck said the process should be fairly easy to pay the 100 people,
based on a formula that was drawn up for distribution of funds when
the settlement agreement was created.
A status hearing on the case is scheduled for Sept. 26.
From: Baghdasarian