Lunico
11-11-08, 22:28
Investors say they were duped by an irresistible pitch.
Some who entrusted their money to the elusive Alfredo Trujillo Fox are going to court and the authorities to get it back. He has filed for bankruptcy protection.
By Victoria Kim.
November 11, 2008
In retrospect, Drew Gordon says, he should have been more wary of the well-dressed man at the Beverly Hills BMW dealership with a deep voice, suave ways and a business offer that seemed too good to be true.
But he appeared to be both well-to-do and well-connected, buying a pair of pricey luxury cars on the spot and introducing himself as Alfredo Trujillo Fox, the brother of former Mexican President Vicente Fox, Gordon recalled.
"I have a perfect business for you," Gordon said Trujillo told him.
Three weeks later, Gordon, a chiropractor, said he signed a contract with Trujillo to invest in a cellphone radiation shield for children, and cut him two checks for $25,000, to be repaid in six months with a handsome return.
But soon after Trujillo received the money, he changed his address and phone number, stopped returning calls and seemingly vanished with his loot, Gordon said.
Gordon is one of several Beverly Hills investors who allege in lawsuits that Trujillo posed as a close relative of Vicente Fox as a ploy to get them to invest in bogus business opportunities in Mexico and Los Angeles. Although Gordon settled his suit, he said Trujillo has failed to make good on the agreement. Several other disgruntled investors said they have taken their complaints against Trujillo to law enforcement authorities. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office confirmed that an investigation into Trujillo was underway.
Trujillo, who filed for bankruptcy protection in December, does not deny that he owes Gordon and other creditors a combined $1.5 million, according to court documents he's filed in support of his bankruptcy case. He told The Times in a phone call from Las Vegas that he was a successful real estate investor who had fallen on hard times and was forced to sell his Rolls-Royce and a collection of expensive watches. He denied, however, that he ever posed as Vicente Fox's brother to solicit money, explaining that he had added "Fox" to his legal name Alfredo Trujillo in recent years because it was his mother's middle name.
Polished style.
His website, which was dubbed the "Official Site" for Alfredo Trujillo Fox, provides a long list of accomplishments. According to the site, Trujillo, 65, developed technology to track abducted children and sex offenders, became a shaman of the Maya people, studied herbology for eight years with Maya healers and Native Americans, concocted a formula against parasites pending approval by the FDA, invented a device to block cellphone radiation and was working on building two 70-story towers in downtown Los Angeles. (The website was taken down after a Times reporter contacted Trujillo through an e-mail address listed on the site.
Criminal court records in Arizona, however, paint a very different picture: Twenty years ago, Trujillo -- then using the names Raul Trujillo Mier and Alfredo Trujillo Guarneros -- pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and was sentenced to 10 years in prison after investors in Florida and Arizona complained that he had disappeared with their money.
Trujillo said his Arizona prison term stemmed from "a very minor thing."
The Arizona prosecutor who handled Trujillo's case disagreed, describing him in one court document from 1988 as a deft liar and career con artist.
"His silver tongue, polished style and vanishing act served him well," John Evans, the prosecutor, wrote in a sentencing memo at the time, urging the judge to grant the maximum sentence of 10 years.
Back then, Trujillo said he was a lawyer "with family connections in the highest levels of Mexican business and government." He defrauded victims of at least $76,000, according to criminal court records. When suspicions about Trujillo arose in Phoenix, he left town and reemerged in Tucson as an international consultant, this time under a different name.
In Tucson, Trujillo engaged in elaborate currency-exchange and real-estate schemes, the prosecutor alleged in court documents.
But before authorities could arrest him, Trujillo seemed to vanish once more, dodging private detectives hired by those he allegedly defrauded.
He resurfaced in Florida in 1987, where he again promised to connect businessmen with rich Mexican investors, according to court records.
His fortunes soured when a detective there connected him with the crimes he was wanted for in Arizona.
"This is a lifestyle," said Evans, the Arizona prosecutor, in an interview with The Times earlier this year.
"It's the old con -- he looks successful, he can talk the talk, he drops the names and can't produce because he isn't any of that."
Trujillo served six years of his 10-year prison sentence before he was released on parole, records show.
When Trujillo arrived in Beverly Hills several years ago, investors said they were charmed by the man with a limp and a deep Ricardo Montalban voice.
In conversations with investors and The Times, he casually spoke of his involvement in multibillion-dollar real estate projects. "Everyone knew who he was, everyone was saying hello, it was amazing," said Albert Saggese, a businessman who said he was introduced to Trujillo by his insurance agent, and handed over $30,000 when Trujillo offered to help him expand his business south of the border.
"He was like the mayor, we walked in and we got a table, we got in front of every line," said Saggese, who took his complaints about Trujillo to the district attorney's office.
Some of those in Los Angeles who agreed to do business with Trujillo said they were reassured by his ostentatious display of wealth and dizzied by promises of quick, easy money.
Joel Lawrence, who works in general contracting and real estate, said Trujillo treated him to dinners at high-end Beverly Hills restaurants as he hinted at lucrative business deals.
Then Trujillo asked to borrow $60,000, saying his money was tied up and that he would pay Lawrence back at triple the sum within 30 days, Lawrence alleged. That was more than a year ago, and Lawrence said he hasn't seen a dime of his money.
"He's always on the phone, he's always busy, always talking about projects, so you think he has money. And everyone wants to be around people with money, right?" said Lawrence, who also went to the district attorney's office with his complaints about Trujillo. "There's a lot of money in Beverly Hills. People are looking for ways to spend their money. They're looking for the Alfredo Foxes."
Doctor's note.
Saggese said there were inconsistenciesin Trujillo's Beverly Hills personathat gave him doubts -- he had tattered shoes and fake Louis Vuitton luggage. But Trujillo quickly dispelled those suspicions with his purported connections, answering phone calls he said were from Donald Trump, Saggese said.
Gordon, the chiropractor, said he eventually settled the lawsuit against Trujillo for less than half the sum he says he was owed. But after the first two installments of $2,000, Trujillo stopped making the payments and filed for bankruptcy, Gordon said.
Trujillo has failed to appear at his bankruptcy hearings, submitting a doctor's note citing a heart condition. A Los Angeles bankruptcy judge has held Trujillo in civil contempt, ordering him to pay fines for repeatedly failing to appear or to produce documents as ordered.
His creditors, however, have showed up. At one hearing, Gordon, Saggese, Lawrence and other disgruntled investors eyed each other suspiciously and then started comparing stories. They said that's when they realized they had all been told variations on the same tale.
Gordon said he was told Trujillo was temporarily having difficulty transferring funds from Mexico, then later that his money was tied up with Japanese investors.
Lawrence said he was told that Trujillo's money was tied up in a multimillion-dollar deal but that the cash would be freed up shortly.
Mortgage broker Dane Carpe said Trujillo claimed that a multimillion-dollar wire from Chinese investors was being delayed because of the Patriot Act, and asked to borrow $43,500.
In addition to Gordon, another creditor's lawsuit ended in a settlement, but that also went unpaid, attorneys said.
Carpe, who said he had to file for bankruptcy as a result of his dealings with Trujillo, also filed a suit, which was dismissed when a private investigator couldn't find Trujillo to serve the complaint. A fourth case was dismissed when Trujillo filed for bankruptcy, according to the attorney who filed the lawsuit.
Lawrence, Saggese and others, said they sought retribution by taking their complaint to the district attorney and providing statements to investigators. Carpe and Gordon also told their stories on a Fox 11 television segment about Trujillo.
All of the investors interviewed by The Times were listed on Trujillo's bankruptcy filing as creditors.
Saggese said he received a call from Trujillo a few months ago, after the bankruptcy filing. Trujillo said that Saggese would be repaid.
Even after losing the money and hearing of other investors' legal scuffles, Saggese said he found himself wanting to trust the man.
"The amazing part about the guy is even knowing all this, if you spoke to him, there's something about him that makes you want to believe him," Saggese said.
"He has a way of convincing you that this is all a big mistake."
Kim is a Times staff writer.
victoria. Kim@latimes. Com
Some who entrusted their money to the elusive Alfredo Trujillo Fox are going to court and the authorities to get it back. He has filed for bankruptcy protection.
By Victoria Kim.
November 11, 2008
In retrospect, Drew Gordon says, he should have been more wary of the well-dressed man at the Beverly Hills BMW dealership with a deep voice, suave ways and a business offer that seemed too good to be true.
But he appeared to be both well-to-do and well-connected, buying a pair of pricey luxury cars on the spot and introducing himself as Alfredo Trujillo Fox, the brother of former Mexican President Vicente Fox, Gordon recalled.
"I have a perfect business for you," Gordon said Trujillo told him.
Three weeks later, Gordon, a chiropractor, said he signed a contract with Trujillo to invest in a cellphone radiation shield for children, and cut him two checks for $25,000, to be repaid in six months with a handsome return.
But soon after Trujillo received the money, he changed his address and phone number, stopped returning calls and seemingly vanished with his loot, Gordon said.
Gordon is one of several Beverly Hills investors who allege in lawsuits that Trujillo posed as a close relative of Vicente Fox as a ploy to get them to invest in bogus business opportunities in Mexico and Los Angeles. Although Gordon settled his suit, he said Trujillo has failed to make good on the agreement. Several other disgruntled investors said they have taken their complaints against Trujillo to law enforcement authorities. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office confirmed that an investigation into Trujillo was underway.
Trujillo, who filed for bankruptcy protection in December, does not deny that he owes Gordon and other creditors a combined $1.5 million, according to court documents he's filed in support of his bankruptcy case. He told The Times in a phone call from Las Vegas that he was a successful real estate investor who had fallen on hard times and was forced to sell his Rolls-Royce and a collection of expensive watches. He denied, however, that he ever posed as Vicente Fox's brother to solicit money, explaining that he had added "Fox" to his legal name Alfredo Trujillo in recent years because it was his mother's middle name.
Polished style.
His website, which was dubbed the "Official Site" for Alfredo Trujillo Fox, provides a long list of accomplishments. According to the site, Trujillo, 65, developed technology to track abducted children and sex offenders, became a shaman of the Maya people, studied herbology for eight years with Maya healers and Native Americans, concocted a formula against parasites pending approval by the FDA, invented a device to block cellphone radiation and was working on building two 70-story towers in downtown Los Angeles. (The website was taken down after a Times reporter contacted Trujillo through an e-mail address listed on the site.
Criminal court records in Arizona, however, paint a very different picture: Twenty years ago, Trujillo -- then using the names Raul Trujillo Mier and Alfredo Trujillo Guarneros -- pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and was sentenced to 10 years in prison after investors in Florida and Arizona complained that he had disappeared with their money.
Trujillo said his Arizona prison term stemmed from "a very minor thing."
The Arizona prosecutor who handled Trujillo's case disagreed, describing him in one court document from 1988 as a deft liar and career con artist.
"His silver tongue, polished style and vanishing act served him well," John Evans, the prosecutor, wrote in a sentencing memo at the time, urging the judge to grant the maximum sentence of 10 years.
Back then, Trujillo said he was a lawyer "with family connections in the highest levels of Mexican business and government." He defrauded victims of at least $76,000, according to criminal court records. When suspicions about Trujillo arose in Phoenix, he left town and reemerged in Tucson as an international consultant, this time under a different name.
In Tucson, Trujillo engaged in elaborate currency-exchange and real-estate schemes, the prosecutor alleged in court documents.
But before authorities could arrest him, Trujillo seemed to vanish once more, dodging private detectives hired by those he allegedly defrauded.
He resurfaced in Florida in 1987, where he again promised to connect businessmen with rich Mexican investors, according to court records.
His fortunes soured when a detective there connected him with the crimes he was wanted for in Arizona.
"This is a lifestyle," said Evans, the Arizona prosecutor, in an interview with The Times earlier this year.
"It's the old con -- he looks successful, he can talk the talk, he drops the names and can't produce because he isn't any of that."
Trujillo served six years of his 10-year prison sentence before he was released on parole, records show.
When Trujillo arrived in Beverly Hills several years ago, investors said they were charmed by the man with a limp and a deep Ricardo Montalban voice.
In conversations with investors and The Times, he casually spoke of his involvement in multibillion-dollar real estate projects. "Everyone knew who he was, everyone was saying hello, it was amazing," said Albert Saggese, a businessman who said he was introduced to Trujillo by his insurance agent, and handed over $30,000 when Trujillo offered to help him expand his business south of the border.
"He was like the mayor, we walked in and we got a table, we got in front of every line," said Saggese, who took his complaints about Trujillo to the district attorney's office.
Some of those in Los Angeles who agreed to do business with Trujillo said they were reassured by his ostentatious display of wealth and dizzied by promises of quick, easy money.
Joel Lawrence, who works in general contracting and real estate, said Trujillo treated him to dinners at high-end Beverly Hills restaurants as he hinted at lucrative business deals.
Then Trujillo asked to borrow $60,000, saying his money was tied up and that he would pay Lawrence back at triple the sum within 30 days, Lawrence alleged. That was more than a year ago, and Lawrence said he hasn't seen a dime of his money.
"He's always on the phone, he's always busy, always talking about projects, so you think he has money. And everyone wants to be around people with money, right?" said Lawrence, who also went to the district attorney's office with his complaints about Trujillo. "There's a lot of money in Beverly Hills. People are looking for ways to spend their money. They're looking for the Alfredo Foxes."
Doctor's note.
Saggese said there were inconsistenciesin Trujillo's Beverly Hills personathat gave him doubts -- he had tattered shoes and fake Louis Vuitton luggage. But Trujillo quickly dispelled those suspicions with his purported connections, answering phone calls he said were from Donald Trump, Saggese said.
Gordon, the chiropractor, said he eventually settled the lawsuit against Trujillo for less than half the sum he says he was owed. But after the first two installments of $2,000, Trujillo stopped making the payments and filed for bankruptcy, Gordon said.
Trujillo has failed to appear at his bankruptcy hearings, submitting a doctor's note citing a heart condition. A Los Angeles bankruptcy judge has held Trujillo in civil contempt, ordering him to pay fines for repeatedly failing to appear or to produce documents as ordered.
His creditors, however, have showed up. At one hearing, Gordon, Saggese, Lawrence and other disgruntled investors eyed each other suspiciously and then started comparing stories. They said that's when they realized they had all been told variations on the same tale.
Gordon said he was told Trujillo was temporarily having difficulty transferring funds from Mexico, then later that his money was tied up with Japanese investors.
Lawrence said he was told that Trujillo's money was tied up in a multimillion-dollar deal but that the cash would be freed up shortly.
Mortgage broker Dane Carpe said Trujillo claimed that a multimillion-dollar wire from Chinese investors was being delayed because of the Patriot Act, and asked to borrow $43,500.
In addition to Gordon, another creditor's lawsuit ended in a settlement, but that also went unpaid, attorneys said.
Carpe, who said he had to file for bankruptcy as a result of his dealings with Trujillo, also filed a suit, which was dismissed when a private investigator couldn't find Trujillo to serve the complaint. A fourth case was dismissed when Trujillo filed for bankruptcy, according to the attorney who filed the lawsuit.
Lawrence, Saggese and others, said they sought retribution by taking their complaint to the district attorney and providing statements to investigators. Carpe and Gordon also told their stories on a Fox 11 television segment about Trujillo.
All of the investors interviewed by The Times were listed on Trujillo's bankruptcy filing as creditors.
Saggese said he received a call from Trujillo a few months ago, after the bankruptcy filing. Trujillo said that Saggese would be repaid.
Even after losing the money and hearing of other investors' legal scuffles, Saggese said he found himself wanting to trust the man.
"The amazing part about the guy is even knowing all this, if you spoke to him, there's something about him that makes you want to believe him," Saggese said.
"He has a way of convincing you that this is all a big mistake."
Kim is a Times staff writer.
victoria. Kim@latimes. Com