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Orange County Register, CA
April 15 2005
Hambarian lawyer tries to discredit accusers
Geragos, as fraud trial opens, says ex-trash king cut Orange good
deals.
By JIT FONG CHIN
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA - Former trash-company executive Jeffrey Hambarian
negotiated good deals for the city of Orange and was wrongly accused
of crime by unreliable people, his attorney told jurors Thursday.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos, the high-profile lawyer whose clients
have included Scott Peterson and Winona Ryder, gave a 50-minute
opening statement that strove to improve Hambarian's image by
comparing him to his parents, Sam and Alyce Hambarian.
Jurors then started listening to 20 hours of taped testimony from Pat
Augimeri, a key witness who apparently cashed hundreds of checks for
Hambarian and agreed that their interaction was "shady."
Hambarian's late father, Sam, was an Orange County pioneer who built
a trash empire over 45 years on the values of hard work and
frugality, the defense said.
"There's an old Armenian expression: 'Falls out of your father's
nose.' And Jeff was just like his dad, just like his dad," Geragos
said.
Hambarian, arrested in 1998, is accused of defrauding Orange of $4.3
million by underreporting revenue and inflating costs when he was an
executive at Orange Disposal Service and Orange Resource Recovery
Systems.
He has pleaded not guilty to 57 charges, including fraud, money
laundering and commercial bribery.
Sam Hambarian had three passions: garbage, the Angels and his family,
Geragos told 12 jurors and six alternates.
The business failed to excite his two older sons, Michael and Donald.
But Jeffrey Hambarian latched on and started helping his parents at
age 13 or 14, Geragos said.
Sam Hambarian did business with the city on a handshake. Even when
contracts were later written, the terms were "always subject to
dispute," Geragos said.
Over several decades, the Hambarians' business grew to extend outside
Orange.
Phil Pierce, an Orange street division manager who "didn't like the
fact that Sam was getting progressively wealthier," started accusing
the Hambarians of not sending all recyclables revenue to Orange, even
though the family also collected recyclables from outside the city,
Geragos said.
Geragos said Hambarian might have negotiated a lower fee for dumping
trash with BKK Landfill in West Covina than what he charged Orange,
but that was simply good business. Orange residents still paid less
than if Hambarian had used an Orange County landfill, Geragos said.
The defense also denied that Hambarian diverted money to dummy
accounts. Sam and Alyce Hambarian knew about the accounts, and urged
their son to set aside money in a trust for their grandson. Some
money was used to buy Alyce Hambarian jewelry - "her one
extravagance," Geragos said.
Several accusers changed their testimonies and agreed to support the
prosecution because they were frightened, Geragos said.
After Hambarian resigned and the family businesses were sold to Waste
Management in 1999, city trash rates rose - proof of the benefits of
the Hambarians' frugality, Geragos said.
Witness Pat Augimeri talked about how he cashed checks for Hambarian
at a bank and check-cashing stores owned by Augimeri and his
relatives. The interviews were taped in 2000, ahead of the trial
because of Augimeri's poor health.
"He was taking money from his company and putting it in his pocket,
as far as I could see," said Augimeri, then 87.
Augimeri said he drove from Huntington Park to meet Hambarian at
different locations in Orange County, where he would get into
Hambarian's pickups to receive the checks.
Augimeri said he then left to cash the checks - sometimes endorsing
them with made-up names such as "Don Williams" and "Jack Adams" - and
returned the money to Hambarian, minus a 2 percent commission, on the
same day.
He was granted immunity from prosecution for his cooperation.
April 15 2005
Hambarian lawyer tries to discredit accusers
Geragos, as fraud trial opens, says ex-trash king cut Orange good
deals.
By JIT FONG CHIN
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA - Former trash-company executive Jeffrey Hambarian
negotiated good deals for the city of Orange and was wrongly accused
of crime by unreliable people, his attorney told jurors Thursday.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos, the high-profile lawyer whose clients
have included Scott Peterson and Winona Ryder, gave a 50-minute
opening statement that strove to improve Hambarian's image by
comparing him to his parents, Sam and Alyce Hambarian.
Jurors then started listening to 20 hours of taped testimony from Pat
Augimeri, a key witness who apparently cashed hundreds of checks for
Hambarian and agreed that their interaction was "shady."
Hambarian's late father, Sam, was an Orange County pioneer who built
a trash empire over 45 years on the values of hard work and
frugality, the defense said.
"There's an old Armenian expression: 'Falls out of your father's
nose.' And Jeff was just like his dad, just like his dad," Geragos
said.
Hambarian, arrested in 1998, is accused of defrauding Orange of $4.3
million by underreporting revenue and inflating costs when he was an
executive at Orange Disposal Service and Orange Resource Recovery
Systems.
He has pleaded not guilty to 57 charges, including fraud, money
laundering and commercial bribery.
Sam Hambarian had three passions: garbage, the Angels and his family,
Geragos told 12 jurors and six alternates.
The business failed to excite his two older sons, Michael and Donald.
But Jeffrey Hambarian latched on and started helping his parents at
age 13 or 14, Geragos said.
Sam Hambarian did business with the city on a handshake. Even when
contracts were later written, the terms were "always subject to
dispute," Geragos said.
Over several decades, the Hambarians' business grew to extend outside
Orange.
Phil Pierce, an Orange street division manager who "didn't like the
fact that Sam was getting progressively wealthier," started accusing
the Hambarians of not sending all recyclables revenue to Orange, even
though the family also collected recyclables from outside the city,
Geragos said.
Geragos said Hambarian might have negotiated a lower fee for dumping
trash with BKK Landfill in West Covina than what he charged Orange,
but that was simply good business. Orange residents still paid less
than if Hambarian had used an Orange County landfill, Geragos said.
The defense also denied that Hambarian diverted money to dummy
accounts. Sam and Alyce Hambarian knew about the accounts, and urged
their son to set aside money in a trust for their grandson. Some
money was used to buy Alyce Hambarian jewelry - "her one
extravagance," Geragos said.
Several accusers changed their testimonies and agreed to support the
prosecution because they were frightened, Geragos said.
After Hambarian resigned and the family businesses were sold to Waste
Management in 1999, city trash rates rose - proof of the benefits of
the Hambarians' frugality, Geragos said.
Witness Pat Augimeri talked about how he cashed checks for Hambarian
at a bank and check-cashing stores owned by Augimeri and his
relatives. The interviews were taped in 2000, ahead of the trial
because of Augimeri's poor health.
"He was taking money from his company and putting it in his pocket,
as far as I could see," said Augimeri, then 87.
Augimeri said he drove from Huntington Park to meet Hambarian at
different locations in Orange County, where he would get into
Hambarian's pickups to receive the checks.
Augimeri said he then left to cash the checks - sometimes endorsing
them with made-up names such as "Don Williams" and "Jack Adams" - and
returned the money to Hambarian, minus a 2 percent commission, on the
same day.
He was granted immunity from prosecution for his cooperation.