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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Cheeky CEO Stole Millions,|Tax Consultancy Says

SAN JOSE (CN) - CEO Robert Estupinian and his wife, Ginny, defrauded Vesta Strategies of "millions of dollars" - including $50,000 they spent on two dogs - and hid his thefts by falsifying corporate records, Vesta, a tax consultancy, claims in a federal RICO complaint.

Vesta claims that, among other things, Estupinian took $1,256,150 of corporate money to buy himself a house for cash. "Amazingly, the Estupinians then used their personal company (defendant) Millennium (Realty Group), as their purported agent on the transaction and collected $38,850 as a commission for the transaction. In other words, the Estupinians bought a $1.3 million house without paying a dime. In fact, the Estupinians actually made money on their purchase of their million-dollar home."

Vesta claims the Estupinians illegitimately spent $160,300 of corporate money to rent a "luxury apartment" in Long Beach, furnish it and pay the bills.

It claims Robert, who was paid $250,000 a year, and Ginny, who was paid $96,000 a year, hired Ginny's friend, defendant Carol-Ann Tognazzini, at $36,480 a year, though Vesta "is not aware of any work that Tognazzini did for Vesta Strategies."

It claims Robert took $630,000 from Vesta in "phony referral fees" for Millennium and his other companies, which include defendants Mutual Vision, Vesta Reverse 100 and Vesta Capital Advisors.

It claims that Robert Estupinian gave $43,369 of Vesta's money to his parents; that he "borrowed" more than $12 million from Vesta Strategies at low interest rates, invested it in higher-yielding placements and pocketed the spread, at no risk, since it was Vesta's money - gaining $250,000 to $300,000 per year for at least three years; that he threw extravagant parties for his wife with Vesta's money; and so on.

The complaint does not describe the $50,000 dogs.

See complaint.

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