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The vintage aircraft company of movie moguls Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh is still trying to recover nearly $ 1 million from a former high-ranking employee jailed for fraud.
But former Vintage Aviator Ltd production manager Eugene DeMarco has filed his own multi-million dollar counterclaim against the company and other parties.
In preparation for a Wellington High Court hearing in July, the company and other parties, including Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh, as trustees of the Film Property Trust, requested that DeMarco’s counterclaim and a court ruling that DeMarco has no defense in part of his claim.
Counsel for the Jackson and Walsh parties, Bruce Scott, argued in court Thursday that DeMarco was trying to reopen matters already decided in his 2019 criminal trial.
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DeMarco, who had exceptional abilities to work and fly vintage aircraft, has now been released from the two years and five months in jail he received.
At his lawsuit, it was discovered that he had raised the price of three Vintage Aviator-made aircraft, inserting his own company into a sale so that his company could pocket the difference between the Vintage Aviator’s prices and the $ 2.1 million they paid. the buyers.
One of the planes was handed over to an Auckland charity, the New Zealand Warbird Association, and the money paid for the other two planes was eventually returned to buyers.
Piers Fuller / Stuff
Eugene DeMarco says that his counterclaims against Sir Peter Jackson and others are greater than those against him. (File photo)
But Vintage Aviator says DeMarco hasn’t given it $ 937,250 for the plane that went to Warbirds.
He’s suing DeMarco and his company for the money, and for having the profit and use of the $ 2.1 million, at least until just over $ 1 million is returned to the buyers of the other planes.
The complex backstory has attracted a former friend of DeMarco who says DeMarco broke a $ 500,000 deal on a valuable old plane and the Civil Aviation Authority accepted a request to register the plane in the friend’s name.
Deputy Judge Kenneth Johnston noted the difficulties with DeMarco’s defense and counterclaims, at one point describing them as a “disaster” and saying they had “obvious holes.”
But recently appointed legal aid attorney Seth Fraser said the “technicalities” could be fixed. He had yet to examine the counterclaims, but if any were desperate, he would not proceed.
Scott said DeMarco’s attempts to defend the claims amounted to attacks on jury verdicts in the criminal trial, which was only allowed in exceptional circumstances.
The money that should have gone to the Vintage Aviator for the plane had been used to pay off a loan DeMarco had from the Film Property Trust.
Apparently, knowing the origin of the repayment, the loan guarantee was discharged. One of the claims was to restore the loan position so that the collateral on an aircraft could be used to recover the loss.
The Vintage Aviator says that it has now identified another property that has not been accounted for and has included a claim for that.
Scott said DeMarco’s counterclaims were entirely speculative and should be dropped.
They included allegations that Jackson screwed up the deals DeMarco was negotiating with the King of Jordan and others, by telling the other parties that they should not negotiate with DeMarco or pay him money.
Jackson’s actions were alleged to have ended a “burgeoning set of business relationships” that could have been worth millions of dollars, Fraser said.
DeMarco also said he had a contract for additional payments for test flights that he claimed were dangerous, but Scott said the deal was always subject to Jackson’s approval, which he did not give.
Things
Eugene DeMarco was sentenced to prison for fraud, including against The Vintage Aviator Ltd.
Midway through the hearing, DeMarco’s attorney confirmed that he also had instructions to act on behalf of two companies in which DeMarco owned shares. They could challenge criminal trial issues in a way that DeMarco couldn’t, Fraser said.
DeMarco wasn’t saying, “I’m not guilty,” Fraser said.
The civil case raised issues outside the jury’s focus, he said.
Two valuable planes that DeMarco says are his were also alleged to be kept under lock and key at Hood Airfield in Wairarapa.
The judge reserved his decision.
