A U.S. District Court judge has issued an arrest warrant for bankrupt developer Vahe Tashjian after he failed to appear in court and deliver long-sought-after financial data to shunned investors.
Tashjian, who filed bankruptcy Sept. 29, 2021, on behalf of his firm Dutchints Development LLC, has strung along debtors for months with numerous court continuances. He has failed to appear at all but a few hearings, the last two of which saw him pleading his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
The Los Altos resident, who in 2019 secured Los Altos City Council approval to build a 196-unit housing project at 5150 El Camino Real, owes investors tens of millions of dollars after failing to complete several housing projects. Numerous court documents from plaintiffs allege he was taking investor funds from one project to partially fund another, without the impacted investors knowing.
Tashjian’s 5150 project crumpled under the weight of huge debt last year. His company defaulted on a $41 million loan, forcing the property into receivership. Prometheus Real Estate Group purchased the loan at court auction and is moving forward with the approved Dutchints project.
All along, Tashjian has denied accusations of defrauding investors and pledged to make debts whole.
Contempt ruling
Tashjian was ordered to show at a Sept. 29 hearing and produce missing electronic documents pertinent to the debtors’ interests. His no-show at the hearing forced Judge M. Elaine Hammond’s hand, and she found him in contempt of court.
Vinod Nichani, counsel for Tashjian, asked about “obtain(ing) a special master or some referee in the middle who could review the Gmail emails and distribute them accordingly.”
Nichani added: “How do we protect information that belongs to Mr. Tashjian personally that’s been used in that email system? There’s privileged information … private information.”
Hammond didn’t buy into that argument.
“Mr. Tashjian poisoned that well when he intermixed them between the corporate and the LLC information, and his own personal information,” she said.
In giving her ruling, Hammond said: “Trustees’ witnesses provided information on the documents and administrative access and passwords that have not been provided and are necessary to the trustees’ work. Furthermore, (the files) have previously been ordered to be turned over. … Based on Mr. Tashjian’s failure to personally appear at this hearing, I will be issuing a warrant for … his apprehension and arrest.”
She noted that as a civil and not criminal matter, “Mr. Tashjian has the keys to the jail. All he has to do is provide the passwords and administrative access, and work through providing the additional documentation.
“I do not know the time frame of when the arrest will occur,” Hammond said. “But I do know that once Mr. Tashjian is arrested, he’s required to be brought before me as soon as possible for a hearing. … He has the opportunity at that time to purge the contempt by providing the information. If he doesn’t, he goes back to jail. That’s the process.”
