Former Contra Costa DA applicant acquitted of swindling millionaire inventor

PITTSBURG — Just after a 3-7 days demo, a Danville law firm who unsuccessfully ran for district legal professional and her co-defendant were being observed not guilty of swindling an eccentric millionaire out of far more than $100,000.

Elham Falahat, who ran for Contra Costa County district attorney in 2010, and her co-defendant Hamid Ben Maghsoudi have been acquitted of grand theft by a county jury on Aug. 2. Submitted in 2016, the costs accused the pair of using gain of a senile guy named Andrew Gabor, who turned a millionaire right after his daisy wheel printer technique invention was picked up by Xerox in the 1970s.

The scenario hinged on Gabor’s mental point out when he paid tens of thousands of dollars to Falahat and Maghsoudi, with protection lawyers arguing that Gabor was a very intelligent and eccentric male who appeared to be in manage of his colleges. All through the very same period of time he paid Falahat and Maghsoudi, he also bought a $450,000 Bentley and begun operating on a “sex chair” creation made to assist over weight men and women.

Roberto Dulce, a law firm who represented Falahat, mentioned his client’s most significant fault was “she genuinely cared so significantly for a customer that she grew to become a suspect in elderly fiduciary abuse.”

“A lawyer who appeared further than just getting her authorized charges, what a notion,” Dulce explained in a written statement to this information group. Dulce’s co-counsel, Ashley Bargenquast, named Falahat a “wonderful woman” who has been “fully vindicated” by the verdict.

The California Attorney General’s Business office, which prosecuted the circumstance, did not return requests for remark. The workplace took above the circumstance right after Walnut Creek law enforcement, which led the investigation, discovered a probable conflict of interest with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Place of work.

The charges were submitted in April 2016 when previous District Lawyer Mark Peterson — who beat Falahat and Dan O’Malley in the 2010 election — was nonetheless in office environment. In the course of demo, it was revealed that Falahat texted Peterson through the investigation, inquiring why her lender account had been frozen.