Financial Elder Abuse Alleged By Retired Composer (Ca. USA)

Famous Russian composer claims in a lawsuit that he was duped into buying a Santaluz home.
By KELLY BENNETT
Voice Staff Writer
Aug. 20, 2008

In 1981, Russian musical composer Vladimir Shainskiy won the USSR State Prize, an honor bestowed for achievements in sciences and arts.

Twenty-six years later, Shainskiy found himself enmeshed in what his attorneys call a "swift and calculated swindle" in San Diego. It all started when an Armenian woman, a stranger, claimed to recognize the composer in a mall in Carmel Valley. She and her husband befriended him, her husband saying he was the son of a KGB vice minister, all to curry favor with Shainskiy to the point that he unwittingly surrendered control of his finances to the husband and a web of associates, his attorneys say.

At the end, Shainskiy, who'd never had a mortgage in his life, was left holding $1.2 million in mortgage debt in late 2007. He faced unaffordable loan payments on not only the condo he'd previously owned outright but also a house in Santaluz, a North County subdivision, sold to him by the man's son at an inflated price. His bank accounts had been tapped; his mental state was in shambles.

The story of this case, as outlined in court documents, yields a look through the lens of real estate at a high-drama tale of family, finances and the sometimes tenuous ties of cultural kinship.

Shainskiy, retired and 82 years old, has now alleged he was taken advantage of because of his age. He claims in a lawsuit that a group of associates duped him into the purchases, fraudulently securing exorbitant mortgages on his behalf, without his knowledge.

Shainskiy went to Russia to join his wife on Aug. 14 for three weeks. Before he did, Vartan had him split some of the joint bank accounts he had with his wife for the purpose of buying his son's house on Via Monteverde, the suit alleges. He doesn't remember signing the purchase papers for the Via Monteverde house, nor does he remember signing the power of attorney a few days before he left, according to the suit.

But with that power of attorney, Vartan allegedly conspired with his sons so that Shainskiy would pay $1.299 million for Andrew Vartani's house -- a total of $100,000 more than the asking price. The suit alleges that Michael Vartani used his broker's login to the Multiple Listing Service to change his brother's asking price to a range of $1.299 million to $1.399 million, to cover the fact that they were charging Shainskiy the extra amount.

Abridged
SOURCE: Voice of San Diego
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