Attorney Scott Mager against prevails in a big way.  The Hausmann family – who were horrifically defrauded by their CEO – looked to Mager Paruas, LLC to help them recover from the Defendant.  Mager secured the largest (multi-million-dollar) verdict in Florida for the year.

The Hausmann family, through their company Hausmann Financial Group, LLC, invested more than $570,000 in cash (plus other time and moneys) into a venture to expand/create a check-cashing company.  The plan for the company had been pitched by Defendant Rodrigo Aranda and his company, who was already in the business and showed what he represented as certified financials and other documents showing a customer base and business infrastructure. Many months later while Aranda was operating the new venture, the Hausmann family noticed irregularities in the record keeping of the business. Aranda kept the fraud alive by fabricating fake audited financial statements. Many millions of dollars ended up flowing through the company but were diverted to Defendant Aranda’s own use.

According to Leon Roy Hausmann, the family’s suspicions were confirmed when they discovered that Aranda had been using their investment as his own personal “piggy bank” and Aranda had been funneling profits from the business transactions through his former (allegedly closed) company while working for the new venture.  “Rodrigo used his relationship with my father to convince us to invest money into his business.  It was only later when we discovered that the financial documents were manufactured – and the entire investment was just part of a scam.”

Mager Paruas, LLC, led by attorney Scott Mager, helped the Hausmann family win the victory they deserved.  His team helped the Hausmann family secure a multi-million-dollar verdict after a hotly contested, week-long jury trial before Judge John Luzzo in Broward County. The verdict included the following: $570,000 for Fraud against company; $407,977 for Breach/Nonpayment of Promissory Note against company; $777,977 for Fraud against individual; $570,000 for Unjust Enrichment against company; $570,000 for Money Lent against company, equaling $2,895,954 in total award.  “This was a team victory,” says Mager, “and my fellow lawyers, paralegals and staff equally share in our victory.”

The Mager Paruas legal team managed to show to the jury the depth of Aranda’s deception and showed Aranda’s excuses were meritless.

Paruas explained, “fraud cases like this one can be much more difficult to try than they might seem.  You can’t just show that someone lost their money in an investment – you have to prove that there was an actual intention to defraud.  Unlike in television and movies, real ‘bad guys’ rarely confess their plot at the end.  We were only able to prove Mr. Aranda’s deception in this case after our careful investigation showed inconsistencies that revealed Mr. Aranda’s true intentions.”

Mager added, “Mr. Aranda was able to deceive the Hausmann Family and his next target could have been the jury.  We are honored to have yet again vindicated the rights of victims, including these very wonderful people who were tragically so expertly defrauded by a professional schemer.”  His criminal trial is set for mid-2018.

One juror, who did not wish to be identified, said the family’s lawyer did an excellent job of proving the wrongdoing, explaining it in way that helped the jurors understand the magnitude of the wrongdoing.

“Our lawyers were incredible,” said family members.  “We had never sued anyone before, and we saw the tremendous challenges our lawyers faced in proving our case against a fraudster who was a master at presenting his side as if he did nothing wrong. We are extremely grateful for the result.”

The verdict was recognized as the largest fraud verdict in Florida that year.

The Defendant – in a separate criminal proceeding – eventually was sentenced to jail, where he rem