This information taken from public records posted on www.lucompublicdocuments.com
COMPLAINT AND JURY TRIAL DEMAND
Plaintiffs, Richard S. Lehman, individually and in his capacity as the duly appointed Executor of the Domiciliary Estate of Wilson C. Lucom (“Lehman”); Richard S. Lehman, P.A., a duly organized Florida professional association (“Lehman, P.A.”), and Wilson C. Lucom Trust Fund Foundation (“Foundation”), by and through its Sole Trustee, Lucom World Peace, a Panamanian corporation, sue Defendants and allege as follows:
NATURE OF THE CASE
This is an action for damages in excess of Seven Hundred Thirty-Two Million Dollars ($732,000,000) arising from multiple violations by the Defendants of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), 28 U.S.C. § 1961 et. seq., involving predicate acts of extortion, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, theft, dealing in stolen property, and multiple violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Federal Travel Act, as more fully alleged below. These acts were committed by the Defendants in this District with the assistance of others, known and unknown, with the singular purpose of stealing for themselves the vast fortune of Wilson C. Lucom, deceased, who left that fortune through his Last Will and Testament, to his Foundation for the benefit of the poor and needy children of the Republic of Panama.
INTRODUCTION
This action involves a criminal conspiracy targeting the Plaintiffs and conducted by Defendants in Florida and abroad. This Complaint details how a group of U.S. and Panamanian individuals, lawyers, judges and prosecutors set about to fraudulently loot millions of dollars from a decedent’s estate, and destroy the estate’s Executor’s ability to carry out the decedent’s wishes, the primary directive being to use the estate’s millions to feed the poor children of Panama. The criminal conspiracy had one objective: thwart the only person who was appointed the Executor of the Estate of Wilson C. Lucom (the “Estate”), through acts of intimidation extortion, corruption, theft, money laundering, and bribery of foreign officials, so that the Defendants could steal the Estate assets for themselves. The Defendants’ criminal conspiracy could not succeed (even as it continues today) absent the combined acts of the Defendants in the United States, Panama and the British Virgin Islands.
Download the full 84 page "Complaint and Jury Trial Demand" in Download 84 pager in English or en espanol
Showing posts with label Wilson Lucom case. Richard S Lehman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wilson Lucom case. Richard S Lehman. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Fla. lawyer claims Panama court stealing millions from orphans
A half-decade ago, Richard Lehman was just a tax lawyer in South Florida who happened to have a very wealthy friend and client. Lehman's fishing buddy, Wilson Lucom, was a curmudgeonly millionaire, a onetime member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration who went on to found the conservative group Accuracy in Media. In his old age, Lucom relocated to Panama and began buying up prime oceanfront land-more than 7,000 acres by the time he died in 2006.
Lehman spent a lot of time in Panama with Lucom in his friend's waning months. He signed the will in which Lucom left his entire estate, then valued at more than $50 million, to a foundation dedicated to feeding Panama's impoverished children. In 2006, Panama's version of probate court named Lehman the sole executor of Lucom's estate, which included property in Florida and Texas as well as the land in Panama, on which Lucom had envisioned a shining model city.
That didn't sit well with Lucom's widow, a Panamanian aristocrat named Hilda Arias Lucom, nor with Hilda's children by her marriage to onetime Panama finance minister Gilberto Arias. Lucom's will specified a yearly allowance for Hilda, but cut out the Arias children.
Thus began a fantastical probate battle that has led the tax lawyer down paths he never imagined. According to an 84-page civil racketeering complaint he filed Friday in Miami federal district court, Lehman has witnessed rampant corruption at the highest levels of the Panamanian judiciary, has been accused of murdering Lucom and attempting to extort his onetime family, has been falsely arrested in Panama and placed on an Interpol alert list, and has been on the wrong end of a $2 million Florida state court judgment for misusing Lucom estate assets. The Arias family has argued that Lucom never spoke of wanting to help children. He never even liked children, according to Hilda's 2008 interview with The New York Times. The foundation, according to the Ariases, was Lehman's concoction. READ THIS FULL ARTICLE ONLINE
Lehman spent a lot of time in Panama with Lucom in his friend's waning months. He signed the will in which Lucom left his entire estate, then valued at more than $50 million, to a foundation dedicated to feeding Panama's impoverished children. In 2006, Panama's version of probate court named Lehman the sole executor of Lucom's estate, which included property in Florida and Texas as well as the land in Panama, on which Lucom had envisioned a shining model city.
That didn't sit well with Lucom's widow, a Panamanian aristocrat named Hilda Arias Lucom, nor with Hilda's children by her marriage to onetime Panama finance minister Gilberto Arias. Lucom's will specified a yearly allowance for Hilda, but cut out the Arias children.
Thus began a fantastical probate battle that has led the tax lawyer down paths he never imagined. According to an 84-page civil racketeering complaint he filed Friday in Miami federal district court, Lehman has witnessed rampant corruption at the highest levels of the Panamanian judiciary, has been accused of murdering Lucom and attempting to extort his onetime family, has been falsely arrested in Panama and placed on an Interpol alert list, and has been on the wrong end of a $2 million Florida state court judgment for misusing Lucom estate assets. The Arias family has argued that Lucom never spoke of wanting to help children. He never even liked children, according to Hilda's 2008 interview with The New York Times. The foundation, according to the Ariases, was Lehman's concoction. READ THIS FULL ARTICLE ONLINE
Thursday, August 18, 2011
A Legacy of Corruption Marches on: New Insight into Panama’s Infamous Lucom Case
A Legacy of Corruption Marches on: New Insight into Panama’s Infamous Lucom Case
- One year after COHA’s first publication, Richard Lehman continues to fight for the rights of the poor children of Panama
- The Supreme Court’s corrupt ruling triggers a District Court prosecutor to take a stand, resulting in a judicial stalemate
- Panama’s underhanded politics exponentially increase value of Hacienda Santa Monica, the most precious asset in the Lucom estate
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
by COHA Research Associates Alexander Brockwehl & Devin Parsons
• Feisty Miami Lawyer Takes on Panama’s Political Mafia
• Panama’s Financial Carnivores Salivate over $50 million Bequest
• The Country’s Corrupt Judicial Establishment in Deep Distress
Read Full article
• Feisty Miami Lawyer Takes on Panama’s Political Mafia
• Panama’s Financial Carnivores Salivate over $50 million Bequest
• The Country’s Corrupt Judicial Establishment in Deep Distress
Read Full article
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Executor of Lucom estate commits $50 million For ‘poor children of panama’ To panamanian institutions
Recent rulings clear path for largest donation in country’s history
BOCA RATON, FL – In an international estate battle marred by greed, viciousness, and corruption, the now legally recognized executor has placed the fate of the “poor children of Panama” in the hands of the country’s most powerful institutions – the Church and the Panamanian government.
After four years of defending the Will of Wilson Lucom, South Florida-based attorney Richard Lehman, Lucom’s friend and attorney of 31 years, who was appointed as the Executor of Lucom’s Will by two Panamanian courts gave his irrevocable commitment that two Panamanian entities would receive any judicial award that is made to carry out the intentions of the Will of Wilson Lucom.
Once completed this would give $50 million to the Fundacion De Apoyo a Los Ninos Pobres de Panama, a Panamanian charity and the Panamanian Ministry of Social Development. The latter is the Panamanian government agency responsible for addressing malnutrition in the country.
“As the legally recognized executor of this estate, I am going to give all proceeds of the Lucom estate that will result from any judicial award in Panama to these two leading institutions,” said Lehman. “Based on recent rulings, it is apparent that I can now use my powers as executor to carry out the wishes of my late client and to best protect this Estate. This action protects the Estate for the kids.
Lehman’s position as the Executor was confirmed by several Panamanian Court rulings that recently held that Lehman has been illegally and unconstitutionally prevented from carrying out his duties as Lucom’s Executor for four years. Lehman’s path was also made easier by a Panamanian district court that awarded Lehman a $3.8 million judgment against the Panamanian law firm, Infante & Perez Almillano P.A. The ruling states that the firm abused the country’s legal system and that its strategies to restrain Lehman’s efforts as executor were illegal.
This case centers on Lucom, an American expatriate who died in Panama in 2006 and left a Panamanian will with an approximate $50 million gift to “feed the poor children of Panama”. The will appointed Lehman as executor. Lucom’s third wife, 87-year-old Hilda Arias, has sued to nullify the will in Panama and keep the entire fortune for herself.
Until now Lehman was prevented from fulfilling his legal role as executor by illegal and unconstitutional actions. This was accomplished through a mixture of illegal Panama probate court rulings and through a concerted effort to position Lehman as a criminal. The case has featured a series of Panamanian prosecutorial and judicial corruptions affecting Lehman. He was falsely charged with 15 crimes, including murder and gang conspiracy. Five false arrest warrants were issued against him and he was falsely arrested and imprisoned on two occasions when no crimes existed.
These actions, according to Lehman, were implemented as a way to intimidate and force him into resigning as executor and dropping the case. Another tactic involved having Lehman and his Panama lawyer wrongly placed on Interpol’s “Red Notice Alert – Dangerous Criminal” list.
Lehman continued to persevere despite that fact that he has not been able to go to Panama for two years for fear of being arrested and jailed. Every false charge against Lehman has since been dismissed by the Panama Courts.
Despite the efforts against him, Lehman has been able to prevent the will from being nullified for four years and helped organize a strong grass roots campaign that has led to demonstration marches by children through downtown Panama City. He also received strong support and endorsements from the most prominent charities and religious groups in the country. These activities were coordinated by Lehman from the United States with his legal team in Panama.
Through his efforts, the estate remains intact.
“As an American standing alone in Panama and fighting a corrupt legal system and one of the most powerful families in the country, I am now in a position as Executor to make this commitment to the rightful recipients – the starving children on Panamanian streets,” said Lehman.
“All of Panama knows what is happening in this case. The only way to truly guarantee that Lucom’s gift will reach Panama’s poor kids is for the Panamanian government and religious institutions to defend Lucom’s gift and insist on justice. The choice to do the right thing is Panama’s” said Lehman.
For further information, see www.lucompublicdocuments.com
BOCA RATON, FL – In an international estate battle marred by greed, viciousness, and corruption, the now legally recognized executor has placed the fate of the “poor children of Panama” in the hands of the country’s most powerful institutions – the Church and the Panamanian government.
After four years of defending the Will of Wilson Lucom, South Florida-based attorney Richard Lehman, Lucom’s friend and attorney of 31 years, who was appointed as the Executor of Lucom’s Will by two Panamanian courts gave his irrevocable commitment that two Panamanian entities would receive any judicial award that is made to carry out the intentions of the Will of Wilson Lucom.
Once completed this would give $50 million to the Fundacion De Apoyo a Los Ninos Pobres de Panama, a Panamanian charity and the Panamanian Ministry of Social Development. The latter is the Panamanian government agency responsible for addressing malnutrition in the country.
“As the legally recognized executor of this estate, I am going to give all proceeds of the Lucom estate that will result from any judicial award in Panama to these two leading institutions,” said Lehman. “Based on recent rulings, it is apparent that I can now use my powers as executor to carry out the wishes of my late client and to best protect this Estate. This action protects the Estate for the kids.
Lehman’s position as the Executor was confirmed by several Panamanian Court rulings that recently held that Lehman has been illegally and unconstitutionally prevented from carrying out his duties as Lucom’s Executor for four years. Lehman’s path was also made easier by a Panamanian district court that awarded Lehman a $3.8 million judgment against the Panamanian law firm, Infante & Perez Almillano P.A. The ruling states that the firm abused the country’s legal system and that its strategies to restrain Lehman’s efforts as executor were illegal.
This case centers on Lucom, an American expatriate who died in Panama in 2006 and left a Panamanian will with an approximate $50 million gift to “feed the poor children of Panama”. The will appointed Lehman as executor. Lucom’s third wife, 87-year-old Hilda Arias, has sued to nullify the will in Panama and keep the entire fortune for herself.
Until now Lehman was prevented from fulfilling his legal role as executor by illegal and unconstitutional actions. This was accomplished through a mixture of illegal Panama probate court rulings and through a concerted effort to position Lehman as a criminal. The case has featured a series of Panamanian prosecutorial and judicial corruptions affecting Lehman. He was falsely charged with 15 crimes, including murder and gang conspiracy. Five false arrest warrants were issued against him and he was falsely arrested and imprisoned on two occasions when no crimes existed.
These actions, according to Lehman, were implemented as a way to intimidate and force him into resigning as executor and dropping the case. Another tactic involved having Lehman and his Panama lawyer wrongly placed on Interpol’s “Red Notice Alert – Dangerous Criminal” list.
Lehman continued to persevere despite that fact that he has not been able to go to Panama for two years for fear of being arrested and jailed. Every false charge against Lehman has since been dismissed by the Panama Courts.
Despite the efforts against him, Lehman has been able to prevent the will from being nullified for four years and helped organize a strong grass roots campaign that has led to demonstration marches by children through downtown Panama City. He also received strong support and endorsements from the most prominent charities and religious groups in the country. These activities were coordinated by Lehman from the United States with his legal team in Panama.
Through his efforts, the estate remains intact.
“As an American standing alone in Panama and fighting a corrupt legal system and one of the most powerful families in the country, I am now in a position as Executor to make this commitment to the rightful recipients – the starving children on Panamanian streets,” said Lehman.
“All of Panama knows what is happening in this case. The only way to truly guarantee that Lucom’s gift will reach Panama’s poor kids is for the Panamanian government and religious institutions to defend Lucom’s gift and insist on justice. The choice to do the right thing is Panama’s” said Lehman.
For further information, see www.lucompublicdocuments.com
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Attorney turns Lucom land over to Panama
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=61966
http://www.lucompublicdocuments.com/DBreview_4_20_2010.html
In the past four years, Boca Raton attorney Richard Lehman has been thrown in a Panamanian jail, put on Interpol’s highest red flag status, sued in both Panama and in the United States and slapped with a nearly $2 million judgment. He responded by filing a complaint with the Organization of American States, accusing the government and courts of Panama of widespread corruption.
He says he barely kept his tax law practice alive.
Lehman, executor of Wilson Lucom’s estate, said it’s all because he’s been trying to carry out the wishes of his longtime client and friend, an eccentric millionaire who died in Panama in 2006 and wanted his beachfront land worth $50 million to go to the poor children of his adopted country.
If it sounds like a movie script, it’s that, too. Screenwriter David Griffiths, who co-wrote “Collateral Damage” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is writing a screenplay based on Lehman’s experience.
“What’s happened to Richard is outrageous,” Griffiths said. “He’s been hugely heroic.”
Lucom was an ardent anti-communist, conservative activist and co-founder of the media watchdog group Accuracy in Media. He’d served in the Truman and Roosevelt administrations.
Twice he married into wealth. He was first wed to the heiress to the Willys Jeep fortune, Virginia Willys de Landa. After she died, he sold a massive tract of land in Palm Beach County for $10 million that became Greenacres.
In 1982, Lucom wed Hilda Arias, former wife of Panama’s minister of finance.
Lehman has been battling Lucom’s widow, Hilda, a powerful relative of former Panamanian presidents whose family owns one of the country’s biggest newspapers. The widow and her attorneys claim Wilson Lucom’s will was not properly executed. They went as far as asking Panamanian authorities to bring manslaughter charges against Lehman and others in connection with Lucom’s death. Lehman and his attorneys called the charges ridiculous, and Panama’s attorney general dismissed them with prejudice.
Last year, after leaving a meeting in Panama, Lehman had boarded a plane when police escorted him off the aircraft and took him to jail. He sat there for 16 hours until his lawyer awakened the judge and prosecutor on a Saturday morning. Lehman was released but vowed to never step foot in Panama again. He said his arrest was due to a slander and extortion lawsuit filed against him by the Lucom family attorney.
“My lawyer stayed with me, outside the jail, the whole time,” Lehman said. “He said he was afraid I would disappear otherwise.”
Later, Lehman and his Panamanian lawyer, Victor Crosbie, mysteriously wound up on the Interpol red flag alert — the highest warning for criminals and terrorists sent to 183 countries — and his lawyer was subsequently arrested.
As if the saga wasn’t dramatic enough, a human rights activist who organized a march to protest the delay in transferring Lucom’s gift to the poor was shot and wounded. The activist claims the shooting was tied to his protests.
Well-litigated
Lawsuits and orders in the case, accusing parties of slander, murder, theft, misrepresentation and a variety of other charges, have flown back and forth, reaching the Panama Supreme Court.
The case made it to the United States when one of Hilda Lucom’s attorneys, Charles Weiss of Palm Beach Gardens, filed a suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to block Lehman’s appointment as personal representative of Lucom and to declare his use of $600,000 in Lucom’s U.S. bank accounts unlawful.
Judge John Phillips ruled in March 2009 after a jury trial that Lehman lacked authority to spend the $600,000 and that he had failed to set up a trust account and commingled funds. The judge ordered the money to be returned with attorney fees. Weiss said he is still trying to collect a $1.9 million judgment against Lehman.
In a scathing order, Phillips labeled Lehman a “covetous opportunist seeking personal advantage and control of assets in the $25 [million] to $50 million domiciliary estate.”
Lehman hired appellate lawyers Arthur England of Greenberg Traurig and Bruce Rogow, special counsel with Alters Boldt Brown Rash & Culmo, to defend him. England filed a motion to overturn the verdict based on the reversal of a key Panamanian ruling. If the motion fails, Lehman will appeal to the 4th District Court of Appeal.
Asked his opinion about how Lehman was treated in Panama, England said dryly: “We’re fortunate we live in a country where attorneys are not thrown in jail for their status as personal representative. That country’s judicial system is out of sync with what I’m used to.”
Not the hero?
But Weiss said Lehman is not the hero he paints himself to be. He accuses Lehman of rushing to drain Lucom’s Palm Beach account right after his death and misrepresenting facts to the judge.
“He talks about the poor children of Panama. Well, when presented with all the facts, people will come to the conclusion the judge did,” Weiss said.
But others call Lehman heroic and commend him for all he has endured over the past four years. Griffiths has spent two years researching the film and traveling to Panama numerous times. His working title is “The Poor Children of Panama.”
“What’s happened to Richard is outrageous,” Griffiths said. “It’s a very corrupt world there. We have to wait until the end to see what happens — and see if any of the kids see any of that money.”
Lehman hopes the end is in sight. In an attempt to wash his hands of the matter, he formally turned over a 7,000-acre former ranch to a charity, the Fundacion De Apoyo a Los Niños Pobres de Panama, and the government of Panama.
The charity was organized to receive Lucom’s money along with the Panamanian Ministry for Social Development, which is responsible for feeding the poor, in the form of an irrevocable commitment.
In a letter to the agencies, Lehman stated: “Even though I had all the legal authority I needed under the law in Panama, I have not been permitted to distribute one penny to Panama’s poor children for four years. All of it as a result of judicial corruption, and it continues now to illegally prevent me from carrying out Wilson Lucom’s written intentions.
“I am told that every three days in Panama, one child dies of malnutrition-related diseases. Lucom’s gift would have stopped this four years ago if Panama law had been allowed to prevail.”
Julie Kay can be reached at (305) 347-6685.
http://www.lucompublicdocuments.com/DBreview_4_20_2010.html
In the past four years, Boca Raton attorney Richard Lehman has been thrown in a Panamanian jail, put on Interpol’s highest red flag status, sued in both Panama and in the United States and slapped with a nearly $2 million judgment. He responded by filing a complaint with the Organization of American States, accusing the government and courts of Panama of widespread corruption.
He says he barely kept his tax law practice alive.
Lehman, executor of Wilson Lucom’s estate, said it’s all because he’s been trying to carry out the wishes of his longtime client and friend, an eccentric millionaire who died in Panama in 2006 and wanted his beachfront land worth $50 million to go to the poor children of his adopted country.
If it sounds like a movie script, it’s that, too. Screenwriter David Griffiths, who co-wrote “Collateral Damage” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is writing a screenplay based on Lehman’s experience.
“What’s happened to Richard is outrageous,” Griffiths said. “He’s been hugely heroic.”
Lucom was an ardent anti-communist, conservative activist and co-founder of the media watchdog group Accuracy in Media. He’d served in the Truman and Roosevelt administrations.
Twice he married into wealth. He was first wed to the heiress to the Willys Jeep fortune, Virginia Willys de Landa. After she died, he sold a massive tract of land in Palm Beach County for $10 million that became Greenacres.
In 1982, Lucom wed Hilda Arias, former wife of Panama’s minister of finance.
Lehman has been battling Lucom’s widow, Hilda, a powerful relative of former Panamanian presidents whose family owns one of the country’s biggest newspapers. The widow and her attorneys claim Wilson Lucom’s will was not properly executed. They went as far as asking Panamanian authorities to bring manslaughter charges against Lehman and others in connection with Lucom’s death. Lehman and his attorneys called the charges ridiculous, and Panama’s attorney general dismissed them with prejudice.
Web Extra: |
“My lawyer stayed with me, outside the jail, the whole time,” Lehman said. “He said he was afraid I would disappear otherwise.”
Later, Lehman and his Panamanian lawyer, Victor Crosbie, mysteriously wound up on the Interpol red flag alert — the highest warning for criminals and terrorists sent to 183 countries — and his lawyer was subsequently arrested.
As if the saga wasn’t dramatic enough, a human rights activist who organized a march to protest the delay in transferring Lucom’s gift to the poor was shot and wounded. The activist claims the shooting was tied to his protests.
Well-litigated
Lawsuits and orders in the case, accusing parties of slander, murder, theft, misrepresentation and a variety of other charges, have flown back and forth, reaching the Panama Supreme Court.
The case made it to the United States when one of Hilda Lucom’s attorneys, Charles Weiss of Palm Beach Gardens, filed a suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to block Lehman’s appointment as personal representative of Lucom and to declare his use of $600,000 in Lucom’s U.S. bank accounts unlawful.
Judge John Phillips ruled in March 2009 after a jury trial that Lehman lacked authority to spend the $600,000 and that he had failed to set up a trust account and commingled funds. The judge ordered the money to be returned with attorney fees. Weiss said he is still trying to collect a $1.9 million judgment against Lehman.
In a scathing order, Phillips labeled Lehman a “covetous opportunist seeking personal advantage and control of assets in the $25 [million] to $50 million domiciliary estate.”
Lehman hired appellate lawyers Arthur England of Greenberg Traurig and Bruce Rogow, special counsel with Alters Boldt Brown Rash & Culmo, to defend him. England filed a motion to overturn the verdict based on the reversal of a key Panamanian ruling. If the motion fails, Lehman will appeal to the 4th District Court of Appeal.
Asked his opinion about how Lehman was treated in Panama, England said dryly: “We’re fortunate we live in a country where attorneys are not thrown in jail for their status as personal representative. That country’s judicial system is out of sync with what I’m used to.”
Not the hero?
But Weiss said Lehman is not the hero he paints himself to be. He accuses Lehman of rushing to drain Lucom’s Palm Beach account right after his death and misrepresenting facts to the judge.
“He talks about the poor children of Panama. Well, when presented with all the facts, people will come to the conclusion the judge did,” Weiss said.
But others call Lehman heroic and commend him for all he has endured over the past four years. Griffiths has spent two years researching the film and traveling to Panama numerous times. His working title is “The Poor Children of Panama.”
“What’s happened to Richard is outrageous,” Griffiths said. “It’s a very corrupt world there. We have to wait until the end to see what happens — and see if any of the kids see any of that money.”
Lehman hopes the end is in sight. In an attempt to wash his hands of the matter, he formally turned over a 7,000-acre former ranch to a charity, the Fundacion De Apoyo a Los Niños Pobres de Panama, and the government of Panama.
The charity was organized to receive Lucom’s money along with the Panamanian Ministry for Social Development, which is responsible for feeding the poor, in the form of an irrevocable commitment.
In a letter to the agencies, Lehman stated: “Even though I had all the legal authority I needed under the law in Panama, I have not been permitted to distribute one penny to Panama’s poor children for four years. All of it as a result of judicial corruption, and it continues now to illegally prevent me from carrying out Wilson Lucom’s written intentions.
“I am told that every three days in Panama, one child dies of malnutrition-related diseases. Lucom’s gift would have stopped this four years ago if Panama law had been allowed to prevail.”
Julie Kay can be reached at (305) 347-6685.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Petition Alleging Violations Of The Human Rights Of Richard S. Lehman By The Republic Of Panama, With A Request For An Investigation And Hearing
To The Honorable Members Of The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights, Organization Of American States:
Petition Alleging Violations Of The Human Rights Of Richard S. Lehman By The Republic Of Panama, With A Request For An Investigation And Hearing On The Merits And Request For Precautionary Measures Under Article 25.1 Of The Commission's Regulations
Petition Alleging Violations Of The Human Rights Of Richard S. Lehman By The Republic Of Panama, With A Request For An Investigation And Hearing On The Merits And Request For Precautionary Measures Under Article 25.1 Of The Commission's Regulations
DOWNLOAD this entire human rights lawsuit in ENGLISH or SPANISH
DOWNOAD 261 page of Exhibits
. . . "Mr. Lehman further requests that the Commission, in accordance with Article 25 of the Commission Rules, call upon Panama to adopt precautionary measures to guarantee that Mr. Lehman can carry out his duty as executor of Mr. Lucom's will without further harassment or endangerment. Because Mr. Lehman has been unable to travel freely to Panama, he has been unable to fulfill the final wishes of Mr. Lucom, and charities that perform life-saving services to Panama's poor children are being deprived of the funds that should rightfully be put to such work. If the organs of the Panamanian State continue to be abused, to permit the looting of Mr. Lucom's estate by members of the Arias family, it will be impossible for Mr. Lehman to carry out his duties as executor. Precautionary measures, therefore, will guard against irreparable and potentially devastating harm to the rightful beneficiaries of Mr. Lucom's will, the poor children of Panama. In light of the attempted murder of Mr. Avila, an outspoken proponent for carrying out the will bequest of Mr. Lucom, Mr. Lehman may also be at risk. Although the attempted murder of Mr. Avila is unsolved, the fact that he was attacked shortly after his participation in a very public protest related to this dispute, could be a sign that the situation is escalating to violence. Indeed, two U.S. Congressmen have written to the U.S. Embassy in Panama to express their concern for the safety and wellbeing of Mr. Lehman during his trips to Panama to fight the charges against him and address the legal matters related to Mr. Lehman's estate. (Exh. 13.)"
Read this petition online at www.LucomChildren.com
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Boca attorney in international showdown
BOCA RATON, FL -- Richard Lehman is a tax attorney in a small corner office overflowing with paperwork and right now he's preparing to sue the nation of Panama for violating his human rights.
"This is what can be done under a judicial system gone wild," says Lehman.
Lehman had a wealthy client, Wilson Lucom who lived in Panama and who had cut his wife's children out of his will.
Instead, Lucom had decided to donate 50-million dollars to the starving children of Panama.
When Lehman went there to execute the will however, the attorney was charged with the murder of Wilson Lucom.
"Can you imagine waking up and your lawyer calls and says 'Guess what they just accused you of murdering Mr. Lucom, who's 89-years old, in the hospital, who was hooked up to tubs and died."
Since 2006, Lehman has been falsely charged with dozens of crimes in Panama, from murder to extortion.
He's even been named by Interpol as one of their most wanted. All of this he says started because Lucom's family in Panama has produced two former presidents of the nation and they want that money.
He says they are creating false criminal charges in an effort to prevent the will from being executed.
Even though all of the charges had been dropped against him for lack of evidence in February Lehman was still arrested, and held at gunpoint for 14-hours.
"You were scared?" asks Holmes.
"S--t, yeah I was scared," says Lehman.
He was detained in a hotel for five days and was only able to get out through a border town and cross into Costa Rica.
All this because a powerful family thinks where there's a will there's a way, and an attorney and the starving children of Panama are paying the price.
"You can't stop somebody from being a fiduciary across borders by using criminal laws against them. What kind of world would you have?"
"This is what can be done under a judicial system gone wild," says Lehman.
Lehman had a wealthy client, Wilson Lucom who lived in Panama and who had cut his wife's children out of his will.
Instead, Lucom had decided to donate 50-million dollars to the starving children of Panama.
When Lehman went there to execute the will however, the attorney was charged with the murder of Wilson Lucom.
"Can you imagine waking up and your lawyer calls and says 'Guess what they just accused you of murdering Mr. Lucom, who's 89-years old, in the hospital, who was hooked up to tubs and died."
Since 2006, Lehman has been falsely charged with dozens of crimes in Panama, from murder to extortion.
He's even been named by Interpol as one of their most wanted. All of this he says started because Lucom's family in Panama has produced two former presidents of the nation and they want that money.
He says they are creating false criminal charges in an effort to prevent the will from being executed.
Even though all of the charges had been dropped against him for lack of evidence in February Lehman was still arrested, and held at gunpoint for 14-hours.
"You were scared?" asks Holmes.
"S--t, yeah I was scared," says Lehman.
He was detained in a hotel for five days and was only able to get out through a border town and cross into Costa Rica.
All this because a powerful family thinks where there's a will there's a way, and an attorney and the starving children of Panama are paying the price.
"You can't stop somebody from being a fiduciary across borders by using criminal laws against them. What kind of world would you have?"
# # #
http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story/Boca-attorney-in-international-showdown/ABu1Ga0ag0aj7DF3WZWcKQ.cspx
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