Investors with Richard Lachina (also spelled La China and LaChina) were awarded $1.041 million plus $1 million in punitive damages today (Jan. 28) by Judge James W. Meyers in Bankruptcy Court. San Diego attorney Robert Scott Dreher described Lachina as a "serial Ponzi schemer" in a state court suit filed in 2008. He had sold investors shares in AXXIS, two Big Bear real estate schemes, and a condo in Costa Rica, taking the money raised in one scheme to pay off investors in another, according to the suit. Lachina then filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009, staying the suit. Dreher challenged the discharge of the bankruptcy on the basis of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. That led to Meyers's awards today.
Investors with Richard Lachina (also spelled La China and LaChina) were awarded $1.041 million plus $1 million in punitive damages today (Jan. 28) by Judge James W. Meyers in Bankruptcy Court. San Diego attorney Robert Scott Dreher described Lachina as a "serial Ponzi schemer" in a state court suit filed in 2008. He had sold investors shares in AXXIS, two Big Bear real estate schemes, and a condo in Costa Rica, taking the money raised in one scheme to pay off investors in another, according to the suit. Lachina then filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009, staying the suit. Dreher challenged the discharge of the bankruptcy on the basis of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. That led to Meyers's awards today.