Former auto executive John DeLorean has fraudulently transferred Cache County property worth more than $1.2 million to his children to keep it out of his lawyer's hands, according to a federal lawsuit.
Michigan attorney Mayer Morganroth sued DeLorean, 70, his two children and DeLorean's Logan Manufacturing Co. in Utah's U.S. District Court Monday.Morganroth wants U.S. District Judge Dee Benson to set aside DeLorean's recent transfer of the Logan business and lease payments to his son, Zachary, and his daughter, Kathryn.
In February, a Detroit jury ordered DeLorean to pay Morganroth $5.3 million in back legal fees plus $5 million in damages.
Morganroth says he handled about 40 cases for DeLorean, helping win acquittals in cocaine trafficking and embezzlement trials.
DeLorean, whose sports car company collapsed after his 1982 arrest on cocaine charges, told reporters in April that Morganroth is exaggerating his role.
After winning the jury verdict, Morganroth served a restraining order on DeLorean forbidding him to sell or transfer any of his property, the suit says.
A few days later, DeLorean transferred the Logan company, which manufactures snow-grooming vehicles, and the lease payments to his children, the complaint says. In exchange, the children put down a $20,000 down payment and agreed to pay $1.2 million for the property in a bulk payment due in 20 years.
The property and lease are worth far more, according to the complaint. Since the only payment is "an unsecured promise to pay in the distant future by a minor and her brother, whose financial ability is unknown, the consideration for the property and the lease is grossly inadequate," the suit says.
Morganroth has also slapped a lien on DeLorean's 440-acre estate in Newark, N.J., threatening to sell it at a sheriff's sale.