Jodie Foster's father arrives at court with zimmer frame accused of $130,000 housing scamBy Leon WatsonLast updated at 4:27 PM on 3rd December 2011
Hobbling to court on a zimmer frame, the estranged father of Silence of the Lambs star Jodie Foster stands accused of a $130,000 housing fraud.
Lucius Foster is facing up to 20 years behind bars for allegedly ripping off more than two dozen investors in Los Angeles, California.
He has been charged with 25 counts of grand theft and 10 counts of contracting without a license.
In his opening statement, Deputy City Attorney Don Cocek told the LA courtroom: 'Mr Foster is a liar and a cheat.
'He has had a scam going for years to steal money from people. A lot of people fell for it. He sounded so convincing.'
According to Mr Cocek, the 89-year-old building contractor conned a $5,000 downpayment out of his clients after he claimed he would build them low-cost homes for $85,000.
Mr Cocek said the actress's father planned to make the three-bedroom, 2,000 sq ft homes out of metal cargo containers from China.
Foster found buyers on Craigslist, where he placed an ad, before arranging to meet them at a Starbucks coffee shop in the San Fernando Valley, Mr Cocek said.
There, it is alleged, he would gain their trust by telling them wartime stories and promising their dream homes would be completed within a year.
Thomas Marks, one of Foster’s alleged victims, said: 'He told me these great World War II stories.
'He told me he liked oatmeal cookies. So I made him oatmeal cookies. We had a good rapport so I didn’t think he would do this.'
Another of foster’s alleged victims, Jose Luis Montoya, testified: 'He explained how much money I could save.
'I can have my house in the city I choose. I thought it was cheap compared to what the market was at the time. I trusted him.'
Foster was also accused of name-dropping his two-time Oscar-winning daughter to his give alleged scam credibility.
'He wanted to help low-income people who couldn’t ever be able to own a house,' testified alleged victim Karina Kazaryan.
'He said he was the father of Jodie Foster and he had a lot of money and he was just doing it to help people.'
The City Attorney’s Office said it was informed of the alleged scam in July when one of Foster’s investors filed a complaint with the California contractors state licensing board.
Prosecutors then discovered that Foster had more than two-dozen complaints filed against him in small-claims court.
The victims testified that they realised they were duped when the completion date for the project had passed and they couldn’t get a hold of Foster.
Alleged victim Johnny Baca said he repeatedly called Foster for weeks.
'He had disconnected his cellphone,' he testified. 'He wasn’t picking up his home phone.
'I had to call from a number he didn’t recognise. He picked up and said he had been sick and there had been delays.'
His victims testified that Foster made up numerous excuses for failing to build their dream homes.
'I wanted to cancel the contract and take my money back,' Mr Montoya said.
'He said he couldn’t [give me the money back] because of the recession and he needed more clients. He said once he got more clients he would give me my money back.'
Alleged victim Zhaneta Terbersegyan testified that Foster blamed his lack of progress on his difficulty obtaining permits from city hall.
'It took three years and I still believed him,' she said. 'He told me so many different stories.
'The main thing was the city wasn’t giving permits out and he was trying to get them… I finally gave up on the idea. I wasn’t going to get a house.'
'The excuses varied from city hall wouldn’t give him a permit to people were taking him to court and taking his money away,' said Mr Kazaryan. 'He said if I filed a small claim against him, he would file for bankruptcy.'
Foster, who is representing himself during the legal proceedings, denied trying to con his clients.
During his opening statements, Foster admitted he did owe money to his victims but blamed the economic downturn.
He said: 'The bubble dropped on me.'
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