Out of the Country

Fotomat founder Clifford C. Graham, whose experimental gold-mining venture collapsed amid charges of fraud and reams of controversy, is apparently no longer in town.

Graham, according to sources close to him, is somewhere in the Caribbean.

Graham’s firm, Au Magnetics, solicited investors at $100,000 each for a 1% share in a gold-mining process, but, according to investor lawsuits, Graham actually sold more than 100% interest in the firm.

Graham’s attorney, Michael Kirby, has filed motions in state and federal courts to be relieved as his civil attorney. A Superior Court hearing is scheduled on that this week.

For What It’s Worth

It’s not that Will Phillips’ line of work is so unusual. Financial planners, after all, proliferate like so many sand fleas in summer.

But Phillips, who works with the McGladrey Henrickson & Pullen accountancy firm, has a non-traditional approach: Instead of a bill, many of Phillips’ clients are simply told “Pay us what (you) think it’s worth,” Phillips said.

The offer is made “only when the client says that the kind of work (we’re) doing is something different.”

The upshot is that the clients usually “pay us more than they would have had we done a straight contract,” Phillips said.

First Jersey Sued

Solana Beach attorney Timothy Karen has filed a $10-million, class-action lawsuit against First Jersey Securities, the New York-based investment firm headed by Robert E. Brennan.

The suit alleges civil conspiracy, fraud and deceit, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition and false advertising.

Nearly a dozen First Jersey Securities clients have joined in Karen’s lawsuit, including his mother, Dorothy, who sold stock bought for $1,656 for only $419 and was, according to the suit, the victim of “fraudulent and unlawful acts and omissions” by First Jersey.

Courtroom Decorum

Nearly 15 attorneys attended a complicated, hourlong hearing in Superior Court recently to determine if former investors in J. David & Co. could settle their lawsuits with the brokerage firm that once employed J. David (Jerry) Dominelli and with an insurance company that bonded J. David against external fraud.

But not everyone in the courtroom paid attention.

One lawyer not connected to the case whiled away the hour doing a crossword puzzle, while the bailiff spent much of the time reading the Bible.