Dominelli Transferred From Downtown S.D. Federal Prison

Three weeks after he was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for fraud and income tax invasion, J. David (Jerry) Dominelli on Monday was transferred out of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, federal authorities confirmed.

Although he ultimately will be imprisoned in the Federal Correctional Institution at Pleasanton, it could be days or even weeks before he actually checks into that facility, about 40 miles east of San Francisco.

Prison officials would not say where the founder of J. David & Co. has been taken, but it is likely that he is now part of a “pool” of federal inmates to be transferred to and from various prison sites, according to law enforcement sources.

Not even Dominelli’s criminal-defense attorney, Robert Grimes, knew where his client was.

Prison authorities “used to tell us where they were sending people,” Grimes said, “but recently, they no longer do--I presume for security reasons.”

In a related J. David development, bankruptcy trustee Louis Metzger on Friday filed lawsuits in federal court against 54 former J. David investors, seeking the return of $3.7 million in so-called preference payments and $605,000 in fraudulent conveyances.

The lawsuits were filed one week after Metzger took action against 65 former J. David investors, seeking repayment of nearly $9 million in preference payments and about $4 million in fraudulent conveyances.

Preference payments are those made within 90 days of the firm’s collapse and fraudulent conveyances apply to those who withdrew more money than they invested in J. David.

Metzger’s action brings the total amount sought in preference payments lawsuits to $15.2 million and the total sought in fraudulent conveyance suits to $6.3 million. The trustee previously had settled about $3.1 million in preference payments suits.