2 Owners of Compton Business Convicted of Fraud After Fires
Two Chicago men who owned a Culver City manufacturing plant that was struck by arson in 1980 were convicted in Los Angeles federal court Thursday of racketeering, mail fraud and bankruptcy fraud.
Joseph J. Wypasek, 51, and Robert Lundeen, 48, each faces a maximum 20-year prison term when they return before U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer Jan. 20, 1986, for sentencing.
The guilty verdicts, returned by a jury after a four-week trial, also mean the men will forfeit $552,000 in insurance payments on inventory and equipment burned in the two fires at their firm, Unique Industries, five years ago.
Before the fires, the men diverted assets of the firm into another company, then placed the business into bankruptcy.
A third man, Norman R. Wolff, was acquitted last week of the same charges.
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