Businessman Convicted of Racketeering, Fraud in Fires

A federal court jury Tuesday found an Agoura Hills businessman guilty of racketeering and insurance fraud in connection with six fires that destroyed businesses he owned in Sun Valley and Massachusetts.

After an eight-day trial, the businessman, Robert Feldman, 55, was found guilty on all 16 counts against him.

Feldman was arrested in September and accused of masterminding an elaborate $2.6-million insurance fraud scheme centering on a fire that destroyed Grow Gear Inc., a 20,000-square-foot aircraft parts factory in Sun Valley, on Jan. 30., 1982.

In November, he was also charged with a pattern of racketeering that included five fires at three businesses he owned in Massachusetts during the 1970s.

After the verdict, the jury resumed deliberations in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles to consider the Justice Department’s request for imposition of a $2.7-million judgment against Feldman. Under federal racketeering laws, the government is entitled to recover from a convicted racketeer the proceeds of the crime.

Collected $2.6 Million

Prosecutors said Feldman collected $2.6 million from the Chubb Insurance Group for the Sun Valley fire. He also collected $264,000 for a fire in 1973 at a restaurant he owned in Worcester County, Mass., and $16,000 for four fires between 1973 and 1976 at two car washes he owned in Suffolk County, Mass., prosecutors said.

After a determination by the jury on the Justice Department claim, sentencing will be scheduled by U. S. District Court Judge Edward Rafeedie. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 100 years in prison and a $49,000 fine.

Feldman is free on $400,000 bail pending sentencing.

The indictment alleged that the money collected from Chubb was hidden through a complicated series of transfers between U. S. and foreign bank accounts and “shell” corporations, with much of the money winding up in a bank in Israel.

Feldman’s attorney, A. Brent Carruth of Van Nuys, argued that the evidence against Feldman was circumstantial and that Feldman was on an airplane en route to Taiwan when the plant in Sun Valley burst into flames.

The prosecution, led by Asst. U. S. Atty. Richard Callahan, said Feldman was $3.4 million in debt when the plant burned. It caught fire the day after insurance brokers warned the firm that its policy was being canceled for non-payment of premiums, Callahan said.