VAN NUYS : Man Blames Poverty Claims on Divorce

A Van Nuys businessman on trial for lying about his wealth on two court documents testified Wednesday that he was indigent because of a bitter divorce proceeding.

A Superior Court jury is expected to hear closing arguments today in the case of Amnon Charash, who faces two counts of perjury and one count of altering a court file.

On two separate occasions in a lawsuit against his original attorney in the divorce case, Charash filed an application for a fee waiver, stating that he was unemployed and had enough money for only “one simple meal a day.”

Charash said his income was extremely limited because he was on permanent disability from his job as an engineer due to severe stress, and a divorce court order restricted him from using any community assets for personal purposes.

Under the penalty of perjury, Charash stated in the court documents that his monthly income was $900 a month.

Under cross-examination from Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Schuit, Charash admitted to receiving $16,000 income from a shopping center that he partly owned only four months after he told the court he was “penniless.”

Charash insisted that he was restricted in his use of the money.

Schuit, in a move that drew laughter from almost everyone in the courtroom, asked Charash, “Do you know how many 25-cent Big Macs you can buy with $16,000?”