Jennifer Dulos disappearance: Fotis Dulos to testify in civil suit trial

File photo of Fotis Dulos. File photo of Fotis Dulos. Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 60 Caption Close Jennifer Dulos disappearance: Fotis Dulos to testify in civil suit trial 1 / 60 Back to Gallery

HARTFORD — Fotis Dulos is expected to testify in his own defense when his mother-in-law’s $2.5 million civil lawsuits filed against him go to trial next month.

Gloria Farber and the estate of her late husband Hilliard filed the lawsuits in early 2018, close to 18 months before their daughter Jennifer Dulos disappeared.

The trial will be decided by a judge and is expected to last two to three days, starting Dec. 3.

Attorney William Murray, representing Fotis Dulos in the civil lawsuits, said he has “no worries” about his client testifying during the trial.

Murray, his client and others involved in the case met Thursday with Hartford Superior Court Judge Cesar Noble, who is overseeing the trial, to discuss legal issues pertaining to the lawsuits. The conference was held in Noble’s chambers and was not open to the public.

The lawsuits claim Fotis Dulos owes the family more than $2.5 million in loans made to him and his high-end real estate development company, Fore Group. Fotis Dulos claims the money was a gift from the family and no promissory notes or contracts were signed.

READ MORE: The case against Fotis Dulos and Michelle Troconis

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Tensions have risen in the lawsuits since Jennifer Dulos vanished on May 24.

Fotis Dulos, and his former girlfriend Michelle Troconis, have each pleaded not guilty to two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

Attorney Richard Weinstein, representing Farber in the lawsuits, has repeatedly tried to glean information from Troconis on Fotis Dulos’ business dealings.

However, Troconis invoked her Fifth Amendment rights during every question Weinstein asked during a September deposition in the lawsuits. Her attorney, Andrew Bowman, claiming her testimony could impact the criminal proceedings.

Troconis is not on the list of witnesses who Weinstein expects to question during the trial. The list of witnesses for Farber does include Mark Dean, the administrator of the trust set up to deal with the family’s financial issues regarding Fotis Dulos, the bookkeepers for three construction-related companies that likely did business with the Fore Group and attorney David Markowitz, whose firm previously represented Fotis Dulos in the lawsuits.

Murray, representing Fotis Dulos, will call his client and Dean to the stand during the trial, according to a witness list provided in the trial management report. Others will testify for Weinstein either through their depositions or by Skype, according to court documents.

Weinstein contends that in 2012 the family loaned Fotis Dulos $500,000, which he had been making payments on until 2017 when Hilliard Farber died. Weinstein said Fotis Dulos still owes $179,834 plus interest and late fees.

Farber also contends in a separate lawsuit that her husband loaned Fotis Dulos large sums of money for the Fore Group to develop high-end real estate properties, which would be repaid when the properties sold, court papers said.

In all, according to Weinstein, the Farbers loaned Fotis Dulos $10 million and $2.5 million has still not be repaid.

The trial will hinge on whether Fotis Dulos owes the family money, and if so, how much. Court papers filed by Markowitz’s firm in April 2018 indicate that Fotis and Jennifer Dulos who was initially also named in one the lawsuits, claimed the money was a gift from the family.

Jennifer Dulos’ name was removed from the lawsuit alleging the couple still owed the family more than $179,000 of a $500,000 loan after she disappeared.

Farber has been granted the right to intervene in the couple’s contentious two-year divorce and is now seeking permanent custody of the five Dulos children. The children have been staying with Farber with the help of Lauren Almeida, their longtime nanny who will be deposed Friday in the lawsuits.

According arrest warrants, police believe Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” when Jennifer Dulos arrived home from dropping off their children at school around 8:05 a.m. May 24.

Police said two people resembling Fotis Dulos and Troconis were seen on video the night of the disappearance in Hartford. Fotis Dulos was also seen on the same videos dumping bags that were later determined to contain his wife’s blood and clothing, according to arrest warrants.

Police said Fotis Dulos and Troconis also took a red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck belonging to a Fore Group employee to a car wash in the days after the disappearance.

Fotis Dulos also urged the employee to remove the seats, which he did but turned them over to investigators who found Jennifer Dulos’ blood on one of them, according to arrest warrants.