Index Fund, Inc. v. Hagopian

677 F. Supp. 710, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11965, 1987 WL 32980
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 23, 1987
Docket73 Civ. 2665 (CHT)
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 677 F. Supp. 710 (Index Fund, Inc. v. Hagopian) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Index Fund, Inc. v. Hagopian, 677 F. Supp. 710, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11965, 1987 WL 32980 (S.D.N.Y. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

TENNEY, District Judge.

Plaintiff Index Fund, Inc. (“Index Fund”) brought this securities action over 14 years ago against numerous defendants alleging it was the victim of market manipulation which resulted in significant losses. After many years of on and off again activity of the parties, the sole remaining defendant Robert R. Hagopian 1 (“Hagopian”) submits two separate motions, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56: the first is for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s claims primarily on the ground of collateral estoppel; the second is for partial summary judgment to strike certain allegations in the complaint and to exclude in limine certain evidence. Although this litigation is no stranger to this court, and the underlying story has been told on several occasions over the past 14 years, it is necessary to repeat much of the past events in order to properly assess the arguments presently made. 2 For the reasons stated below, the court grants both motions of defendant.

BACKGROUND

Late in 1969 a group of promoters in New York City organized Armstrong Investors, S.A. and Armstrong Capital, S.A. (hereinafter collectively called the “Armstrong Fund”) to engage in the securities business as a so-called “off-shore” mutual fund. They also organized Everest Management Corporation (“Everest”) to act as an investment adviser to Armstrong Fund. John Peter Galanis (“Galanis”) and Akiyoshi Yamada (“Yamada”) were two of the principal officers and directors of Everest. Defendant First National City Bank (“Citibank”) approved and consented to have its subsidiary First National City Trust Company (Bahamas) Ltd. (“Citi-trust”), a Bahamian corporation, act as transfer agent, registrar and corporate domiciliary for Armstrong Fund and to provide all but one of the officers and directors for Armstrong Fund. Once its structure was completed and during the first part of 1970, Armstrong Fund sold almost 4 million dollars of its stock which funds were to be used for investment purposes. The receipts were deposited with Cititrust in the Bahamas and then transferred to Citibank in New York where they were invested by Everest at the direction of Galanis and Yamada for the account of Armstrong Fund. However, a substantial majority of the funds of Armstrong Fund were invested in worthless unlisted securities, price manipulated by Galanis, Yamada and others participating in the scheme.

In 1970 Index Fund was a registered open-end investment company, a Massachusetts corporation with offices in San Francisco, California. Defendant Hagopian became president of Index Fund and chairman of its investment adviser, Meridian *713 Management Corporation (“Meridian”) in 1969. Hagopian’s duties as president included the purchase, sale, delivery and receipt of stocks, bonds and other securities, cash or other forms of investment in the name and on behalf of Index Fund. Plaintiff claims that Hagopian, in consideration of bribes and other similar inducements by Galanis and Yamada, caused plaintiff to purchase from Armstrong Fund and other sources the following 17 securities involving 21 transactions on the following dates:

Trading Date Security
06/16/70 9,000 shs. Health Evaluations, Inc.
06/16/70 35,000 shs. Regency for Men, Ltd.
06/16/70 35,000 shs. Nationwide Marketing Associates
06/16/70 15,000 shs. Devon International, Ltd.
06/16/70 22,700 shs. Computer Circuits, Inc.
06/17/70 20,000 wts. Hair Extension Center, Inc.
07/02/70 $225,000 p.a. Monarch Industries 6%/84
07/06/70 10,000 shs. First Co-Investors, Inc.
07/07/70 15,000 shs. Haywood Manufacturing
07/08/70 2,500 shs. First Co-Investors, Inc.
07/15/70 16,000 shs. Synchronex Corp.
07/23/70 4,800 units Summit Group
07/29/70 9,500 shs. Microlab FXR
08/06/70 10,000 shs. Tranquilaire Mental Health
08/06/70 7,000 shs. Computerized Knitwear, Inc.
08/10/70 6,500 shs. Tranquilaire Mental Health
08/10/70 1,500 shs. Tranquilaire Mental Health
08/18/70 20,000 shs. Science Systems & Technology
08/21/70 $114,000 p.a. Cable Information Systems 7%/89
09/18/70 5,800 shs. Computer Studies, Inc.
09/25/70 1,000 shs. Computerized Knitwear, Inc.

The aggregate cost to plaintiff for these worthless or inflated securities was $1,736,-505.00. These securities were sold or otherwise disposed of by plaintiff during the period 1970-1972 for $726,354.00 resulting in an aggregate loss of $1,010,151.00.

At least as early as January 1971 Everest was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and subsequently in 1972 Hagopian was indicted for securities fraud. He pled guilty on January 22,1973 with respect to Count 19 of the indictment which involved the purchase of Computerized Knitwear shares for $98,-870.00, later sold for $36,698.00. At the time of sentencing on February 28, 1973, he admitted that he intentionally and knowingly purchased those shares for plaintiff for more than their actual value. There was no mention of any alleged bribery. Approximately two weeks before the instant action was filed by plaintiff against Hagopian and the other defendants herein-before referred to, plaintiff filed an action on May 30, 1973 against the Insurance Company of North America (“INA”), Index Fund, Inc. v. Insurance Co. of North America, 73 Civ. 2386 (CHT) (“Index I”). Plaintiff, having been organized pursuant to the Investment Company Act of 1940, was required to obtain a fidelity bond against larceny and embezzlement covering those of its officers who had access to its funds or securities or the authority to draw such funds or dispose of such securities.

In this earlier litigation plaintiff made the same claims of bribery and the resultant purchase of overpriced securities as it was to make in the instant suit against Hagopian. However, it chose to litigate only 8 of the 21 transactions incorporated in the later suit against Hagopian. The 8 transactions covered by the Index I action, and later incorporated in the 21 transactions which are the subject of the instant litigation were:

*714 Quantity Security Trade Date
9,000 shs. Health Evaluations, Inc. 06/16/70
36,000 shs. Regency for Men, Ltd. 06/16/70
35,000 shs. Nationwide Marketing Associations 06/16/70

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
677 F. Supp. 710, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11965, 1987 WL 32980, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/index-fund-inc-v-hagopian-nysd-1987.