SunCal Loses Fraud on Claims Against Gray 1 CPB LLC

Court documents filed late last month in southern California show that SunCal has lost their counter-claim of fraud against Gray 1 CPB LLC and Central Pacific Bank over loans the bank made to SunCal for a development project.

Gray 1 CPB had purchased the loans from Central Pacific Bank in Hawaii, loans that the bank had originally made to Fillmore Sun LLC, and loans that SunCal CEO Bruce Elieff had personally guaranteed. Gray 1 CPB went to court to force Mr. Elieff to make good on the loan guarantees and a jury ultimately found Mr. Elieff liable for for $9 million. Gray 1 CPB is still trying to collect on the judgment.

Mr. Elieff counter-sued Gray 1 CPB and Central Pacific Bank alleging malfeasance on their part, alleging that the bank had acted fraudulent and the guarantees were not enforceable. But a jury disagreed and found that Central Pacific Bank had no intent to deceive Fillmore Sun and found that the Bank made no false representations to SunCal. The jury also found that the Bank intended to keep all promises made to SunCal and Bruce Elieff in the contract documents.

The case is number 30-2008-00112660 in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange.