FORT LAUDERDALE — — The assets of missing multimillionaire Guma Aguiar need to be preserved not only in the United States, but also in Israel, where he has an estimated $40 million invested.
That was the focus of a hearing held Tuesday afternoon in Broward County probate court, which was attended by more than a dozen people, including Aguiar's mother, Ellen Aguiar, and her legal team, as well as attorneys for Guma Aguiar's wife, Jamie Aguiar.
During the hearing, Judge Mark A. Speiser said one priority is getting a full accounting of who has credit cards for Guma Aguiar's business dealings, particularly in Israel.
"We have to look at that right away about the credit cards," Speiser said. "We need to get a handle on that right away. We don't want anyone going crazy here."
Ellen Aguiar said she and her fiance, David Even, had credit cards. She said that although the cards were barely used, they were part of their ongoing work. She said Even has served as the manager of Jerusalem Global Management, whose investments in Israel include dozens of properties, an organic farm and ownership of Hapoel Jerusalem, an Israeli-based professional basketball team.
"We are actually working constantly with what's going on in Israel," she said. "My fiance, David, has been running the operation there since November — and done an amazing job of cutting millions of dollars of waste and bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, while he handled the basketball team and everything else that concerned Guma."
Ellen Aguiar said she and her son had multiple talks and were in accord about businesses before he disappeared. The judge replied that the oversight originally performed by Ellen Aguiar and her fiance now will be the responsibility of lawyer Thomas F. Panza, who was formally appointed Tuesday as a conservator over non-trust assets in the U.S. and Israel.
"What you've been doing has been shifted over to Mr. Panza," Speiser told her. "If he feels you still should be involved in some capacity, I have no problem with him doing that."
Jamie Aguiar's lawyer, Albert L. Frevola Jr., said he and his legal team "would be objecting strenuously" to Ellen Aguiar and her fiance's "ongoing participation" in the Aguiar business dealings in Israel.
Frevola told the judge that "we dispute the representations made here in court," but he didn't elaborate about whether the comments he opposed were those made by Ellen Aguiar.
It would be up to the judge to decide how to ensure there is no buildup of debt in the Aguiar properties. Some properties may be sold, if necessary, he said.
Aguiar was last seen on June 19 leaving his private Fort Lauderdale dock alone in his 31-foot fishing boat. If Aguiar steered his vessel to the Atlantic Ocean, he likely encountered high waves and strong winds during a weather advisory for small craft. The unmanned boat was found on Fort Lauderdale beach just after 1 a.m. June 20.
By Juan Ortega, Sun Sentinel
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