Billionaire's fraud suit says lawyer transferred $49M for space flight venture to offshore company
A Japanese billionaire has sued a Texas patent and space law attorney, contending that he was defrauded of $49 million that was supposed to pay for a commercial space flight venture.
Instead of spending on the planned space project, alleges plaintiff Takafumi Horie, attorney Art Dula transferred the money from a trust account for his Houston law firm. Horie says the money went from the trust account to an offshore account for Excalibur Almaz Limited, an Isle of Man company, the Houston Chronicle and Texas Lawyer (sub. req.) report.
The suit, filed Nov. 10 in Harris County, says Dula said the money would be used to send Russian-made Almaz class spacecraft into low orbit, ferrying people and cargo to space stations.
However, “[t]he supposed space program was a sham, as Dula never had the rights or ability to utilize the spacecraft purchased with the plaintiff’s money for anything other than display purposes,” the suit says.
An associate at Dula’s law firm told the Chronicle the attorney is traveling outside the country and is not now commenting on the suit.
Also named as defendants are an associate at the firm; an individual who is chief executive at a space company with a similar Excalibur name that was founded by Dula, according to Internet directories; and the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust, for which Dula serves as a trustee. It provides awards to promote space activities, in honor of a deceased science fiction writer.
Dula was sued for $300,000 in 2012 by another investor who claimed he defrauded her by representing that his company could make the first commercial flight to an asteroid.
That suit, which also was filed in Harris County, was later dismissed by the parties.
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