Carl's diamonds were deemed his sole property during his divorce in 1994. Download divorce decree as pdf A 1982 appraisal of the diamonds, 125 of them, set their current retail value at a total of $260,950.00. Download appraisal as pdf But in 1999, five years after the divorce, a special master in the case reported that Carl's sole property, his diamonds, should be distributed in part to Carl's ex-wife, purportedly upon her testimony alone that Carl told her at some time in the past that he would give them to her. The Court ratified the special master's report. Later that year, attorneys Wolf and Fox and attorney William Friedman assert liens against Carl for payment for their representation of him. Download lien as pdf Carl goes Pro Se since he is very dissatisfied with his former attorneys. In 2000, Carl's ex-wife's attorney, Michael Danoff, filed a Motion to Compel the Distribution of the Diamonds in which he asks that the diamonds be reappraised by Krugers Jewelers and divided equally between Carl and his ex-wife. Download motion as pdf Danoff also states that he has given notice regarding the request for diamond distribution to two of Carl's former attorneys since they have asserted liens on Carl's portion of the diamonds.

Carl, who is educated as a lawyer, protested the liens Pro Se but to no avail. In 2001, Special Master James Loughren issued a report which was later ratified by the Court. Download report as pdf. The report stated that each of Carl's former attorneys, William Friedman and Wolf and Fox, "recovered a fund for the benefit of Respondent [Carl]". Interesting choice of words for a stock of diamonds that had been deemed Carl's sole property in divorce. The sentence should have read, "managed to give away nearly $130,500 of Respondent's diamonds to his ex-wife". The most amazing part of the report states, "It is estimated that the cash value of the diamonds will not exceed $5000.00."

Here's the math. The diamonds were originally valued at $260,950.00 in 1982. They were to be split in half in 1999. That leaves Carl with diamonds that were valued at $130,475.00 seventeen years earlier in appraisal. Now Special Master Loughren states that the same diamonds are worth a mere $5000.00 tops! That's a reduction to 1/26th of their original value, seventeen years later. Read on to see why the reduction is so critical in this case. The 2001 report goes on to order Kruegers Jewelers to sell the diamonds and orders the cash proceeds (up to $5000) to be split between Friedman and Wolf and Fox. Kruegers refused to appraise or sell the diamonds and called for the immediate removal of the diamonds from their premises. Ed Karler of Rocky Mountain Gold and Silver Exchange appraised and held the diamonds instead. Ed Karler valued the Wolf and Fox share of diamonds (42% of Carl's half of the stock of diamonds) at $1286.00.

Let's do the math on that one. Carl's "share", now half of the total value of the stock of diamonds, was $130,475.00 as per the 1982 appraisal. Forty-two percent of that amount is $54,799.50. But Ed Karler, good guy that he is, finds in his appraisal 20 years later that the portion of diamonds has considerably dropped to only $1286.00. Furthermore, he claims that the cash value is a measly $877.01. That amount is 1/62nd of the original value 20 years ago.

In 2002 Judge Anne Kass, head of the Bernalillo County Family Court, issued an order calling for the diamonds to be directly distributed to Wolf and Fox with an associated $1086.52 deducted from Carl's bill. In 2003 a judgment from Judge Deborah Davis Walker is issued against Carl regarding fees, claiming that he still owes Wolf and Fox a whopping $14,663.48 (from a bill that was originally around $9000).Download judgment as pdf Note that by this time his children were aged 24 and 23, respectively. Carl's case and the "legal robbery" lasted for over six years after the family court had any right to jurisdiction over his children!

Carl has appealed the case and lost. He has accompanied CFJ leadership to the FBI, to Attorney General Patricia Madrid's office, and to our federal legislators. The FBI offered to coinvestigate this issue with the Attorney General, but was told that "there was nothing to investigate".

In addition to the diamonds, Carl had hundreds of thousands of dollars garnished from his four businesses and liens placed against all of his properties. Carl has moved out of the state and left no forwarding address. His case file in family court, however, was still active in 2004, complete with more motions for judgment from attorneys on the case.