CAFESJIAN GENERATED MINNESOTA LAWSUITS TO STOP ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM OF AMERICA DISMISSED OR TRANSFERRED TO DC COURT

AZG Armenian Daily #150
21/08/2008

Genocide

Cafesjian Forced To Drop Claims But Now Asserts Defamation

WASHINGTON, DC – In another desperate attempt to halt the rapid
progress of the Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA),
Gerard Cafesjian recently added yet another baseless suit, this
one claiming he was defamed by the Museum, the Armenian Assembly
of America (Assembly), and Hirair Hovnanian. This suit is on top of
the multiple litigations he started and has continued to file since
May 2007. Ironically, the Armenian Reporter, the newspaper owned by
Cafesjian, previously published the so-called defamatory material
about which he is now suing.

Mr. Cafesjian’s latest filing arrives upon the heels of the approvals
obtained by AGMA from the District of Columbia Board of Zoning
Adjustment and Historic Preservation Review Board, and soon after
the U.S. District Court in Minnesota took action dismissing two
of the three lawsuits brought against the Museum by Cafesjian and
the Cafesjian Family Foundation and transfered the other one to the
District of Columbia federal court. All three of Cafesjian’s Minnesota
lawsuits were heralded in Cafesjian’s own newspaper but resulted only
in unnecessary expenses and a disgraceful public spectacle. These
developments follow upon the latest settlement efforts rejected by
Cafesjian. Throughout this process, the Museum and the Assembly have
sought a sober resolution in private, or in court as soon as possible,
but Cafesjian, who recently switched lawyers yet again, seems to be
intent on continuing his efforts to scuttle the museum. A trial this
year appears unlikely.

With no progress to show after years of running the project, in 2006,
Cafesjian abandoned the museum, sent a letter of resignation, and
rebuffed a request to continue with his "vision."

Earlier this year, he requested $27.5 million to walk away and allow
the museum to go forward.

The new allegations complain about the following statements:

a) Mr. Cafesjian "left the other trustees with serious problems,
including unpaid taxes, leaking roofs, unpaid salaries, unpaid
contractors, an illegal lien on the properties, no audits, and
compliance problems with other donors’ gifts, all of which left
in tatters a project that the Armenian-American community strongly
endorsed and wants completed;"

b) "In early 2007, after flat-out non-compliance with the Assembly’s
501(c)(3) conflict of interest policy and after legal review, Cafesjian
and John Waters were suspended from the Assembly board;"

c) "Cafesjian’s formation of his personal lobbying organization,
USAPAC, has caused additional damage;" and

d) "Taking control of AGMM, [Mr. Cafesjian] failed to fund the project,
mismanaged development, resigned, and abandoned the properties and
project in 2006."

The latest lawsuit comes as a bizarre development because on December
8, 2007, the Cafesjian-owned Armenian Reporter itself published the
exact same language and commented on the October 31, 2007, release by
the museum and did not take specific issue on the above points. The
lawsuit creates the farcical situation where someone who publishes a
newspaper sues someone else over the information the same newspaper
published.

"The new allegations are part of a pattern of setting up a smoke
screen to cover up Cafesjian’s own violations of trust and attempt
to profit from self-dealing and other breaches of fiduciary duty,"
AGMA attorney Arnold Rosenfeld said. "Ignoring all the one-sided
and intentionally damaging stories about the museum project,
its trustees, and the Armenian Assembly published in the Armenian
Reporter, the newspaper owned by Mr. Cafesjian, Cafesjian is alleging
that the attempts by the Armenian Assembly and the Armenian Genocide
Museum to inform the public about the truth is defamatory because
‘his reputation is of the utmost importance to his business dealings,
both within the United States as well as in Armenia,’ but the record
is clear. The truth never is defamatory."

"The facts of the matter have remained the same, that is, after his
utter failure to develop the museum, Cafesjian began filing lawsuits
with the purpose of delaying the building of the museum so that
he could recover substantially appreciated real estate without any
intention of building a museum. His offers of resignation were tied
to distribution to himself of this substantially appreciated real
estate and efforts to paint a different picture, and baseless legal
filings only confirm the pattern established by his own record,"
continued Rosenfeld.

The Armenian Genocide Museum of America is an outgrowth of the
Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Institute (ANI),
catalyzed by the initial pledge of Anoush Mathevosian toward building
such a museum in Washington, DC. Armenian Genocide Museum of America