ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM OF AMERICA
AZG Armenian Daily
15/04/2008
Minnesota Federal Court confirms dismissal of Cafesjian lawsuit in
favor of the assembly and the armenian genocide museum
Washington-On March 31, 2008, the U.S. District Court in Minnesota
confirmed the October 2007 ruling to dismiss the first lawsuit filed
by Gerard Cafesjian and the Cafesjian Family Foundation against the
Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian Genocide Museum and
Memorial, Inc.
The dismissal of Cafesjian’s lawsuit came within a week of the
milestone approval obtained by the museum project from the District
of Columbia Historic Preservation Review Board and the endorsements
by DC community-based organizations. Rapid progress continues toward
the opening of the museum, which is slated for 2010.
The lawsuit filed by Cafesjian in April 2007 sought to rescind the
grant agreement his Foundation had made with the Armenian Assembly
with respect to the Armenian Genocide Museum project, so that Cafesjian
could recover substantially appreciated real estate.
Subsequent filings and press attacks by Cafesjian were similarly
intended to scuttle the building of a genocide museum.
Cafesjian formally abandoned the project demanding return of
appreciated real estate, leaving behind unpaid taxes, an unpaid
mortgage, 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 the project in tatters.
Despite additional lawsuits filed by Cafesjian in Minnesota and the
District of Columbia in an effort to obstruct the museum project,
no court to date has ruled in Cafesjian’s favor or hindered the rapid
progress registered. The dismissal in Minnesota allows Cafesjian to
try again in the District of Columbia if he chooses, but in a filing
dated April 1, 2008, Cafesjian has apparently appealed the Federal
Court decision to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. At the same
time, the Armenian Assembly has repeatedly called upon Cafesjian to
resolve differences in private through mediation.