Statek Execs Say Ex-Chief Hiding Millions in Gold

The former chairman of an Orange-based electronics company, who was convicted of hiring hit men to kill business associates, has stashed away $32 million in gold bullion, his former partners allege in court papers.

Frederick Johnston, 72, who headed the holding company for Statek Corp., is serving six years in a British prison for paying Irish criminals to kill former business partner Miklos Vendel and others involved in lawsuits over control of Statek.

A Delaware judge ousted Johnston as Statek’s controlling shareholder in 1996 after Vendel accused him of siphoning off millions of dollars. Vendel, a Swiss businessman, is pressing a lawsuit seeking to recover that money.

Vendel’s lawyers recently learned that when British police arrested Johnston in April 1998, they seized paperwork for a Swiss account containing $32 million in gold, according to papers filed Feb. 8 in Delaware Chancery Court.

Investigators struggled “to retrace the tens of millions of dollars that were looted from Statek,” Vendel’s lawyers said in filings.

Johnston’s lawyers are pushing British authorities to hand over the account’s paperwork, court records show. Vendel’s lawyers want a Delaware judge to freeze the account until litigation over the missing money is resolved.

Statek officials “believe that the cash has been found, that its presence has been concealed and that absent a court order, it will vanish immediately if it is released from police custody,” Vendel’s lawyers said.

Allan Pepper, a New York attorney representing Johnston, wasn’t available for comment on the filing.

British prosecutors in September convinced a jury that Johnston sought revenge after losing control of closely held Statek to Vendel and to director Margaritha Werren.

So Johnston hired members of Dublin’s “Three Micks” gang to carry out the hits on Vendel, Werren and the lawyers that helped them oust Johnston. British police were tipped off about the murder contracts before assassination attempts could take place.