Tatlici Brothers Case, Tatlici brothers
PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, USA, February 23, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Another chapter in the Tatlici family saga worthy of a soap opera, involving a deceased father, his half children, his deceased ex and surviving wife, and a disagreement over an inheritance, has recently played out in Palm Beach, Florida (Case No: 39-502018CA002361XXXXMB).
Less than a month after his father’s death, in 2009, Mehmet Tatlici, the son from a previous marriage, filed a lawsuit in Palm Beach, alleging that particular Florida properties are part of the estate of his father, the late M. Salih Tatlici.
During the more than 12 years of legal wrangling, the case for some reason had never been to trial.
The court papers said this is because none of Mehmet Tatlici’s claims are supported by Florida laws, indicating that the evidence he presented was not admissible at court.
Lawyers indicated all the parties involved are from Turkey; the Turkish courts entered the alimony judgment, and the late M. Salih Tatlici’s estate is also in Turkey.
Naturally, the question is “why the case is heard in Florida instead of their home country, Turkey?”
Regardless, after more than twelve years, the case went to a jury trial in January 2022, resulting in a $62,345.38 verdict against the surviving spouse of M. Salih Tatlici.
An Inheritance Claim under the Florida Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (FUFTA)?
Mehmet Tatlici’s lawyer Jeremy D. Friedman, a personal injury lawyer from Downs Law Group, asserted that Mehmet’s protected share of the estate entitles him to pursue a fraudulent transfer action under the FUFTA.
The properties in dispute were, however, titled in the Ugur and Nurten Tatlici’s names, and the late M. Salih Tatlici was never the owner of the said properties, Ugur and Nurten Tatlici’s lawyer responded.
Mehmet Tatlici’s “motivation for pursuing his baseless claims in this action can be summed up in one simple word – greed,” said Ugur and Nurten Tatlici’s Florida lawyer Steven Goerke on the subject.
Many Twists in the Journey
Bound by the shares that his father saw fit in his will, Mehmet Tatlici appeared to find a subtle way to ask for more than his share provided. Mehmet Tatlici overtook the alleged rights of his mother, Bedriye Tatlici, arising from an alimony judgment against the late M. Salih Tatlici entered in Turkey 34 years ago, back in 1988.
Something rare happened within the course, and Turkey relaunched its currency in 2005. It dropped six zeros off the Turkish Lira in the hope of ending decades of Turkey’s then-hyperinflation.
A quick math showed 1,000,000,000 TL for a lump-sum payment, and 5,000,000 TL for monthly alimony for Bedriye Tatlici became 1,000 New Turkish Lira (YTL) and 5 New Turkish Lira (YTL), respectively after the redenomination.
Allegations of misrepresentation and fraud on court
It has been alleged that Mehmet Tatlici and his lawyer Jeremy D. Friedman falsely represented the value of an alimony judgment that was allegedly assigned to Mehmet Tatlici, not recognizing the currency law that led to the dropping of six zeros from the Turkish Lira back in 2005.
Apart from misrepresenting the judgment value, whether M. Salih Tatlici actually satisfied the alimony judgment and whether the assignment was valid were also the issues during the trial.
Another question went to the heart of the assignment’s validity, on which Bedriye Tatlici finger stamped instead of putting her signature. To confirm the validity and existence of the assignment and finger-stamp, Bedriye Tatlici was summoned to court multiple times, but for reasons unknown, she did not appear in order to authenticate her finger stamps.
Whether the late M. Salih Tatlici actually paid the alimony and whether Bedriye Tatlici, indeed, assigned her rights to his son, Mehmet Tatlici, will be a cliffhanger, as Bedriye Tatlici is now deceased.
Nonetheless, this isn't the first time Mehmet Tatlici and Jeremy D. Friedman have been accused of misrepresentation.
In another action before the Palm Beach Court, Mehmet Tatlici’s lawyer, “Jeremy Friedman, Esq. and the Downs Law Group, PA, aided in the fraud on the court by admitting into evidence false documents in support of a huge but fictitious damage request. Mr. Friedman then argued to the jury that the jury should award the false damages claimed. . .,” Ugur Tatlici’s lawyer asserted.
Among the exhibits, it has also been revealed that Mehmet Tatlici presented a false expert report to the Palm Beach court, issued by an unlicensed appraiser who is now indicted.
Turkish national newspapers Milliyet and Vatan covered the story, and accordingly, Mehmet Tas, the court-appointed expert, issued an untrue and delusive report in appraising the value of M. Salih Tatlici’s estate in favor of certain heirs, including Mehmet Tatlici, and his appraisal license issued by Turkey’s Capital Markets Board is canceled permanently due to this very report. Mehmet Tas is later indicted by the Turkish Prosecutors with the charges of misuse of public duty and false reporting by an expert witness. He is now facing 9 years in prison.
The court-appointed expert Mehmet Tas’ report includes the exact same summary sheet and the headings with the party-appointed expert witness report -the report presented by Mehmet Tatlici- to the court, and in fact, both reports even contain the very same spelling errors to a T, which would be naïve to deem it a simple coincidence, the lawyers indicated.
Wrapped in mystery, but not without question
M. Salih Tatlici was the 27th richest person in Turkey by Forbes Magazine when he passed away.
Some questioned whether and why such a wealthy man would avoid paying such small alimony back in 1995- to his ex-wife. It did not fit together for them a man who wanted to hide his billion-dollar fortune in the threat of very small judgment and would buy million dollars’ worth of a property cross-border to achieve that.
It also remains a mystery why Bedriye Tatlici, the ex-wife, never requested alimony to be paid for over two decades since the judgment was entered.
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