Westchester County Business Journal 05/26/14

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B BUSINESS JJOURNAL May 26, 2014 | VOL. 50, No. 21 JOHN GOLDEN

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com INSIDE

eljamal’s legal setbacks mount to neaRly $10m BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com

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not come easily, though Fudge speaks with an intelligence and gentle grace that impressed management at Paraco in his job interview. It impressed as well the visitor asking him questions that he’d rather not answer about a past he can never forget. “Out of bad can come some good,” he said, describing the path he now is on, and grate-

estchester County businessman Sammy Eljamal’s legal troubles stemming from a bitter 3-year-old battle with partners in Shell gas station businesses in the region escalated this month when a White Plains jury found him liable for $4.75 million in damages to an employee whom Eljamal falsely accused of making death threats against him and his family. The jury’s damages award, together with attorney’s fees tacked on by state Supreme Court Justice Lester B. Adler and a $5 million judgment in a separate case related to control of eight Shell gas stations in Connecticut, leaves the 39-year-old Purchase resident on the hook for nearly $10 million. Those financial blows came soon after a state appellate court in April dismissed slander and libel charges brought by Eljamal against Scarsdale investor James Weil, a majority owner and Eljamal’s business partner in a $43.3 million deal in 2010 to acquire 88 Shell gas station properties and leases in Westchester, Long Island and New York City. Weil and another majority owner in the Shell businesses, Silverman Realty Group Inc. chairman Leon Silverman, two years ago ousted Eljamal as a managing partner after Eljamal waged an unsuccessful court battle to block his removal. In a 12-day civil trial, a state Supreme Court jury on May 14 awarded the $4.75 million in damages to Brent Coscia, general manager at New York

Path, page 10

Eljamal, page 6

PRESIDENT ON THE HUDSON • 16

HV GOOD THINGS HAPPENING • 18

Kim Fudge on the job at the Paraco Gas plant in Mount Vernon.

A job and a path back to society BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com

WITH THE OK FROM HIS BOSS, Kim Fudge took a break from his job on the loading dock at the Paraco Gas plant in an industrial enclave of Mount Vernon and stepped into the office trailer to talk with a visiting reporter. Talking about his life is not a habit with him and does

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