Saturday, June 9, 2007 1:10 AM CDT
Probate judge says forcing Cochonour to explain missing Hayden estate funds an 'exercise in futility'
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
TOLEDO — Millions of dollars from the estate of deceased businessman Jay Hayden evaporated during the 17 years that former judge and convicted felon Robert Cochonour supervised his friend’s fortune.
And it has been about five years since authorities began the arduous process of uncovering Cochonour’s subterfuge.
But it is not the passage of time that has stymied those seeking to recover money from the ex-judge.
“It’s kind of a contradiction in terms to expect a full accounting from someone who pled guilty” to theft, probate Judge Stephen Pacey said Friday in the same courtroom over which Cochonour presided throughout the 1990s.
The fate of Hayden’s assets will never be ascertained to the satisfaction of the beneficiaries of the now-diminished Hayden estate, Pacey concluded. And any further attempt to force Cochonour to explain or account for those missing funds would be “an exercise in futility,” said Pacey.
“I think you’ve got to find a bigger smoking gun,” he told attorney Fred Roth, who represents Jay Hayden’s charitable foundation. “At some point, your clients need to pursue avenues where they feel there is a realistic recovery of assets.”
When Hayden died of cancer in 1985, he left Cochonour in charge of his estate, most of which was bequeathed to the Jay E. Hayden Foundation.
In 2002, foundation officials started asking why they had not received the money willed by Hayden almost two decades years earlier.
Cochonour, 66, resigned from the bench in May 2002, and in January 2003 entered a plea agreement with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office in which he admitted to stealing more than $100,000 from the Hayden estate. Pacey later held Cochonour accountable for more than $2 million in Hayden estate assets, and slapped the former judge with a $5 million-plus judgment.
Over the last five years, various attorneys representing the Hayden foundation and the heirs of Hayden’s late mother, Martha, have pursued Cochonour and his brothers, Joe and Don, in state civil court as well as federal bankruptcy court.
But Roth contended Friday that, despite the bankruptcy agreement, it is still “not asking too much” of Cochonour for a verifiable and accurate accounting of the Jay Hayden estate.
“Because he is a convicted felon on a plea agreement does not mean he gets a free ride,” Roth said.
Cochonour served about two years of his seven-year-sentence with the Illinois Department of Corrections. Since then, Cochonour or his attorneys have produced several “final accountings” of the Jay Hayden estate, and Pacey said Friday that none of those reports are likely to be completely accurate.
“In a perfect world we would have perfect accountants,” Pacey said.
Regardless, Roth challenged the accounting Cochonour submitted to the probate court more than a year ago.
Roth cited records of a check for $188,473 issued by Cochonour from the Jay Hayden estate to Martha Hayden. Roth said this check bears the “misspelled” signature of Martha Hayden, whose finances Cochonour has previously admitted controlling.
While Cochonour was on the witness stand Friday, he invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination after Roth asked him if he signed the back of this check in place of Martha Hayden.
During the probate hearing, Roth also presented several federal income tax returns signed by Cochonour and prepared by Toledo attorney John Cutright — the former Cumberland County public defender who faces sanctions from the Illinois Supreme Court for his involvement in the Cochonour scandal.
Roth said, “Grossing up numbers ... hides the truth, and that’s what’s happened here. (Cochonour) hasn’t told us the whole story, he hasn’t shown us the details.”
Michael Collins, Cochonour’s attorney, said the final accounting is merely “a summary of those documents” that are already available, and that if Roth has issues with the accounting, he should take them up with Cochonour’s accountant.
“It’s like asking the president of Ford what this little engine part does,” Collins said. “He’s got people to do that.”
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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