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Ogumoro insists that transfer of land to daughter not fraudulent
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Posted on May 20 2009
Department of Public Safety range master Ambrosio T. Ogumoro said the transfer of his land to his daughter was not a means to circumvent paying for some $3.7 million in damages he owes for a fishing boat oil spill.
Ogumoro, through lawyer Douglas F. Cushnie, said the transfer of the lot to his daughter was not a gift but a business transaction made for good and valuable consideration.
The daughter provided new value to the land for the benefit of Ogumoro, said Cushnie in the range master’s answer to the U.S. government’s lawsuit.
The U.S. government sued Ogumoro in February, alleging that Ogumoro fraudulently transferred his land on Capital Hill to his daughter so it won’t be used to pay for the $3.7 million he owes the U.S. government. The U.S. government asked the court to void the transaction.
The U.S. government also asked the court to bar Ogumoro’s daughter from disposing of or diminishing the value of the land, to seize the property, and to auction it off so proceeds will be used to pay off Ogumoro’s debt to the U.S.
In Ogumoro’s response to the lawsuit, Cushnie said the transfer was made in a good faith effort to rehabilitate Ogumoro.
“There was no intent to hinder, delay or defraud any creditor by the transfer alleged herein, but rather to permit Ogumoro to pay his debts,” Cushnie stressed.
According to the complaint, in June 2004, Ogumoro was involved in the discharge of oil into the waters and adjoining shorelines of the CNMI and the U.S. The defendant allegedly failed to take actions with respect to oil spill removal activities.
“As a result, the U.S. incurred costs and damages to remove the oil spill,” the complaint said.
In May 2006, the U.S. government, on behalf of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, sued Ogumoro and two others to recover the oil spill cleanup costs.
Ogumoro and his co-defendants failed to defend the case. As a result, the court issued a default judgment in December 2006, finding the defendants jointly liable to pay $3.4 million plus interest.
The default judgment created a lien in favor of the U.S. government on all of Ogumoro’s properties.
