Jury Adds $3 Billion in Punitive Damages to LA Real Estate Empire Court Verdict

A jury added $3 billion in punitive damages to a previous multibillion-dollar award in a 21-year legal feud among five brothers from India who have amassed a fortune in diamonds and Los Angeles real estate.

The jurors on Thursday ordered Haresh Jogani to pay his brother Shashikant $1.5 billion, on top of $1.8 billion awarded last week, according to representatives of the plaintiffs. He was ordered to pay two other brothers, Rajesh and Chetan, a combined $1.5 billion in punitive damages, after an initial award of $759 million.

Together with last week’s initial award of more than $2.5 billion, the verdict appears to be among the largest of the decade. The jury also ordered Haresh last week to turn over 76% of a portfolio of approximately 17,000 Southern California apartments, including a portion to another brother, Shailesh. Attorneys for the plaintiffs estimated the real estate awarded to their clients is worth about $4.5 billion, which would bring the total sum of the verdict to about $10 billion.

Read the source article at Yahoo Finance