San Mateo man found liable for over $8M in scam

A letter from Farrell's post-trial counsel, Joshua Berger, disputed the notion that the pair's relationship was related to any financial relationships, or that the relationship itself was romantic in nature. 

"The relationship ... while at some points sexual, was not the committed romantic relationship she alleges it was," the letter reads. 

From 2016 to 2018, she gave Farrell $672,811 — only $85,000 of which was ever paid back. And she wasn’t the only woman, attorneys say, noting five women, including the plaintiff, testified that a similar scheme was employed against them.

“It’s really a scheme. That was our whole case,” Steve Leydiker, an attorney on the case, said. “It was a pattern of conduct. That’s where we had to bring up these other women, to show this conduct was so similar in nature.”

Borger argued in the letter that the testimony of other women did not equate to a negative finding or verdict of such a scheme and that their relationships should not be equated.

"The situations between those women and Mr. Farrell were substantially different," he said. "None of those relationships were sexual." 

The women had all met Farrell on dating websites or apps, Ara Jabagchourian, another one of the plaintiff’s trial attorneys, maintained. 

Going through Farrell’s bank records, Leydiker said he was astonished at the amount of women it seemed Farrell had defrauded, many of whom were Chinese and had come to the country for work, with little family in the area.

“This is how he does business. He goes on these dating websites, targets a specific demographic of women,” Leydiker said. “All they know is work. They don’t understand the dating world, they don’t have any family here … and then they meet this guy, a sophisticated savant type, who shows off all his entrepreneurship abilities and wealth and basically woos these women with all these success stories.”

Borger disavowed that characterization. 

If the plaintiff suggested that she would go to the authorities, he would also allegedly threaten to expose sexually explicit material of her, Jabagchourian said.

“If anyone wants to make a move, guess what he has?” he said.

Borger affirmed in the letter that Farrell did not have sexual relationships with any of the other women that were called to testify. 

Farrell’s attorney’s office could not be reached for comment, but he filed a cross-complaint in 2021 alleging that when their relationship ended in 2018, the woman suing him “hatched a plan for control” to extort him for the $85,000 and punish him if he did not comply.

All of those allegations except one — charging more than the legal rate of interest of 10% when she demanded he repay her money and the two entered into an agreement — were dismissed by the jury, Jabagchourian said. He said he expects that, too, will be dismissed by the judge in the coming months.

A companion case, filed by one of Farrell’s other alleged victims, will be going to court next year, Jabagchourian said. She lost less money, around $30,000, but it followed the same dynamic.

“It’s either a, ‘What do you got? You got 401(k)s? I could do better than Wall Street. Look at me, I can do better and trust me with your money, and if we're going to be in a long-term relationship, you’ve got to trust me anyways,’” he said. “Or, ‘my startup is running into a cash crunch right now. I'm going to be running into some big money soon. I need some money.’”

Farrell has filed lawsuits against two of the women that testified during the first plaintiff’s trial, a move her lawyers say was designed to intimidate them.

Those lawsuits are completely separate from this trial, Borger said in the letter.

Though Farrell could still appeal the jury’s Nov. 7 verdict, Jabagchourian said he was pleased with the results of the case and felt they sent a firm message. It was the first case of his career in which a client received more in damages than he asked a jury for, he said.

“You, as a jury, get to serve a special function. You get to serve public justice, and you get to shut this operation down. You have the power in your hands to shut this down,” he said. “And they took that power and did something with it.”

holly@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 105

Note to readers: This story has been updated to include comment from Farrell's post-trial counsel. In addition, a correction has been made to the previous version of this story, which stated Jabagchourian alleged that Farrell threatened to expose sexually explicit material of multiple women. Jabagchourian was only referencing his own client.