Two California farmers are trying to claw back $1 million they donated to a documentary that was supposed to detail Joe Biden and Hunter Biden’s corruption with Ukraine.
Although he is not named as a defendant, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani swung through Fresno a few years ago to raise money for the documentary, which never ended up being made.
The backstory: Giuliani, who is an attorney for former President Donald Trump, visited two Fresno restaurants – Ovidio Ristorante Italiano and The Lime Lite – soliciting funds for the proposed documentary in late February 2020.
- Just a few days later, Giuliani met with California farmers Baldev Munger and Kewel Munger and received a $1 million investment from the duo.
The big picture: The Munger brothers filed the lawsuit in Santa Cruz County court earlier this month under their company, MFDI, LLC.
- They are suing cannabis investor George Dickson and California Republican operative Timothy Yale, both of whom are accused of raising money with Giuliani for the documentary. The Munger brothers also filed the complaint against Seeview Media, a Delaware company that Dickson and Yale are 50 percent founding members of.
- According to the lawsuit, Giuliani envisioned the film as a possible “kill shot” to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.
- Yale and Dickson told the Mungers that they had already raised $5 million and that the documentary was 75 percent complete before the invested. They planned to release and distribute the documentary by May 1, 2020.
- Despite their plans, the Munger’s only ever received a brief clip of the documentary, which they say was designed to mislead them into believing that a documentary was in production.
- After the election passed and President Joe Biden won without the documentary coming out, the Mungers made numerous attempts to get their money back.
- They obtained an unfiled tax return from Seeview that revealed the Mungers to be the only contributor to the documentary.
- They also obtained a statement of operations that showed Giuliani received $300,000, and the rest was allegedly stolen by Dickson and Yale for their own personal use.
- The Mungers – who are suing Dickson, Yale and Seeview for fraud, intentional misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty, among other claims – are seeking their $1 million back plus interest.
