Charges against Rent-a-Husband dropped
The state has dropped criminal fraud charges against Rent-a-Husband founder Kaile Warren, after he agreed to repay investors $2 million.
Warren was scheduled to stand trial next month on charges of securities fraud and theft by deception, after being indicted in December 2009 on three charges, one of which was dropped last year, according to the Portland Press Herald. The consent judgment issued yesterday by Assistant Attorney General Michael Colleran and Justice Roland Cole found that Warren never intentionally set out to mislead investors about the company's performance. To get the money to repay investors, Warren said he plans to sue Portland law firm Preti Flaherty, which represented him for two years until 2008, as well as another Portland firm, Marcus, Clegg & Mistretta, and national chain Ace Hardware, with which Warren collaborated on a business venture that fell through in 2008. His lawyer, Daniel Lilley, said he was a victim of legal malpractice and followed the law firms' advice on obtaining investments.
Colleran said new evidence in the case related to past legal services provided to Warren showed it would have been hard for the state to win its case, according to the paper. Both Preti Flaherty and Marcus, Clegg & Mistretta refuted Warren's claims that their legal guidance was to blame, while Ace Hardware was unavailable to comment. Through his lawyer, Warren must check in monthly with the attorney general's office on his pending suits against the three companies, according to the paper.
Warren was indicted in December 2009 and again in April 2010, and pleaded not guilty both times.
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