US DOJ Press Release — December 10, 2004

PHILADELPHIA — United States Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, I.R.S. Special Agent-in- Charge Jerome Lisuzzo, and F.B.I. Special Agent-in-Charge John C. Eckenrode announced the indictment of Denis I. Shusterman , 43, currently a resident of Carlsbad, California, charging him with committing a theft of more than $10 million, as well as tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud, and bank fraud.

The indictment charges that Shusterman, while employed by Leslie Edelman of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania between September 1996 and March 2003 as the chief financial officer of Edelman’s companies, stole more than $10 million from Edelman and those companies. The primary victim was Kimber Mfg., Inc., a firearms manufacturer in Yonkers, New York owned by Edelman. The indictment alleges that Shusterman embezzled funds by transferring money from Kimber’s accounts directly to his own, by directly paying his personal creditors with funds from Kimber’s accounts, by transferring additional money from Kimber’s accounts to ventures in which Shusterman had an interest, and by taking other actions to benefit himself financially at Edelman’s expense.

Until the fall of 2001, Denis Shusterman resided in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. He then moved to San Diego County. The indictment states that throughout this period, Denis Shusterman spent over $5 million of money he stole to produce three motion pictures; invested over $1.2 million in the creation and maintenance of a financial services firm in Philadelphia; lost over $200,000 in aggressive stock trading; purchased a $2.2 million home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, using $585,000 in stolen money as the entire down payment ; and spent the rest of the money on a lavish lifestyle.

The indictment also states that Denis Shusterman engaged in bankruptcy fraud, by making false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding to avoid the payment of more than $180,000 which he allegedly owed to the IRS; and committed bank fraud in order to obtain on false pretenses a mortgage loan to acquire the California house .