By Thomas Paulaskas
Recent article in Law360 describe recently filed litigation against a Washington attorney by the name of Shawn Harju. Harju has been sued for enabling aninvoice scheme that led to fraudulent $20 million dollars financing for her purported clients. Law360 provides a copy of the lawsuit and a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors in California. In another recent lawsuit against another Shawn Harju client (Defenders Northwest, LLC and its purported owners, Brian and Michele Hall of Gig Harbor, Pierce County, Washington) similar allegations have been made. Harju has not responded to multiple inquires for comment for this editorial.
The lawsuit described in Law360 was filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, Washington, where Shawn Harju used to work as a construction defects litigation lawyer in her previous law firm.
The Equinox law firm and Shawn Harju were escrow agents for the allegedly fraudulent financing transactions, according to the complaint and the Law360 article. The case is Highmore Financing Co. I LLC v. Equinox Business Law Group PLLC et al., case number 24-2-14405-6, in King County Superior Court.
Allegedly Shawn Harju and her law firm accepted payments from a private equity fund and conspired with Harju’s clients to fraudulently disburse payments to several companies owned by or associated theminstead of paying a computer equipment supplier, Law360 and the complaint alleges.
During the due diligence period, the alleged fraudsters submitted false financial information, fabricated bank statements and fabricated corporate documents, according to the complaint. After Shawn Harju and her cohorts/clients got a hold of the money, they altered invoices for the computer servers and ancillary equipment, including falsely inflating the billed amounts by millions of dollars, the complaint states.
Shawn Harju’s purported clients were indicted in 2022 on wire fraud and money laundering charges in federal court in California, according to open-source information. Shawn Harju has not been criminally charged as of the date of this article. The lawsuit in Washington state court alleges Equinox and Shawn Harju knowingly processed the fake invoices and made fraudulent payments to affiliated companies and persons, who diverted the funds.
According to Law360 and the complaint against Harju, Shawn Harju “helped Greig and the Greig companies get Highmore to increase the line of credit and offer more funds, even though Equinox and Harju knew the Greig companies could not afford to borrow more money”.
Shawn Harju, according to open source is a director and vice chair of the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce in Washington state. She is also purported owner of Chrysalis Solutions PLLC (https://business.fedwaychamber.com/list/member/chrysalis-solutions-pllc-1113324), her legal and consulting firm, and Three Trees Yoga, LLC and is affiliated with a Land Rover automotive restoration business called Defenders Northwest, LLC, which is also being sued for fraud.
It is this affiliation with Defenders Northwest, LLC that may signal a pattern of deception. Defenders Northwest is managed by Brian T. Hall and his spouse, Michele A. Hall. Brian Hall and Michele Hall and their business is being sued for fraud and negligence arising out of an alleged massive car restoration scam, as described in several lawsuits filed in California and a related action in Washington. The lawsuits claim that Shawn Harju acted as a partner and enabler andparticipated in the filing of fake liens to conceal the alleged fraud.
Read more at: https://www.law360.com/articles/1853533/wash-law-firm-ex-atty-aided-in-20m-fraud-suit-alleges?copied=1