Because the reclusive billionaire James Leprino appeared on Tuesday, one among his nieces instructed Denver jurors that in 2014 she was “shocked” when Leprino accused his personal brother of dishonest him after which minimize that brother out of the household cheese enterprise.
“The door is shut to you and your sisters doing something on this constructing,” James Leprino, the CEO of Leprino Meals, instructed his niece Nancy Leprino in 2014, she testified.
Nancy Leprino’s voice shook as she learn aloud from a letter she wrote to her uncle after that comment, asking that he reconcile along with his brother, Nancy’s father Mike Leprino.
“I do know grandpa and grandma are wanting down from heaven and praying that you simply and pop work out your variations. You might be brothers,” the letter stated. “What you’ve got created (at Leprino Meals) is breathtaking and actually inspiring, one thing my father all the time acknowledges.”
Nancy Leprino’s remarks dominated the primary full day of testimony in a 10-day trial, which guarantees to unveil Leprino household drama in addition to particulars in regards to the interior workings of Leprino Meals, a non-public firm. It’s the largest maker of mozzarella on this planet and offers cheese for the nation’s largest pizza chains.
A jury of 5 girls and three males chosen Monday should decide whether or not James Leprino and his daughters wrongfully pushed the late Mike Leprino and his daughters out of Leprino Meals and rendered their firm inventory nugatory, costing them as a lot as $900 million.
James Leprino, a deeply non-public man, attended the trial Tuesday in a black swimsuit and blue-gray tie. The 84-year-old businessman used an assistive listening gadget supplied by the court docket and sat in a wheelchair close to the courtroom entrance.
Nancy Leprino and her sister Mary sued Leprino Meals, James Leprino and two of his daughters in 2020. The plaintiffs personal 17 % of Leprino Meals and the defendants personal 75 %. Nancy’s sister Laura owns the rest however isn’t a celebration within the case.
Nancy Leprino spent six hours on the witness stand explaining how the board of Leprino Meals, largely managed by her uncle and two cousins, voted to kick her father off the board in late 2014 after which shut him and his daughters out of firm decision-making totally.
“Your dad cheated me,” James Leprino instructed her at one level, she testified. Nancy Leprino stated she didn’t know what her uncle was referring to. “I used to be shocked.”
Mike Leprino transferred his 25-percent share of the corporate to his daughters earlier than he died in 2018. James Leprino later instructed his nieces that the inventory is nugatory, Nancy Leprino testified.
“I knew one thing was actually flawed then. It frightened me,” she stated.
“Why did it frighten you?” her lawyer, David TeSelle, requested.
“As a result of I used to be frightened it was true,” she stated.
James Leprino allowed himself and his daughters to mortgage their dividends from Leprino Meals again to the corporate, incomes them tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} in curiosity, however didn’t enable his nieces to make those self same loans, Nancy Leprino testified.
“It wasn’t truthful,” she instructed jurors.
Attorneys for James Leprino have stated the loans carried a small rate of interest and Nancy Leprino made extra money by investing her dividends elsewhere. They’ve additionally questioned Nancy and Mary Leprino’s claims that their shares in Leprino Meals are one way or the other nugatory.
The corporate was price practically $4 billion in 2012, based on reveals proven on the trial Tuesday, and Mike Leprino’s share was price $634 million then. The corporate’s confidential stability sheets had been additionally displayed on screens a number of occasions Tuesday.
Nancy Leprino’s grandfather immigrated from Italy to North Denver as a teen within the 1910s and later opened a grocery retailer specializing in Italian elements. When massive grocers compelled it out of enterprise within the Fifties, James Leprino turned it right into a cheese firm.
The headquarters of Leprino Meals at 1830 W. thirty eighth Ave. in Sunnyside sits on the identical nook as the previous household retailer.
This story was reported by our companion BusinessDen.