Justin Silvia to pay $200 a month in New Jersey case for $100,000 loan
FALL RIVER – The son of convicted felon and disbarred lawyer John Silvia Jr. agreed to a $200 a month payment plan from a New Jersey case at a supplementary process hearing Friday in Fall River District Court.
John Silvia’s companion repayment case has been continued for two months.
Justin Silvia, 39, of 224 Chateau Drive, Somerset, appeared in court with his uncle and Fall River lawyer, Jerald Silvia. He paid a $200 cash first installment and will pay the next monthly installment by May 5, court documents show.
A review date of the agreement will be held Oct. 12, said Assistant Magistrate Gregory St. Cyr, who posted that on Justin Silvia’s court deposition form.
That document says Justin Silvia owed a judgment of $108,428.84, including more than $1,000 from one month’s interest, as of June 23, 2017.
John Silvia’s court docket shows he owed a judgment of $287,515.35 as of the same date, including more than $3,000 from one month’s interest.
The plaintiff against Justin and John Silvia is Theresa Megariotis of 309 James Way, Wyckoff, New Jersey.
Wellesley lawyer Noah Goodman was in court a month ago and on Friday morning to represent repayment to Megariotis.
After he conferred for a brief conference with John Silvia, Goodman told St. Cyr, “There has been progress on a settlement.”
He requested a continuance to June 22.
“Is that your agreement?” St. Cyr asked Silvia.
“Yes,” answered Silvia, representing himself.
St. Cyr said that case is continued to 9 a.m. on June 22.
Goodman declined afterwards to say anything about the progress or payments he expected Silvia to make.
At the prior hearing in March, Goodman said the amount Justin Silvia owes is part of his father's larger sum of nearly $300,000.
He declined to say how much the plaintiff believes the father and the son owe or what his client seeks.
He said previously legal attachments have been made to their homes in Somerset, assessed at $452,400 on the father’s and $221,300 on the son’s, according to town records.
Goodman reiterated in a brief conversation outside the court that interest on $100,000 accrues at about $1,000 a month. He previously said they’d waive the interest under a satisfactory settlement.
At $200 a month, it would take 44 years and two months to pay off $100,000.
Justin Silvia’s lawyer said he works for a non-profit agency. He’s listed as a business manager in the Somerset street listings.
The Silvia and Megariotis families were long-time close friends and the latter loaned the Silvia’s these significant funds, according to their New Jersey lawyer, Gary Tomasella, working with Goodman.
Theresa Megariotis won a successful judgment and has sought collection after an appellate division upheld the award on May 18, 2017 following a trial against both Silvias.
According to a civil case in the 1990s in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, that case resulted in an agreement by John Silvia Jr. to repay approximately 400 people the approximately $12 million balance he listed as unpaid loans he took for unrealized business investments in this area.
Evangelos Megariotis is listed on that bankruptcy court record as having loaned what appears to be the highest amount Silvia received from another individual. It was $835,000.
That investment loan case never went to trial.
Two later loan cases, with criminal charges, did
John Silvia Jr. was convicted of 17 security and mail wire fraud charges after trails in 2016 and 2017 in U.S. District Court, Boston. Many of the charges are felonies.
John Silvia Jr. has awaited sentencing since after the second jury verdict more than a year ago on Feb. 15, 2017.
Evidentiary hearings on Silvia’s motion for a new trial by his third state-provided legal counsel, Hank Brennan, have been considered since July, followed by a series of continued hearings.
The legally indigent Silvia has had two federal public defenders. Criminal Justice Appointment program lawyer Brennan, of Boston, who also works without a fee to Silvia, according to that program, now represents him.
The essence of petitioning for the new trial includes claims Silvia’s prior defense was “unprepared,” seldom met with the defendant and they had a “fractured relationship,” according to Brennan’s 14-page court submission.
From the last status conference on March 26 before Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., the electronic clerk’s notes list dates of April 19 for submitting briefs and that “sentencing is set” for April 26 at 2:45 p.m. in U.S. District Court.
The U.S. attorney’s office said the April 26 sentencing date is tentative.
A ruling on the petition for a new trail could be issued before those two dates, according to sources.
No updates on the court filings and decisions are listed since March 26.
Email Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com or call him at 508-676-2573.