"He was like the mayor, we walked in and we got a table, we got in front of every line," said Saggese, who took his complaints about Trujillo to the district attorney's office.
Some of those in Los Angeles who agreed to do business with Trujillo said they were reassured by his ostentatious display of wealth and dizzied by promises of quick, easy money.
Joel Lawrence, who works in general contracting and real estate, said Trujillo treated him to dinners at high-end Beverly Hills restaurants as he hinted at lucrative business deals.
Then Trujillo asked to borrow $60,000, saying his money was tied up and that he would pay Lawrence back at triple the sum within 30 days, Lawrence alleged. That was more than a year ago, and Lawrence said he hasn't seen a dime of his money.
"He's always on the phone, he's always busy, always talking about projects, so you think he has money. And everyone wants to be around people with money, right?" said Lawrence, who also went to the district attorney's office with his complaints about Trujillo. "There's a lot of money in Beverly Hills. People are looking for ways to spend their money. They're looking for the Alfredo Foxes."
Doctor's note
Saggese said there were inconsistencies in Trujillo's Beverly Hills persona that gave him doubts -- he had tattered shoes and fake Louis Vuitton luggage. But Trujillo quickly dispelled those suspicions with his purported connections, answering phone calls he said were from Donald Trump, Saggese said.
Gordon, the chiropractor, said he eventually settled the lawsuit against Trujillo for less than half the sum he says he was owed. But after the first two installments of $2,000, Trujillo stopped making the payments and filed for bankruptcy, Gordon said.
Trujillo has failed to appear at his bankruptcy hearings, submitting a doctor's note citing a heart condition. A Los Angeles bankruptcy judge has held Trujillo in civil contempt, ordering him to pay fines for repeatedly failing to appear or to produce documents as ordered.
His creditors, however, have showed up. At one hearing, Gordon, Saggese, Lawrence and other disgruntled investors eyed each other suspiciously and then started comparing stories. They said that's when they realized they had all been told variations on the same tale.
Gordon said he was told Trujillo was temporarily having difficulty transferring funds from Mexico, then later that his money was tied up with Japanese investors.
