Richard Hajjar, 65, admitted he had secretly siphoned millions from the coffers of The Alden Shoe Company, the nearly year-old cobbler where he had been a trusted employee for more than 30 years. Prosecutors say Hajjar began dipping into company funds in , not long after meeting Bianca de la Garza, a long-time Boston-area news anchor who was looking to launch a TV talk show.
Holliday would later write a letter in support of Hajjar during his sentencing negotiations, calling him a devoted and kind person, court records showed. A person familiar with the matter said Hajjar fell head over heels for de la Garza, but that the relationship never became anything more than platonic.
De la Garza has strenuously denied in the past that the pair was ever romantic and has denied knowing that the money Hajjar spent on her had been stolen. Her lawyer declined to comment. Hajjar also used the stolen cash to fund a skin care line de la Garza tried to launch.
The pair became well known on the party circuit in Nantucket, where they hosted parties at a lavish weekend home Hajjar had purchased. Prosecutors say Hajjar managed to cover up the theft by dipping into a rarely used cash reserve fund that the Tarlow family, which owned the company, maintained. Hajjar then would draw from a line of credit to refill the fund during annual accounting reviews.
When the family decided to redistribute some of the reserve cash for estate planning purposes, Hajjar began stalling and then eventually stopped showing up to work, according to a civil suit the Tarlows filed in state court in Massachusetts. But she was always there. There were always friends around and everyone knew Rick was going to pick up the tab.
He always picked up the tab. But why? He liked having her on his arm and he floated the boat. Like a sugar daddy with no sugar.
Like a gentleman caller, father, husband, boyfriend all rolled into one with no sexual component. These questions were never answered, but they would soon be obscured by even bigger questions about Hajjar. And she followed none of them. Obviously, Rick was the answer. Like her personal relationship with Hajjar, their business connection was nebulous. She just wanted to be famous. She had grand ambitions. Fashion designers, interior decorators, and clothing stylists: Stella in the South End was thick with glitterati on January 24, , all there to celebrate the premiere of Bianca Unanchored , airing Saturday nights at in Boston, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Portland, Maine.
Hajjar, meanwhile, looked on as de la Garza worked the room in her pink Christian Dior pumps, carrying a custom mother-of-pearl handbag with Bianca inscribed in shimmery gold. But not even his vast contributions could save the show from sinking. After being on the air for just one year, it went on indefinite hiatus in January and never returned. Rather than retreat to lick his wounds after the show failed, he doubled down. De la Garza used it to fund her next couple of ventures: a new skin-care line and Garza Digital, a media company that produced beauty-themed content in At the same time, it was hardly all business for Hajjar.
Of course, he knew the answer: It was coming from Hajjar. Everything about his visit with Hajjar made Jennings curious. Nothing Rick. The producers had footage for 10 episodes of Being Beautiful with Bianca de la Garza in the can, and had shown the trailer at the Cannes film festival. I know it would have sold. Visibly upset, she said they had to shut down—the show had lost its funding.
The jig was up. Hajjar was like some mysterious Jay Gatsby character, including his lavish yet soulless showpiece of a house. Hajjar hemmed. His father had been accountant to the father of Arthur Tarlow Jr. The lawsuit details several methods that Hajjar allegedly used to secretly siphon out millions of dollars from the shoe company. After repeated delay, Hajjar told Tarlow he would have the money transferred, and then stopped showing up to work because he supposedly did not feel well, before stopping communicating with Tarlow altogether, the suit said.
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