Vrege Armoyan's $1.6M owed in spousal support 'deeply disturbing'
Decision latest round in long and acrimonious divorce battle
A wealthy Nova Scotia developer has been found guilty of contempt of court for failing to pay alimony and child support of more than $1.6 million.
A decision released today by the family division of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court is just the latest round in a long and nasty divorce battle between Vrege and Lisa Armoyan.
Justice Theresa Forgeron described Vrege Armoyan's debt as "a deeply disturbing quantity of maintenance arrears for one person to amass."
The contempt decision follows a ruling by the Florida Circuit Court in October 2012 which issued a final Dissolution of Marriage order.
At that time, the Florida court ordered Armoyan to pay $29,000 in child and spousal support. That court found he was more than $700,000 in arrears at that time.
Court costs for the legal battle to that point — which Vrege Armoyan was ordered to pay — came to more than $1.2 million. The court also ordered him to pay $273,000 in forensic accounting fees.
The court found, despite claims to the contrary, Armoyan had access to money. The decision lists several transactions, including the sale of a Lamborghini sports car for $105,000, a Corvette for $62,000 and more than $2.6 million in withdrawals from his RRSP accounts and several large donations from his mother.
'Egregious defiance of a court order'
The court found Armoyan did start paying his ex-wife about $10,000 a month in September 2012.
"From time to time, Mr. Armoyan threatened to stop paying the money, and on occasion, made the cashing of cheques difficult by placing holes in the account number," Forgeron noted in her decision.
"Mr. Armoyan also gave money directly to the children although Ms. Armoyan was unable to quantify the exact amount because she did not receive the money."
Vrege Armoyan has skipped previous court appearances and has continually refused to pay the amounts in the Florida court order.
"This court cannot sanction Mr. Armoyan's egregious defiance of a court order," the judge wrote.
Now that she has found him in contempt, the judge has scheduled a hearing for later this month to decide what penalty Vrege Armoyan should face — and the judge made clear Armoyan must attend the court in person.