Jennifer
Phx,#2General Comment
Wed, October 31, 2012
In 2002, John Common's estranged
third wife was dying of breast cancer. She pinned her hopes for survival
on a radical stem-cell-transplant surgery.
Weeks before the planned operation, Janice Common discovered that her husband had allowed her health-insurance policy to lapse.
The move violated a court order to pay for Janice's spousal
maintenance and health care, and Seattle lawyer Jerry Kimball said he
asked the court to jail Common for contempt.
"He is a one-man wrecking crew," said Kimball, who represented Janice in her divorce case.
Court records show Common blamed his inability to pay on a separate lawsuit filed against him in federal court.
He also told the court that his wife had jewelry and furnishings that could be sold.
Common's background, pieced together from computer record searches,
court documents and more than a dozen interviews, shows that he is 54,
has been married four times and has eight children, including an adopted
daughter.
Records show that he owes about $52,000 in past-due child-support
payments in the state of Washington, where officials have tried
unsuccessfully to garnishee his wages since 2007. They also sought to
suspend his driver's license in 2009 for failure to pay.
He owes millions of dollars in unpaid court judgments, and thousands
of dollars in state and federal tax liens have been filed, with no
record of payment, records show.
Birth records and interviews show that Common was born in Colorado in
1957 to Iranian parents. Common's birth name was Anush Sharifi
Hosseini. In the 1960s, his parents divorced and he moved with his
mother to Europe.
Common took the name of his adopted British father, John Common Sr., who moved the family to England.
Common refused to discuss his past. But relatives say that trouble in
England caused Common to move in the late 1960s to to Tehran, Iran,
where he prospered in the burgeoning radio and television industry.
"He was a wonderful young man," said his first wife, Shirin Nassehi,
who met and married Common in Iran. "He was well-known on IRT TV (Iran
Radio Television)."
Nassehi, who now works as a real-estate agent in Dallas, said her
husband was a hero during the Islamic Revolution in the ate 1970s,
putting himself in danger by helping Americans to escape the country.
Nassehi said she and her husband fled the country and moved to
Seattle. She said Common immediately got work as a disc jockey at a
small radio station there.
Common soon set his sights on advertising, Nassehi said. It wasn't
long before he was putting together his own deals and talking about
running his own business.
Common's breakthrough involved setting up call-center operations
employing hundreds to market car warranties to customers throughout the
country.
His marriage to Nassehi ended in divorce in the early 1980s.
In 1985, shortly after marrying his second wife, Common was convicted
on burglary charges stemming from a domestic issue and sentenced to
probation and community service.
The conviction marked the beginning of a string of offenses,
including failure to appear in court, driving with a suspended license,
reckless driving and contempt-of-court charges.
In 2002, a Seattle family-court commissioner, Kimberly Prochnau,
described how Common failed to pay for his dying third wife's
health-insurance premiums, while affording himself luxurious meals,
trips and personal purchases. Prochnau jailed him for contempt.
Court records show Common blamed his inability to pay his spousal
support on the federal-court lawsuit. The suit, brought by American
International Group, claimed that Common used money from a $30 million
line of credit, which was supposed to back car warranties sold through
his company, on lavish personal expenses.
Common told Prochnau that his company, Warranty USA, had been placed
in receivership and that the federal judge in the case prohibited him
from spending company money.
Prochnau cited purchases that contradicted both federal and state
court orders. Those purchases included a new home in Nevada and $87,000
on furniture.
The judge in the federal case also held Common in contempt for
continuing to spend company money on personal purchases after being
ordered to stop.
Common refused to discuss the cases with The Republic.
Court records and an interview with his fourth ex-wife, Elizabeth
Muelhaupt, indicate Common was attempting to set up a new life for
himself in Nevada even as he drove the Seattle company into bankruptcy.
Muelhaupt said she was already living in Nevada in 2002 and remembers
the day John called and told her that he had been jailed in the
family-court case.
"He told me to start selling furniture to raise money. That night I
called an auction company, and by that weekend they had sold everything
in our house," she said.
After a brief stay, Common was released from jail after the furniture was sold, Muelhaupt said.
The money from the sale was supposed to help pay for Janice's breast-cancer treatment, court records show.
But according to Kimball, ultimately it was AIG that stepped in to
help Janice get treatment. Even as the company sued her husband, it
released its claim on funds to help raise the $60,000 needed to pay for
Janice's stem-cell operation.
Janice died in 2002, facing multiple debts and lawsuits related to
her husband's business, Kimball said. Her death came just days before
the divorce was to be finalized by the court.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2012/02/11/20120211common-personal-legal-issues.html#ixzz2AqYgza7G
Whenunume
Phoenix,#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, November 16, 2009
Pity his parents, but not the "Common" John Common..We need to know his name, so we can send him to prison for scamming and stealing millions from innocent people, Sean and Sonya should go to prison too..accomplices..aiding and abetting..Grand Theft by Fraud. How much time would such a crime carry? I have always hated (strong word, I know) a liar and a thief..common. Do you remember what bank Mr Common used to pay his employees or the one he deposited all those stolen millions in..maybe have an account # for him? I would be so grateful for that piece of information
#4
Wed, August 26, 2009
Ryan, i want you to find my story in here, i worked for this scum bag for 12 years on and off...I was ripped off and taught and told to do some sad things by threat from this animal...Today, my friends are inside and scared as he is doing worse than before....Please send this to others...I am willing as many other employees to bury this scum.....714-277-9766...Did he beat you out of some money.....I'm steve by the way and real sorry i took money from folks like you, also john is getting ready to move to another office.....that bums me out cuz i've been in this one...