Judge Eric Johnson, left, listens to Deputy District Attorney Isaam Shamsid-Deen, center, and Bachar attorney Robert Swestka, right, during a hearing on Friday, March 3, 2023. (Justin Wingerter)
An arrest warrant was issued Friday for admitted thief and disgraced businessman Steve Bachar after he failed to appear at his sentencing in downtown Denver.
Denver District Court Judge Eric Johnson ordered the detainment of Bachar, who faces up to a dozen years in prison for theft, at a hearing Friday afternoon. Bachar’s public defender, Robert Swestka, had urged the judge not to have Bachar, a Western Slope resident, arrested.
“Is Mr. Bachar here?” Johnson asked Swestka just before the 1:30 p.m. hearing.
“He is not,” the defense attorney told him.
“Why not?”
“We’ll discuss it.”
Johnson called the case to order just after 1:30 p.m. Swestka then asked to talk about Bachar’s absence privately with the judge but Deputy District Attorney Isaam Shamsid-Deen argued that Bachar’s absence should be discussed more publicly.
“We have quite a few people in the gallery. I think they’re entitled to hear,” he told the judge. “Then, if there is any sensitive information, we can say that at the bench.”
Steve Bachar pleaded guilty to felony theft and misdemeanor theft.
“Are you asking for a warrant?” Johnson asked.
“I will be, yeah,” the prosecutor said.
Johnson, Swestka and Shamsid-Deen discussed Bachar’s absence out of earshot of others in the courtroom for four minutes before Johnson ruled in Shamsid-Deen’s favor.
“Alright, well, the court is going to find that Mr. Bachar has failed to appear. We’ll issue a warrant for his arrest with no bond and then we’ll figure out when we can set sentencing,” he said.
Bachar, 57, pleaded guilty to felony theft and misdemeanor theft on Nov. 14, three months after losing his law license. He admitted that in 2017, he urged his friend Jamie Lindsay to invest in a business consulting company that Bachar co-owned. Lindsay invested $125,000 after Bachar said it was a safe investment.
Bachar failed to disclose that he wasn’t authorized to sell a stake in the company. Instead, he took Lindsay’s money and spent it on travel, meals and other personal expenses.
Robert Swestka, a public defender who represents Steve Bachar, speaks during a hearing in Denver District Court on Friday, March 3, 2023. (Justin Wingerter)
Lindsay, of North Carolina, has known Bachar since 1992, when they worked together on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign and then in the Clinton administration.
Bachar, a former Denverite who now lives somewhere west of the Continental Divide, was previously set to be sentenced Feb. 17. But days before, he told the court that he had contracted COVID-19, so Johnson rescheduled the sentencing to Friday afternoon.
It remains to be seen what Friday’s arrest of Bachar means for the sentence he eventually receives. Bachar can be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. But he initially pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal stating he would receive probation and deferred judgment, meaning the charges could be expunged in two years. To receive that deal, however, he was required to pay $174,000 in restitution.
“Has he paid the restitution?” Johnson asked Swestka at Friday’s hearing. “That was actually due at the last sentencing date.”
“He can’t pay restitution until the court proceeds with sentencing,” Swestka told the judge.
Johnson then squinted, tilted his head and bluntly told Swestka, “That’s not accurate.”
The restitution question comes at a time when three different judges in the city have ordered Bachar to pay a combined $4.8 million to three victims who sued him and won.
In the most recent case, Denver District Court Judge Shelley Gilman ordered Bachar to pay $700,000 to DaVita on Jan. 13. The Denver-based dialysis company first sued Bachar in October 2020, claiming it paid him $605,000 for N95 masks that he never provided, and won a default judgment against him after he ignored the lawsuit. DaVita sued him again in June 2022, saying he had refused to pay the $700,000 court judgment.
On Dec. 27, Bachar was ordered by Denver District Court Judge Stephanie Scoville to pay $250,000 to Robert Hanfling, a retired energy consultant. Hanfling loaned $99,000 to Bachar more than a decade ago and was never repaid. He sued Bachar in early 2022.
Bachar also owes $3.8 million to Sanitas Solutions, which won a court judgment against him in 2021. The company, formerly known as Future Health Co., says Bachar was hired to act as a middleman between it and the state of Wisconsin, which needed 3 million medical gowns in 2020, but Bachar kept the money he was paid by Wisconsin and never paid Sanitas.
“From our understanding, he’s dead broke,” Sanitas President Deborah Farnoush said of Bachar in an interview. “Unless he has tricked another person into giving him money so he can pay off someone else he has tricked.”
Judge Eric Johnson, left, listens to Deputy District Attorney Isaam Shamsid-Deen, center, and Bachar attorney Robert Swestka, right, during a hearing on Friday, March 3, 2023. (Justin Wingerter)
An arrest warrant was issued Friday for admitted thief and disgraced businessman Steve Bachar after he failed to appear at his sentencing in downtown Denver.
Denver District Court Judge Eric Johnson ordered the detainment of Bachar, who faces up to a dozen years in prison for theft, at a hearing Friday afternoon. Bachar’s public defender, Robert Swestka, had urged the judge not to have Bachar, a Western Slope resident, arrested.
“Is Mr. Bachar here?” Johnson asked Swestka just before the 1:30 p.m. hearing.
“He is not,” the defense attorney told him.
“Why not?”
“We’ll discuss it.”
Johnson called the case to order just after 1:30 p.m. Swestka then asked to talk about Bachar’s absence privately with the judge but Deputy District Attorney Isaam Shamsid-Deen argued that Bachar’s absence should be discussed more publicly.
“We have quite a few people in the gallery. I think they’re entitled to hear,” he told the judge. “Then, if there is any sensitive information, we can say that at the bench.”
Steve Bachar pleaded guilty to felony theft and misdemeanor theft.
“Are you asking for a warrant?” Johnson asked.
“I will be, yeah,” the prosecutor said.
Johnson, Swestka and Shamsid-Deen discussed Bachar’s absence out of earshot of others in the courtroom for four minutes before Johnson ruled in Shamsid-Deen’s favor.
“Alright, well, the court is going to find that Mr. Bachar has failed to appear. We’ll issue a warrant for his arrest with no bond and then we’ll figure out when we can set sentencing,” he said.
Bachar, 57, pleaded guilty to felony theft and misdemeanor theft on Nov. 14, three months after losing his law license. He admitted that in 2017, he urged his friend Jamie Lindsay to invest in a business consulting company that Bachar co-owned. Lindsay invested $125,000 after Bachar said it was a safe investment.
Bachar failed to disclose that he wasn’t authorized to sell a stake in the company. Instead, he took Lindsay’s money and spent it on travel, meals and other personal expenses.
Robert Swestka, a public defender who represents Steve Bachar, speaks during a hearing in Denver District Court on Friday, March 3, 2023. (Justin Wingerter)
Lindsay, of North Carolina, has known Bachar since 1992, when they worked together on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign and then in the Clinton administration.
Bachar, a former Denverite who now lives somewhere west of the Continental Divide, was previously set to be sentenced Feb. 17. But days before, he told the court that he had contracted COVID-19, so Johnson rescheduled the sentencing to Friday afternoon.
It remains to be seen what Friday’s arrest of Bachar means for the sentence he eventually receives. Bachar can be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. But he initially pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal stating he would receive probation and deferred judgment, meaning the charges could be expunged in two years. To receive that deal, however, he was required to pay $174,000 in restitution.
“Has he paid the restitution?” Johnson asked Swestka at Friday’s hearing. “That was actually due at the last sentencing date.”
“He can’t pay restitution until the court proceeds with sentencing,” Swestka told the judge.
Johnson then squinted, tilted his head and bluntly told Swestka, “That’s not accurate.”
The restitution question comes at a time when three different judges in the city have ordered Bachar to pay a combined $4.8 million to three victims who sued him and won.
In the most recent case, Denver District Court Judge Shelley Gilman ordered Bachar to pay $700,000 to DaVita on Jan. 13. The Denver-based dialysis company first sued Bachar in October 2020, claiming it paid him $605,000 for N95 masks that he never provided, and won a default judgment against him after he ignored the lawsuit. DaVita sued him again in June 2022, saying he had refused to pay the $700,000 court judgment.
On Dec. 27, Bachar was ordered by Denver District Court Judge Stephanie Scoville to pay $250,000 to Robert Hanfling, a retired energy consultant. Hanfling loaned $99,000 to Bachar more than a decade ago and was never repaid. He sued Bachar in early 2022.
Bachar also owes $3.8 million to Sanitas Solutions, which won a court judgment against him in 2021. The company, formerly known as Future Health Co., says Bachar was hired to act as a middleman between it and the state of Wisconsin, which needed 3 million medical gowns in 2020, but Bachar kept the money he was paid by Wisconsin and never paid Sanitas.
“From our understanding, he’s dead broke,” Sanitas President Deborah Farnoush said of Bachar in an interview. “Unless he has tricked another person into giving him money so he can pay off someone else he has tricked.”
