This article originally appeared in slightly different formin the Connecticut Law Tribune.

NEW HAVEN, CT—A federal judge in Connecticut has awarded $10.6million to Wells Fargo after the financial institution proved thata prominent developer shifted corporate assets to shell companiesin an attempt to dodge a nearly $23-million verdict lodged againsthim in Maryland in 2005. The developer, MichaelKonover, of Konover Development Corp.,based in Farmington, is appealing Judge Alvin Thompson's ruling tothe US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit here.

Lawyers for both sides declined to discuss the case on therecord. But according to court documents, Konover's variousenterprises include the construction, development and management ofcommercial real estate throughout the United States. One of theproperties developed by the Konover companies, more than 20 yearsago, was a 26-acre shopping center known as Diamond Point Plaza inBaltimore. The plaza stood atop a hill, not too visible to the mainthoroughfare and across the street from a sewer treatmentplant.