A former Los Angeles businessman has been charged in the execution-style killings of a prominent attorney and a former employee, years after both men won legal battles connected to him.
Richard Wall Sr., 73, has been charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Prosecutors also filed special circumstance allegations of multiple murders, lying in wait and murder for financial gain.
Wall was extradited from Montenegro, where he was living when he was arrested.
Authorities allege Wall was the “mastermind” behind the slayings of attorney Jeffrey Tidus in 2009 and former employee Juan Mendez in 2011.
Tidus, 53, was fatally shot outside his upscale Rolling Hills Estates home on Dec. 7, 2009.
According to prosecutors, Tidus, a civil litigator, had won a $1.7 million settlement in 2007 against a close friend of Wall. Prosecutors allege Wall later hired an unnamed co-conspirator to kill Tidus.
Wall is also accused in the death of Mendez, 35, a former employee who had filed a class action lawsuit against him after claiming he was not paid overtime.
Mendez won the case and was awarded $300,000.
But before he could collect the money, prosecutors say he was shot in front of his children after opening the door of his apartment in Whittier on Feb. 26, 2011.
Authorities allege Wall hired a co-conspirator to kill Mendez as well.
On March 7, 2011, Mendez’s lawsuit was dismissed, according to prosecutors.
“These were vicious and callous murders that we believe came at the behest of Mr. Wall who thought killing two people would end his legal problems,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “Such allegedly ruthless decision-making has landed Mr. Wall in far worse shape now.”
Wall is scheduled to be arraigned on July 1.
Prosecutors said he is also a suspect in a third murder in Las Vegas.
