was responsible for john s death. i was officially charged august 3rd of 2011. so that s almost two years? 20 months later. 20 months after john s death. ann then hired the attorney to take over her defense. translator: she wasn t satisfied with the attorneys that were representing her during that year and a half. ann had begun to question the honesty of waunl juan dedias alvarez, the man who had hired the attorneys. something was wrong, but i did not know exactly what. alvarez had played an important role in the benders realizing their dream, helping them acquire dozens of properties that make up the refuge. he is also the man they turned to when they decided to funnel most of their fortune, about $70
million, into a trust, which he established and controlled. the purpose of setting it up was to ensure that the refuge would have a structure that would protect it after we were gone. in the event of john dying first, it was also meant to provide financial security for ann. but that isn t how things went, according to milton jiminez, an alvarez employee who helped to manage the trust. translator: after john bender died, the first thing mr. alvarez did was take away ann s credit card. he declared himself the only heir of the trust, he said the trust no longer existed and now everything belonged to him. jimenez says he was so disturbed by what he calls alvarez s lying ways and soaring ego that he left the company. i found out he had quit and i
got in touch with him. he told me verbally some things and things fell together. jimenez had accused alvarez of stealing from the trust. translator: almost around the same time the trust was created, mr. alvarez began investing the funds in personal projects and paying for personal expenses. his lifestyle changed completely. ann sued alvarez for fraud and gained access to his files on the trust. the case is pending. from what you saw, how much money do you estimate mr. alvarez stole from that trust? translator: by the time i left the office i calculated $20 million. in the end, jimenez believes alvarez wanted ann put away so that he could get away with embezzling millions.
what he wanted most was for ann to go to jail. there is no way he wanted anything else. how has this affected you? what s been the impact? i am beyond upset in terms of the degree of betrayal and how long it was going on. you re basically broke, right? i m absolutely broke. translator: i requested that mr. alvarez be removed as a trustee. the court named a substitute to take his place. we ve reached out to juan dedee yos alvarez, but he s declined to speak with cnn. in this e-mail he says he is following the advice of his attorneys in not giving us an interview. with the civil suit and potentially a criminal trial against alvarez in motion, ann still had her own criminal trial to worry about. next, ann goes on trial.