QED Embezzlement Cases Proceed

The complicated Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) suit against Qualified Exchange Services (QES) of Montecito and several other corporations with ties to former Santa Barbara businessman Donald McGhan has entered several new phases: Defendant Medicor, cofounded by McGhan, filed for bankruptcy. Defendant UBS Financial Services agreed to a $23 million settlement. And QES, whose escrow customers lost an estimated $10 million to alleged embezzlement by its parent corporation, has filed a new class-action suit in coordination with claimants represented by the Santa Barbara law firm of Harcourt and Brace.