Hambarian

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Carl H. Horst and Douglas P. Danzig, Deputy Attorneys General, Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney, David S. Kirkpatrick, Deputy District Attorney, for Real Party in Interest.

O'LEARY, J.

Jeffrey Hambarian petitions for a writ of mandate commanding the superior court to vacate its order denying his motion to recuse the district attorney's office in the prosecution against him for theft- and fraud-related crimes involving his family's waste management businesses. He contends the district attorney had a prejudicial conflict of interest as a matter of law because he allowed one of the victims to pay for an expert investigator in the case. We deny the petition.

Steven Nakada was the longtime accountant for two Hambarian family companies, Orange Disposal Services (ODS) and Orange Resource Recovery Services (ORRS). In late 1995, he discovered irregularities regarding unpaid shipping invoices and checks that had not been deposited in proper accounts. The companies gave him permission to conduct a fraud audit, but he was unable to complete it due to lack of…