Articles Posted in Promissory Notes

South Florida Prime Bank and Overseas Debt Instruments Fraud and Misrepresentation Litigation and Arbitration Attorny:

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Malom Group AG, Martin U. Schläpfer, Hans-Jürg Lips, et al., Civil Action No. 2:13-cv-2280 (D. Nev. Dec. 16, 2013)

SEC Charges Perpetrators of Prime Bank Schemes in Las Vegas and Switzerland

Common Stocks, Preferred Stocks, Corporate Bonds, Municipal Bonds, Promissory Notes, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF’s), and Mutual Funds – South Florida Securities and Investment Fraud, Negligence and Breach of Fiduciary Duty FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney:

The elements of a breach of fiduciary duty action are (1) the existence of a fiduciary duty and (2) the breach of that duty that was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s damages. A fiduciary relationship exists when confidence is reposed by one party and trust accepted by the other. Such a relationship exists where confidence is reposed on one side and there is resulting superiority and influence on the other. When a fiduciary relationship has not been created by an express agreement, the question of whether the relationship exists generally depends upon the specific facts and circumstances surrounding the relationship of the parties in a transaction in which they are involved.

The law is clear that a broker owes a fiduciary duty of care and loyalty to a securities investor. The type and extent of this duty is fact specific. In other words, your relationship with, in the case, your broker/dealer and/or account executive will be determinative of the type of duty that you are owed. However, please keep in mind that the extent of this duty is organic. It is constantly changing. It is for this reason that your specific circumstances need to be reviewed by a qualified professional.

Security and Exchange Commission Obtains Summary Judgment against Defendants Charged With Defrauding Investors in Fictitious Offering

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced that the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted the SEC’s motion for summary judgment against all primary defendants and certain relief defendants in a civil action arising from a prime bank investment scheme that defrauded at least 13 investors out of more than $2 million from August 2010 to November 2011. Pursuant to the court’s ruling and judgment issued on August 26, 2013, the court permanently enjoined Washington D.C. attorney Brynee K. Baylor, her law firm Baylor & Jackson, P.L.L.C., and their former “client” The Milan Group, Inc. from violations of the antifraud and other securities law provisions, and from engaging in similar investment schemes. The court also required these defendants to pay disgorgement and penalties, required the Estate of Frank L. Pavlico to pay disgorgement, and barred Baylor from acting as an officer or director of any public company. The court required relief defendants Patrick T. Lewis and The Julian Estate to disgorge illegally obtained investor funds. The court granted in part or denied summary judgment against two other relief defendants, but declined in September 2013 to reconsider that ruling.

The SEC’s complaint, filed on November 30, 2011, alleged that Pavlico and Baylor operated a prime bank scheme, offering investors risk-free returns of up to 20 times the original investment within as few as 45 days through the purported “lease” and “trading” of foreign bank instruments, including “standby letters of credit” and “bank guarantees,” in highly complex transactions with unidentified parties and secretive international “trading platforms.” However, the bank instruments and trading programs were entirely fictitious. As the complaint alleged, Pavlico and Baylor provided investors with phony contracts and legal documents, digitally-created computer screen shots, and copies of fictitious foreign bank instruments as purported proof of the ongoing success of the transactions. Baylor and her law firm acted as “counsel” for Pavlico’s company Milan, vouching for Pavlico and acting as an escrow agent that in reality was merely receiving and diverting the majority of investor funds.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Brett A. Cooper, Global Funding Systems LLC, Dream Holdings, LLC, Fortitude Investing, LLC, Peninsula Waterfront Development, LP, and REOP Group Inc. and David H. Frederickson and The Law Offices of David H. Frederickson, Civil Action No. 1:13-cv-05781-RMB-AMD (D.N.J.) and 1:13-cv-05787-RMB-AMD (D.N.J.)

SEC Charges New Jersey Resident in Prime Bank Investment Scheme and Files Settled Charges Against California Attorney Escrow Agent

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed an enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against New Jersey resident Brett A. Cooper and his companies Global Funding Systems LLC, Dream Holdings, LLC, Fortitude Investing, LLC, Peninsula Waterfront Development, LP and REOP Group Inc., who from at least November 2008 through about April 2012 perpetrated three fraudulent schemes and engaged in various fraudulent and deceitful acts, practices and courses of business in furtherance of those schemes.

Private Equity, Private Placement and Private Investment – South Florida Fraud, Misrepresentation and Mismanagement State and Federal Litigation and FINRA Arbitration Attorney:

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged the former president of a purported private equity real estate firm based in San Bernardino, Calif., with defrauding nearly 500 investors who purchased promissory notes under the false premise that they were secured by specific properties or other collateral.

The SEC alleges that Larry Polhill used his company American Pacific Financial Corporation (APFC) to buy and sell real estate and distressed assets, and he offered investors the opportunity to invest in the company through unregistered notes that would yield them interest payments of 5 to 17 percent per year. However, the collateral that Polhill and APFC claimed made the investments secure was often non-existent or otherwise impaired. The properties underlying the investments were sometimes even sold without notice to investors. When APFC eventually filed for bankruptcy, it named the investors as unsecured creditors who were owed nearly $160 million. None of Polhill’s investment offerings were registered with the SEC.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jenifer E. Hoffman, John C. Boschert, and Bryan T. Zuzga, Civil Action No. 5:13-cv-00455 (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) has charged Jenifer E. Hoffman and John C. Boschert, the former principals of Assured Capital Consultants, LLC – a now-dissolved Florida company – and Bryan T. Zuzga, the company’s purported escrow agent, for their involvement in a fraudulent prime bank offering and Ponzi scheme.

According to the Commission’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, between approximately January and September 2009, Assured Capital, through Hoffman, Boschert, and Zuzga, raised at least $25 million from investors, through false representations and fake documents. The complaint alleges that Hoffman and Boschert represented to investors that their money would be invested in Assured Capital’s offshore, confidential trading program which, in turn, would invest in blocks of medium term notes. As the complaint further alleges, Hoffman and Boschert enticed investors with claims of exorbitant profits and with the illusion of safety by telling them that the investment would provide weekly returns of up to 50% and that it was performing, safe, and guaranteed. In addition, Hoffman and Boschert represented to investors their money would remain safe in an Assured Capital escrow account that would be used to secure a line of credit for investing in the company’s offshore trading program. Furthermore, Hoffman, Boschert, and Zuzga told investors that Zuzga controlled the escrow account as Assured Capital’s escrow agent and that he was a licensed attorney. Moreover, Hoffman provided investors with fake bank documents and a sham verification letter, notarized by Zuzga, purporting to confirm Assured Capital had $500 million at a Panamanian bank.

Joseph Paul Zada Indicted for Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) recently announced that on September 4, 2013, a Grand Jury sitting in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida returned an Indictment charging Joseph Paul Zada with 21 counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, and two counts of interstate transportation of stolen property. The Indictment also seeks forfeiture of properties obtained as a result of the alleged criminal violations.

The Indictment alleges that from at least January 1998 through August 2009, Zada caused over twenty investors to invest over $20 million based on materially false statements and omissions. According to the Indictment, Zada attracted investors by projecting an image of great wealth, portraying himself as a successful businessman and investor with connections to Saudi Arabian oil ventures. He also hosted extravagant parties, drove expensive luxury vehicles, and maintained expensive homes in Wellington, Florida and Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The investors sent money to Zada with the understanding that he would use the funds to invest in various oil ventures on their behalf. The investors usually received promissory notes reflecting the principal amount of their investment. Zada deposited investors’ funds into bank accounts he controlled. Instead of investing the funds in oil ventures, Zada used the money to support his lavish lifestyle and to make purported returns on investments to prior investors.

SEC Files Civil Injunctive Action Against Alleged Perpetrator and Unregistered Broker in Fraudulent Promissory Note Offering

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil injunctive action in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado against Brian G. Elrod for allegedly conducting a fraudulent offering of promissory notes for which Nova Dean Pack acted as an unregistered broker. Elrod and Pack reside in Buffalo Creek, Colorado and Highland, California, respectively.

The Complaint alleges that, from at least March 2009 through November 2009, Elrod and Pack raised approximately $2 million from 12 investors who invested in high-yield promissory notes issued by CFS Holding Company LLC (“CFS”), a Colorado company owned and managed by Elrod. According to the Complaint, Elrod told investors that their investments were secured and guaranteed and would generate annual returns ranging from 12% to 24%. According to the Complaint, Elrod further represented to investors that the proceeds from their promissory notes would be used to expand a group of financial services companies owned and managed by Elrod. The Complaint alleges that the foregoing representations, among others, were false and misleading when made, and that Elrod, rather than use investor money for legitimate business purposes, improperly used most of the investor funds to make substantial payments to himself and family members and to pay for personal expenses, to pay Pack significant commissions for referring investors, and to make interest payments back to investors. According to the Complaint, the CFS note offering was not registered with the Commission, and Pack was not an associated person of a registered broker or dealer at the time he participated in the CFS note offering.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bernard H. Butts, Jr., Fotios Geivelis, Jr., also known as Frank Anastasio, Worldwide Funding III Limited LLC, Douglas J. Anisky, Sidney Banner, Express Commercial Capital LLC, James Baggs (Defendants), Bernard H. Butts, Jr. PA, Butts Holding Corporation, Margaret A. Hering, Global Worldwide Funding Ventures, Inc., and PW Consulting Group LLC (Relief Defendants), Civil Action No. 13-23115-CIV-MARTINEZ-MCALILEY (Southern District of Florida)

SEC Halts Florida-Based Prime Bank Investment Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced that it has obtained an emergency court order to halt a prime bank investment scheme by a Miami attorney and others who have promised investors exorbitant returns to be derived from a program based on the trading of bank instruments.

Senior and Retirement Fraud, Misrepresentation and Breach of Fiduciary Duty Litigation and FINRA Arbitration Attorney:

Commission Charges Indiana Resident with Conducting Ponzi Scheme Targeting Retirement Savings of Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) recently charged a Noblesville, Ind., resident and his company with defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme that targeted retirement savings.

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