Legal Briefs
Ponzi Schemer Continued to Run Ponzi Scheme From Prison Phone
July 22, 2024Don’t syndicate with New Beginning Global Funding LLC, New Beginning Capital Funding LLC, and Lion Heart Capital Group L.L.C.
That’s because these entities were just named in a federal plea agreement as belonging to Johanna Garcia, a now-convicted ponzi schemer currently serving time in Miami’s federal detention center. Readers might remember her as being the mastermind behind a fake MCA company known as MJ Capital Funding. Garcia raked in more than $190 million as part of a fake syndication/investment scheme from thousands of duped investors. The SEC shut the company down in 2021 and she was charged criminally last year.
She did not go down quietly. Apparently after the SEC shut down her entities she simply set up new entities and kept going. When she was finally arrested and jailed awaiting trial she continued the ponzi from the prison phone and email.
In a proffer signed by Garcia, it’s stated that “Garcia and her co-conspirators told investors that their money would be used to fund general contractors who worked on commercial and residential properties through merchant cash advance loans. In truth, bank records show that there was little to no merchant cash advance activity, and the money raised was used to pay off previous investors.”
Garcia, and those that participated in the scheme with her, used MCA as a cover for their scheme. She was not actually known to people in the industry nor actually worked in it.
Fake LOC Scam Results in Guilty Plea
July 17, 2024Yisroel (“Scott”) Heber pleaded guilty last month for his role in a fake business line of credit scam. In April, the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY and the US Secret Service alleged that Heber and a co-defendant posed as a lending company and induced victims to make payments related to loans that they promised they would get but never actually came through with. Heber pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud.
Prosecutors called it an “advance-fee merchant cash advance fraud scheme through which they agreed to defraud victims of a total of more than $1.5 million.”
The case against Heber’s co-defendant is still ongoing.
Law Firm Sued Over “Debt Relief” Practices
July 9, 2024Another alleged “debt relief” law firm is under fire by a small business lender. This time the lender is National Funding and their latest lawsuit names not only a borrower that breached a loan agreement as a defendant but also a New York based law firm named J.S. Fritzon Law Firm, P.C.
According to the Complaint filed in San Diego County of California’s Superior Court, after the defendant law firm identifies National Funding’s customers, they contact them, offer to provide debt relief services, and attempt to persuade them to breach their obligations.
“As part of this effort, Non-Borrower Defendants routinely make misleading representations to National Funding’s customers, including by promising to save them money by settling their obligations to National Funding for a discounted amount when Non-Borrower Defendants have no legitimate basis for making such a promise and no reasonable expectation of being able to fulfill such a promise,” it says.
Among the causes of action against that defendant in particular are Intentional Interference with Contractual Relations, Unfair Competition, Conducting Business as a Prorater Without a License, Unauthorized Practice of Law, and Violation of Uniform Voidable Transfer Act.
The case number is 37-2024-00021246-CU-BC-CTL.
Smart Business Funding Prevails in Trademark Lawsuit
July 3, 2024Smart Business Funding, the trademark owned by Collins Cash Inc, has officially survived a trademark infringement challenge brought by BillFloat Inc dba SmartBiz. Both companies began using their respective marks a decade ago and the two even had a partnership referral agreement at one point. However, in 2020, SmartBiz sent Smart Business Funding a Cease & Desist letter on the basis that it was allegedly infringing on its mark and causing confusion in the market. While they are both engaged in small business financing, each offers different products. SmartBiz eventually filed a lawsuit.
After the original trial went in favor of Smart Business Funding, the decision was re-examined on appeal. There, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the original ruling. The Smart Business Funding mark does not infringe upon SmartBiz.
Kris Roglieri Arrested for Wire Fraud, in Jail
June 1, 2024Update: Roglieri to stay in prison indefinitely while awaiting trial after shocking revelations.
Kris Roglieri has been arrested by the FBI for wire fraud. He is currently in jail pending a June 3 hearing. The sealed criminal complaint was unsealed on Friday May 31 after months of news headlines and civil court proceedings revealed that his commercial lending business may have actually been operating as a fraudulent ponzi scheme. More than $100 million of customer funds are alleged to have gone missing. Roglieri himself is in personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The criminal complaint focuses on just one alleged crime, however, wire fraud for how Roglieri dealt with a client named 1800 Park Avenue LLC. As part of that, Roglieri committed to fund a $98.9M line of credit to 1800 Park in exchange for a $5M upfront interest payment that would purportedly be held in trust. Roglieri is then alleged to have misappropriated all the funds for his own personal use.
Among all the former clients of Roglieri claiming they were victims of fraud, 1800 Park was one of the last to enter the picture. 1800 Park didn’t file its civil suit until April 3, months after several others, where it not only named Roglieri and his companies Prime Commercial Lending, LLC and Prime Capital Ventures, LLC as co-defendants but also three of Roglieri’s employees. Roglieri was the only person named in the criminal complaint, however.
Although Roglieri had represented in his Chapter 11 bankruptcy (now converted to Chapter 7) that his businesses had stopped operating, one of those businesses (NACLB) has publicly represented that it had merely rebranded to a new name, and it is still soliciting payments from potential customers under that name.
Almost Sold Out – The Industry’s Legal Conference in NYC (AFBA) – Features Big Name Speakers
May 29, 2024
This is the last chance for attorneys and executives interested in the most comprehensive industry legal education to register for the Alternative Finance Bar Association Conference taking place in NYC. While the day of June 3rd is for attorneys only, the evening of June 3rd and the full day of June 4th are open to business people!
The outstanding lineup of speakers includes Andrew Smith, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP, who was formerly the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC, and Bob Zadek, Of Counsel for Buchalter.
A June 4th panel moderated by deBanked‘s Sean Murray will feature speakers Heather Francis at Elevate Funding, Mary Donohue at Revenue Based Finance Coalition, John Viskocil at Fora Financial, and Marshall Goldberg at Glass & Goldberg. Tickets are almost sold out.
For questions, email Lindsey@lrohanlaw.com or fitzgeraldmegan19@gmail.com
Agenda below:
Kris Roglieri Bankruptcy Converted to Chapter 7, The End of NACLB?
May 15, 2024
A judge approved a motion to convert the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding for the embattled Kris Roglieri to a Chapter 7. The intent behind this is to kickstart the process to sell off Roglieri’s assets for the benefit of creditors whereas before Roglieri hoped that his various wholly owned businesses could somehow continue. The trustee, however, said that such an outcome was impossible given that Roglieri did not maintain financial records, has no revenue coming in, is being investigated by the FBI for ~$100 million in allegedly missing customer funds, and has no path forward. The creditors at issue in the matter felt similarly.
Among Roglieri’s wholly owned assets are Commercial Capital Training Group and the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers (NACLB conference), according to documents he previously submitted to the court. He owns 100% of the membership interest in each LLC. During a prior hearing, the Chapter 11 trustee asked Roglieri if he understood that he could not transfer NACLB’s assets without trustee approval after rumors swirled that he was trying to sell it. At the time, Roglieri said that there had been no serious talks in that regard. It may have been a hard sell and could still continue to be. Despite the NACLB conference’s longevity, for example, Roglieri asserted during the proceedings that he did not maintain formal financial records for it and there are no balance sheets, P&Ls, or statement of cash flows related to it. It also apparently stiffed the venue of its last event since it lists an unpaid debt of $436,237 to Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas.
The NACLB conference has also apparently changed its name in order to distance itself from its connection with Roglieri, according to emails reviewed by deBanked. On March 25, an official NACLB mass email communication asserted that the conference would go forward “despite uncertainties surrounding this year’s event due to unrelated legal issues” and that “we are thrilled to announce that the annual conference will proceed this November under a new rebranded name, maintaining the trusted team that has organized the event for the past 9 years.”
Following that, an official NACLB conference representative sent out emails affirming that it was rebranding to the “Commercial Loan Broker Association” and that the conference would actually take place in a new location with a different date.
The Receiver managing Prime Capital Ventures, LLC, the main entity at the heart of the Roglieri saga, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for it on Tuesday. As part of that, he stated that the entity owes more than $100 million to its creditors.
Funding Merchants in New York? What Don’t You Know?
May 15, 2024It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting in an office located in Florida, California, New Jersey, or anywhere else, if you work with any merchants in New York State the legal stakes have never been higher. If you saw even half the commentary and feedback that deBanked has reviewed over the last two months about what’s taking place, you’d understand why you really can’t afford to miss this segment at Broker Fair this coming Monday in NYC. You’re not the only one with questions.
Don’t be that person that reaches out after it’s too late to say you wish you had known something ahead of time. Hear it from qualified attorneys that are both on the panel and in attendance at the event on May 20th in NYC. Already have a lawyer that advises you on all this? Great! Send them to this too. You only get one shot to do it right in this business. Register Here
