State v. Mr. G (DMC No. 11956) – Felony Securities Fraud ($1,747,000), Felony Bank and Wire Fraud, Felony Fraudulent Schemes and Felony Money Laundering – Not Charged – Private Law Firm Investigated and Resolved with Civil Settlement.
Mr. G was the manager of an LLC that bought foreclosure homes and flipped them for profit. The agreement was the LLC was to pay him 10% of the net profits. He had been paid approximately $180,000 – $200,000 from the LLC over time (roughly $2,000 per house sale). In addition, he had borrowed $30,000 to $35,000 from the LLC without their permission and had used landscapers and other contractors to perform work on his personal house without permission.
The LLC had secured a $400,000 and a $600,000 loan/investment from two individuals. These people were promised a 50/50 split of all of the profits of the sales. Ultimately, these people were never paid their money and they secured a private law firm to attempt to recover their money prior to filing a civil suit or contacting the authorities. The allegations were that the LLC engaged in a Sale of Unlicensed Securities, pursuant to A.R.S. 44-1801 (26). Also, Securities Fraud was alleged under the Arizona Securities Act, per Arizona Revised Statute 33-1991. That related to the $1 million Sale of Securities (i.e., the loan/investment) that was never paid back. In addition, the victims were entitled to a recovery which included interest, cost and attorney’s fees under Arizona Revised Statute 44-2001. This brought the total amount of loss to $1,747,017.
We became involved and we began working with the civil law firm, and the attorneys who represented the two principals of the LLC. Ultimately, the case was resolved with a civil settlement in which Mr. G paid the lowest amount of the three potential co-defendants. Because Mr. G had a prior felony conviction, it was very important to keep him from being charged. If he were to have been charged and found guilty of these crimes, the mandatory minimum would have been well over 10 years in prison due to the amount of loss and his previous felony convictions.