Redwood Scientific Technologies concealer Jacques Poujade has pled guilty to “fraudulently obtaining more than $5.2 million”.

As per a July 25th press-release issued by the DOJ, Poujade (right),

63, of Irvine, pleaded guilty late Monday afternoon to one count of securities fraud.

According to his plea agreement, Poujade is the owner and chief financial officer of Tri-Emerald Financial Group, a Lake Forest-based realty services company that operated as a residential mortgage lender.

From February 2015 to May 2020, Poujade sold unregistered securities to a victim investor by telling the victim a series of lies.

In total, Poujade fraudulently obtained approximately $5,255,600 from the victim.

Poujade used a substantial portion of the funds for general Tri-Emerald operating expenses and to make lulling payments and litigation settlement payments to previous Tri-Emerald investors.

Poujade also used a portion of the funds for personal expenditures in lieu of taking a salary.

Poujade was also running his own Ponzi scheme.

In his plea agreement, Poujade further admitted to defrauding another victim and that victim’s investment group in July 2016 by convincing them to purchase 30-day promissory notes issued by LendPlus Holdings, another one of Poujade’s companies.

These notes purportedly were to be used to increase Tri-Emerald’s warehouse line of credit, which would allow Tri-Emerald to fund a larger volume of mortgages.

In reality, Poujade used a substantial portion of these funds to make lulling payments to previous Tri-Emerald investors, to pay Tri-Emerald’s operating expenses, and for his own personal use, including paying rent on his residence.

Poujade admitted to defrauding these investors out of approximately $915,000.

BehindMLM came across Poujade in 2019 as an accomplice of Jason Cardiff’s.

Jason Cardiff ran the short-lived RengaLife MLM company, hence BehindMLM’s interest in the case.

As per a June 2019 FTC filing, Poujade “transferred, loaned, concealed, and disbursed Cardiff assets.”

He has failed to hold, preserve, and prohibit the disbursement, dissipation, or other disposal of Cardiff documents and assets.

He has taken actions that resulted in the dissipation of domestic or foreign assets, and in the hindrance of the repatriation of those assets.

He has failed to deliver Cardiff assets to the Receiver.

And he has failed to provide complete expedited discovery.

At an October 29th hearing, the court found Poujade

was totally unbelievable, that he lied and perpetrated a fraud on the Court in conjunction with Jason and Eunjung Cardiff, and that he created a paper trail perpetuating the fraud on the Court, to advance the interest of the Cardiffs to the detriment of the public, government agencies, the Receiver, and the Court.

Poujade was found to be in contempt of court and fined $5000 till he complied. Poujade’s contempt bill would eventually run up to $360,000.

As of June 2020, Poujade had still not purged his contempt. His contempt fines had climbed to $360,000.

Facing arrest as per a June 26th order, Poujade eventually caved and purged his contempt.

The Cardiffs would go on to lose the FTC case, but got off on paying restitution or monetary penalties.

I can’t say I’m surprised to find Redwood Scientific Technologies’ concealer was also engaged in securities fraud.

Poujade is scheduled to be sentenced on October 30th. He is facing a maximum twenty years behind bars.

 

Update 31st October 2023 – Jacques Poujade was sentenced to 63 months in prison on October 30th.