What is Genesis Acquisitions International?
Had a request to look into something called Genesis Acquisitions International from a reader.
Doesn’t seem to a website available and there’s talk of investments, NDAs, real-estate in Kentucky, SEC compliance and all sorts of nonsense.
So, what’s Genesis Acquisitions International all about?
With publicly available details on the company being sketchy at best, here’s what I’ve been able to put together.
We’ll start with an email sent out to potential investors sometime recently:
In regards to Genesis Acquisitions International, LLC and Michael Palermo.
In early August I became aware of this opportunity via an associate who knew Michael for some years.
Michael was introduced to the Principal Land person who owns his own Farm ($1.7M est. value, purchased some years ago @ $1.2M) which is put into a Land Trust (July 2013 and verifiable, also thru County Records).
This man, Bill A., is well connected and is said to be able to purchase land at wholesale price points and has many such offers in the Millions of dollars at any time. He also has buyers at retail level, and can broker these deals in a single closing.
Alright, before we go on – some background information.
Michael Palermo, as he’s known in MLM circles, was involved in Commodities Online LLC (2011).
Run by James C. Howard III and Louis N. Gallo III of Florida, the Receiver in the case stated in court-filed documents that
from January 26, 2010 until April 1, 2011, Howard and Gallo operated and controlled a Ponzi Scheme designed to defraud investors that allowed Howard, Gallo and their confederates to steal and misappropriate investor funds.
One of the companies used to perpetuate the fraud was ‘SSH2 Acquisitions Inc, controlled by nondefendant Michael Palermo‘.
As for Bill A., no idea. The lack of a full name provided indicates some effort to mask this individual’s identity.
Back to the investor letter:
In July a several million dollar deal was in process when one of the individuals putting up $864,000 died and his estate went into probate.
The others involved and Bill wished to get this done quickly — step in Michael who asked to be given the chance to bring in that cash (as he has previously raised large capital successfully).
How Palermo raised the cash is of course not disclosed. If his past is anything to by though…
The Closing was set for September 9th and for Michael to gain confidence and capital on the 1st Pinewood Contract was slow. Actually at the last hour a big player wanted to put in $700,000 — but it was soon found that his funds were not available for 30 days.
I wrote Ken and others at that time and I also got involved: “I was able to do a Counter Deposit at Wells Fargo. I could have simply done a transfer to Mike’s account,…but my experience is it takes a day and a half to clear.
So you should see the deposit of $35,000 Transaction # 064 0075 made at 5:58 p.m. MST 8/13/14 at store #0006486 6 credited on 8/13/14.”
I then decided to up my involvement and made another deposit of $50,000 08/18/14 WITHDRAWAL MADE IN A BRANCH/STORE $50,000.00 and similarly deposited.
I heard that all went well on the Closing and on 9/10 Michael initiated a bank wire back to me of my Principal $85,000 + 20% interest ($17,000) = $102,000 09/11/14 WT SEQ115880 DREAMCATCHERS INTERNATI /ORG= SRF# 0066623254774991 TRN#140911115880 RFB# $101,970.00 (bank wire fee took $30 + a receiving fee from my bank of another $15).
My sponsor was also paid on his contract. All others affirmed the same on a members call.
So wait what?
Palermo raised funds through a group of investors, something something magic and then a month or so later paid out a 20% or so ROI? On seemingly hundreds of thousands of invested dollars?
Sponsors…. member’s calls… sounds MLM’ish to me. Oh dear.
Of course this wasn’t a one-off, with the above fairy tale used to procure a new wave of investors:
First Contract PAID and Second Contract Now In Process.
For those sitting on the sidelines, wondering if this was/is the real deal… well I am here to tell you it is (well for sure I cannot argue that I was paid)…and there may still be time for you to get involved with the next contract!
Oh of course, totally a “real deal” – yet the only “evidence” that exists are claims that those at the top of what appears to be a newly birthed Ponzi getting paid.
Riiiiiiiight.
SEC Compliant – Filing in Process
100% Legal
100% Secure – Principle Backed By Verifiable Land Trust
100% Transparent Wholesale/Retail Land Transactions
20% Return (may vary on future contracts, each is individual)
$5k min by Bank Wire (I personally bank at the same bank so direct deposited)
Funds and Contract Due: TBA (was already extended past original date)
Payout Date is: Friday 10/24/14
SEC compliant and 100% legal? Who are they kidding?
That Palermo is allegedly registering himself or Genesis Acquisitions International after they’ve allegedly solicited investments and paid out ROIs should set off a major alarm bell.
Ditto the “payout date” of the 24th of October. Because, y’know, guaranteed 20% ROIs on fixed schedules is totally how legitimate operations work.
As for the other claims, hell the toilet paper I used this morning holds more legitimacy.
Roll on the bullshit!
However, legally this is a Private Placement Offering, and as such you are required to sign a Non-Circumvention and Non-Disclosure Agreement which will need to be returned in order to have full access to details and documentation. this must be scanned and returned to Genesis.
Anything I have said should NOT be taken as True (Ozedit: no shit?), as you must hear directly (by Law) from the Broker (which I am not). What I have said is my truth and perhaps some opinion.
Do your own Due Diligence. Naturally I am involved with this 2nd contract which has raised over 3x the amount of our first.
Those who are involved wish to preserve what we have found, and ask that you take seriously our Agreement as a Club.
Last Thursday, Michael invited his SEC savvy attorney for our members call and he is aligned to advise Michael appropriately.
This week Michael is in New York away from home so has been quite busy; Bill had advised him to study up for his Series 7 test (SEC exam).
A password protected website is half constructed to make membership more streamlined, but up to this point we have used DropBox and e-mail for sharing docs.
I am involved with several other real Projects, however these are well advanced and mostly closed. I am looking forward to see if Genesis manages to attain that type of sophistication.
So far, so good. Looks like a bright future for those who decide to join.
Respectfully yours,
Jim ‘Walks Simply’ Goohs
Phoenix, ArizonaPLEASE REMEMBER THAT GENESIS ACQUISITIONS INTL. LLC. IS A PRIVATE OFFERING.
DO NOT SOLICIT OR ADVERTISE IN ANY PUBLIC FORUM, WHETHER IT BE ONLINE, VIA FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE, OR ANY OTHER MEANS OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
Bloody hell. SEC savvy attorneys? Private Placement Offerings? NDAs?
Who do these guys think they are kidding?
And Jim Goohs, a LinkedIn profile exists for a Goohs in Arizona but it wasn’t anything special. Gooh’s involvement in the greater MLM industry remains a mystery.
This email appears to have been sent out in the last week, with other communications between insiders revealing that a website to better coordinate investors is on the way:
Hello all,
Did we reach the 1 million dollar mark??? Or did we not???… Please join us tonight, Thursday October 9th at 9:00pm EST to find out where we stand in regards to our Pinewood TCI 2 Contract…
No money will be accepted for this contract after 5pm EST tommorow FRI 10-10-14. Tommorow is our last day to fund this contract. So do not be left to sit on the sidelines while others reap the awesome benefits of our membership!!
There is a lot to learn about this exciting and lucrative opportunity so please join us!
See you on the call tonight!!!
CALL# (760) 569-7676
PIN# 837137
9PM ESTPLEASE REMEMBER THAT GENESIS ACQUISITIONS INTL. LLC. IS A PRIVATE OFFERING. DO NOT SOLICIT OR ADVERTISE IN ANY PUBLIC FORUM, WHETHER IT BE ONLINE, VIA FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE, OR ANY OTHER MEANS OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
DOING SO WILL BE GROUNDS FOR TERMINATION FROM THE MEMBERSHIP.
A million dollars? Sounds like these guys are starting to get serious.
Like I said at the beginning of this article, details on the MLM opportunity side of Genesis Acquisitions International are scarce.
At the time of publication the only other document I was able to find in relation to the scheme was a “Genesis Executive Summary”.
The document was uploaded by a “Cynthia Schmidt” on September 12th to Scribd. I believe its purpose was to drum up new investors for the “second round” of investment mentioned in the promotional emails above.
Schmidt’s document provides more details about the first supposed “contract” Genesis Acquisitions International offered their investors. It also outs “Bill A.” as “Bill Apostelos” and introduces us to the company “WMA Enterprises”.
Genesis Executive Summary
One of our companies is entered into an agreement to loan to 3 members of a farm co-op $864,000.00 dollars to allow them to purchase 2017 acres of land at $1,750.00 per acre just outside of Henderson, KY. The total cost of the land being bought thru a private estate sale is $3,529,750.00.
The co-op members already have 1006 acres sold at $4000.00 an acre for a total of $4,024,000.00. So you see, as is, there is profit built into the pre sold land.
Now the closing was to happen on July 18, 2014, however 2 weeks ago one of the 3 partners died putting the land purchase into probate.
The remaining 2 partners have a working relationship with Bill Apostelos (the principle of the offering/WMA Enterprises) and they have asked him to come up with the outstanding balance of $864,000.00 to purchase the remaining parcel of land.
Bill is very politically connected in Kentucky and based on those relationships he has been afforded the opportunity to acquire land at wholesale price points.
Bill’s relationship with the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, County Commissioner, and primarily the various estate attorneys that he deals with on a daily basis allows him to be notified about land that is going to auction before it actually does so.
Bill has been doing these types of transactions for the past 11 years and has buyer’s ready to buy at a retail price point simultaneously as he purchases at the wholesale price point.
In regards too this specific contract (the club’s first with Bill), Bill has capital to complete the transaction, however when he was asked by the co-op to cover the balance it was at this time that a discussion began between Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc. (our private investment club) and Bill.
This relationship was birthed out of the potential realization that Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc. could not only cover the cost of the outstanding balance of $864,000.00 due to complete the transaction, but also increase Bill’s overall buy rate on the wholesale side.
It was explained that Bill had been leaving hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts on the table due to his limited funds. To date Bill and his co-ops have been buying land parcels in the $100,000 to $2,000,000.00 range with enough buyer’s on the retail side to pre sell the land.
Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc. and it’s partner’s have a long history of raising millions of dollars for projects world wide (Ozedit: Ponzi schemes) and we see this new relationship as being very lucrative moving forward.
Upon asking Bill if he would be able to support significant growth on both the buy/sell sides his answer was a resounding, yes.
So Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc. has entered into agreement with WMA Enterprises to increase his/our overall purchasing power. It will then be up to WMA to fulfill all land buys and share a pre negotiated commission back to Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc.
Upon delivery of all monies to Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc., Genesis will then distribute said monies based on a pro rata share back to the member’s of Genesis Acquisitions Intl.
This process can be repeated several times in an approximate 4 to 6 week timespan with negotiated commissions ranging anywhere from 15 to 45% per contract. For the contract at hand Bill is willing to pay 20% to the lender and a 10% referral which will pay on September 9th, 2014.
This is a significant ROI and delivered in a very favorable time frame. So our first order of business is to complete this outstanding contract of $864,000.00 and bring it to closing on September 7th.
Moving forward there are several keys to what will make this relationship so very special.
First, the frequency of land purchases on Bill’s buy/sell side. Bill can comfortably execute up to 10 land contracts a month. Second, with profit margins ranging anywhere from 15% to 45%, our membership will be the envy of even the most sophisticated investor.
Third, the time frame for ROI based on the criteria set forth will typically be in the 4 to 6 week range and last, and perhaps most important is the overall safety of how Bill performs or in laymen’s term’s the proverbial icing on the cake…
Bill has an unencumbered land trust worth $1.7 million dollars that he will allow Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc. to take a 1st position lean on during the duration of the transaction.
Once closed and club member’s paid, Bill will then remove Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc. from the trust. This process can be repeated and the trust used multiple times without cease as long as the investment does not exceed the value of the trust or that the trust is leaned to capacity.
With that said it is important to note that Bill has several properties across the U.S. totaling approx. $9,000,000.00 in value. So in essence, multiple land trusts can be created to collateralize the increased purchasing power that the club will bring moving forward.
The land trust thus protect’s our membership’s principle investment by acting as collateral and essentially until we fill the entire collateral position of the trust Bill is taking all of the risk.
Simply due to the fact that in the event that he defaults he will have to liquidate and pay back the member’s far more than the principle invested by the membership.
So based on the fact that the land trust is worth nearly double the principle investment at the $864K investment level he is not going to let an investor walk away with that property and even if he does you now own 1.7 million dollars of farmland that is producing a yearly revenue of 85k.
The fact that Bill has been performing these exact type transactions for the past 11 years, the ratio of land trust value to investment principle, and Bill recognizing how powerful this new relationship can be moving forward, would suggest that Bill will not default on paying our back our membership. It certainly would not be in his best interest to do so.
So it is important to remember, if he pays we move forward with the relationship and if he does not Bill has a 10 day cure period to make the membership whole.
In case of default, Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc. will then contact the Executor of the land trust and demand that the trust be fully liquidated and be done so at the full expense of the Executor/Trustee of the land trust, Attornet (sic) at Law, Mr. Steven Scudder.
Upon liquidation of said land trust all monies will be dispersed back to Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc., where by then Genesis Acquisitions Intl. llc. will then disperse back to Genesis Acquisitions Intl. (and) all member’s who contributed funds based on a pro rata share. Thus making them whole by returning all monetary difference that will remain between the total principle investment and entire liquidation of the land trust.
The time frame for liquidation will vary, however based on due diligence and historical evidence in the surrounding areas of the trust location, it should take no longer than 3 to 4 weeks to liquidate.
In case of a fire sale there is the distinct possibility that the liquidation could be completed within 1 week. So it is important to internalize that all parties are protected and the criteria of a lucrative, lasting, and most important, a safe investment model is being provided.
As we further develop our relationship with WMA Enterprises not only will we be earning commissions through the buy/sell model but the opportunity to acquire/purchase land will also be made available to us.
Many of the buyer’s that Bill is selling land to on the retail side are buying the land along the I-69 corridor in Henderson, KY and zoning it commercial. They are doing so in preparation for the eventual development that will begin in the near future.
At that time the value of property will be worth far more than what Bill is selling it for retail right now let alone what he paid for it wholesale. It is also important to note that Bill acquires many parcel’s of land and the option to buy land that is producing crops will also be made available to us.
This is important because as history has shown, when the markets/economy takes a negative turn the prices of commodities sky rocket. To have ownership of producing farmland will be very attractive.
Moving forward as stated earlier, there are many of these buy/sell opportunities that Bill will make available to us. So this can easily be a 6 to 7 figure monthly income for all Genesis Acquisitions Intl. lllp. member’s once established.
In closing, with Bill’s proven history of performance and the overall safety of each transaction this offering should be taken very seriously.
Other than ascertaining that “Bill Apostelos” is better-known as “William Apostelos”, I was unable to dig up any further information. MLM is my thing, with real-estate leaving me kind of clueless.
The implication of a working relationship between Apostelos and the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and County Commissioner didn’t go unnoticed though.
As for WMA Enterprises, it would appear to be an Ohio corporation set up by Apostelos. Genesis Acquisitions International LLC meanwhile appears to be registered in Nevada:
The fact that WMA Enterprises was only registered in 2009 kind of puts a dent in the whole “Bill Apostelos has been doing this for a decade” ruse. Or at the very least he hasn’t been flipping properties under that business name.
Putting all of this together, what we know is that people tied to Ponzi schemes in the past are running soliciting investments on the promise of 20% ROIs with referral commissions. They’re telling people this is 100% legal and that they are in the process of registering with the SEC, despite already claiming to have paid out 20% advertised returns and referral commissions on at least one investment offering.
Anyone who has access to more information about this emerging shady scheme is invited to send in what they have via the contact form (the “docs” being shared via DropBox and email are naturally of particular interest).
Over to you readers… what do you know about Genesis Acquisitions International?
MPB Today “grocery” program “defender.” Planted the seed on the ASAMonitor Ponzi forum in September 2010 that I made up a story about the U.S. Department of Agriculture opening an inquiry into MPB Today, whose operator later was charged criminally in Florida with racketeering.
AdSurfDaily/Zeek figure Terralynn Hoy was listed in Nevada as a “director” of this company. Michael Palermo was listed as a second director, and also as president, secretary and treasurer.
A third director of this company had the same name as a man involved AdViewGlobal, the ASD reload scam. An exhibit in the criminal case against ASD’s Andy Bowdoin shows an email in which the man who has the same name as the third SSH2 director was talking about “one of the Swiss bank accounts.”
The registered agent of SSH2 was listed as BWFC PROCESSING CENTER, LLC, the firm associated with TelexFree figure Joseph Craft.
PPBlog
That’s interesting…
businessprofiles.com/details/genesis-acquisitions-international-llc/US-NV-20141577128/bwfc-processing-center-l
While not wishing to be seen as a member of the spelling police, it seems to me that someone dealing in hundreds of millions of dollars worth of land transactions would know the difference between the words “LIEN” and “LEAN”
Likewise, one would think someone dealing with “Private Placement Offerings,” otherwise known as “Rule 506[C] offerings” would know of the SEC requirements:
Genesis is first and foremost a HYIP ponzi fraud designed to appeal to exactly the sort of naive and / or unsophisticated investors for whom the Rule 506 [C] rules were designed to protect.
BWFC processing LLC appears to be a ‘service ‘ company offering registered agent services to over 1288 companies in nevada.
on 5/30/2014 , BWFC terminated its agent services to telexfree.
nvsos.gov/SOSEntitySearch/corpActions.aspx?lx8nvq=BsDwk8ZecKDxH5WBEt%252b8Jw%253d%253d&CorpName=ASSOCIATION+OF+AMERICAN+INCORPORATORS+AND+REGISTERED+AGENTS
along with terralynn hoy and palermo , the third director of SSH2 was roy sullivan.
well , meet william apostelos , your local estate agent ,dealing with mid market properties and providing plumbing and carpeting services too .
apostelosenterprises.com/
apostelo’s WMA is registered with taggart , who is a mere 20Km from apostelos’springboro address:
as for apostelos being pals with the governor of kentucky , its entirely possible that he unplugged the governors toilet at some point.
That was actually well-played. I smiled.
that MUST have hurt !
about series 7 exam:
in order to qualify as an investment advisor representative, william apostelos appeared and failed the Series 65 exam, last year on june 04, 2013
william apostelos launched an investment firm Ovo Wealth Management, LLC which is a ‘Foreign Limited-Liability’ Company in February 2013 [ what does foreign limited liability mean ?]
the address for ovo wealth mamgement is:
i will not be surprised if these guys fill up form D’s and run their enterprise under the safety of rule 506 ( C) provisions. They DO seem to have been preparing good.
I was about to post some similar information. I spent several hours and days trying to check BWFC Processing Center and related entities / people, around March or April 2014, but the work was too time consuming to be worth the efforts.
The organizers of BWFC (Bridgeway Financial Corporation) seem to have many connections with various (potential) con artists, but also with other types of investors.
For TelexFree, they had the necessary knowledge about how to launder money and camouflage transactions through several layers of companies, but James Merrill’s brother probably had a similar knowledge (TelexFree can have used other sources / many sources, BWFC and James Merrill’s brother were only “potential sources for knowledge”).
“Birds of a feather, flock together”. — old proverb
I can add a little color here. This is best understood by example. Say I incorporate ABC, a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”) in the State of Nevada. (An LLC is an incorporation but it is not a corporation.
If ABC conducts business in Texas it is considered by Texas to be a foreign LLC. If ABC does business in Nevada it is considered by Nevada to be a domestic LLC and so forth and so on.
As far as I know an LLC is registered only in the state of incorporation but is usually required to obtain business licenses and other permits in the actual locations it conducts business.
Notably. Nevada and Delaware are frequently used to incorporate due to well established legal protections and low annual registration fees.
By law, every LLC incorporated in Nevada must have an actual Nevada Resident or a Nevada Agent designated to accept legal process of service on behalf of the company.
There are dozens and dozens of companies in Nevada providing registered agent service for thousands and thousands of Nevada LLCs. Its a volume business charging perhaps $35 per year to perform the service, but there is hardly anything for them to do either.
BWFC is unknown to me but if they are like dozens of other resident agent companies they don’t do anything except have a presence in the state so they can accept service on behalf of companies incorporated in the state. Normally its a totally impersonal and non involved business amounting to little more than answering the door bell and forwarding some pieces of mail.
Las Vegas, in particular is a magnet for shady types and the roster of any registered agent company no matter if its owned and staffed by saints is likely to have its compliment of sketchy characters affiliated with companies that are paying for a legally mandated service.
Ruhroh… of course Ken “there isn’t any Ponzi I won’t join” Russo is on board:
So transparent there’s no publicly available information about the unregistered securities being offered? Transparent as a blackboard.
lol.
Read: We think we’re being smart and avoiding regulatory scrutiny.
20% ROI guaranteed! Cuz y’know that’s how the real estate market works – everything is guaranteed and this is totally not a Ponzi scheme.
Sure it is chief.
Submit to who? Ken Russo? Who does he submit these documents to?
So why does he need new investor money again if the land is already bought?
Ponzi-logic fail…
Oh I’m sure with millions of dollars purportedly in play and the usual Ponzi pimps on board it won’t be long before regulators take Genesis Acquisitions seriously…
Here’s a second email sent out the same day. New investor funds must have been a bit slow so they’ve upped the Ponzi promises:
How? Rolling over re-investment does not determine whether a scheme is a Ponzi or not – using new investor funds to pay off existing investors does.
If you want to be transparent, publicly provide details of the land transactions taking place and wholly account for the 20% ROIs being paid within a month. Dollar for dollar.
I mean cmon, if you were legit why on Earth the need for NDAs and shady “thou shalt not publicly promote this investment opportunity” BS?
You know it, I know, Ken Russo knows it – this is a straight up Ponzi.
If I get a copy of the comp plan document I’ll put up a more formal review. Otherwise stay tuned for what is shaping up to be a major Ponzi bust later in the year.
william apostelos has floated a basket full of companies , all real estate and investment based.
these companies are :
Innovesting Inc [2012]
Midwest Green Resources LLC [2009]
Ovo Wealth Management LLC [2013]
The Banyon Group Inc [2013]
Wma Enterprises, LLC [2009]
these companies appear to be ‘briefcase’ companies as they show either the registered agent taggarts address, or the 35,commercial way, springboro address which appears to be apostelos’ base office. paper companies and investments , smells NOT good.
the same three names are thrown up in all companies ie : william apostelos, Scott A. Doak , David Zoellner.
one of apostelos’ companies midwest green resources has filed form D under rule 506 with the SEC in 2010. as genesis acquisitions is not yet SEC compliant , could they be using midwest green resources to collect investments ?
sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1487693/000148769310000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml
micheal palermo is a ponzi expert , but apostelos seems elbow deep in fishy stuff too . together they have the ‘skills’ to pull this off.
WHich is more likely:
Their version: “we are so rich and greedy people come to us for huge bucks when they can’t go to the bank and thus they pay us through their noses until they bleed white! And they are HAPPY doing it! And we’re happy to give you a part of our profits!”
Ponzi version version: “We just paying you with your own money, and you are happy to take it back!”
Just speculating: The Genesis Acquisitions International logo has a sort of Ayn Rand/”Atlas Shrugged” vibe to it. If that’s intentional, the “program” could be a play toward conservatives and Libertarians.
Atlas typically is depicted as holding up the world. If that’s Atlas (or a foil for Atlas) in the Genesis Acquisitions International logo, he is depicted as a strongman cradling the world.
The logo also has a regal theme that implies Genesis Acquisitions International is the stuff of kings, royalty and capitalist movers and shakers. Lots of scams trade on this theme.
It’s not unusual for “programs” to send conflicting messages. In this context, the regal theme denoted by the crown would appear to clash with the image of a strongman cradling the world. The Imperials vs. the Marxists — Castro and Chavez and Ortega?
In the context you cited, “taggart” appears to be a real person who exists somewhere within the business chain.
In Ayn Rand’s fiction, “Taggart” is a prominent name:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Atlas_Shrugged_characters
PPBlog
Oz: You are being too hard on Ken Russo. Why Ken said that he is one of the first to call a Ponzi a Ponzi.
I know because that is what he told me at MMG in one of the Ponzi’s he was pimping claiming it was not a Ponzi. You can imagine how shocked I was when it was a Ponzi.
Now either Ken had a really bad case of gas that clouded his judgment, or the admin suddenly decided to turn crook and take a perfectly good legal program and make it illegal, which caught Ken off-guard.
Yeah I am sure that it is what happened, otherwise I know he would have told everyone it was a Ponzi. (Cough, Cough, Gag)
russo uses the term “CLUB” several times in his mail .
i think genesis acquisitions is setting itself up [ with the help of ‘savvy’ SEC lawyer], as an ‘Investment Club’.
palermo and apostelos are trying to pass FINRA exams to get approval as broker and investment advisor respectively . i think they are setting up conditions to run their club for a long time by avoiding scrutiny and creating paperwork which will show them as SEC compliant.
y’know : we are a legitimate investment club and here are our FINRA certificates. of course people will believe them !
MLM comp plan? They’ll be shot down for the offering of unregistered securities.
And registering with the SEC or not, that doesn’t make them exempt from securities laws. With a fixed advertised ROI, unregistered securities are exactly what is being offered here.
With a fixed advertised ROI, unregistered securities are exactly what is being offered here.—–oz
well, they are making investors sign some ‘compensation agreement’ in which a fixed ROI may NOT be mentioned.
securities need NOT be registered , in a scenario like an ‘investment club’
apostelos has many registered real estate investment firms .the list in post# 13 is not the end of it . i am sure a few more companies can be unearthed. they may show ‘sale’ of parcels of land from WMA to these other companies , and keep it all clean on paper.
unless someone complains, i don’t think the SEC digs deep into the dealings of the thousands of clubs selling unregistered securities.
a sheen of legitimacy , can HELP them do this for a long time. when they collapse , it will be a civil suit , with paperwork flung at courts . after all what was the net result of palermo’s involvement in SSH2 ?
Doesn’t matter, it’s clearly being advertised as such. And in any event, the marketing material suggests “terms” available in supplied documents.
This isn’t an investment club. No legitimate investment consistently pays out 20% within a month + referral commissions.
There’s clearly a reserve or the first run was just BS, and they’re looking to use the “success” of that run to lure new investors into subsequent runs. Sooner or later that reserve will run out.
Well 20% within a few weeks is hardly sustainable. Give it time.
Also a number of schemes have had warnings issued against them this year, before they had a chance to get off the ground.
on aug 6, 2014 , the SEC released an investor alert , addressing the type of fraud being attempted by genesis acquisitions and changestrading.
financialdeck.com/sec-investor-alert-beware-of-false-claims-of-sec-registration/
my friend talks to michael palermo on the phone and he is recruiting her to help him in genesis.
should i worry. what is michaels background. is he trustworthy.
there IS a land trust , with attorney steven C scudder as the trustee . this land was transferred by william apostelos to scudder, as trustee, under a WMA trust agreement, on april 8,2013.
there are two land parcels :
Parcel Owner – 1301505999000008 scudder; acres – 78.46
Parcel Owner – 1301505999090009 scudder; acres -90.84
scudder and scott doak [another partner of apostelos], are both licensed by FINRA to act as investment advisors.
this is no rag tag group of people trying to pull a quick ponzi !
well lee, these guys are trying to pull off a purely investment based ponzi scheme, but are going to keep up appearances like they’re fully legal .
they will throw land trusts, FINRA accreditations , and form D’s at you , till you believe its all kosher.
but beware , they will only be transferring money from one person to another, and collapse at some point , in the near foreseeable future.
Just a little FYI: Currently law suits are stacking up against, WMA and William “Bill” Apostelos, in Warren County Courts, in Ohio.
Search court case inquiry at: co.warren.oh.us/clerkofcourt/search/default.aspx
read this!
daytondailynews.com/news/news/fbi-couple-bilked-area-investors-out-of-millions/nhxWQ
Thanks for the heads up lotdog. Looks like Apostelos scamming days are over.