Redwood Scientific Technologies defendants Jason and Eunjung Cardiff, along with third-party Jacques Poujade, have been ordered to appear before court on July 30th.

At the hearing they’ll be required to explain continued failure to comply with a previously granted restraining order – failing which they face potential incarceration.

Redwood Scientific Technologies, parent company of RengaLife, was sued by the FTC late last year.

The FTC alleges that through Redwood Scientific Technologies, owners Jason and Eunjung Cardiff “bilked consumers out of millions of dollars”.

On June 17th the FTC filed a show cause motion. The motion, if granted, would require Jason and Eunjung Cardiff, and Jacques Poujade, to explain to the court why they shouldn’t be held in contempt.

The FTC asserts the Cardiffs and Poujade ‘have violated provisions in the Court’s Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction‘.

Specifically, the FTC alleges the Cardiffs

have failed to report assets and entities of which they were directors, officers, and owners.

They have failed to provide a full accounting of all assets and accounts outside of the United States, have failed to provide documents and records held by third parties outside the United States, and have failed to repatriate and deliver to the Receiver all documents and assets located in foreign countries.

The Cardiffs have dissipated domestic or foreign assets, and hindered the repatriation of assets.

They have failed to provide the FTC and Receiver with required information about business entities they operated or controlled.

They have failed to deliver assets to the Receiver.

They have failed to provide to the Receiver a list of all assets and accounts of the Receivership entities and the Cardiffs held in other names.

They have interfered with the Receiver’s efforts to take possession of assets or documents subject to the receivership, and disposed of assets belonging to the Receivership and the Cardiffs.

And they have failed to comply with expedited discovery.

According to the FTC, third-party Jacques Poujade has assisted the Cardiffs in violating the TRO.

He has 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.

Jacques Poujade is a managing partner (and I believe owner ) of the loan company Lend Plus and mortgage company Tri-Emerald Financial Group.

As per the FTC, Poujade (right) helped the Cardiffs conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The funds at issue flowed through Sui & Company, Solicitors, to Pharmastrip Corp., to Alphatech Holdings, LLC, where they were used to pay for at least $206,000 USD in Cardiff personal expenses, plus additional expenses related to the Cardiffs’ ongoing cannabis film strip business ($490,000 USD in total).

The risk of continued dissipation of Cardiff frozen assets persists. In May 2019 alone, Alphatech received $65,000 USD from Pharmastrip Corp. – a company nominally controlled by Jacques Poujade’s brother, Richard Poujade, and funded by Clover Cannastrip Thin Film Technologies, Corp. – and spent $90,000 USD, including substantial payments to BarclayCard ($11,400), where the Cardiffs maintain several credit cards, Claremont Manor ($6,000), the retirement community where Jason Cardiff’s father lives, and payments to current Pharmastrip employees ($7,296.32 to Chief Chemist Yuan Yang and $5,658.91 to Manager Julie Green), among others.

Although the Alphatech account at US Bank was closed on May 24, 2019, substantial Cardiff frozen assets remain unaccounted for and have not been repatriated or turned over to the Receiver (the FTC has identified $4 million CAD in total Clover Cannastrip funds and machines valued at more than $500,000 USD).

This all happened in violation of the granted Redwood Scientific Technologies TRO.

The FTC’s show cause motion follows repeated notifications to the Cardiff’s and Poujade’s counsel of the regulator’s intent to initiate contempt proceedings.

Following the FTC’s June 17th filing, a hearing was scheduled for July 15th.

On June 18th Jacques Poujade filed an ex parte motion requesting the scheduled July 15th hearing be continued to August 19th.

The FTC opposed the motion, stating:

Given the virtual certainty that the Cardiffs will continue hiding and dissipating frozen assets as long as they are able to do so, and Jacques Poujade’s ongoing role in concealing those assets from the Receiver, a delay of the substantive hearing on the merits beyond July 15, 2019 will further jeopardize the funds ultimately available for consumer redress.

The court sided with the FTC and denied Poujade’s motion on June 24th.

That same day the court scheduled a July 30th show cause hearing.

Eunjung Cardiff, Jason Cardiff, and Jacques Poujade shall appear personally on July 30, 2019 and show cause, if any there be, why this Court should not find them in contempt for failure to comply with the Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction.

Such a Contempt Order could include coercive sanctions until each one complies with the Court’s Orders, and for Eunjung Cardiff and Jason Cardiff, those sanctions could include, but not necessarily be limited to, incarceration until they purge themselves of their contempt.

Should be a cracker of a hearing! Stay tuned…

 

Update 5th November 2019 – On October 29th a contempt order was issued.

As per the order the Cardiffs will be incarcerated until they comply with previously issued orders.

Jacques Poujade will be sanctioned with daily fines, starting at $5000, pending his compliance with the orders.