Investment Fraud From Ponzi Schemes to Defective Disclosures in Franchising
Fraudulent investment schemes come in a variety of forms, from crude scams directed at vulnerable or incapacitated seniors to highly sophisticated vehicles for deceiving banks, insurance companies and other institutional investors. The civil fraud litigation attorneys of Grumer & Macaluso, P.A., can meet the challenges of investment fraud claims at any scale of operation or of any degree of complexity. Contact our office in Fort Lauderdale to learn more about our experience with various forms of investment fraud.
Although we have represented parties with claims related to Bernie Madoff's fraudulent hedge fund pyramid scheme, many of the investors who find they have been defrauded were involved in local transactions, closely held companies, real estate deals or other projects that appear at first glance to be ordinary business opportunities. The key questions of fact and law in these cases often turn on whether the investment depended on a misrepresentation or nondisclosure that a reasonable person in a similar position should have known to investigate further.
Experienced South Florida Investment Fraud Lawyers: Call 888-587-5549
Because of the difficulty of determining what a reasonable level of inquiry would involve under the facts of a given business or personal relationship, investment fraud cases can be difficult to prove, litigate and settle. Nevertheless, clients can benefit from our law firm's experience with these cases and our ability to place them accurately within the context of what is sometimes a broader set of disputes between or among adverse parties.
Investment fraud can occur in any number of contexts apart from the purchase of overvalued securities or unenforceable debt:
- Purchase of fraudulent annuities, certificates of deposit or similar "safe" assets
- Investment in a business with undisclosed liabilities or overstated assets or cash flow
- Mischaracterization of an investment as involving a genuine security when the proceeds paid to investors are actually coming from downstream investors: the classic Ponzi scheme
- Deceptive practices involving loan participation opportunities
- Fraudulent asset financing schemes in which the same collateral is used to secure multiple loan obligations, often through elaborate shell-game deceptions
- Mischaracterized franchise opportunities
The role of investment fraud in franchisor-franchisee disputes is seldom obvious, but it can appear in the failure of the franchisor to fully or truthfully disclose the information required in the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC). It can also appear in the details of the franchisor's business model, in which it can develop that the franchised opportunity is not so much the right to conduct a particular developed business as it is a marketing scheme to lease nursing home properties or buy proprietary cleaning products, for example, under the franchise brand.
For more information about our law firm's ability to protect investors who may have suffered losses through a promoter's dishonesty, contact the Fort Lauderdale investment fraud attorneys at Grumer & Macaluso, P.A.
