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When Par Funding and A Better Financial Plan could no longer keep up scheduled payments to investors due to the coronavirus shutting down businesses across the country, Vagnozzi and Par Funding executives renegotiated their promissory notes to offer a reduced return for an extended period of several years. THIS IS A TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT OFFER. Vagnozzi wrote in February, in capital letters. The settlement concluded in principle with the client receiving a check for $550,000; however, the actual payment did not transact until after Vagnozzi had been placed under receivership. They often sell the policies to middlemen, who in turn sell them to investment funds, like those run by Vagnozzi. Vagnozzi, Michael C. Furman, and John Gissa s each operate Agent Funds that raise money for Par Funding through unregistered securities offerings. Then, one day in early 2020, he learned that Par Funding couldnt make payments to investors. In his recent email exchange with The Inquirer, Vagnozzi said he did what he had reason to believe was right for investors. games with best gunplay 2020 0. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says Vagnozzi and Par Funding misled investors about Pars financial soundness and the criminal past of a founder. Many investors, weary of slow returns, agreed to the switch. It goes without saying, Vagnozzi wrote, I apologize for how poorly this fund has performed.. In a new lawsuit, Vagnozzi blames Pauciulo for bad legal advice. Dec 2019 - Present3 years 3 months. Previously, Dean was the Vice President, Business Development at NTT Data and also held positions at Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC, Deloitte, EY. Par Funding suspended payments to investors for two months this spring, then cut their returns by more than half. In a court response this month to Vagnozzis suit, Pauciulo hit back at his former client. Among other issues, the SEC claims that Par Funding hid that a founder, Joseph LaForte, was using aliases to keep secret his two prison terms for financial crimes, including a $14 million real estate fraud. An accounting major in college, he went on for a time to become a licensed securities broker. Vagnozzi has fought back against the SEC, rejecting its complaint as groundless. (Since he was no longer a licensed securities broker, he couldnt sell securities, in any event.). But that hasnt happened, investors said. Last year, Vagnozzi agreed to pay almost $500,000 to resolve a civil complaint from Pennsylvania financial regulators for steering people into Par Funding without proper registration to do so. But in court already, Vagnozzi and his former lawyer have exchanged blows regarding a crucial issue in the SEC case: Vagnozzis choice not to tell investors that Joseph LaForte, one of the founders of Par Funding, was a twice-convicted financial criminal. READ MORE: Par Funding threatened violence, trashed reputations after businesses took out loans at brutal interest rates, borrowers say. In these investments, buyers purchase life insurance policies, typically from aging people who no longer want their heirs to collect, but would rather have cash up front, even if they receive less than their death benefit. The faster sellers die, the bigger the payoff. The suit alleges that Par Fundings owners, Vagnozzi and the other defendants defrauded 1,200 investors, hiding from them Pars shaky finances, reckless lending, and the criminal past of a Par founder. Par could not pay investors interest and principal in April and May. The website for his firm, A Better Financial Plan, touts returns of 10% to 14% and $200 million . Pardo bought four planes and a yacht along with such artifacts as replicas of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus and a pharaohs throne. March 1, 2023 / 9:45 PM / CBS Philadelphia. LaForte's lawyers deny those allegations. LaForte and his wife bought a $5.8 million home in Jupiter, Fla., in 2019, in addition to a $2.4 million home they already owned in Lower Merion and a $2.6 million lodge in the Poconos. But in April, he turned his fire in a new direction suing his old ally, Pauciulo, in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia. What is undisputed is that neither man informed investors that LaForte used aliases and started the firm shortly after serving prison terms for two convictions, for a $14 million real estate scam and running an illegal offshore gambling operation. Another investor a suburban statistician who put $75,000 in one of the life settlement funds did some ghoulish fact-checking. In the official complaint filed by the SEC, the defendants raised nearly half a billion dollars through alleged fraudulent practices including lying and misinterpreting information to investors about the security of Merchant Cash Advance investments. It sounds it sounds it sounds it sounds cheap., He said: A sales event makes it sound like just that, like like Im in used-car sales and just trying to sell stuff.. As this process broke down, Par Funding and A Better Financial Plan renegotiated their notes and created a new bank account which, Par Funding funneled more than $4 million into to pay off investors who refused to sign the new extended notes of which there were several, including the client who settled with Vagnozzi for $550,000. is panama city beach a good place to live; Investors were happy to collect returns of 14% for a time. View Guidelines. Vagnozzi's agreement earlier this year to pay the $5 million was the third time since 2019 that he has agreed to pay large sums to resolve complaints from regulators. Just another site what happened to dean vagnozzi He never told me to change my message. Of the more than $4 million that was paid by Par Funding into the MK Corporate Debt account, more than $500,000 remained after settling with several investors. The agency enumerated his radio ads, free dinners, and mailings and said he was improperly selling unregistered securities. Posted on June 29, 2022 what happened to dean vagnozzi. In his 20s and early 30s, he worked for his father-in-laws tech company and a big accounting firm, among other jobs, before settling into a groove selling life insurance. In the spring, the funds invested in Par missed two months of payments to investors. At the November 2019 dinner, Vagnozzi emphasized that his advice had paid off for his customers, year after year. The SEC has since said Vagnozzi was selling securities that should have been registered and didn't warn investors of the risks. The funds that remained were then transferred into Vagnozzis personal account. He is, however, a licensed insurance salesman. On page 2 of DE-227, the SEC wrote, We have already identified two significant transfers he [Vagnozzi] made to himself after the Courts entry of the Orders in this case, and we should not have to investigate to discover additional ones he might have made. They continued stating, This was the purpose of the sworn accounting, with which he [Vagnozzi] utterly failed to comply in full. Despite already receiving orders and being placed under receivership, Vagnozzi attempted to maneuver funds without disclosing them, which placed the safety of investors funds in jeopardy according to the SEC. It turns out that Par is not the only Vagnozzi investment that has disappointed. Vagnozzi and his lawyers didnt respond to questions for this article. As September came to an end, Stumphauzer and the court set in motion requests for a jury trial which would take place in August of 2021 and outlined the schedule and deadlines from September 2020 to August 2021 in DE-279. Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.inquirer.com. In DE-238 the SEC ordered that those funds be placed under control of the receiver as they were moved from the MK account at Citizens Bank into Vagnozzis personal bank account at the end of July. (Asbury University) The nonstop, two-week prayer session at Asbury University that brought tens of thousands of people from across the country to the Christian campus in Kentucky has finally ended. 7. Precisely how much they will all pay is still to be determined. No investor money ever went to pay for personal expenses, Vagnozzi said in an email. Chris Rollins Published: March 2, 2023. So far, the receiver has control of $93 million in cash and property worth $53 million, including about 40 expensive buildings scattered throughout Philadelphia. Life Partners sellers were living a lot longer than predicted very good for them but hard on investors paying years of premiums without collecting death benefits. On July 14, Vagnozzi and one of his companies agreed to pay a $95,000 penalty to settle accusations that he sold $32 million in Pillar funds to 339 investors without registering his products with the SEC as securities. In total, Par Funding took in about $480 million from investors. To Investors in A Better Financial Plan: On October 31, 2020, Judge Ruiz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered an order releasing from the Receivership certain entities owned or controlled by Defendant Dean Vagnozzi. Vagnozzi's radio advertisements don't mention that in May 2019, he agreed to pay a state-record $490,000 to settle charges by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities that he was selling securities without a license. Ads by BeenVerified. Total. He said he only learned about it in late 2018, two years after he began boosting Par Funding to investors. But Vagnozzis latest bet was on Par Funding, the Old City firm at the center of the SEC fraud suit. (He asked not to be named, saying he was embarrassed about his investment.). The man . On July 24, 2020 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit in United States District Court of the Southern District of Florida against defendants Par Funding, A Better Financial Plan and owner Dean Vagnozzi, along with several other individuals and entities. Borrowers have also alleged they were threatened by LaForte, with one merchant asserting LaForte threatened to "blow your house up." In two previous cases, he. The SEC's senior trial counsel in the case, Amie Riggle Berlin, declined to comment Wednesday as did Eric Bustillo, director of the SEC's Miami regional office. Supporters of life settlement investments say they are a boon for policyholders who need cash now and investors who profit well by supplying it. In lawsuits against Par Funding, plaintiffs have claimed that the firm used Renato "Gino" Gioe, a bodybuilder and purported member of the Gambino crime family, to dun borrowers with threats. Dean Vagnozzi said that Eckert Seamans attorney John Pauciulo had failed to either uncover or disclose the risks of a partnership with Complete Business Solutions Group Inc., which did business as . Instead, it says he failed to register investments as securities and to warn buyers of the risks risks that became undeniable when Par stopped paying investors last year. Investors who refused were paid back in-part, or in-full and in late July 2020, Vagnozzi removed the remaining funds, which consisted of more than $500,000 in the MK Corporate Debt bank account and placed that money into his personal bank account this account and transfer was not disclosed in Vagnozzis July court filing per the receivers orders. By August 7, 2020, Laforte was arrested by authorities on illegal firearm possession in his Haverford, Pennsylvania home. The investors must pay the premiums to keep up the policies, but collect the full amount when the sellers pass on. Investors sue King of Prussia financial adviser Dean Vagnozzi and his lawyer (inquirer.com) How Philly investors were drawn into what SEC alleges is $500 million fraud (inquirer.com) Facing fraud lawsuit, Montco financial salesman Dean Vagnozzi turns against his longtime lawyer (inquirer.com) Vagnozzi Settles SEC Cash-Advance Fraud Suit One was Par Funding, in which investors financed high-interest cash advances to merchants. After a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in July revealed he was selling millions in unregistered securities to clients who were not wealthy enough to buy them under industry rules, his customers are probably calling Vagnozzi and . One investor told The Inquirer he put in his $50,000 at Vagnozzi's urging in February 2015 . Vagnozzi told the SEC that he didnt like being a broker, and went into it reluctantly anyway. The suit alleges that Par Funding's owners, Vagnozzi and the other defendants defrauded 1,200 investors, hiding from them Par's shaky finances, reckless lending, and the criminal past of a Par founder. Days after the SEC filed its civil suit, the FBI raided LaForte's and McElhone's houses and seized seven loaded guns and $2.5 million in cash. One is John Lindtner, 49, a Chester County contractor. Now, Vagnozzi has brought his suit against Pauciulo and his firm. He said he became aware of it through an investigative news report. No other way to say it., READ MORE: Par Funding owner seeks release from prison, agrees to SEC control until civil fraud trial. Dean is the breath of momentum . It was one of the most troubling days Ive had in a long, long time . Vagnozzi then turned and sued Pauciulo and his firm in Pennsylvania in May, claiming the attorney hadn't investigated or revealed that PAR founder "Joe Mack" was in reality Joseph LaForte, whose. Over the years, he has refined his unconventional investing approach in ways that extend well beyond the "cookie cutter" strategies employed at many firms. Dean Vagnozzi, the 46-year-old financial entrepreneur and President of A Better Financial Plan, LLC, believes in making your money work hard for you. I cover all things Wall Street, personal finance and investing, people and their money. It filed a sweeping civil fraud case against Vagnozzi and others over one of Vagnozzis most popular investments, a Philadelphia lender to small business known as Par Funding. He is the president of A Better Financial Plan, LLC which educates people on alternative ways of securing financial success and independence. Dana acted as gatekeeper, Dean Vagnozzi told the SEC. The judge had no contract with me or any right to freeze my investment, much less confiscate it. This provided Par with the legal hammer for the quick withdrawals. The lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission names Par Funding, its owners, Vagnozzi, and others as defendants, saying that they misled investors about Pars high default rate and an owners criminal past as a grifter. !" as we look back at the insanity of the week. Laforte, a convicted felon, was indicted on illegal gambling charges in 2009 and therefore was not allowed to own or possess firearms. In an interview, he said was disappointed in the returns from a Vagnozzi fund but hoped at least to get his money back. Sir Winston Churchill, the British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War, died on 24 January 1965, aged 90. We have had one death, no payout to us they need the money [from that settlement] to pay premiums on other policies, said another investor, Dale Hood, a Montgomery County health insurance salesman. I was not on that board, and not present when paperwork was filled out and [investors] money sent in, he said. Vagnozzi is not a registered financial adviser or broker but is a licensed insurance salesman. Vagnozzi kept selling investments in policies purchased from Life Partners despite that firms troubles. An . In two previous cases, he. ], Find out how you can submit Vagnozzi also came under scrutiny when the receiver uncovered a legal settlement payment made from a bank account to a client who had refused to sign a new deal with Par Funding. If Par Funding was a fraud, he says, his investment funds were big victims too. Now LaForte, 50, and his wife, Lisa McElhone, 42 the owner of a nail salon from South Philadelphia who told the court at one point that she was worth nearly $800 million "shall pay disgorgement of ill-gotten gains," as will Vagnozzi, 53, according to settlement papers signed by all three. Tom, who leads a very private life, has not, however, publicly confirmed or denied the claims. Vagnozzis brother, Albert, also a financial salesman and a township supervisor in Montgomery County, has sued Pauciulo, too. . Categories . This order can be viewed under "Key . Par Funding blamed the reductions on the onset of COVID-19, but court data showed that the firm had filed nearly 1,500 lawsuits against defaulting borrowers in 2019, before the virus surfaced. For some life settlement investors, the big jolt came this February when Vagnozzi wrote acknowledging the poor performance. why does loki have a green cape? published on this website are not to be considered endorsements. His trial in Philadelphia in the guns case is scheduled for April. According to government records, one of his firms this year received federal payroll aid, called a Paycheck Protection Program loan, of between $150,000 and $350,000. Details. Pardo hasnt paid. His natural enthusiasm and magnetic energy eventually led Vagnozzi to a successful sales career at SAP, Deloitte Consulting and Anderson. In July of 2020, Vagnozzis attorney negotiated a settlement with the client who had purchased a promissory note in March of 2020 for $601,000. Now lives at 3872 Jane Ct, Collegeville, PA 19426. In DE-256, the SEC also levied a preliminary injunction against Vagnozzi to restrain him from violating multiple sections of the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 by offering or selling securities and destroying any records, documents, or items pertaining to the scope of investigation. When checks resumed, the rate was just 4%, half the previous one. The SEC is expecting to recover far more from the remaining . No longer. In those earlier filings, Vagnozzi also argued that there was no legal requirement that investors be told about LaFortes convictions. November 9, 2020. ", When SEC lawyers remained skeptical, he said of the attendees, they come for a free meal.. Vagnozzi also raised almost $5 million for the addiction-related software idea of a man who went by the name of Henry Ford, according to the SEC. The Vagnozzis have made charitable gifts, too. was founded in 2004 by Dean Vagnozzi with a vision that flying in the face of conventional-but-flawed wisdom can produce results the average middle-class investor . June 1, 2022 1:43 PM PT. In the depositions, Vagnozzi said he believes his business didnt run afoul of SEC rules intended to bar financial advisers from selling unregistered securities to the public. A spokesperson for Vagnozzis lawyer said: Dean was going from memory and simply got the year wrong.. Vagnozzi, 52, graduated from Albright College in Reading in 1990 with an accounting degree. He also said he had "weighed the cost of a lengthy legal battle vs. settling without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.. It lent money at extremely high interest rates a punishing 50% or more to small businesses and promised investors high returns as well. Once you back that out and take into account the $150 million in assets held by the receiver, there remains about a $100 million shortfall. One-Of-A-Kind! Dean Vagnozzi takes a new look at the way people handle retirement: making your money work for you, rather than tucking it away where you can't access it until .more Get A Copy Kindle Unlimited $0.00 Amazon Stores Or buy for $19.99 Kindle Edition, 222 pages Published February 17th 2020 by Jenkins Group, Inc More Details. Possible Owners. I had been a scholastic at the International Roman Scholasticate throughout the Council. Some now say they dodged a bullet. Financial adviser Dean Vagnozzi for years a presence in Philly radio ads has faced a 2020 full of challenges. As life-settlement payouts drag on and premium costs rise, investors have been left frustrated. He never pulled me aside and told me what I was saying was wrong, or was a violation of securities law, Vagnozzi said in an email to The Inquirer. It was a very it was a very difficult day. Working with fragmentary information from fund papers, partially redacted names, ages, and the like, he searched on Google to see whether the insured had died. His payback: $31,000. A third, filed by Philadelphia lawyer Clifford Haines on behalf of 17 people who set up pools that pumped nearly $50 million into Par, names just Pauciulo and his firm. (Vagnozzis business, too, said it was hit by the virus. In April, Vagnozzi sued his longtime lawyer, John Pauciulo, of the Philadelphia firm of Eckert Seamans, blaming him for bad advice. Under such a forecast, investors should have received about half their payout by now. Montgomery County financial pitchman Dean Vagnozzi, once well-known through his ubiquitous radio ads and free dinner seminars, has agreed to pay $5 million to resolve a complaint from the U.S . In total, Vagnozzi raised $32 million from 339. READ MORE: In SEC fraud lawsuit, Par Fundings receiver squares off with adviser Dean Vagnozzi over money freeze. Since financial adviser Dean Vagnozzi was charged with fraud in a government lawsuit in July, he has been castigated by regulators for how he steered customers to Par Funding, a Philadelphia lender founded by a twice-convicted felon. The court filings include hours of transcripts of sworn depositions he gave to SEC lawyers, as well as reports from Vagnozzi on his income and spending. A few weeks later, Vagnozzi and his attorney at the time, John Pauciulo, created a 16 minute long video on Vimeo explaining the new note to investors and encouraged urgency to get the notes signed and returned quickly so Par could resume the renegotiated payments the first week of June. His trial is pending. Gioe is facing pending federal criminal charges related to a personal loan, not one made by Par. The trial in Miami is to start Dec. 3. Wollyung said he has lots of questions for the next Vagnozzi free dinner. But Vagnozzi later called it off.