Don't forget to download Amino and search my profile name, *GLOBAL PROFILE NAME*, to check out my Stories: https://aminoapps.onelink.me/4eRt/InternetsnathanF. Written by. 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. 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. Details (610) 948-3172. Vagnozzi, Michael C. Furman, and John Gissa s each operate Agent Funds that raise money for Par Funding through unregistered securities offerings. Home; About. The life expectancies were terrible, he wrote investors. His lawyer, George Bochetto, says big firms such as Eckert carry lots of malpractice insurance. One is John Lindtner, 49, a Chester County contractor. 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. He found few leads but is still puzzled by the lack of payments. After graduating from Albright College in 1990, Vagnozzi began his career in accounting. By August 7, 2020, Laforte was arrested by authorities on illegal firearm possession in his Haverford, Pennsylvania home. Some investors in Vagnozzis more recent life settlement funds say their returns have also been slower and less than expected. 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. In the 2020 emails obtained by The Inquirer, Vagnozzi acknowledged a simple problem with funds containing those early policies: Sellers hadnt died fast enough. His appeal was to an aging middle-class who had done well during the 1980s and 1990s stock booms, only to be burned by the 2001 tech collapse and the deeper financial crisis of 2008. Equitable enhances buffered annuity suite, LIMRA: 2022 single premium buy-out sales topple prior record, Why the $2.04B Powerball jackpot winner would have done better taking the annuity, These annuities have gotten more popular, and with good reason, After years of negotiations, GOP leaders reach a breakthrough on Medicaid expansion. There was enough to pay his friend $990,000/month to "manage" the fund while they investigated. He was among a group who, in 2010, each put an average of nearly $50,000 into the first of Vagnozzis life settlement funds, called Pillar 1. Half the 22 policies were to come due in 2020, So far, the documents say, he has received payouts for only three deaths. Never." The investors must pay the premiums to keep up the policies, but collect the full amount when the sellers pass on. The trial in Miami is to start Dec. 3. As for Ford, Vagnozzi said a board of directors at Fords company knew of Fords criminal record. Dean Vagnozzi and John Pauciulo were genial partners in a growing financial business, for 16 years. In August, Philadelphia lawyer Gaeton Alfano, who represents the court-appointed receiver in the civil fraud case, told Ruiz during a hearing that he had turned over "massive amounts of data and documents" and made witnesses available in response to subpoenas from a criminal grand jury investigating Par Funding. Emails obtained by The Inquirer show that Vagnozzi told investors earlier this year he was sorry about the life settlement investments he has also sold, deals in which investors bet on the life insurance policies of the elderly. Nobody has missed a payment," he said. A few days after I had talked with the prenovices about the . We had we had meetings with customers that had money to potentially invest. (Agents also found $5 million in cash there and at his other homes, in the Poconos and Jupiter, Fla.). Life Partners founder Brian Pardo lived well in Waco, Texas, for a time. As a group, about 1,500 merchants owe Par Funding about $350 million, but much of that appears to be non-collectible. Par Funding suspended payments to investors for two months this spring, then cut their returns by more than half. 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. It goes without saying, Vagnozzi wrote, I apologize for how poorly this fund has performed.. Vagnozzis account is different from what he said in court in Florida. March 1, 2023 / 9:45 PM / CBS Philadelphia. It later collapsed into bankruptcy amid SEC charges of fraud. The Texas firm declared bankruptcy in January 2015, a month after a judge fined it $38 million in the SEC case. Earlier this year, shortly before the SEC sued Vagnozzi over Par Funding, the agency filed another civil action about his work lining up $33 million in investments in buying life-insurance policies from the elderly. He soon realized the repetitive, number-crunching and solitary profession was not for him. The documents show that between 2018 and this summer, Vagnozzis businesses reported more than $8 million in profits. I was holding my breath that it wouldnt come to that, but it did," Vagnozzi would say later in a deposition. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The faster sellers die, the bigger the payoff. Of that, according to documents in the case, Par Funding paid them back about $230 million over the years. (Tucker, Scott) August 7, 2020: Filing 4 . Dean Graziosi is a leading world-class action taker! One Dean! In 2008, he passed industry exams to become a securities broker, licensed to sell stock and other SEC-registered financial instruments. Vagnozzi has spent heavily on advertising in the Philadelphia market; he told the SEC that he was spending up to $20,000 a week. Unlike with Pars owners, the SEC doesnt accuse Vagnozzi of taking clients money. I was selling life insurance.". Only they didnt. The investors were encouraged to bring friends. Details. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Categories . 28 de mayo de 2018. 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. One, Pillar 8 Life Settlement Fund LP, is made up of policies that cost investors a total of about $10 million, according to data shared with The Inquirer by an investor. Another investor a suburban statistician who put $75,000 in one of the life settlement funds did some ghoulish fact-checking. 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. He's also promoted investments based on buying life insurance polices of the elderly. Since then, Vagnozzi has recommended an array of financial ventures including investments unregistered with the SEC and thus immune from the agencys scrutiny and public disclosure requirements. Join Facebook to connect with Dean Vagnozzi and others you may know. Automated page speed optimizations for fast site performance. His criminal history includes a fraud conviction in which he and other family members set up a phony law firm to steal $14 million in home escrow money and a subsequent conviction involving an offshore gambling operation. In this 2013 photo, Montgomery County financial adviser Dean Vagnozzi stands in a room at Ruth Chris Steakhouse in King of Prussia, where he has pitched potential investors about putting their money into life settlements. Supporters of life settlement investments say they are a boon for policyholders who need cash now and investors who profit well by supplying it. Most of the people have reached their expected maturity. Earlier in June, the market lost more History was made on the tenth of June when the United States crossed the gas price rubicon. Leading a large group focused on driving growth for Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions. The participants were told they stood to collect death benefits of about $17 million. In total, Par Funding took in about $480 million from investors. Gioe is facing pending federal criminal charges related to a personal loan, not one made by Par. After seven years, he said, investors have yet to get back what they put in. 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! 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. His court-filed financial reports list spending on trips to the Caribbean and Hawaii and outlays ranging from $18,000 at Govberg jewelry in Ardmore to $7,735 at the Coral Stone Club on Grand Cayman Island. Were about to hand out a million dollars to investors, Vagnozzis sister, Dana said, kicking off the gathering, "who had faith in my brother or who took a chance in our investments., Next, Vagnozzi introduced what he called my team, including the owners of Par Funding. Par and Vagnozzi blame its problems on the COVID virus, although the federal judge in the lawsuit has suggested Par was financially shaky before the pandemic. He is Dean Vagnozzi's brother and vice chair of the township supervisors for Upper Providence in Montgomery County. The life settlement investments have some investors rueful. 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.. what happened to dean vagnozzi. By that date, Vagnozzi was already under receivership. In the interim, the agency and Vagnozzi have made public hundreds of pages of documents that provide a snapshot of Vagnozzis business approach and show how he made himself one of the regions best-known financial advisers. Vagnozzi, 52, may know little about cars he likes them, though, driving a Porsche and an Aston Martin in his video spots that showcased his success. The phony adviser in question is Dean Vagnozzi, whose firm is called A Better Financial Plan. 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. For some life settlement investors, the big jolt came this February when Vagnozzi wrote acknowledging the poor performance. By Fr. Every Friday on SiriusXM radio's The Dean Obeidallah show it's time for "What Just Happened? But the firm cut back returns to just 4% in early 2020. Vagnozzi told the SEC that he didnt like being a broker, and went into it reluctantly anyway. At first, he marketed investments in a burgeoning new market, for so-called life settlements. He also advertised on CNN, Fox News, CBS, and CNBC television. Ted's Bio; Fact Sheet; Hoja Informativa Del Ted Fund; Ted Fund Board 2021-22; 2021 Ted Fund Donors; Ted Fund Donors Over the Years. 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. 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. In total, Vagnozzi raised $32 million from 339. Thus, Vagnozzi was then ordered to amend his disclosure to reflect the transfer as well as another transfer he had made moving $60,000 from Victory Bank into his own personal account. Stumphauzer blocked Par employees from their emails, as they had accessed and downloaded more than 100,000 documents pertaining to company information more than two weeks after the judge had ordered their access be taken away. The SEC has since said Vagnozzi was selling securities that should have been registered and didn't warn investors of the risks. When two more policyholders died this year, he says, the Vagnozzi rep who sold him the fund told him there wasnt enough money to pay him. READ MORE: Par Funding threatened violence, trashed reputations after businesses took out loans at brutal interest rates, borrowers say. Drug coverage, telehealth, physician-assisted death. But for his fund, Bennett said, that was the last big payout. Last summer, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took a less enthusiastic view. 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. If they are victims, he says, hes one, too. Payments on investments had arrived as promised, he said. In depositions with the SEC, Vagnozzi argued that his radio ads and the rest didn't run afoul of SEC restrictions on the hawking of unregistered securities though "general solicitation" because his pitches were at a "high level" and avoided the nitty-gritty of the financial instruments he was recommending. They resumed payments later, but at a far lower rate. Since 2019, Vagnozzi agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle civil actions brought by securities regulators over three separate investments Vagnozzi said Pauciulo had advised him on. Laid-off Regal Beloit workers can get trade adjustment benefits [The Times, Munster, Ind. Dean Vagnozzi is not your average financial advisor, but he does make the average investor wealthier than anyone imagined possible. ], Find out how you can submit At times, Vagnozzi held payout dinners, similar to pep rallies where checks for massive amounts would be displayed and investors celebrate their returns. The SEC said Par Funding, Vagnozzi, and the others raised nearly $500 million by misleading investors about the lender's reckless loan underwriting, high defaults on the money it lent, lack of business insurance, and history of regulatory trouble. A mass prayer gathering at Asbury University drew worshippers from across the country to campus. James Allen, OMI. Pars merchant cash advance loans were another in the kind of unconventional investments Vagnozzi was looking for to supplement previous pitches, notably for investments in life-insurance policies sold at a discount by the elderly.