Hi,
Does anybody know anything about Pinnacle Development Partners, LLC? I saw their ad in Newsweek and the return they promise investors for buying Atlanta foreclosures sounds too good to be true.
Thanks!
I wonder if this was something straight out of the Boiler Room and if everyone at Pinnacle was in on it. It's unfair to to knock the employees at Pinnacle because there is a good chance they didn't know what was going on. The employees I'm referring to are the receptionists, janitors, security guards, etc... as for some of the other people, who knows. Some people are just really good Customer Support people and just spew out lines without understanding the product. You have to consider the fact a bunch of people just lost their jobs because of this and had been an unknowing pawn. I've never been to their HQ so I have no idea how large their workforce is.
Like BiggerPro said, If it's too good to be true... this is just another example of why we need to keep reminding ourselves of that.
It really makes you feel like an idiot when you get blindsided by these kind of people. They were so sweet and professional when I went to Atlanta to meet them. At that time they had around 50 employees that I met. Maybe some of them left like Chris and Nick because they actually had a bad feeling and didn't want to be involved when the s**t hit the fan.
All I know is I really believed in them, and unfortunately involved my family and friends. I wanted them to have extra $$ and for that I am truely sorry.
Hopefully between Fraudrecoverygroup.com and whatever Greg Hays may do for us all, some little bit of our money might be returned.
Someone has already made an amateur attempt at suing Pinnacle.
LARRY RUTHER, PLAINTIFF v. GENE O'NEAL, ET AL., DEFENDANTS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
"FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
The Court has some difficulty with the plaintiff's handwriting and sentence fragments. The Court construes the complaint as alleging as follows:
The plaintiff seems to claim that on June 14, 2006, he contracted with PDP, evidently referring to Pinnacle Development Partners, as follows: "$ 35,486 for land deed, return on $ . Line 7 I option for $ to new contract, I do option and $ 6,200. PDP default contract no put deed to I."
Attached to the complaint is a one-page document [*3] consisting of two typewritten paragraphs on Pinnacle Development Partners letterhead; signature lines indicating that three people have signed it -- the plaintiff, Martha Lou Castillo, and Gene O'Neal; and a scattering of words and numbers strewn apparently at random all over the margins of the page. The two paragraphs begin as follows:
This amendment dated Tuesday, June 13, 2006 between Larry Ruther & Martha Lou Castillo and Pinnacle Development Partners, LLC for an original real estate investment in the amount of $ 28,388.99 under the account number 3862LRPD. As of Tuesday, June 13, 2006, Larry Ruther & Martha Lou Castillo has an account balance of $ 35,486.24.
For investors who are on a ninety (90) day Partnership Agreement:
Every forty-five (45) day period, the investor has the option of withdrawing any amount of his/her return. . . ."
...
"CONCLUSION
Accordingly, the Court being advised, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
(1) The plaintiff's motion to proceed in forma pauperis [Record No. 2] is GRANTED. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a).
(2) This action is DISMISSED, and Judgment shall be entered contemporaneously with this Memorandum [*9] Opinion and Order in favor of the defendants.
I believe the employees were not privy to knowledge of fraudulent activity. I don't believe Cherise Jefferson was either.
My great-grandfather threw himself off a bridge after the stock market crash in '29... We have a choice here; we can pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and become determined to earn our losses back legitimately or we can crawl into a hole and be bitter about this forever.
I believe that real estate will lose value all over the country in the next few years and soon we will have one of the greatest opportunities in our lifetime to cash in on real estate "fire sales". I am going to use this experience to strengthen my resolve to turn failure into opportunity.
Look what Trump accomplished after he went belly up a few years ago.
If they really had 50 employees (I think I read that somewhere) then it seems pretty unlikely that they all could have known. It would just be way to risky for the people in charge to have that many people know what was going on. But, reading the complaint, it sounds like a pretty big operation, so there must have been more than just the one guy in on it (though I was surprised at how much of the complaint focused on Gene O'Neal specifically). I'm sure there's going to be a lot "what did you know and when did you know it" types of questions for all the employees.
A potential investor mentioned the term Ponzi scheme. I went to my superviser about it. He couldn't sell. I was called into a meeting with Gene shortly thereafter, which was not standard protocol, he couldn't sell me. So I resigned.
Keep in mind, all of the phone converstions there were recorded so it's not like any of us could have gone through and called our clients to tell them to get out or anything. The security measures around there were not only to keep unwanted people out but to keep information and such in.
I didn't realize gte911u was an ex-employe. I just read the past posts he made. My hat is off to you for having morals. I have heard horror stories to day of broken marriages, no weddings, lost homes, etc.
Even myself losing so much money. The magnitude of these crime has struck many lives deeply. I am sure Gene and Mr Hendree must have concerns of there own welfare and welbeing knowing how many lives they broke.
We know that Pinnacle has at least 45 days before they are due to appear in court. What we don't want to happen is for the receiver to think we don't care about our money and drag this case on for years. I looked at his site and he still has cases that date back to 2004.
We need to let the receiver know that we care about our money and we have emotions to our funds whether it be from 5k to 250k. No amount it too little or too high not to care about.
I encourage everyonoe to email their story to [email protected]. You can state how your life has changed since you invested in pinnacle, how bad you need your money back, or that you would like to get your principle back if nothing else. Just say something!!!!!!!
There are 2000 of us and only 1 of them (that I know of). If anyone is interested in hearing what the plan is, please email me at [email protected]
IF YOU WANT ANY CHANCE OF GETTING ANY MONEY BACK PLEASE EMAIL YOUR STORY TO [email protected]
gte- why couldn't you have come forward sooner. What good are your "insights" going to do anyone now? Too little too late pal. You knew this was going on and could have easily come on here and warned everyone anonymously. But you didn't. I hope you have the weight of the world on your soldiers for all of the ruined lives out there that you could have prevented. Why don't you go crawl back into your hole.
RDC- why on earth are you excited that this guy is here? What exactly is the "right thing" that he has done?
Bodhi, that is NOT the kinda welcome I had in mind for gte. We can not blame gte for the events that have transpired in the past, present or future. Or blame them for our current situation. There is a possiblity that gte just learned about this forum today or this week and was unable to warn anyone of anything. Plus gte only mentioned that an investor had said ponzi, never did they claim to have had prove that pinnacle was a ponzi.
Bodhi, please refrain from making bashful post in this forum. You could easliy sent gte a pm if you wanted to speak your mind like that.
Remember, the moderator has warned us once about bashful post and we need to respect their rules, or this thread will be shut down.
and if this thread is shut down it really wouldn't matter. No one is getting anything (including you RDC)-its over. So everyone can follow it or not follow, sleep or not sleep, kiss gte's *** or think he's awful. But either way we all lost and are going to need to get over it, and having this fellow on here essentially giving us an "I told you so" is really whats offensive
You are speaking the minds of a number of us investors and I understand your anger. But whether I get a dime of my money back or not, does not mean I will go down without a fight. These people that have my money will hear from me until they know my number and first name by heart.
I refuse to just roll over and give up. And I need everyones support. Please email your story to [email protected]. This is one way that we can show how much we care for our funds and not drag this case on forever.
Your identity is protected - I'll bet a lot of us would love to hear more. What is Gene like? Do you believe other higher-ups in the company were colluding with him?
Could you encourage other employees to come forward & share what they know (anonymously)?
I read in the complaint that he was convicted of check fraud in 1998...wish I had learned that a lot sooner...
A potential investor mentioned the term Ponzi scheme. I went to my superviser about it. He couldn't sell.
Do you suspect your supervisor was a co-pilot in the scheme?
There's no blame on your part. If you "warned everyone anonymously" through this forum, you would have been just as ineffective as others who tried--such as the smug sophisticates: TMS and TN-Apprentice.
Although I agree that control should be excercised, I do however understand his pain. Bodhi is angry, he lost a lot of money and is embarassed. He has to face his family which is not always easy. Let's be a little sypathetic here.