No one will beat up on anyone. Period.
To all investors:
I just spoke with Greg Hays. As the receiver of Pinnacle Dev Partners, his role is to serve as acting CEO to liquidate all of PDP's assets, consolidate all of the money, and divided the money among us investors according to what is fair. How that will happen will be determined down the road, but he mentioned that it will likely be a long process due to the fact that he needs to sell the properties under PDP's control. The most important thing he told me to pass on to other investors:
DO NOT CALL HIM!!! He is in charge of a team of workers who are attempting to liquidate PDP as fast as possible to return some money to us. He does not have a customer relations person to handle calls, so any phone call that he receives takes away from the time that he and his staff has to do his job.
AGAIN, PLEASE DO NOT CALL GREG HAYS! HE WILL POST UPDATES ON HIS WEBSITE: HAYSCONSULTING.NET
Thanks! (sorry for shouting) :-)
We need employees and ex-employees on this forum in order to gain insider's insight into pinnacle operations. Please be civil to them or you will drive them away from this site. To take out anger or frustration on them is really misplaced and won't serve any purpose. Some of these employee would be as mad as us for losing their jobs and being conned and lied about legitimacy of pinnacle. We all are in this togather.
Pinnacle upper management seems to have operated like a secret society - with only few people having access to its shedy secrets and modus operendi - rest merely following client management policies and instructions laid out by handful of bosses - that is my understanding of how pinnacle operated. Only employees and insiders can bring out facts. We need them at our side.
It appears that assets of pinnacle are frozen by court appointed receiver. But what about personal assets of Gene and assets of some of his other outfits? If he was running a ponzi scam, it is unlikely that he would put all the money in one outfit. Pinnacle development might have acted merely as a front to collect funds and distribute returns. Very likely, he would have tucked away bulk of the money in safe places that nobody can touch. Unless all of that too is frozen, it may be unlikely that amount in the hands of court receiver would be substential enough for investors to recover. We need to find out how much of the assets have been frozen
Kerty9.
When I spoke to the attorney at the GA SEC office today he clearly stated that they believer pinnacle has at least 13 million in assets excluding the funds they have in their bank account. He also stated that there was chance that investors will get some funds back once these assets are sold.
This is why I need everyone to email their story to [email protected]. A few have already done so and I thank you, but we NEED a ton more. Please tell your friends, family and strangers to email their story to [email protected]. And if you are unsure if you have already sent your story please send it again. Please feel free to include the amount you invested and how you feel about your funds being frozen. Also, tell how this investment has changed your life for the better or worse.
Furthermore, if you have any questions about why we need your story, please email me at [email protected] and I will be happy to share the plan with you.
This thread has been viewed almost 41,000 times over the past two months. And over 1,000 times today alone. This is far more than another other thread on the net pertaining to Pinnacle.
How many of you belive this ---
The defendants consented to the asset freeze order without admitting or denying the allegations, the agency said.
Mike O'Leary, an attorney for O'Neal, said: "This matter was worked out cooperatively between us and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The complaint has been filed. We will be filing an answer ... and denying the fraud allegations.
"We are confident that when this matter ultimately goes to court Mr. O'Neal will be exonerated of any fraud allegations."
HERE is the entire article from Reuters:
WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) -
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday it filed fraud charges against Pinnacle Development Partners LLC and founder Gene O'Neal alleging it operated a $30 million Ponzi scheme.
[EDITED BY ADMINISTRATOR - It is a violation of copyright to copy an entire article without permission. In the future, please post a summary, up to 2 paragraphs, or a link to the article so we can avoid any possible infringement. Thank you.]
The direct link to the article is: http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=fundsNews2&storyID=2006-10-11T215811Z_01_N11427652_RTRIDST_0_FINANCIAL-SEC-PINNACLE-UPDATE-1.XML
Hello to all investors, my name is Linda Baldwin and I work with Greg Hays, the Receiver in the Pinnacle case. In order to immediately relay his concern for each of you, he has prepared the following initial update on today's events:
To all Pinnacle Investors:
I was appointed Receiver by the United States District Court this afternoon for Pinnacle Development Partners, LLC. I have been investigating Pinnacle since that time. My principal effort today was to secure assets and freeze bank accounts. The Receiver's team and I will be working diligently to identify other assets to secure on behalf of investors.
My investigative team in this case is comprised of accountants, fraud investigators, lawyers and computer experts. Today we met with all Pinnacle employees and began a hands-on investigation. We will be at the Pinnacle offices all day tomorrow.
We have posted the SEC’s complaint and the Court Order appointing me as Receiver on my web site at: www.haysconsulting.net. Please click on the Pinnacle logo on the home page to view these documents. We will post additional information for investors as it is available. We will write periodic reports to keep you advised of the status of our investigation.
PLEASE DO NOT CALL MY DIRECT OFFICE LINE AT THIS TIME. This evening, my voice mail inbox was full, which prevents me from receiving important messages in connection with my investigation. I understand there are over 2,000 investors. Please understand that I can’t possibly return all of your calls and emails while undertaking the important task at hand.
We will draft a claim form and post it on the website in the near future. At this time please gather all documents regarding your investment along with copies of your checks so that you are prepared to complete the claim form.
We will provide periodic blog updates and we will write interim reports which will be posted on my website. Additionally, we will set up a hotline as soon as possible.
S. Gregory Hays
A final message from Linda (Value Adder); I have posted my real name as well here to further show that we are genuinly concerned for each one of you. I will also set up a user account for Greg so that he may also post updates directly. Thank you, in advance, for your understanding while we begin to investigate and recover assets for you, and thank you to Joshua for maintining this forum for the investors. If we work together it will bring a better result for all.
Linda Klinner Baldwin CPA, CFE, CIRA
Ms. Baldwin,
Thanks for the update and welcome to the forum! It is good to have you here. :welcome:
Can you share with us the normal procedure a receiver follows when investigating a company like Pinnacle or any other company that is under SEC investigation? I believe some of us will be able to sleep easier if we know what to expect in the near future or at least a general outline of protocol would be most helpful.
Thanks for stopping by Ms. Baldwin and Im looking forward to working with you.
Hi Linda
Thanks for participating in this forum and keeping us informed.
It appears that assets of pinnacle development partners LLC are frozen. But what about personal assets of Gene and assets of some of his other outfits? If Gene was running a ponzi scam, it is unlikely that Gene would keep all the money in one outfit. Pinnacle development might have acted merely as a front to collect funds and distribute returns. Very likely, Gene would have tucked away bulk of the money in safe heavens that would be hard to trace and freeze by legal authorities. Unless all of that too is frozen, it may be unlikely that amount frozen would be substential enough. Pinnacle have been telling the investors over last few days that it has funds to payback every investor, not only capital but 60-day 25% return as well. So apparantly, it claims to have all the necessary funds to pay up all investors and I hope you will be able to dig it all out. Thanks
Heres what we ultimately need to know:
1. what is there actual total assets.. we have heard $13 mil in real estate that by the way may not necces sell for that.. & their bank accounts
2. how many investor's dollars are owed (principal only)
3. how much of their assets are likely to be leftover after paying any outstanding liabilities & legal fees
4. how long would it take for any of us to get a dime.
My guess, the $13mil in real estate will be a fire sale & you'll lose a million or two there(if its really even worth $13mil).. at most maybe a few hundred thousnad in the bank, & now you have to pay any obligations that Pinnacle still has (exorbonate lease contracts, unpaid bills, etc..) & bear in mibd they just took prime office space in a few major cities.. I dont know if the receiver has to negotiate cancelling those leases & paying other bills, & then comes all the legal fees(the receivers team of lawyers, accountants, investigators, etc) & maybe even fines.. & who knows what else Im missing..
At least we had hope for a few weeks.. I'll continue to check the forum & more importantly the receivers site.. hopefully they will provide the answers to my questions & procedural info that we are all desparate to know..
I'll fill out their claim form & send them my copies but Im already beginning to liquidate some of my own assets to cover this loss because I was very stupid & borrowed most of what I have invested.
yours truly,
a six figure investor
In my opinion, if O'Neal is denying fraud allegations, that is good for us. I'm no expert, but I would think that he'll have to show that he has the assets to cover our investments in order to prove his innocence. Any experts out there who can elaborate? Seems like if he wanted to protect the money he stole from us, then he would plead guilty, serve time, and then run off to wherever his (our) money is.
Thank you so much for your welcome and please feel free to call me Linda -- I'm not that formal. I was a bit nervous posting wondering how the response might be. I also need to apologize for being brief here as it is after 1:00 am and I still have an hour drive home so I can take a nap before I go back to the Pinnacle office tomorrow morning to continue our investigation.
I wish I could address each of your questions individually in more detail at this time, but believe me when I tell you that we have significant experience in these types of cases.
To the poster who mentioned something about the 2004 case still being open, consider please that different cases have different problems and recovery efforts don't always come all at once. We care very much about maximizing return to the investors. If a case is still open there is a very good reason for it.
To the posters above me, Taxum and Kerty and rdc...all of the issues you raise are valid. If you have the time, check out some of our other cases on our website. The Correll case and MBA (Mobile Billboards/IPC) cases specifically. The Interim Reports will give you an idea of what types of steps our team undergoes in an investigation, what we look for, and what types of ways we try to recover assets. Yes, we know to look in more than one entity or account. Almost all cases have multiple, multiple entities and accounts.
That said, I'm beat! It has been a long day. Thank you for giving us a chance to get in there and see what we can uncover for you.
Thank you Linda and Greg for touching base with everyone here. I appreciate your efforts. As you can tell, there are many people who rely on this discussion thread for their information about Pinnacle. I'm sure I can speak for everyone in saying that we're all glad you've filled us in on what is going on.
Please continue to keep everyone in the loop!
Sincerely,
Hey Linda,
No need to be nervous while posting. We are all here for information and knowledge. And Im sure that most of us are glad to see you posting.
Have you frozen any personal assets of those involved with Pinnacle?
Is there anything that us investors can do to help out with the investigation? Im sure we all want to resolve this case as orderly and quickly as possible and any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Will you please notify us of the court date?
Thanks for all your hard work and overtime.
I just done the math. With 2000 investors with an investment of $7,000 which I know most have more. That is $14,000,000. That means we have very little if anything to look forward to.
So my question now is when will this turn into a criminal matter? This all appears to be civil. Is there no hope of Gene and Robert doing jail time?
There might be some info in today's Wall Street Journal. It has an article titled "Pinnacle Investors Get Runaround."
But it's only available to subscribers, so I haven't seen any more of it. It sounds like they might not have known about the SEC action, though.
To Taxum and everyone else:
I don't fault myself or think of myself as a stupid investor and no one else should think they are either. We were scammed and when something is a scam, it doesn't matter if you are as dumb as a rock or as smart as Albert Einstein, you're going to get caught because you don't, and shouldn't, expect it coming since if you did, you would never have invested in the first place. In other words, a stupid person is someone who knows it is a scam and invests anyway and I don't think that anyone here fits that profile but if you do, for Heaven's sake don't admit it to anyone. I know it hurts. I am in it for six figures as well but I refuse to blame or beat myself down for a decision that I made. We just have to move forward, collectively, and support ourselves and each other until this is resolved...and it will be resolved one way or another.
Didn't the SEC filing mentioned the Gene's atty. said he could get him aquitted on the fraud charges? If you think about it, other than the fraud they committed by duping all of us, how can they be charged with fradulent checks and mail fraud? When they realized the jig was up, they were still mailing out checks that were GOOD until the SEC froze their assets. Of course they'll be bad checks and it would appear to be mail fraud if you're assets are frozen and you don't any longer have access to that money. I hope Gene goes to jail, but I really would have liked to have gotten my money with all the other investors before the accts. were frozen. If the SEC could have only waited until this program was over in the next few months......but I can speculate all day. It's done. The bad guy lost and that's the way it should be. Unfortunately we all lost too.
Thanks for the forum. This is the first thing I look at when I wake up and the last thing I look at before I go to bed. Unfortunately last night that was 3am. I'm another six figure loser. Next time I'll believe the saying "if it's too good to be true" we all know the rest.
Don't feel too bad. I am in the six figure club. this is one club I would have loved not to be a member of.
Because of us the returns on what's left will be reall thin. I would love to get at least 30% :oops:
To all Pinnacle investors. This is all very unfortunate and a very distraught time for me. I am in the six figure club as well. This was a dumb move for me. I didn't listen to my advisors and invested too much to lose. Thank you for your feedback. Hopefully, we will get some kind of good news this week from the receiver. This is all going to take time. It does help me to read the posts. :cry: