I would think that as investors you would want to tell the SEC absolutely everything. Why should you "be careful?" Either the operation is legitimate or not. If it is, there should be nothing to hide; if not, you should want the SEC to know absolutely everything so they can act quickly to stop it and get people their money back. The only people to gain by the SEC not having absolutely every possible piece of information are people who may have been doing something illegal, right?
Churn for investors?
As one of the Pinncle investors I want to thank you for leaving this Forum open to the public. Daily updates are helpful at a time like this! From 10,000 hits it appears as though a LOT of people are following this company.
Call me naive but everyone I've ever dealt with there strikes me as above the board. They seem to be trying their best to answer everybody's questions and act in good faith.
Just today I received a Fed Ex letter from them on schedule detailing my account.
We'll just have to wait & see how this all plays out.
Churn for investors?
Tell everything to the SEC! If Pinnacle is clean then the SEC will clear them of any wrongdoing and Pinnacle will return to business as usual.
I STRONGLY ASK anyone considering having any legal discussion here on the forum to please conduct those conversations elsewhere. We also urge that anyone seek an attorney for legal advise - this site does not provide legal advice!
In addition, this thread is not here to provide legal advice; it is merely a place where people can share their experiences and factual knowledge about Pinnacle.
Thank you for your understanding.
Hey, I'm new to this forum, but have been observing the Pinnacle thread for a while. For all the investors involved, I do hope it turns out for the best...things hopefully have not gone too far and you can all receive your monies back. Given the information in the Wall Street article as to the practices of Pinnacle, it seems as though there may be some rocky road ahead. Perhaps with their restructuring, Pinnacle can turn things around.
If it does turn out to be a Ponzi scam, and you lose your investment, there is the availability of some relief in the form of a tax refund via IRS code 165 (c)(2) which is a theft loss deduction. Millions of people get scammed out of millions of dollars every year and so few people know this exsists...including most CPA's and IRS agents! I work for Fraud Recovery Group, Inc. and this is ALL we do! Many of our clients are elderly who have lost their life savings in 'investments' that were 'too good to pass up' and ended up being 'too good to be true'. If we can recover a portion of what they lost, many can actually sleep again at night.
Check them out at their website:
www.fraudrecoverygroup.com
Or their toll free number: 1-877-225-8629
I'm just wondering why people stop posting all of a sudden. The last posting was in the morning.
it's amazing how there are so many 1st time posters on this thread.
and almost more odd, they all are positive or borderline objective but you can always seem to find a slight positive twist with all the objective ones.
anyway, this might not have anything to do with Pinnacle but someone in this read brought up something to do with partnerships and how it raised red flags. my friend just sent me this article
i'm not too familiar with how partnerships are set up so i won't even pretend like i know what i'm talking about but basically the fraud in the article describes what Pinnacle MIGHT be doing but just on a more sophisticated level.
SHORT SYNOPSIS of scam.
In the article a group creates a "real estate club" that offers "risk free" investments. sound familiar? you put down no money, but require you to co-sign for properties, leveraging your credit.
this is the main difference, instead of having you invest cash, they only want your credit.
then they create other related entities which purchase these properties at values way above the norm. sound familiar?
the investors end up with properties that are really work 30k but might have mortgages of 500k. guess who gets screwed?
the question to ask is if there is a property out there somewhere with your name on it which you are completely liable for. they make it sound like once they give you back your 25% the deal is done. is it really?
that wasn't rhetorical. i really am interested.
splinterlfe has raises some good points. I can only address a couple of them.
I am optimistic (irrational??) inspite of not understanding their model fully...I have money on line and it helps to be optimistic...
On the other issues - THe partneships are dissolved after the 90 (now 60) days. I was initally making sure my name is no longer on the title of the property after the partnership termination.
Also, this being a partnership, it makes sense to invest via your own llc.
Will endeavour to reamin optimistic till Oct 26th....:)
Hello! I am new to this site. I just talked to Cherise regarding Fedex the final check and she told me that Pinnacle will not take this option even if the investor pay for the Fedex. Does anyone out there be able to request for Fedex? She also told me that you will get your final check when the 60-day due; however, she doesn't know how long will the final check be sent to your home address because of the backlog they are facing now.
Does anyone get their checks on schedule? My return is due next Tuesday Oct 3. God Bless!
Today Cecilia (one of Robert Hendree's assistants)said that checks are going out USPS priority and that they would be 2 days late due to the backlog. When people receive your checks please let us know if they are on time or the # of days they are late...Thanks
Does anyone know how fast SEC can take action? I really hope it's after we are all paid out.
I've been a very satisfied investor with this company(return wise) for over one year, but just woke up from a deep sleep and found out about this story today!
They last contacted me two weeks ago to confirm my ssn so they could prepare their K1 statements for investors who had returns in '05. Anyone got one of these yet? Pinnacle claims it would be taxed as capital gain, not income. I have'nt talked with my accountant yet and would'nt have any idea what to do if they don't produce these statements. I'm under the belief that they had filed a 6 month extension on April 15 to file these with the IRS, so I figured Oct 15 would be D-day for them.
Also have an agreement with Equity Trust www.trustetc.com expiring in Dec. That could be messy if they don't come thru.
Was told today checks with principle would be in mail on Monday. Keeping my fingers crossed for now, but knew this was an at risk investment going in.
A poster in another thread mentioned Blue Moon Financial. I'll admit that I know even less about Blue Moon than I know about Pinnacle, but this might be an interesting read for Pinnacle investors trying to figure out what is going on. At the very least this will show you what can happen when securities laws are broken.
NASD disciplinary actions
Hello all,
I spoke to Stephanie Harrell at Pinnacle today and was informed my return is due to be paid Nov 8th - I'll keep my fingers crossed that all goes well.
Most of my discussions confirmed a lot of what has been discussed in this thread but just to update:
They are no longer accepting new investors. They are phasing this 60day 25% investment out by paying out and closing all accounts.
Their former attorney Mr. Kunkel quit and sent them a letter notifying them of such. They have since acquired new counsel.
They switched from FedEx to UPS because the FedEx carriers were leaving people's checks without having someone sign for them. Checks are being sent via UPS with signature required for delivery.
The termination of the 60 day program, informal investigation or allegations thereof and their transition to the Pinnacle Consulting Concept are all coincidental. In otherwords, they did not move to the Pinnacle Consulting concept because of the article etc.
In my opinion, if they survive paying out all of their investors without any hitches, they will have built a pretty loyal base. I do question the success of their new Pinnacle Consulting Concept based on my understanding of it thus far. It boils down to you paying an annual consulting fee of $150,000 per year to duplicate their success buying REO's at discounts and reselling them for a profit. The only twist I see here is (1) You are responsible for funding each purchase and any required repairs (they say you can use their contractors) (2) After the first 3 months, you are responsible for maintaining your office (person answering your phone etc)
All of this seems to be a work in process as nothing has been finalized yet but the project each office to generate $1M in profit per annum.
My problem is if most investors are like me and they liked the high return potential and passive income potential from what Pinnacle was offering via their ads, why would they want to now "buy themselves a job" with this new Pinnacle Consulting concept? - Seems like a hard sell to me but what do I know.
At this point, Nov 8th couldn't get here quicker for me. Hope everyone else is transitioning out of this OK.
For the individual who posted something on Blue Moon in response to my prior posting, if you go to the NASD and request the disclosures on the incidents, you will find out that they were minor (compliance type infractions) that at the conclusion of both cases were deemed no intent to defraud the public. Blue Moon seems like a viable alternative for those interested in anywhere from an 18-22% annual asset-backed return. However, you must be highly liquid to participate - avg of $150K needed to fund each deal.
If anyone has any information on Golden Pacific Realty (someone posted this earlier) please share.
Regards,
justanotherinvestor.
Let's be honest. This is a little hard to believe, especially when, at least according to the article, the Newsweek ad was running in the magazine as of a week or two ago, and Newsweek itself, because of the allegations, opted to stop running the ad. Now, I don't know what a full-page ad in Newsweek costs, but you are going to have a hard time convincing me that they were paying for that knowing they were planning to stop accepting "investors" so they could begin this laughable "Consulting" concept.
[By the way, they're still listed on Newsweek's showcase site, where it right now says "Call today for your free investment kit, or visit us on the web at..." I won't link to the site, but it will come up with this Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pinnacle+development+partners+newsweek&btnG=Google+Search
Just wanted to post, although I said I would not, I received my check as agreed today. A few days late, now 3 more to go... Last being November 8th
Passivemoney,
That's great news - 1 down, 3 to go. You and I share Nov. 8th as an expected pay day. Hopefully we can both breathe a sigh of relief after then.
TN Apprentice,
Your earlier posts were helpful, but try to keep some decorum here. I'm probably going to sound like a broken record but the fact of the matter is that there is not ONE solitary complaint that I can find (& I've looked) from a Pinnacle investor directed towards the company. To date, Pinnacle has ALWAYS acted with the highest integrity and has always kept their word and we investors (though rightfully nervous) are hopeful that this whole thing turns out allright for everyone.
I just spoke with their outstanding public relations director today and got a small misunderstanding straightened out. I was impressed with her degree of professionalism and obvious commitment to each and every investor. In fact, each representative I've dealt with in several different departments should be commended for their diligence in taking care of business under trying circumstances.
There has been some private messaging going on between investors and believe it or not those who have been to Atlanta and who have been with Pinnacle the longest are wanting in on their new program if the transition is a seemless one. Like me, these are sophisticated investors who believe they know a scam when they see one and they don't see one here. I believe Pinnacle will be vindicated and will survive.
You are entitled to your opinion but please refrain from inflamatory judgement of programs you are not familiar with. I would like to keep this forum as a place where CONSTRUCTIVE information can be shared by investors and non-investors alike. With almost a thousand views a day it appears as though many people are relying on this thread to keep them abreast of the latest updates. As an earlier investor suggested, let's refrain from speculation and concentrate on the facts.
By the way mine arrived Priority USPS today with a delivery confirmation.
Not UPS...
And it is the same good gentlemen that always sends our checks.
Congrats passivemoney,
Mine is due out on the 3rd next week and by USPS Priority Mail. Thry are not using UPS. They may have said USPS and was heard as UPS. Let's all toast a good cheer by mid November when hopefully all of us are made whole again. Good luck to everyone.