Woodbridge Mortgage Investment Fund 2, LLC. %PDF-1.5 371. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Why the digital generation of investors is shaking things up, Rise of the unmotivated buyer and seller: Home sales stall in stand-off over prices in wake of mortgage spike, Equity release nosedives in popularity as typical rates went as high as 8% - and sub-4% deals are unlikely to return f, Rents outside of London soar to an average of 1,190 a month as tenants compete for a lack of homes to let, Victory for mums after five-year This is Money campaign! Representation of Jeri Shapiro, the wife of Woodbridge Financial Group's principal and CEO, Robert Shapiro, who was accused of running a $1.3 billion dollar investor Ponzi scheme. Shapiro, the former CEO of Woodbridge Group of Companies, and his wife, Jeri, as well as other entities named as defendants in the SEC lawsuit, will pay a combined $892 million to the commission . Along with wife Jeri, Shapiro appeared to mix in celebrity circles. SEC Charges Calif. Businessman In $1.2B Ponzi Scheme hb```),@(qYPa i cP %~Vz(5=::$`h Blb9@s@4%#7#C$Ccc2-5D:7400.;]I" k, (U.S. Treasury), Adversary case 19-51076. Court records show other family members, including a nephew, an uncle and a stepson also profited. The fraud scammed approximately 8,400 victims of retail investors, many of them elderly. (Admin. The Ponzi fraud fell apart after payments to investors stopped and Woodbridge filed for bankruptcy. The docket is currently displayed in reverse chronological order. Court Docket 19-01100 (mew) decision concerning debtor's place of residence . All the defendants and relief defendants named in the SECs case have settled but without denying or admitting to the regulators allegations. Suite 1800 Jeri Shapiro - $149,400 in Political Contributions for 2016 Other relief defendants in the case also settled without denying or admitting to the SECs allegations. 91.ih]?b_D&B?@,~L+ tC0Lsp=Ik"n" QCn4dry.~s#F61Fq(%RDQaQ(KTaT]T&4k!sy9m^h65o4o1?l~||?31&;3.6fn5:fk'[HHZ4| _"#3 H!O*c-H/Q"A-n.)yk The court ordered Shapiro, accused of using a web of shell companies to conceal the scheme, to pay a $100 million civil penalty and to disgorge $18.5 million in ill-gotten gains plus $2.1 million in prejudgment interest. 2 0 obj (Robinson, Colin), Affidavit/Declaration of Service re: Entry of Default. Woodbridge, at Shapiro's direction, additionally hired a public relations firm to manipulate search engine results so as to hide the state regulatory orders from customers who searched the Internet for Woodbridge. Marcus Neiman Rashbaum & Pineiro LLP - Chambers and Partners endstream endobj 129 0 obj <>/Metadata 19 0 R/Pages 126 0 R/StructTreeRoot 26 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences 146 0 R>> endobj 130 0 obj <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 126 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI]>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 131 0 obj <>stream Former Woodbridge CEO Robert Shapiro agrees to pay $120M in - News They were ordered to pay $5.2M in ill-gotten gains with interest. Docket (#174) Plaintiff's MOTION for Creation of Fair Fund and for Transfer of Payments to the Woodbridge Bankruptcy Estate's Liquidation Trust by Securities and Exchange Commission. Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney Shapiro, Roseman, and Acevedo falsely claimed that Woodbridge was profitable and advertised high rates of return to investors. The SEC complaint alleges that Woodbridge and Shapiro's network of both in-house and external agents falsely sold Woodbridge investments as "low risk," "simpler," "safe," and "secure," employing misleading marketing materials that falsely portrayed the nature of Woodbridge, when in fact Shapiro was actively making Ponzi payments to investors, paying significant sales commissions to unregistered sales agents in exchange for selling Woodbridge to the public, and misappropriating investor funds for his own personal use. United States Bankruptcy Court Since the lawsuit hit, a number of Woodbridge-owned properties have come on the market for sale. Jeri, who was also investigated as part of the allegations, is said to have received $3.8 million from Robert in the year before the company's bankruptcy filing, The Wall Street Journal reports. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed parallel civil enforcement actions against Woodbridge, Shapiro, his wife, and Acevedo and Roseman related to the fraud. Shapiro, the former CEO of Woodbridge Group of Companies, and his wife, Jeri, as well as other entities named as defendants in the SEC lawsuit, will pay a combined $892 million to the commission, Bloomberg reported. [Bloomberg] Natalie Hoberman. 141], United States v. Robert Shapiro - Stipulated Factual Proffer [ECF No. : 140], United States v. Robert Shapiro - Plea Agreement [ECF No. Hearing scheduled for 5/19/2021 at 09:00 AM at US Bankruptcy Court, 824 Market St., 3rd Fl., Courtroom #7, Wilmington, Delaware. The regulator accused Woodbridge of using investors funds to pay other investors, as well as $64.5M in sales commissions to agents that had touted the Woodbridge investments as conservative and low risk. Shapiro is accused of using at least $21M of investor funds to support his lavish lifestyle. To display the docket in chronological order, Please see our Privacy Policy. Hearing scheduled for 2/8/2022 at 10:30 AM at US Bankruptcy Court, 824 Market St., 3rd Fl., Courtroom #7, Wilmington, Delaware. 33132, Telephone: (305) 961-9001 Latest Report Filed - Lessons Learned from the Woodbridge Scam Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, I am 70 and live off a successfully invested 220,000 pension fund, but at my age should I buy an annuity?