Boston Accident and Injury Lawyer
December 21, 2009 – Michael Bowen, 57 from Rancho Cucamonga, California, operated a Ponzi scheme by selling unregistered securities, purportedly investments in helicopter and storage facilities. These included Eagle Development Enterprises, Inc., Eagle Storage & Development, LLC, and Eagle Aviation Sales & Leasing, LLC. The SEC‘s complaint, filed in a federal court in central California, alleges that from 2003 to 2009 Bowen raised over $28 million from at least 500 investors nationwide.
According to the SEC, Bowen lured investors by selling securities and membership interests in his
companies. The SEC claims that these offerings were backed by misrepresentations about an upcoming public offering in the United Kingdom, inflated financial disclosures, and falsities about how investor funds would be used. The SEC complaint also claims that Bowen used a sales team who made cold calls to solicit investors.
According to the SEC, from 2003 to 2008, Bowen and his staff sold membership interests in Eagle Storage telling investors that they would receive 8% annual returns and that their money would be used to construct storage facilities. None of these investors were ever paid back and the SEC claims that Bowen did use a portion of investor funds, along with a $6.6 million loan, to purchase a storage facility. However, Eagle Storage subsequently defaulted on the mortgage. The SEC alleges that Bowen did not disclose to investors that Eagle Storage had been issued a cease and desist order in Alabama.
The complaint states that in 2007, Bowen began selling shares in Eagle Development, claiming investor capital would be used to buy and develop real estate. Bowen and his sales team also claimed that Eagle Development would combine with other Eagle entities and would make a public offering in the United Kingdom. According to the SEC, no steps had been taken to make a public offering. According to the complaint, statements made by Bowen and his staff, to the effect that the future price of Eagle Development shares would be as high as $20 per share, were not based on any sound financial research.
The complaint alleges that in reality, Bowen used at least $3.3 million for personal use, including purchasing luxury automobiles. Bowen also apparently commingled investor funds and filtered them among his various entities.
On December 14th the US District Court for the Central District of California entered a temporary restraining order, freezing the assets of all defendants. A hearing has been scheduled for December 23, 2009 to determine whether or not a preliminary injunction should be entered.
Source: SEC
If you are an Eagle Development Enterprises, Inc., Eagle Storage & Development, LLC, and/or Eagle Aviation Sales & Leasing, LLC Investor/Victim or the victim of some other type of investment fraud, the Law Offices of the attorney, and its affiliates, is prepared to review your situation and potential claim(s) without charge, and will consider representing you on a contingent fee basis, which means that you will not have to pay out of pocket for your legal representation. The firm will take a fee only if we are successful in recovering your assets.
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