When The Wheels Have Fallen Off/ Property Investment Sharks

[Traff]

We returned to NZ 18 months ago with my young family after ten years hard yakka and selling three houses later (in a rising market) to enjoy the kiwi life and get ahead. We then made the huge mistake of entering into a property Joint Venture Deal in the high end of the market with a guy we had (or so we thought) purchased apartments of plan from previously.
He took our money on the JVs and simply spent it along with many other peoples......
We now find he has cancelled the main contract with the developer on the apartments and that money has also disappeared. We have been advised to sue, but he has nothing in his name!
The SFO are after him and we are at a dead end.

Do any of you guys have any ideas or can suggest a plan of attack? This was not what had envisgaed when investing in property for our retirement and has stopped us dead in our tracks.

[fudosan]

Hi Traff, welcome to the forum.

A few weeks ago I watched a documentary on the TV about a business owner who sold his business to go into an apartment development project in Parnell with his neighbour. He lost everything when his neighbour just declared bankruptcy while hiding all assets behind trusts held by his wife and family. We can all feel angry as there's a lot of injustice but there seems to be not much we can do legally.

My sympathy goes to you. While it is really painful and I can't offer you any practical advice, I do hope you and your family can pull together, keep your positive attitude, and start over again. I hope you have not lost interest in property investment. Please feel free to ask questions here, as we have a lot of genuine investors here on this forum who are willing to help. I myself have learned a lot from fellow members.

Finally, a few words I have learned that always helps me: "Tough times never last, but tough people do."

[Traff]

Thanks for the supportive reply !No we are desperate to continue our path of investing in property again, We have scraped enough money to get some good legal and accounting advice (this time)and have set up a LAQC. We are working long hours to put value onto our home and hope to revalue soon and start looking for that first elusive bargain property investment.Looking forward to meeting new people on what seems to be a great site.

[Julian]

Traff,

A bitter pill to swallow. Try your hardest to put it behind you as you move forward.

Welcome to the forum, and best wishes.

Julian

[Tempo]

Who was it? At least let us know the name so that we don't get ripped off too.

Thanks

Tempo

[Traff]

I cant do that due to the ongoing SFO investigation. What I was hoping was that someone had a legal understanding of contracts and could help in ways of getting our deposits back from this guy? We have placed a stat demand on him which was not defended but are told to liquidate is our only option and his company has nothing we believe....liquidation can cost 5k.

[Gypsygirl]

How about going through the court pages for the last few months, and see what lawyers are representing clients in other fraud cases. If one name or firm comes up a lot, ring them. They may specialise in this area.
Also maybe someone in the SFO office might be able to help.
Good luck.

[Traff]

We had a call from a fellow Property talk user after reading our article and he has kindly put us onto a barrister who specialises in this sort of thing, so we are going down that road and fell much more positive about ourselves going forward.The SFO are really interested in bringing charges and theirs is a long process, reparation is possible if they prosecute as part of the process..thanks for the ideas.

[MarkS]

Hi Traff

I'm truly sorry to hear of your predicament. You didn't actually say whether he had assets in trust or not but here are some thoughts if he has.

Just because his assets are "safe" in trusts doesn't mean those trusts, and therefore the assets, can't be challenged. I would look into that first. If he has acted criminally then there maybe cause to overturn the trusts, if he has been negligent in property investing then it's a good possibility he has been negligent in trust administration, another possible chink in the trust armour.
Lastly, take a lesson from his situation and put your assets in a trust. They are not infallible but provide more protection than most other legal methods.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a positive outcome

Mark

[Dean@Massiveaction]

Hi Traff. I might be able to help you get going forward again with your investing.
If you want to come and see me give us a yell. No charge given what's happened to you, I'd just like to help if I can.
Details for contacting me here http://www.acumen.co.nz/wa.asp?idWeb...;idDetails=117

[Traff]

We are unclear as to where the money has gone, either spent or stashed away is most likley. We are seeing a criminal barrister next week for a no obligation look at the mess.Thanks to all who have offered help and ideas ,we are chasing hard again following some good advice. Also the family trust is sorted ...thanks/.

[Traff]