Goodman & Nekvasil P.A. May Recover Investor Losses – Palm House Hotel LLLP, South Atlantic Regional Center, LLC, Joseph J. Walsh, Sr., and Robert V. Matthews, Charged by SEC
Securities and Exchange Commission Charges Palm House Hotel LLLP, South Atlantic Regional Center, LLC, Joseph J. Walsh, Sr., and Robert V. Matthews
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has charged two Florida residents in a securities offering fraud targeting immigrant investors.
According to the SEC’s complaint, over a period of more than two years, Joseph J. Walsh and Robert V. Matthews defrauded dozens of foreign investors participating in the EB-5 program administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, which provides foreign nationals with an opportunity to qualify for permanent U.S. residency by investing in domestic, job-creating projects. According to the SEC’s complaint, Walsh raised close to $44 million from foreign investors which, through a loan, was to be used to acquire, develop, and operate a Palm Beach hotel controlled by Matthews. The complaint alleges that Walsh misappropriated more than $13 million of the investor funds and that Matthews misappropriated approximately $8 million, some of which he used to acquire a 151-foot yacht and to purchase his former Connecticut home out of foreclosure. According to the SEC’s complaint, Walsh and two companies he controlled – Palm House Hotel LLLP (PHH) and South Atlantic Regional Center, LLC (SARC) – also misled investors about the use of an escrow account that purportedly held investor funds prior to disbursement to the hotel, and about Walsh’s and Matthews’ backgrounds.
According to the complaint, from November 2012 to March 2015, PHH offered and sold at least $43,991,458 in PHH securities to at least 88 foreign investors through the EB-5 Program. According to the complaint, the offering materials provided to investors represented that PHH would loan investor funds to Palm House LLC (“Palm House”) to acquire, develop, and operate the Palm House Hotel (“Hotel”) located in Palm Beach, Florida. Instead, Walsh and Matthews misappropriated a significant portion of the investor funds. According to the complaint, Walsh, PHH, and SARC also made false and materially misleading statements regarding: (1) the use of investor funds; (2) the use of an escrow account to hold investor funds prior to disbursement to Palm House; (3) the existence of conditions precedent to the advancement of loan disbursements to Palm House; (4) the guaranteed return of investors’ funds if their 1-526 petitions (Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur) were denied; (5) Walsh and Matthews’ backgrounds; (6) the preparation and periodic disclosure to investors of PHH financial reports; (7) Palm House’s repayment of the loan in monthly installments; and (8) Palm House’s purported ownership of and investment in the Hotel prior to the commencement of the PHH offering. According to the complaint, Matthews participated in the scheme and, with the exception of misrepresentations (2), (4) and (6) above, aided and abetted Walsh and his entities in making these material misrepresentations and omissions. To date, according to the complaint, the Hotel has not been completed and is subject to a foreclosure suit and receivership.
Investors in Palm House Hotel LLLP and South Atlantic Regional Center, LLC May Recover their Losses with Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A.
If you invested in Palm House Hotel LLLP and/or South Atlantic Regional Center, LLC Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A. may help you. Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A., a Clearwater, Florida, law firm with a national practice representing victimized investors, has recovered more than $180 million dollars on behalf of victimized investors.
All our cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis by Kalju Nekvasil, Esq., formerly regional counsel with the NASD, now known as FINRA. Kalju Nekvasil, Esq. has practiced in this area of the law for more than 35 years.
There is no charge for an evaluation of your case. Further, we handle our cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless we recover money for you, we charge no attorney’s fee. Unless you recover any money, you pay us nothing, not even the costs and expenses which the firm will advance on your behalf.
If you incurred investment losses with Palm House Hotel LLLP and/or South Atlantic Regional Center, LLC and would like your case evaluated by a securities attorney (again, there is no charge for an evaluation and all cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis), please contact us.
Keywords: Palm House Hotel LLLP, South Atlantic Regional Center, Joseph Walsh, Robert Matthews, Bankruptcy, Nasdaq, FINRA, Stock, Investment, NASD, SEC, Fraud, Attorney, Broker, Brokerage, Firm, Brokerage Firm, Invest, Lawyer, Securities Lawyer, Goodman and Nekvasil, Nekvasil, Goodman, Investor, Investment, Financial, Financial Services, Securities Investment Fraud Attorney, Stockbroker Misconduct Disciplinary Actions, Unsuitable Investment Advice, Investment Fraud, Churning, Misrepresentation and Omission of Material Facts, Elder Fraud, Unauthorized Trading, Theft, Selling Away, Unapproved Outside Business, Nationwide, PIABA, SEC, Securities Exchange Commission, NASD, National Association of Securities Dealers, NASDAQ, Dow Jones, Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange