Owners of RadioShack, Pier 1 Imports and other – Business News
A pair of flashy e-commerce entrepreneurs who purchased bankrupt retail giants — together with Pier 1 Imports, RadioShack, and Modell’s Sporting Goods — have been accused of operating a $112 million Ponzi scheme, based on a new lawsuit.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission accused Alex Mehr and Tai Lopez, founders of Miami-based Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), of duping traders out of roughly $112 million, based on the federal Southern District of Florida submitting obtained by The Post.
Mehr and Lopez had been identified for snatching up struggling brick-and-mortar manufacturers and trying to rebrand them as online-only retailers. doctoralex/Instagram
Mehr and Lopez had been identified for snatching up struggling brick-and-mortar manufacturers and trying to rebrand them as online-only retailers.
Their business portfolio additionally contains Dress Barn and Stein Mart, the go well with mentioned.
Mehr — an Iranian-born immigrant who labored in “risk and safety management of NASA’s space exploration missions” — teamed up with Lopez on the top of the retail carnage in 2019 when practically 10,000 shops went out of business, The Post beforehand reported.
Lopez can be a social media influencer who has written a number of self-help books, together with his “67 Steps” on how to turn out to be “wealthy” that incorporate “teachings of powerful and famous people like Bill Gates, Charlie Munger, Peter Drucker, Gandhi, and my personal mentors.”
Tai Lopez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. attend a basketball recreation between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on October 16, 2019. Getty Images
The business-savvy pair allegedly made “material misrepresentations” to lots of of traders concerning the model’s efficiency between 2020 and 2022. Christopher Sadowski
In one of their high-profile offers, REV acquired RadioShack in 2020, three years after the chain’s second chapter.
They additionally picked up Modell’s property and Pier 1 Imports in further 2020 acquisitions of bankrupt firms.
The business-savvy pair allegedly made “material misrepresentations” to lots of of traders concerning the model’s efficiency between 2020 and 2022 — together with claims that the businesses had been “on fire,” the SEC alleged.
Tai Lopez’s portfolio additionally contains Dress Barn, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Stein Mart, based on the go well with. Gabriel Olsen
They additionally allegedly made bogus guarantees to potential traders that money raised for his or her firms would solely be used to fund that particular firm, based on the lawsuit.
“Contrary to these representations, while some of the REV Retailer Brands generated revenue, none generated any profits,” the lawsuit mentioned.
(*1*) the doc continued.
At least $5.9 million in return funds to traders had been truly Ponzi-like funds funded by other traders, relatively than firms, the SEC mentioned.
The company additionally accused Mehr and Lopez of taking $16.1 million for personal use.
Neither Lopez nor Mehr instantly responded to a request for remark from The Post.
