by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Charles Nilosek of Position Benefits LLC of Plymouth Massachusetts was charged with acting as an unregistered invesyment advisoer and selling unregistered securities to Massachusetts investors. by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, William F. Galvin
I critiqued a Massachusetts company associated with Nisolek in 2014 for outrageous daily tweets about structured settlement receivables that were fraudulently misrepresented as “just like a CD”. Something was very wrong about their approach.
The Massachusetts company was using insurer logos without authorization, to add a false veneer of legitimacy over the structured settlement receivables being peddled to investors. . One of the founders was Charles Nilosek and the peddled structured settlement payment rights were apparently sourced from Woodbridge Structured Funding, LLC (which was known at time of original publishing of this post, as Woodbridge Wealth).
In a related matter, Galvin ordered three mortgage investment funds known as Woodbridge Mortgage Investment Funds 1, 2, and 3, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., and the source of the commercial mortgages known as Secure Bridge Loans, to pay a $250,000 civil penalty, to offer to return money invested by Massachusetts residents and to accept censure by the state Securities Division [ see IN THE MATTER OF: POSITION BENEFITS, LLC, and CHARLES N. NILOSEK, Respondents COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES DIVISION Docket No. E-2014-0103]
The administrative complaint against Nilosek and his firm stated that, despite their lack of registration in the commonwealth, they “hold themselves out as investment advisers while selling Massachusetts residents an unregistered risky security that they represent as a safe and secure investment.”
“Presenting these mortgages as guaranteed investments is a cruel hoax especially when older people are encouraged to move into them from retirement accounts or certificates of deposit,” Galvin said. “Investors need to check that the person presenting himself as an investment adviser is, in fact, registered to be one, not a salesman in investor adviser clothing.”
The complaint charged that Nilosek and Position Benefits employed heavy radio and television advertising, a substantial Internet and social media presence, as well as radio programs such as “Life is Great New England” and “Money Matters” to present the picture of a broad investment counseling service, although Position Benefits never had more than six employees at a time and the only product they offered was from Woodbridge. The two respondents were paid more than $607,000 over 19 months to solicit investors to purchase the Woodbridge instruments.
In reality, Position Benefits and Nisolek lure Massachusetts investors into meetings with the promise of investment advice and pull a “bait and switch”, offering guarantees and promises of safety on a product that offers neither” the complaint stated.
In a settlement with the Massachusetts Securities Division, Woodbridge agreed to offer to return money to 144 Massachusetts residents who invested in Secure Bridge Loans between January 2012 and the present. Woodbridge also agreed to stop offering and selling the Secure Bridge Loans in Massachusetts.
In April 2017 Woodbridge voluntarily entered into a consent order with Pennsylvania Securities regulators who based on the results of their investigation the concluded that Woodbridge operated in violation of the Pennsylvania Securities Act of 1972 , 70 P.S. §1-101 et seq. The violation was that Woodbridge employed at least one unregistered agent in violation of 70 P.S. §1-301(b). Woodbridge Structured Funding was fined $30,000.00. For more read