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Has this site been "put down"?

antfarm

Friday, July 11, 2008
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Chattanooga: Investors Told It Could Take Years To Get Their Money Back
By: Monica Mercer

Local investors who lost thousands of dollars to an accused Chattanooga con man have been told it could take years before they recover their money — if at all.
“So (Luis Rivas) could get 10 years in prison, and we’ll still be fighting this while he’s out partying,” speculated local restaurant owner LeMont Johnson, who lost $15,000 and sat with others at a creditors meeting Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chattanooga.
Mr. Johnson, who owns Cafe LeMont on Dodds Avenue, and about 40 others who attended the meeting are part of a large group — 523 people across 23 states — who were bilked out of an estimated $31 million by the time federal authorities charged Mr. Rivas in late June with wire, mail and securities fraud.
An involuntary bankruptcy proceeding seeks to recover Mr. Rivas’ assets and evenly distribute the money to all investors, but those involved in the financial investigation cautioned it won’t be over anytime soon.
“The final conclusion could be years down the road,” said U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee Bill Sonnenburg.
Mr. Sonnenburg also said it is unlikely that all the money and assets will be recovered, although officials hope to make some “interim” distribution payments to creditors within the next year.
Mr. Rivas operated investment offices in Chattanooga and five other cities over the past year, promising clients he could make them rich by investing their money in the foreign currencies market. Authorities say he actually ran a “classic Ponzi scheme” in which he paid out false returns to investors as high as 10 percent a month with money he solicited from others.
Ron Wyatt, a farmer from Chickamauga, Ga., invested $100,000 in March and said he received only one return on his investment.
“I had to fight to get it,” Mr. Wyatt said.
Mr. Wyatt may have been one of the lucky ones. In many instances, authorities claim, people received no returns on their investments, even as Mr. Rivas lived a lavish lifestyle complete with expensive cars, expensive real estate and a propensity for handing out gifts such as precious jewelry and furs.
Forced into involuntary bankruptcy in May amid fears he was in the process of liquidating his accounts and trying to leave the country, Mr. Rivas was compelled by court order in the civil matter to appear Thursday and answer creditors’ questions about what he did with their money.
Some in attendance, however, were shocked to learn Mr. Rivas recently was arrested in Kansas and is awaiting extradition to Greenville, S.C., where criminal charges are pending in U.S. District Court.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Rivas isn’t cooperating with the bankruptcy investigation to recover his assets, said U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee Grey Steed, making it that much more difficult to get relief for creditors.
“What do we have to do?” asked one angry investor who said he did not want his name printed. “Cut his fingers off? Waterboard him? How do we get him to talk?”
Mr. Steed explained to the crowd that the criminal charges Mr. Rivas faces are separate from the bankruptcy proceeding. Mr. Rivas is under no obligation, Mr. Steed said, to possibly incriminate himself by cooperating with the investigation into his finances.
Mr. Steed, who is in charge of recovering Mr. Rivas’ assets, told investors he so far has seized about $2 million in cash and $1 million in assets such as cars and real estate.
He said he and his investigators continue to find assets every day and are in the process of compelling those who received gifts or substantial monetary returns from Mr. Rivas — to the detriment of all investors — to hand over those assets, as well.
Mr. Sonnenburg cautioned that litigation could be on the horizon if people do not hand over the assets willingly, another factor that could contribute to a prolonged legal battle.

antfarm

Sunday, July 13, 2008
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Chattanooga: Questions About Rivas Began Swirling Last Summer
By: Monica Mercer

As Chattanooga investors reel from their losses of thousands of dollars to a man accused of fraud, there are indications local law enforcement and business officials had been advised as early as last summer about questionable activity by Luis Rivas.
But when Bob Cheli, who lost $106,000 in what federal authorities call a “classic Ponzi scheme,” contacted the Chattanooga Police Department’s fraud department in February, he said officials “blew him off.”
“It was a three-minute phone call,” Mr. Cheli said. “I told a detective I knew people who had taken out mortgages on their houses because of (Mr. Rivas). This wasn’t just about $20.”
Detective Larry Lockmiller, who works in the fraud department, said he was unaware of such a call.
Cases of alleged fraud are not investigated unless such proof of intent exists, he said. The fraud division typically takes on cases of forgeries, counterfeit checks and ID theft, among others, he said.
According to Chattanooga police, only one official report has been filed against Mr. Rivas in the past year. That came on June 5 from two men who claim they lost a collective $425,000.
Chattanooga police say the complaint is under investigation, months after Mr. Cheli’s complaint and an FBI investigation begun in February that would lead to Mr. Rivas’ federal fraud charges in late June.
Now in federal custody and charged with mail, wire and securities fraud, Mr. Rivas allegedly bilked about 523 people in 23 states out of at least $31 million over the past year, all while supposedly trading clients’ money in the foreign currencies market from offices in Chattanooga and five other southeastern cities.
Mr. Rivas first came to the attention of the local Better Business Bureau in July 2007, according to President Jim Winsett.
Mr. Winsett said he received a call about how Mr. Rivas had urged builders to get loans on unsold properties and then give him the money on the promise he would earn them a 60 percent return in one year by investing in the foreign currencies market.
“At that time I did speak to the city police authorities,” Mr. Winsett said. “They recommended I contact the FBI in Chattanooga. We just felt this was a red flag that needed to be investigated.”
The BBB, however, did not issue a consumer alert on Mr. Rivas and his company, The Forex Project, because there was not enough outcry to warrant one, Mr. Winsett said.
“For a business to be considered high risk, there has to be a pattern of complaints,” he said, noting that at least 25 complaints usually would prompt the bureau to take action.
No such pattern existed with Mr. Rivas, Mr. Winsett said, aside from about “five phone inquiries” to the BBB about the kind of business Mr. Rivas ran.
“In each instance I explained the risk of investing, and some of them still invested,” he said.
And although the Better Business Bureau decided to issue a consumer alert in May in the wake of Mr. Rivas’ involuntary bankruptcy proceeding, Mr. Winsett said he regrets the action was not taken sooner.
Meanwhile, during the fall and early spring, Mr. Rivas continued soliciting clients from around the country, including Mr. Cheli, a LaFayette, Ga., man who handed over $106,000 in December 2007.
Like others, Mr. Cheli received a promissory note from Mr. Rivas stating he would get a 5 percent monthly return on his money and receive the full investment amount back after three years.
But at the beginning of the year, Mr. Cheli said he started to suspect Mr. Rivas because the monetary returns did not materialize as promised. He said when he confronted Mr. Rivas, the businessman “flew off the handle.”
“I got the impression I was the first one to really start questioning him,” Mr. Cheli said. “Which is why I think he got so upset.”
Those overseeing the involuntary bankruptcy claim filed in May later would state that Mr. Rivas appeared to stop investing people’s money altogether in October, perpetuating a Ponzi scheme in which he paid out fraudulent investment returns with money he solicited from others.
Mr. Cheli said an investigator with the fraud division of the Chattanooga Police Department, whose name he does not remember, told him in February that there had to be “proof of intent to defraud” before officers could launch an official investigation.
“He told me it was a civil matter,” Mr. Cheli said.
Still, people such as Ron Wyatt from Chickamauga, Ga., were giving their money to Mr. Rivas as late as March. Mr. Wyatt, who lost $100,000, said he had “no idea” that others had questioned Mr. Rivas’ business practices.
With many investors complaining about being tangled up in the mess, Mr. Cheli said he never was naive enough to think there weren’t risks involved.
After a creditors meeting held last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chattanooga, investors learned getting any of their money back likely will take years.
“I took a risk and lost,” Mr. Cheli said.

Roofer

Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008
Chattanooga: Currencies trader granted $250,000 bond
By: Monica Mercer

The Chattanooga foreign currencies trader accused of bilking investors across the nation out of at least $33 million has been granted an opportunity to get out of jail if he can come up with a $250,000 bond.

Luis H. Rivas pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Greenville, S.C., where he faces federal mail, wire and securities fraud charges stemming from an alleged Ponzi scheme he ran within the last year out of offices in Chattanooga and three other states.

A federal judge granted Mr. Rivas bond during the Friday hearing and appointed a federal public defender, an indication he cannot afford to pay a private attorney.

Bankruptcy Trustee Grey Steed, appointed to examine Mr. Rivas’ finances and seize assets that eventually will be distributed among investors who file claims, said Monday he plans to meet with Mr. Rivas in the near future.

An investors meeting is expected to be held in Greenville with Mr. Rivas present so people can confront him about where their money went, he said. So far, about $2 million in cash has been recovered from Mr. Rivas’ accounts, as well as about $1 million worth of luxury cars, real estate, furniture, jewelry and furs, Mr. Steed said.

A Kansas state trooper arrested Mr. Rivas in late June in Topeka during a traffic stop that revealed his fugitive status. Just days before the arrest, federal investigators had laid out their case against the businessman, alleging he had devised a scheme to defraud hundreds of people while living a lavish lifestyle that included paying the mortgages of some of his 200 employees.

Mr. Rivas is being held in the Anderson, S.C., city jail, federal defender David Plowden said Monday.

If Mr. Rivas is able to make bail, court documents indicate he would have to forfeit his passport, go on house arrest, submit to electronic monitoring and avoid all contact with the about 500 victims of his alleged scam that offered great riches but left many depleted of their life savings.

The criminal allegations were preceded by Mr. Rivas’s involuntary bankruptcy in May, which a federal bankruptcy judge in Chattanooga granted based on the belief that he was in the process of liquidating his bank accounts and trying to leave the country before authorities could find him.

Investors said Mr. Rivas — who spent 10 years in state prison in the 1980s and ’90s for fraud involving rare coins — promised returns of as much as 10 percent a month on their investments in the foreign currencies market, bankruptcy court documents show.

Mr. Rivas stopped paying those returns in the spring, and in some instances, simply took people’s money and paid no returns at all, the documents state.

Forexgurl

That is complete bull crap. I cannot believe a judge would grant him bail when he's already proven himself a flight risk! Are you crazy?!

antfarm

I've heard from 3 people now that Luis posted bail today and is out... can anyone confirm this?

Roofer

I just spoke to the jail, they claim they still have him in custody.

mustang058

Mr. Rivas, If you still read this blog, I am a pharmacist from panama city whom you scamed 300k from on your last visit to our area> I never got one payment and I think you knew the situation when you came down and raped our area. I am shocked you could use the Lord Jesus Christ in your training seminars and do this to us. I gave all my home equity and reserves due to your convincing use of my savior in your presentations. I am in a fix now because of you. You need to read up on the special hell reserved for those who use their position as a leader and representer of
Christ to decieve other believers. Never the less, I pray daily for your repentence and hope you come clean(totally clean) and stop the excuses. You never intended to pay us in Panama City anything did you?

Nitwit

this is absolutely ridiculous, do some of you really think that Lou is still in jail?? If you do then you are a real fool! I believe that he is out AND that his little hiram are keeping him safe and comfortable. But wasn't that always the way it went with Lou and his woman. Well I want to know how he is doing?? lets see how long this will take for anyone to have the balls to let us know where he is and what his plan is now? I do believe that this won't appear online for more then a minute, and that no one will say a word about what is happening to all the forex believers?? So at least let me know what is happening with the big man and his special chosen few?? thanks in advance

Roofer

When you are curious about the whereabouts of Mr. Rivas and whether or not he is still in custody, call the jail and ask. 864-231-2277. It would be better to know for sure than to continue the rumor mill. And, by the way I just called, he is still in custody.