something else I found online about Fred Steinberg. Hold onto your wallets!
Cape Coral: Businessman back in bankruptcy court -
Published on: 6/29/2003 Last Visited: 6/29/2003 Fred Steinberg now teaches about money
...
Fred Steinberg made a lot of headlines in 1996 when his Cape Coral construction company went bankrupt and dozens of angry customers wanted him jailed.
He's now going through the same thing again with a second business he started in the Cape.
But neither the bankruptcies nor the outrage are stopping Steinberg, 53, from traveling the country as a self-styled financial whiz who teaches others how to improve their cash flow.
"I have to work," Steinberg said.
...
"That sounds like good old Fred to me," Robinson says.
...
Not long before that, Steinberg had started Express Business Funding Inc., a "factoring" business designed to make money by buying unpaid receivables from other companies at a discount.
The people who invested about $5 million in Express Business Funding
- and made an 18 percent return on their money until things went sour -
now wonder how much they'll get back through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy
in Miami.
Local investors contacted by The News-Press didn't want to discuss the situation on the record.
Some
are embarrassed by their losses, which total as much as $1.2 million
for one man and $400,000 for another.Others say they don't want to
condemn Steinberg publicly, because they fear it may hurt their chances of getting what little of their money they can recover.
Court
records show, however, that the Express Business Funding bankruptcy
case is full of investors accusing Steinberg of concealment and fraud.
According to court records and correspondence related to the dispute, some investors believe Steinberg concealed his losses - claiming business was phenomenal - until his debt grew so bad that a bank demanded changes in the company's financial structure and Express' true financial status came to light.
Records and correspondence show some investors also claim Steinberg
is guilty of theft and fraud for allegedly spending Express Business
Funding money on fancy sports cars for himself, airline fares for trips
that had nothing to do with company business, attorneys' fees and a
Miami Beach condominium they say he claimed was an office.
"Those are all allegations," Steinberg said."I believe they have been investigated and there have been no charges."
Steinberg
was charged with fraud when Maxson went under, but the charges were
dismissed by a judge, who said the accusations belonged in civil court,
not criminal court.
Investors in Express Business Funding have taken their accusations to the FBI, federal prosecutors, the state Department of Financial Regulation and the state attorney's office.
Records show the Department of Financial Regulation was investigating Steinberg as recently as April.But so far, no charges have been filed.
...
When Maxson folded, Steinberg said it was because he lost focus on his business after the death of his son.
He says Express
landed in Chapter 11 largely because of the economic shock that came
after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
"There was never any evidence of wrongdoing," Steinberg says.
...
Fred Steinberg gave a videotaped deposition on Sept. 12, 2001, in one of several lawsuits filed against him.
When he was asked whether he told investors years ago that things were fine - when Express had already lost $500,000 - he took the Fifth Amendment on the advice of his attorneys and didn't answer.
Steinberg repeatedly took the Fifth Amendment after that and answered many other questions with, "I don't recall."
When Express folded, Steinberg closed its doors, sold his home and moved to Florida's east coast, where he now lives in Boca Raton and is executive vice president of Sun Capital Group, an investment company.
On Sun Capital's Web site, Steinberg is billed as "a seasoned cash flow veteran" with a "keen ability to assess a client's financial opportunities or obstacles."
The site adds that Steinberg
is "a national instructor for the American Cash Flow Institute" who is
"often engaged as a motivational and instructional guest speaker."
Steinberg was lecturing about cash flow as recently as May 20 and 21, when he helped lead a "Factoring Crash Course" at the cash flow institute's Cash Flow 2003 event in Dallas
in response to: beenthereb4
