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March 26, 2019 04:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time
COSTA MESA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Robert P. Mosier, the court-appointed federal equity receiver, and his counsel, Smiley Wang-Ekvall, are seeking the public’s assistance locating potential victims of The Church For The Healthy Self also known as CHS Trust (CHS) — an alleged ponzi scheme that lured investors through radio and TV ads targeting the Vietnamese community and that operated out of a storefront in Little Saigon.
“It’s very sad — it appears that some people gave their life savings thinking they were making a safe investment with an organization that claimed the investments were backed by the FDIC and SIPC and associated with a legitimate, tax-exempt church”
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Authorities have so far seized approximately $4.3 million in assets but the alleged perpetrators may have taken in as much as $40 million, says Kyra Andrassy, a partner at the Smiley Wang-Ekvall firm, which was hired by the receiver to identify victims and assets taken from them. Most investors are believed to be in Orange County, Calif., and in San Jose, Calif., and a few in Chicago, says Andrassy, whose specialties include litigation to recover assets for creditors and fraud cases.
“It’s very sad — it appears that some people gave their life savings thinking they were making a safe investment with an organization that claimed the investments were backed by the FDIC and SIPC and associated with a legitimate, tax-exempt church,” says Andrassy. “Unless we uncover a lot more funds and assuming the amount invested is as we suspect, these victims stand to get little money back.”
Andrassy says investors were told that their money would grow tax exempt and they could use their contributions to have CHS pay their mortgages and other bills. Contributors were offered a $100 bonus for each $10,000 of investments generated through referring friends and family. While there may have been a smattering of legitimate investments, it appears that any payouts or returns came from more recent investors.
“CHS made it appear as if there was a legitimate entity, and if you go to the church’s website, there is a button to donate and even a staffed phone prayer line,” says Andrassy, who notes that the case only came to light in recent weeks.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued CHS, CHS Asset Management and their founders, Kent R.E. Whitney and David Lee Parrish, in a civil suit for violation of federal securities laws, including fraud. The SEC alleges in its complaint that Whitney founded CHS three months after being released from federal prison for orchestrating a prior investment scheme involving commodities. The Court has frozen the organization’s assets and ordered Whitney and Parrish not to collect any more funds.
Court documents and a photo of Whitney and Parrish are available upon request.
About Smiley | Wang-Ekvall
Smiley Wang-Ekvall, LLP achieves unparalleled results for its clients in the areas of business litigation, real estate transactions, and bankruptcy and insolvency matters, combining the hands-on attention and cost-effectiveness of a small firm with the depth and breadth of experience of a large firm.
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