Myself and my brother purchased 7 properties in 2008 as part of a multi city tour conducted by Mike lathigee of the Freedom Investment Club. The offering was touted as " the best investment I've ever seen!" Over 1000 units were sold to several hundred investors who relied on Mike Lathigees due diligence. Thanks to Mike, Mohawk was able to procure contracts totaling an investment of approx. 18 million. The Freedom Investment club was due a commission on the sale. The investment was a nightmare from the beginning. I met personally with Mike in Dec. 2009. He admitted that their due diligence did not uncover a felony conviction on one of the principals and they did not know that Mohawk did not have their own resources and were relying on a third party ( Go Invest Wisely) to procure the properties. He also stated that the principals of Mohawk have closed the business and absconded with 6 Million dollars and went on a spending spree. 100 properties were purchased by F.I.C. through their foreclosure fund. On February 3rd 2010 the fund initiated legal action by a complaint with the U.S. District court of Utah. Unfortunately, this does not include the rest of us. Mike has made it clear that we are on our own and the Club has no responsibility. I disagree. Currently, G.I.W has the remaining funds and is headed for cover. Visit their website. Any input is appreciated. Thank you
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check out http://groups.google.com/group/mohawkreosamurais you might be able to find some upset customers there
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI have also bought two foreclosed homes through the FIC seminar in Vancouver. From what it looks like to me GIW has a few law suits on their hands. I am not familiar with American law but I would be interested in banding together and proceeding with legal action. Even if GIW ever intended to provide a partial refund they may go bankrupt before they ever pay out.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI have purchased 4 properties and have some documentation that FIC acted as the sales agent for GIW and hence they are liable to the investors. I am willing to team up for any plans for legal action.
HI,
ReplyDeleteCan you respond to rsbrito@yahoo.com so that we can team up and collectively take action.
Hello
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I also purchased two properties through the FIC InvestFest in Vancouver. We have been waiting for the deeds on both properties for over two years. We were also told by GIW that they would be responsible for paying the property taxes and insurance until the deed was recorded in our name. Well, we recently found out that the property taxes on one house are delinquent to the tune of $4100. We really need help with legal action. Our phone number is 778-228-4869 or john.danielle.mclellan@gmail.com
my wife and i purchased a property at one of mike's conferances in san francisco in 2007. they gave me a property address, within six months and then wanted more money to manage it and also fix it up.we went thru many people and most recently a realtor in ohio to manage it contacted me. title is in the name of giw.also mike lathege should be responsible as he was involved and probably made $$$$ he pushed his friend who he said was so smart and such a great invester who i think was from mohawk. i have followed mike web for a while and at one point they had a stock tip of the month from some company that was if you bought one stock it would be this one and they listed it. so i followed it and to me it was just another scam. probably just trying to unload their stock.....these people should be in jail and we should get our $$$ back just like any other thief.
ReplyDelete808 3332190
ronald & jocelyne cohen
I am an investor who has been subjected to the same scam by a different company named Fortuno Inc. It took me a year of being shot down by a laundry list of attornies before I finally found one. Do a search on Fortuno Inc. We did a press release so you can find out more info about our case wich sound very similiar to yours. Do yourselves a favor and contact this guy he may be able to help with your case.
ReplyDeleteAndrew M. Wyatt
20750 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 200
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Phone: 818-710-3813
E-mail: andrewwyatt@amwyattlawoffices.com
Hi, I suggest we get a lawyer thru the Law Society of Upper Canada and go after FIc as I have the write up signed by Tyrell Grey and Brad Hess stating that FIC were the agents and hence can proceed to take action against FIC. If any one has any other ideas I can email the 8 page document to amke FIC responsible as the agent. We can have this as a class action suit since there are so many of us.
ReplyDeleteMark asks....
ReplyDeleteHas anyone had any success going after GIW to recover their losses???
I am another victim of that fraud committed by Mohawk, FIC,Go Invest Wisely (which kept changing its name). Is there anything we can do to recup your money or AT LEAST not to let these scum bags get away with this?
ReplyDeletePLease email me: manon@acanac.net
Hey everyone, I am one of the people who bought a house from these scumbags about almost two years ago, the money I paid for property taxes and insurance was not taken care of, so now I am here getting property tax delinquency notices when they are suppose to be paying out of what I pay, good thing I found this out and have not been paying for awhile but my house might still go back to the county if I can't come up with the money, I am not paying for this house until someone makes good on their end of the contract. In the meantime I think that the investors need to contact the people like me who are buying the houses through this company, and renegotiate the contract directly, my email is wilsona1@mail.lcc.edu, and I live in lansing michigan. Alice
ReplyDeleteHi Everyone, my boyfriend and I have purchased a home through "Go Invest Wisely" which we are currently living in and have been for almost 2 years now, under the contractual agreement that they would bring the home up to code. We lived here for 2 months with no water, no electric and among other things broken windows. We have an attorney working on this matter and we are trying to gather more people. So I need anyone interested, even if you are already part of a legal action to get in contact with me as soon as possible. my email is Delicateunicorn@aol.com please put go invest in the subject so that I will be sure to find it and not thing it is spam.
ReplyDeleteHere's a thought- Does anyone have a connection with the press, or knows someone, who knows someone from the press? Dateline, 20/20 and other evening "featured news story" type of shows seem to love covering these kinds of stories.
ReplyDeleteI am in Los Angeles area. Any ideas, or names of press people you may know, please contact me. scarlton12 at gmail dot com.
I am an investor too. Who Can send me the web site of the G.I.W? Does the G.I.W still work for refunding?
ReplyDeleteMy e-mail: allgoodluck@gmail.com
I got burnt on this as well. Invested in two houses in june of 2008 through FIC meeting in Edmonton, Ab
ReplyDeleteHave seen no return somebody got rich off of this.
Has anyone launched a lawsuit? goinvestwisely.com no longer exists.
ReplyDeleteFor those folks who have posted since my last post I have an attorney involved now, please email me if you want to get involved. I am in Michigan and purchased a home from Go invest wisely. alice wilsona1@mail.lcc.edu
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I were offered this opportunity to invest from Mohawk back in 2006 during one of Mike's seminars. My wife signed up against my objections, purchasing a single house. Luckily she backed out a week later.
ReplyDeleteI didn't invest because the business model just didn't make sense to me, there were too many vague nuances about who had title and who was responsible to pay for what. I was not a seasoned investor but I smelled a rat even so.
Reading through the responses on this page is disheartening, and I feel for those of you who did invest. Mike Lathigee isn't a crook, but just another guy who took his own bullshit about Alberta real estate too seriously.
I wasn't able to invest in his FIC stocks because I wasn't an "accredited investor", meaning I didn't have a certain net worth to invest. FIC is now a penny stock.
I have come to realize that "accredited" does not mean seasoned. Once again being an ameteur was to my advantage. If you don't understand an investment, if it's too complicated, then don't invest. Madoff has made that clear.
People told me I was stupid to buy gold at $250 and silver at $4. Stupid is as stupid does. "Run Forrest!"
Mike lathigee has hurt so many people over the years that this guy needs to be stopped. I suggest a class action lawsuit. He is a close friend of a man named bill walsh who runs powerteam international who make mike look like mother theresa. Both these men are constantly selling innocent people garbage and making bucket loads of money as a result. The best way to stop them is through online sites like pissed consumer or complaints boards, rip off report which ranks high on search engines. It is very hard to win a lawsuit and to get any compensation is even harder but it can be done. However, it can be done. It the meantime this is an alternative to the lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI also purchased two homes at Investfest in Vancouver 2007. I would like to be kept in the loop of any class action suits. Apparently, FIC is suing Mohawk/GIW to recover their funds from the FIC Foreclosure fund.
ReplyDeleteThese folks really need to be taken to court.
beingtru@gmail.com
In 2008, Mike Lathigee toured several cities selling what he believed to be the best investment he had ever seen....the rest is history.
ReplyDeletehttp://lathigeemike.com/10.html
Brad Hess of go Invest Wisely.
ReplyDeleteSuccess coach?
http://www.mymark.com/bradhess
http://www.facebook.com/bradrhess
Hi Wkender,
ReplyDeleteCan you provide an update to any actions you have taken against Mike Lathigee and FIC? I also purchased 2 houses in 2008, and my repeated attempts at any communication with Mohawk, GIW etc. have gone unanswered over the last 2+ years. I am about to completely write off this as a bad learning experience, but my eternal hope is that I will see some money come back to me.
thanks,
NC
I invested just shy of $100,000 into two funds in the FIC group of funds headed up by Michael Lathigee. This was all monies allocated for our retirement, one of those funds is now in bankruptcy and the second has its assets tied up by the bankruptcy of the first as the management at FIC used assets of all of the funds as collateral guarantees for the ones that are now in bankruptcy. This was done without informing the shareholders beforehand.
ReplyDeleteI don't expect to see any of the capital back after the trustees and banks get through with it. Mike always had a great grasp on the global economic picture and his advise always made money for me in the market, he, for whatever reason moved away from his own advice and caused (in my opinion) the loss of millions and millions of dollars for his shareholders.
My husband and I also purchased a property that we never got! We would like to join any class action lawsuit that is out there! Please contact me at tinafarella@sympatico.ca. Thanks!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/2010/11/30/131704368/thousands-duped-by-midwest-housing-scam
ReplyDeleteNovember 30, 2010 from WCPN
An investment offer pitched to several thousand Canadians and Americans in 2008 on a traveling investment infomercial/seminar circuit has gone terribly wrong. Several companies offered buyers what they pitched as an opportunity to take advantage of the foreclosure crisis: buying foreclosed homes at low prices and then collecting payments on a rent-to-own basis from people who would live in those houses. Legal documents show about 1,200 properties across the Midwest were sold to investors from the U.S. and Canada, but deeds were rarely transferred.
Hi Wkender,
ReplyDeleteWe also got taken by GIW FIC and Mohawk.
We bought 3 houses at FIC Investfest 2008 and never had one delivered.
They have kept us in the dark and we have tried many times to get hold of these crooks.
Tyrell gray Bradd Hess.
Any Suit We are game my email f_klapwwk@hotmail.com
Then FIC promised the investors the next year another great investment with Platinum Investments and Travis Peterson, this suppose to be a turn-key project they have renters and you have cash flow.
I'm sueing with 3 other victims Platinum Investments and Travis Peterson at the moment and I'm looking for other victims to join me.
I hope that there are more people out there who would like their money back. I've a private investigator gathering information and the FIC group is also mentioned in the suit.
Remy regarding your blog Dec 15.
We are in the same boat with FIC we put money to invest in South East Asia and tehy used thsi money to bail out Alberta Real Estate.
I just heard today tah all my mone $350 K is gone! there goes my retirement!
Also Remy, All FIC funds are pennies to the Dollar.
They blame everybody but them selves.
Teh blame specially The Toronto Dominion bank!
LEt me know who is sueing and we will join!
But Anybody who is cheated by Platinum investments please contact me I have lots of information to help you out!
Allforone.
We will never see our money. But these people are still in business. Anybody that is investing with this group needs to beware! These people are proven incompetent at best! More like out and out fraudsters still in business. Yet Mike Lathigee proclaims himself a victom. Unbelievable! There is a class action suit that has been originated out of California. Anyone involved in the Mohawk scam should automatically be a part of.
ReplyDeletecan you give me some info on the california class action please? I invested with GIW my email is niwajinamk@gmail.com thanks.
DeleteCan you also email information on getting involved in the lawsuit out of California. I would like to get involved as I was a victim from this as well. dawn.lutter@gmail.com
DeleteI am an FIC investor since 2007. I have not made a cent.
ReplyDeleteYou all are from the US? Guess what is going on with Mike and Earl up here in canada. THey are up on fraud charges by the BC Securities Commission.
Read the news article here:
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Freedom+Investment+Club+promoters+defrauded+investors+millions/6256389/story.html
Read the charges here:
http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=14408
Read about previous charges against Mike and Earl here:
http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/disciplined_person.asp?id=5709
Brad Smith
Abbotsford, B.C.
Looks like Mike Lathigee is trying to make a comeback. I have always liked what he had to say. No doubt why I got sucked in. I was groomed for three years before investing in the " the best investment I've ever seen!" I am still reeling from the massive loss.
ReplyDeleteWhat's happening with FIC? Haven't heard anything for a year.
Deletexware2005@yahoo.ca
FIC is defunked!!
ReplyDeleteWhat about the people who "own" the homes. We purchased with the intent of owning at some point. We have gotten overdue tax notices that we already paid. How should we proceed. How should we proceed if we want to still "own" the home. I have lived in my home over the last several years and do not want to leave, but I want to really own it! jessica_avery@yamil.com
ReplyDeletejessica_avery@ymail.com (correction)
Delete