Complaint Review: Alvin Donovan Equity Partners Fund - Internet
Ripoff Report on CBS 19
Ripoff Report on CBS 19 - Global Marketing Alliance
Ripoff Report on ABC 15 - Smart Shopper
Ripoff Report - Girls Gone Wild
Ripoff Report on Fox 11 - Car Repair
- Author Not Confirmed
- Alvin Donovan Equity Partners Fund Level 31, 6 Battery Road, Internet United States of America
- Phone:
- Web: http://www.equitypartnersfund.com/
- Category: Brokerage Companies
Alvin Donovan Equity Partners Fund Alvin Donovan Equity Partners Fund Scam / Fraud, Fail to Fund Internet
*Consumer Suggestion: Fishy Smell
*Consumer Comment: google shows that at least one company DID get actual funding from this investor and many others also had very good things to say about the MD of the investor arrranged for other investors and acquis
*Consumer Comment: the results of my own investigation and research. There are several reasons why this article is complete rubbish. I have contacted and spoken to a few people involved in this case and here are the fac
*Consumer Comment: good alert about just some of the many of Luke Bracken Bracken International Mining, Kim Cox AWTN and Jacques Blandin Firmware Visi Inc. latest in a long line of questionable debacles
*Consumer Comment: This above rebuttal makes no sense
*Consumer Comment: this report makes no sense
Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
Ripoff Report
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..
http://www.cootamundraherald.com.au/news/national/national/general/the-guru-who-surfs-the-web-to-make-a-fast-buck/2475950.aspx?storypage=0
Alvin Donovan is a very accomplished man. In his own assessment, he is not only a ''pioneer of the global hedge fund industry'' but also an investment banker and a marketing, IT and property expert - not to mention bestselling author and philanthropist.
He also claims to speak seven languages, finds time to consult the world's leading companies and has contributed to the No.1 international bestseller Wake Up Live the Life You Love with Deepak Chopra and Mark Victor Hansen. It wasn't his only bestseller. He also penned Make More Money Now.
Then there's his athletic prowess. The self-professed ''big wave charger'' reports surfing 15-foot barrels in Bali; but not only that, he is also a ''yellow bamboo master'' whose dexterity in the martial arts, he boasts, is lethal. Once he was approached by no fewer than four assailants. ''Before I knew it, the four men were writhing on the ground in pain!'' wrote Donovan in a blog about his journey of spiritual exploration.
It is in the business of raising capital though - or at least the business of marketing his capital-raising services - that Donovan, who lives on a sprawling estate in Pullenvale, near the Brisbane River in Queensland, has been most active.
He claims to have ''raised over $1.5 billion for new ventures''. He also claims to be backed by a Chinese bank, Zigong Bank, an institution that The Sun-Herald has been unable to locate.
In an investigation of Donovan's activities, however, The Sun-Herald found that it has been his clients, rather than his assailants, who have suffered pain.
The investigation failed to find a single example of a successful capital raising - despite the slew of hyped-up media releases online touting billions of dollars in deals.
Luke Bracken, from a small mining company, claims he was taken for a ride with promises of financing. ''He would have made millions just by signing up countless companies at $15,000 a pop.''
Another client left in the lurch is Jacques Blandin, chief executive of the IT company Firmware Technologies. ''We never saw a cent of the drawdown when we needed it,'' Blandin says. He says Donovan claimed the company at the heart of his empire - Equity Partners Fund - had $US3 billion to invest.
When contacted, Donovan declined to respond in detail.
''All of our transactions are commercial in confidence,'' Donovan responded in an email. ''Therefore, we are unable to discuss any specifics with any of our deals.''
Many former clients, however, were happy to talk about Donovan, most describing him as charismatic.
Kim Cox, a former marketing agent who worked for Donovan finding prospective clients for financing deals, says: ''The guy is a bit of a loose cannon.
''To every client I presented him, he would say, 'Yeah, yeah, they're all right. Sign them up, sign them up.' Some of these companies looking for funds have not even broken dirt yet or don't have any capital at all.
''And he would still tell me, 'Sign them up!'''
Despite the bonhomie, Cox says that Donovan sometimes appeared worn down, constantly pursued by angry clients looking for their money back. In the meantime, Donovan had already secured his fees.
Dr Alvin G. Donovan III, as he has also dubbed himself online, is at the sharp end of a new generation of cyber-marketers, stalking the corridors of the internet looking for investors, scouting out companies desperate to raise money for their business.
The tools of his trade are social media and business networking websites such as LinkedIn and FinRoad and free public relations sites such as PR Newswire and Newsmaker.
''Lead, follow, or get out of the way!'' is Donovan's catchcry on LinkedIn.
And his operation is global. The Sun-Herald tracked companies in South Africa, Hong Kong and the United States, all of which Donovan claimed to have assisted to raise large amounts of capital - all of which came to a dead end.
Some deals have been announced with much fanfare, only to then go very quiet. Renaissance Financial Holdings, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa, claimed in October it was teaming up with Donovan to raise $US1.5 billion. Nothing has been reported since. Renaissance could not be contacted for comment.
Donovan also claimed via PR Newswire in September to have undertaken a 500 million capital injection for Zfere, a mobile ecommerce company in the US. Nothing has been heard since.
Things have gone awry for the entrepreneur more recently. Late last year, a key associate was slapped with a ''cease and desist'' order by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Joseph B. LaRocco, general counsel to the company at the heart of Donovan's empire, Equity Partners, was accused of deceiving 12 investors through a ''purported hedge fund''.
LaRocco, a 53-year-old New York attorney who lives in Connecticut, is a principal of LeadDog Capital LP. The SEC orders describe LeadDog making ''reckless misrepresentations'', ''deliberately concealing'' information from investors, preying on the elderly and lying to its auditors. This venture, the SEC found, was a ''tangled web of related parties and conflicts of interest''.
Donovan doesn't see it that way.
''Joseph LaRocco is a highly valued partner and legal adviser to [Donovan's head company] EPF and neither he nor us can comment on the status of that matter, which is administrative in nature, which EPF considers to be a minor administrative matter,'' Donovan told The Sun-Herald.
According to the SEC, however, LeadDog spent its investors' funds buying shares in micro-cap companies owned or controlled by LeadDog principals LaRocco and his partner Chris Messalas - all unbeknown to fund investors.
LaRocco does the legal work for Donovan's Equity Partners Fund. Equity Partners claims to ''provide fast, efficient and inexpensive access to equity capital''. But the claim is proving a long distance from the reality.
Lately, even the claims themselves have become harder to find. Over the past four months since The Sun-Herald began investigating, many of the web pages put up by Donovan and his cohorts to attract clients have been taken down.
Although the lively entrepreneur has approached at least one ASX-listed company as large as $150 million by market value, Donovan's stomping ground remains small companies and start-ups. These are invariably in need of cash and are interested in anyone who claims they can raise it cheaply and easily.
Another client, with a private company in fibre optics, who asked for its identity to remain confidential, also paid a fee to Donovan to raise money but was later told to raise the $200 million himself.
A common practice is to encourage the client to float the company on the lowly regulated Frankfurt Stock Exchange. There is a fee in this for the promoter. Donovan's real bread and butter, though, is ''equity line financing''; that is, a promise of instant funds akin to a very expensive overdraft.
Often the funds are not delivered. Even if they are, equity lines are an expensive form of funding and can lead to sharp losses in a company share price.
Not all Donovan's clients are critical. One, Simon St Ledger, the principal of the weight-loss supplement distributor Rapid Nutrition, recently announced a ''$50 million joint venture'' with Equity Partners Fund.
''This transaction was facilitated by the Singapore-based Equity Partners Group, who have developed an exemplary track record with total transactions completed in excess of $US4.5 billion,'' St Ledger wrote on his website.
Contacted by The Sun-Herald, St Ledger said he had not yet drawn down the $50 million. He did say, though, that he believed that Donovan and Equity Partners did have $US4.5 billion in funds.
Donovan himself disagreed with this. He said via email to The Sun-Herald that he and his associates did not provide investment funds, only equity line financing.
Notwithstanding Donovan's mission statement - ''Lead, follow, or get out of the way'' - many of his clients, with the benefit of hindsight, wish they had selected the latter course of action.
Went public but cash never came
THE MINER
AN ASPIRING manganese miner, Bracken International Mining, struck an "equity line financing" deal with Alvin Donovan.
However, according to its chief executive, Luke Bracken, Donovan took a fee and said "raise the money yourself".
Early last year, Bracken was approached by Donovan's (now former) agent, Kim Cox, with the proposition that Donovan's company, Equity Partners Fund, would take Bracken public in a float on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and raise 200 million.
"The 200 million was to be raised from Alvin Donovan's 'network of 55,000 investors','' Bracken says.
Donovan has denied to The Sun-Herald that he made any such claims: "Equity Partners Fund SPC is a segregated portfolio company set up under the laws of the Cayman Islands. We have no outside investors and we do not provide upfront funding to companies," he said.
Bracken says he was told EPF was backed by a Chinese bank, Zigong. Indeed, a Newsmaker media release said Bracken had ''secured a 200 million funding package through Chinese-based Zigong Commercial Equity Partners Fund SP''.
After his company listed in Frankfurt in October, Bracken was meant to hand over shares in it to EPF at a 10 per cent discount.
Donovan would take a 2 per cent fee and immediately remit the 200 million to Bracken.
Assuming that the equity line was in place, Bracken began to sign contracts with equipment and materials suppliers for the manganese mine in Papua New Guinea.
When the time came for the contracts to be paid, Bracken called in the money from EPF.
At this point, Bracken says Donovan told him that he had to raise the money himself.
"Donovan denied he agreed to provide the funding directly," Bracken says. "This contradicted his own press release, which stated EPF had planned to fully fund (us) for 200 million."
Bracken says that Donovan also demanded that he place his company's shares in EPF's account. Bracken refused.
"If things sound too good to be true, they probably are. I spent six months taking my company public. I signed contracts worth millions of dollars.''
Paid $15,000, got nothing
THE TECH COMPANY
JACQUES BLANDIN, chief executive of Perth IT company Firmware Technologies Inc, was introduced to Alvin Donovan in July 2010.
Blandin and a legal counsel flew to the Gold Coast to meet Donovan to discuss a special private placement of 25 million, a non-bank transaction that involved allotting shares to Donovan's company.
''Donovan claimed EPF [Equity Partners Fund] had $US3 billion in his company to invest,'' Blandin says. ''He was happy to extend to us an equity line over a three-year period.''
Funds would be available if Blandin signed over shares of Firmware for each drawdown.
Blandin says he paid Donovan $US15,000 for a ''document preparation fee'' to start the ball rolling. He never saw a cent of the drawdown when he needed it.
''Effectively, EPF sells your own stock and gives you your own money back,'' Blandin says. ''If you ask for financials to EPF, there won't be any.''
Wonder how much litigation and lawsuits have been filed against Alvin Donovan and Equity Partners Fund for Fraud
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 03/04/2012 08:44 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/alvin-donovan-equity-partners-fund/internet/alvin-donovan-equity-partners-fund-alvin-donovan-equity-partners-fund-scam-fraud-fail-848451. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:
#6 Consumer Suggestion
Fishy Smell
AUTHOR: Oh My Gosh - ()
SUBMITTED: Monday, December 30, 2013
Alvin Donovan and the stench of his
FRAUD is what you smell.
#5 Consumer Comment
google shows that at least one company DID get actual funding from this investor and many others also had very good things to say about the MD of the investor arrranged for other investors and acquis
AUTHOR: Regina - (United Kingdom)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, July 11, 2012
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do."
Benjamin Franklin
"You have complaints? Good. That means youve stood up for something, sometime in your life."
Winston Churchill
Having read the rebuttals here on the one hand they do make sense
and on the other hand further show the original report for the utter and total
nonsense it is.
Firstly, thanks for stating the real facts here and for pointing out just some of the many obvious factual mistakes
the tabloid made.
Secondly, a quick check on google shows that at least one
company named Worldlink Plc DID get actual funding from this investor. google "worldlink update on funding"
This company and many others also had very good things
to say about the MD of the investor.
Furthermore, those companies went on to say that the investor also
arrranged for other investors and acquisitions as well.
Lastly, this provides reliable independent proof this investor
is for real and that the tabloid sensationalist story is
in reality a lie.
This is an example of the just one of a long line of shoddy
mistakes made by either ignoring or not even bothering to check out the real facts in the case.
They would not let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Obviously when the companies do what they are supposed to do
according to their contract with the investor and proceed in an honest
and ethical manner then the investor does
what they are supposed to do with respect to the contract.
In this case, this investor is for real as they have invested
in at least one company who did the right thing and shows
that Blandin and Brackens story just do not hold water.
#4 Consumer Comment
the results of my own investigation and research. There are several reasons why this article is complete rubbish. I have contacted and spoken to a few people involved in this case and here are the fac
AUTHOR: marina wolff - (Thailand)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, July 10, 2012
This post here on ripoff report has been reposted over and over again, apparently by the same person. I would like to add the results of my own investigation and research.
There are several reasons why this article is complete rubbish. I have contacted and spoken to a few people involved in this case and here are the facts. Luke Bracken or Bracken International Mining, Kim Cox of AWTN and Jacques Blandin of Firmware and Visi Inc Plc. played that poor unsuspecting tabloid journalist at the Enquirer like a banjo and here is how they did it:
1. This company in the report is an equity line funder. This kind of investor obviously wants companies to drawdown so they make money when a company draws down. So if a company puts in a drawdown notice obviously they would fill it, there is no reason not to.
2. In all cases the company signs a legal contract which they must have their lawyer review before signing and the terms are in simple plain English. Nowhere in the article by this tabloid journalist does the journalist refer to the contract or having had any discussions with Brackens or Blandin lawyer. I can only assume there was no discussions with their lawyers .
3. Their website clearly states that the companies pay a third party non- affiliated law firm for legal document preparation.
4. It also clearly states they are not an underwriter and do not provide liquidity, IR or PR.
5. In all cases the company signs a term sheet which is made in simple English any 12 year old can understand.
This type of funding has been around for over 10 years and there are over a dozen firms worldwide offering this type of structure worldwide.
Luke Bracken claims the investor did 100s of deals. Okay but only two companies in Australia seemed to have had a problem. Maybe in Australia they sign term sheets without reading them? And they sign legally binding agreements without reading them?
Jacques Blandin CEO Firmware or VisiInc PLC made an announcement after they signed with the investor, probably used that announcement to entice investors and the investor never heard from them again after the announcement and they never put in a drawdown
But dont believe me- Google the term Jacques Blandin ASIC and you will see that Jacques Blandin of Firmware VisiInc Plc. was banned by the Australian SEC for:
Mr. Blandin, of Dianella, Western Australia, was a proper authority holder with Australian Financial Securities Pty Ltd during the period 19 November 1998 to 27 January 2000.
The undertaking was offered following an investigation into the activities of Mr. Blandin, which found that Mr. Blandin had made recommendations to his client that ****she invest $135,000 in companies with which he was associated or had an interest, without properly disclosing that association or interest to the client, in contravention of the Corporations Law.****
ASIC also found that Mr. Blandin did not have a reasonable basis for making those recommendations, and knew that his client would rely upon them.
The conduct of Mr. Blandin ultimately caused his client to sustain a loss of approximately $120,000 due to the insolvency of the company with which Mr. Blandin was associated or had an interest.
My guess is Jacque Blandin Firmware Visi Inc used the announcement of his signing with the investor as a way to entice investors into his sham company and had no intention of ever getting funding from the investor.
One other point that makes no sense whatsoever: Jacques Blandin of Firmware Visiinc Plc. claims that the investor is just giving you your own money. Yet he claims that the investor did not fulfill the drawdown. If the investor was just giving him his own money then obviously they would have fulfilled the drawdown.
My sources reveal that once Jacques Blandin of Firmware Visi Inc made the announcement, then he fled to the USA to get away from the Australian authorities and never contacted the investor again.
Further proof is that Visiinc plc. that they have been kicked off of the German stock exchange- why?
Now lets focus on Luke Bracken of Bracken International Mining-
His company Bracken International Mining appears to have a $500 million dollar market cap as of this posting but it does not have any trading volume? How many companies with that size market cap have no trading volume like this?
Also if you research them further you will see they are trying to raise $500 million dollars. How can a company worth $500 million raise $500 million?
Maybe he just cannot do the math like they just cannot read term sheets and contracts?
Furthermore Google Luke Bracken Ripoff Report to see his background. Luke Bracken of Bracken International Mining seems even worse than Jacques Blandin of Firmware Visi Inc Plc.
Once again, Luke Bracken of Bracken International Mining announced the deal with the investor and then most likely used it to get other investors into his company.
We also have it on reliable sources that Luke Bracken of Bracken International Mining was close to roping in Gerry Harvey of Harvey Norman fame into investing but he tried to circumvent the introducer and Norman ran away from Luke Bracken of Bracken International Mining as fast as he could. Not to mention that he works out a bedroom in the house of his mother. How is it that the CEO of a 500 million euro market cap does not have the ability to even live in his own apartment- something smells very fishy there.
It looks like both Luke Bracken of Bracken International Mining and Jacques Blandin of Firmware Visi Inc pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book- they burn an investor then try to throw dirt on the victim to bury their mis deeds.
#3 Consumer Comment
good alert about just some of the many of Luke Bracken Bracken International Mining, Kim Cox AWTN and Jacques Blandin Firmware Visi Inc. latest in a long line of questionable debacles
AUTHOR: Elena Ambrosiadou - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, July 08, 2012
I have read this tabloid journalist with great interest and it is an interesting alert about just some of the many of Luke Bracken Bracken International Mining, Kim Cox AWTN and Jacques Blandin Firmware Visi Inc. latest in a
long line of questionable debacles.
If you Google the term Jacques Blandin ASIC you will get an idea of his character. ASIC reported in part as follows The undertaking was offered following an investigation into the activities of Mr Blandin, which found that Mr Blandin had made recommendations to his client that she invest $135,000 in companies with which he was associated or had an
interest, without properly disclosing that association or interest to the client, in contravention of the Corporations Law.
ASIC also found that Mr Blandin did not have a reasonable basis for making those recommendations, and knew that his
client would rely upon them.
The conduct of Mr Blandin ultimately caused his client to sustain a loss of approximately $120,000 due to the insolvency
of the company with which Mr Blandin was associated or had an interest.
Birds of a feather flock together. It is important for other potential investment firms or private investors to conduct
thorough due diligence on them and their past transactions and know that Luke Bracken of Bracken International Mining,
Kim Cox of AWTN and Jacques Blandin or Firmware/Visiinc and their conduct should there be any difficulties arising from
their dealings with them.
Let this ripoff report serve as a warning to anyone looking at doing business with Kim Cox AWTN, Jacques Blandin Firmware Visi Inc or Luke Bracken of Bracken International Mining that if they sound too good to be true it probably is and the possible trouble they will cause you if you do business with them.
#2 Consumer Comment
This above rebuttal makes no sense
AUTHOR: Nathan Detroit - (Canada)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, April 08, 2012
I would like to commend the writer of the report originating this thread, which appears to be in the form of an investigative journalist report, filed by "L.H." of Melbourne National. The above rebuttal, by a Ms Lanigan, does not make much sense, as this Ms Lanigan appears to be a shill for Mr Donovan.
I have been a recipient of some of the Internet press releases put out by Mr. Donovan's during the last 2 or 3 years. Initially, I was curious as to why a fund manager would choose to set up in the Cayman Islands, have no apparent source of capital, then proceed to announce huge deals. .. Upon close review of the related press releases, their content appears so non-sensical as to be laughable. To anyone who has had any kind of legitimate securities training, these supposed transactions look like a bad joke. To be specific, the announcements typically refer to large amounts, however when you examine closer, there never appears to actually be any funds changing hands. This method of operation is typical to give cover for some advance-fee type of scam, as appears to be the case here.
There is a reason to be skeptical offshore brokers, deal makers and promotions involving grand schemes that are conducted solely via the Internet: the principals may not be registered anywhere and are probably skirting securities laws that would apply "onshore"..... Cudos to the journalist who wrote this article.. Why has it taken so long to make this call?
#1 Consumer Comment
this report makes no sense
AUTHOR: marie lanigan - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Monday, March 19, 2012
It seems like anonymous hatchet jobs getting epidemic and anyone who has an axe to grind can say whatever they want freely without penalty?Do you believe everything you read in the newspapers? I do!
I am not an expert and do not about if this Equity Fund Partners is for real or not
but have read the stories and a few things just do *not* make sense:1. this Bracken Mining company has been listed for almost a year now, claims to have a $300
million dollar markt cap yet it has no volume on the stock market at all?
I dont know what this fund guy promised bracken but it seems their potential investors
didnt invest, but it seems NO ONE else is investing into the company either after a year already?maybe this bracken guy is the alleged fraudster?
Some people say Indonesia is one of the most corrupt places in the world to do business- something about this Bracken guy just does not stack up. Has anyone investigated Bracken to see if he has a criminal record?
2. this is a link to kim cox website
http://www.awtn.co/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=62
she claims-they provide world class post listing service, PR, investor relations- so this cox provides world class service, listing services? then why is bracken doing so badly?If ATWN is a world class listing service- how come they do not publish a list of clients or companies they successfully listed?
Maybe this cox is the alleged fraudster?
something just does not smell right- down right fishy if you ask me.
Related Reports
08:32 AM
06:02 AM
New 
Updated Rebuttal Photo 
Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.
