Semiphore Trust Corp; Michael Wilcosky and Herminia Butler This entity committed fraud by not providing a loan after collecting an "origination fee." Floresville Texas

Semiphore Trust Corp has listed operations in both Texas and California. The primary point of contact is known as Michael Wilcosky (the Lender) and his associate is Herminia F. Butler (the CFO). At this stage of our interaction, I am unsure now if these are their real names. This company presents itself as a private lender capable of providing both business loans and commercial real estate loans. Michael states that he is lending his own money and that closing can move quickly. The process is for you to complete an application and then he provides an approval. Prior to funding, it is required that an origination fee equal to 2.5% of the loan amount be paid. In my attempts to vet the company, I performed the usual online searches to see if anything came up on RipOff Report or if there were any other negative items circulating on the web. I spoke with past clients of the company and was even presented with a redacted bank statement from a former client that showed a deposit from Semiphore Trust. Based on those conversations and not uncovering any negative information, I elected to move forward. Ordinarily, I would bypass any lender requiring an upfront payment, but went against that sound judgement in this case. 

The original loan requested was $700k. I elected to lower the loan amount in order to lower the origination fee. I was told that the only thing necessary to complete that change was to submit a new application with the revised loan amount, and everything would proceed. I followed those instructions and expected to be funded within 72hrs. Unfortunately for me, that never happened. What did happen, is I began receiving multiple excuses on why the deal was held up. First, apparently Mr. Wilcosky had a severe accident and was in ICU. When that happened, Ms. Butler stepped in and assured me that the loan would close and that she would be my point of contact going-forward. But suddenly, she stopped responding. She stopped providing feedback, and she never concluded the deal. Once Mr. Wilcosky was “healthy” and “back in the office” he shared that the loan amount could not be changed because everything had been set up in their system with the original loan amount. He then attempted to offer solutions to have the original loan amount funded. Part of this solution was for me to pay more money; which of course I soundly rejected. Mr. Wilcosky assured me that I would receive a refund. He shared with me that he had lost contact with Ms. Butler and that if he had not heard from her by the end of the week, that he would fly to California himself to find out what was going on. This conversation took place on Thursday, August 3^rd. It is not August 7^th and no resolution has been presented. 

Because of my experience, I would advise anyone looking to do business with Semiphore Trust Corp, Michael Wilcosky, and Herminia Butler to stay away. The objective appears to be to collect origination fees and not produce. It also appears that every item presented during due diligence to verify their capacity is fabricated. Everything from the past performance with previous clients to the bank statement that was presented. I have filed a claim against this company in its local jurisdiction and will be filing a report with the Better Business Bureau as well.