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Report: #1463301

Complaint Review: 1st American Financial - Torrance California

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  • Reported By: Derek — Easley South Carolina United States
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  • 1st American Financial 21250 Hawthorne Blvd Torrance, California United States

1st American Financial First American Financial, Steve Jones, Stephan Jones, Paul Nater, Nater Associates, MRB Consulting Misleading Investors and Charging for Providing a Fraudulent Service Torrance California

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Hello everyone, my name is Derek Boyd I am an investor that was recently involved in a Standby Letter of Credit transaction between Paul Nater and Associates, 1st American Financial, MRB Consulting, United Escrow, Citi Bank, and Maverick Venture Partners. The following statement is my testimony in regard to the failed transaction, who I feel is responsible, and the fraudulent practices that I have witnessed.

Before I begin I would like to put out a disclaimer that I have had no individual or personal interaction with Paul Nater or any of his associates except through one email, and that all the accounts following are from documents, emails and message logs provided by Mr. Richard Olson of Maverick Venture partners, as well as my own due diligence.

I would also like to state for the sake of time, as I have wasted enough regarding this matter, much of the following report is taken from the rebuttal I have given to Mr. Paul Nater on his report against Mr. Richard Olson.

I would next like to state my relationship to Mr. Richard Olson, the following text was taken from the rebuttal as to save time re-explaining my position. “For reference here is a brief history of my relationship with Mr. Olson, I have known Richard Olson for close to a year now and have been a part of a few separate successful business transactions prior to and after this investment began, and at no point has Mr. Olson fraudulently taken my money for personal gain or recklessly lost it. “

Now that I have clarified who I am as well as provided the context of my involvement into this case, I will now assert my claim which is, that Paul Nater and Associates, 1st American Financial and MRB Consulting have committed fraud, stolen money, failed to meet contractual obligations and shamefully slandered the name of their client Mr. Richard Olson.

Below is a very brief description of the events that transpired and for the sake of time much of the information provided are mostly the highlights that have been simplified and condensed.

This transaction was to be a very quick, simple service purchase in which Mr. Richard Olson (Maverick Venture Partners), paid for the creation and delivery of a Stand By Letter of Credit in which Mr. Paul Nater (Paul Nater and Associates) and Steve Jones (1st American Financial) were to provide. Then an escrow company (United Escrow) was provided to facilitate the trade once both sides met the demands required in the contract. The contract states that Mr. Olson will provide payment for said services and 1st American will provide the SBLC. From there the escrow company upon completion of both parties’ requirements will give 1st American the money, and the SBLC will be sent to MRB Consulting who will then supply the SWIFT service.

This company, MRB Consulting, is a third-party company that 1st American uses to supply the SWIFT service and from this point on things start getting convoluted. MRB proceeds to swift the SBLC to Santander Bank, after about a week they never receive it. Yet MRB Consulting provided successful SWIFT transaction receipts. Another concern is that MRB consulting is SWIFTing this SBLC through CITI BANK and in their MT760 SWIFT receipts it states CITI Banks’s SWIFT CODE as well as a tracking code. Mr. Olson tried calling in multiple times to follow up on the progress of this SWIFT by calling CITI Bank directly. At first the CITI bank representative states because he does not have an account with CITI bank they can not release that information. He persists to then find someone willing to look into the tracking code. Mr. Olson provides the code and they CITI bank representative informs Mr. Olson that this tracking code is not on file.

Alright so after that event Mr. Olson gets news from Santander Bank that they have never received the SBLC. Mr. Olson then requests to send the SBLC to United Bank of Africa. Again, they cannot receive, however even if they could UBA is affiliated with CITI Bank. Which means CITI bank would have been the bank used to “monetize” the SBLC which for those unaware of what that means it is like saying you will cash your own personal check. Moving from here Mr. Olson then proceeds to send two more times to Wells Fargo, and TD Bank. Each to no avail.  Now each of these additional SWIFT’s cost $25,000, which brings the total amount spent for Mr. Olson and his investors to $375,000. From here Mr. Olson and his investors are justifiably skeptical. Many of us proceed to do our due diligence further into the transactions. From here we various investors and Mr. Olson included seek expertise from those qualified to provide these services. These individuals included region managers of Wells Fargo and TD, other SBLC and SWIFT providers as well as individuals in fraud detection and prevention. After gathering the various opinions from these individuals, we the investors and Mr. Olson surmise that this is service provider is a scam.

Mr. Olson then proceeds to voice his concerns to Mr. Nater about the lack of success for months on all of these failed SWIFT’s. Mr. Nater then offers to find a new SWIFT provider (HSBC in the UK), extend the term of the original SBLC, cover the SWIFT fee ($75,000) for the new provider, and that the original $20 million that 1st American provided would be placed into HSBC’s Account for the creation of a new SBLC. Sounds good right? Well as to be expected nothing ever comes to fruition. From here we, the investors and Mr. Olson, wait weeks for Mr. Nater’s money to be wired to HSBC for the swift fee as well as the creation of said SBLC. We are never provided any documents that state the deposit of 1st amercan’s funds nor are we provided the SBLC documentation or a wire transfer receipt from Mr. Nater. Exhausted and frustrated Mr. Olson then asks for either a refund as the terms of agreements made have not been met or simply provide the new SBLC in a timely manner.

This is when the fallout happens, and everything goes downhill. Mr. Nater informs Mr. Olson that they will not supply a refund because this is a service that was not required by contract from Mr. Nater, or Mr. Jones and that this second SBLC was nothing more than them doing something in good faith. Mr. Nater also states that they have stopped the process to obtain the new SBLC since Mr. Olson demanded a refund even though he also gave them the option to complete the process but in a timely manner. Mr. Olson then proceeds to call the escrow company to find out that the funds have already been given to 1st American.

This is when all the pieces of the puzzle start adding up and Mr. Olson starts his full investigation into Mr. Paul Nater, Mr. Steve Jones and MRB Consulting. He finds out quite a few concerning things, not all are relevant to this particular matter, so I will refrain from mentioning them however some of the concerns are. One concern is that on 1st American’s website one of their international phone numbers is to a business hosting provider that is in no way affiliated with 1st American. Mr. Olson found another rip off report that had been filed during the few months we worked with them. Mr. Olson also spoke with the new SWIFT provider that Mr. Nater was to use for the new SBLC and this person mentioned how all Mr. Nater had done was incorrectly fiill out an application and at no point proceeded further to actually purchase the service.

So from the outside looking in I would like to put together the pieces of the puzzle that Mr. Nater, and Mr. Jones have elegantly put together into their masterpiece of fraud. Mr. Nater sells a service to provide an SBLC and offers a provider to SWIFT it. They get you on contract stating that they will simply supply a piece of paper stated SBLC and that you, the buyer/client, will pay a fee for the right to use that paper. You, the buyer will receive that paper from Mr. Nater’s associate Mr. Steve Jones of 1st American Financial. You, the buyer will have the SBLC sent to MRB Consulting who will provide the SWIFT and you the buyer, will also use their escrow company that they have had success using in the past.

At no point in any of this transaction, outside of your payment, is something that you provide. They then issue the SBLC whether it is fake or not no one knows because you are already under contract to have it sent to MRB Consulting. Then MRB consulting will print some pretty papers that say the SBLC has been sent thus successfully completing their obligations and relieving them of any liabilities. They will also blame the receiving banks for being unable to take the SWIFT not that MRB consulting has not actually provided a real SWIFT for a potentially fake SBLC. They do this knowing that most people will not follow through and have contacts high enough in the Banking world to verify these transactions. Thus, it Is the buyer’s responsibility from here for not know enough about how SBLC and SWIFT’s work.

In conclusion Mr. Nater, Mr. Jones and MRB Consulting try to position a client into a contractual trap based on the client’s incompetence or ignorance. After they are found guilty they then proceed to blame shift, and harp on a contract that they themselves have not fully completed. They continue to posture themselves as a good faith victim who even went above and beyond to provide a service by following through with another provider but ultimately would waste more time and money by not actually coming through. Most likely their aim is to waste just enough time till the terms of the original SBLC have run out and they will then argue that they provided all the required services that they were obligated into and that it was the buyer’s responsibility for not supplying them with a valid receiving bank within the time frame that was provided.

If anyone has any questions feel free to contact me, my personal cell phone number is (((REDACTED))).

Thanks

Derek Boyd

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 10/02/2018 06:40 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/1st-american-financial/torrance-california-90503/1st-american-financial-first-american-financial-steve-jones-stephan-jones-paul-nater-1463301. 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

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