Securities Lawyers Blog
The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are reviewing court documents and complaints related to The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) charge that an equipment leasing company – Essex Capital Corporation (Essex) – and its founder Ralph Iannelli (Iannelli) defrauded investors in connection with sales of over $80 million in promissory notes.
In the pleading the SEC called Iannelli a securities fraud recidivist and alleged that his Essex from 2014 through 2017 sold investments through the sale of promissory notes that paid typically 8.5% per annum. The SEC claimed that investor returns were supposed to be based on the strength of Essex’s equipment leasing model. However, the SEC charged that between 2014 and 2017 Iannelli raised over $80 million from approximately 70 promissory note investors through materially false and misleading information. The SEC claims that Iannelli protected only his own financial interests and siphoned millions out Essex to himself from 2014 to the present.
According to the SEC, Essex sold approximately $8.4 million in promissory notes to 21 Daniel Investment Associates (Daniel Investment) clients since 2014 and approximately $23.36 million from Granger Management LLC (Granger) since 2015. Granger clients invested through a pooled investment fund.