Class Action Lawsuit Against Platinum Equities

Links in the News:

Sept 15 2012: Platinum Equities faces ASC hearing -Calgary Herald

Sept 14 2012: Alberta Securities Commission alleges illegal distributions, prohibited representations and unfair practices in sales of securities by Platinum Equities Inc. - ASC site

Sept 14 2012: Calgary firm raised $58-million while misrepresenting facts to investors: regulatorThe Globe and Mail

Sept 14 2012: Alberta regulator accuses real-estate syndicator of illegal distributionsCanadian Business

Sept 14 2012: ASC alleges illegal distributions, prohibited representations and unfair practices in sales of securities by Platinum Equities Inc. – Sacramento Bee

Sept 12 2012Alberta Securities Commission – Notice of Hearing on Platinum EquitiesAlberta Securities Commission

Sept 10 2012:Class-action lawsuit launched against Calgary company - CBC

Sept 10 2012:INVESTORS MEET OVER CLAIMS OF BEING MISLEAD IN $160M DEAL – Sun News

Sept 9 2012:Suit alleges building-management firm took at least $160 million from nearly 2,200 people - The Province

Key Dates:

Sept 12 2012: Alberta Securities Commission alleges illegal distributions, prohibited representations and unfair practices in sales of securities by Platinum Equities Inc.

Sept 6 2012: Class action suit filed against Platinum Equities, involving key figure from Concrete Equities. The players involved include Dave Humeniuk, who has been sanctioned by the Alberta Securities Commission, and carries a life time ban for offences related to the Real Estate Commission of Alberta. Mr. Humeniuk was sanctioned by Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) in January 2012, for not disclosing this ban in Offering Memorandums prepared while he was involved with Concrete Equities,Shariff H. Chandran, who has been convicted for misrepresenting himself as a realtor, and Riaz Mamdani. (SHARIFF H. CHANDRAN, also known as S.H. Chandran, Sri Chandran and Srinivansan Chandran)

Class Action Lawsuit Against Platinum Equities

June 25, 2012, McGuigan Nelson LLP filed an Action in the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta to advance a claim on behalf of all investors and/or limited partners and/or shareholders in the projects listed in the link below. If you were an investor in one or more of those projects, the Statement of Claim contemplates your investment loss and will be advanced on your behalf. They have separate sub-classes in the lawsuit for each investment, which is generally listed in the link below. The Statement of Claim names many more parties, to incorporate the various corporations at issue with each investment. This is being advanced upon a class action basis, which further contemplates sub-classes for each limited partnership.

McGuigan Nelson LLP Web Site Links:

09/14 ASC lays charges against Platinum Equities more

09/11 Summary of News Coverage - Platinum more
09/11 Hundreds of Investors Attend Town Hall Meeting more
09/10 Important Information about Platinum Equities Class Action Lawsuit more
09/10 CBC The National reports on Platinum Equities Class Action Lawsuit more
09/06 Platinum Class Action Statement of Claim being Amended more
09/06 Press Release relating to Platinum Equities Class Action Lawsuit more
09/05 Message to Dominion (Qualia V) and Lucaya Investors more
08/31 Platinum Class Action: Lucaya Sale more

Thursday, December 16, 2010

744 4th Ave SW

29 comments:

  1. Beltline office space in demand

    Vacancy rate falls to 10%

    By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald February 16, 2011

    Dan Harmsen, of Barclay Street Real Estate Ltd., which released a report that says Beltline office space demand is strong.

    CALGARY - Demand for office space in the Beltline area strengthened throughout last year with the vacancy rate declining.

    Vacancy decreased in the fourth quarter of 2010 for the fourth consecutive quarter in the popular area just outside the downtown, according to a report by Barclay Street Real Estate in Calgary.

    The Beltline office vacancy rate fell from a peak of 16.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 10.0 per cent in the last quarter of 2010.

    There was 148,300 square feet of positive absorption in the fourth quarter.

    Annual absorption reached a positive 437,400 square feet for 2010 which is a significant improvement from the negative 571,000 square feet of absorption experienced throughout 2009, said the report.

    Paul McKay, associate with Barclay Street, said the positive leasing activity has been generated because of the increased activity in the energy sector in the province. And that is leading engineering firms and energy-related service companies to look for additional office space.

    "From the second quarter of 2009 to the second quarter of 2010, the market bottomed out in the Beltline but then picked up," said McKay.

    Barclay Street is forecasting the vacancy rate in the Beltline to fall to eight per cent this year. Total inventory is just over 6.4 million square feet.

    "You're going to see some groups - developers - contemplating new construction in the next couple of years," said McKay.

    The suburban office market has seen a similar trend with vacancy ending the 2010 year at 10.8 per cent, down from 15.7 per cent at the start of the year. The suburban office vacancy rate was 17 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

    Annual absorption in the market was 740,726 square feet. Total inventory in the market is just over 15.3 million square feet.

    The report forecasts the vacancy rate in 2011 to increase slightly to 10.9 per cent.

    "For the last year, the train has been taking off. The train is starting to roll," said McKay of the suburban office market.

    That was evident in the fourth quarter year-over-year comparisons. In 2010, absorption hit a positive 150,108 square feet while in 2009 it was negative 364,300 square feet.

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  2. Quite agree,hopefuly we'll have some news to post by next week on legal representative for ALL of Platinum investors. This will be a call to arms and we will need ALL on board to not only help punish those for wrong doing but also for FULL restitution from ALL guilty parties.
    February 16, 2011 1:09 PM

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  3. There is a special meeting on Feb 28 considering
    a cash call around $12,000.I would rather pay the
    Lawyer to find out the suspisious transactions.

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  4. Dominion Place Investors vs. Defendant Multus Investment Corporation (General Partner/Shariff Chandran) is scheduled for TUESDAY,MARCH 1, 2011 10:00 a.m. at Court of Queen's Bench, Calgary.
    YOUR ATTENDANCE WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

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  5. Doug said...

    did you catch the article in the Calgary Herald business section today? "security regulators cracking down on fraud". Talks about ASC taking fraudsters to criminal court and getting jail time. Talks about Calgarian, Robert John Sellars being found guilty of lying to investors, received a two year sentence and was ordered to pay restitution of almost $2 million.

    a step in the right direction.couldn't come at a better time.

    Doug
    February 23, 2011 10:04 AM

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  6. Guys....if we want to explore legal options collectively, how do we come together ? We are a group of 5 friends who have invested $150K in 744-7th ave....we see that nothing is coming our way out of it...and now there is a cash-call..what's the general feeling among investors in this product ? If we could know before the meeting on Feb-28th...

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  7. General consensus is to vote NO! How could anyone vote yes with the information (rather lack of it) that we have been provided and the seemingly deliberate short time frame we have been given to prepare. What kind of faith can we have in a management that operates in that fashion?

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  8. Not only should you vote no, but you should take immediate action to see that nothing is done without your consent, including putting additional financing on your property. It would seem that the legal way is the only way to go. Platinum is specializing in misinformation and scare and stall tactics on many of it's offerings including 2 which I am invested in. YOU NEED TO ACT NOW!

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  9. The documentation sent to us is clear indicative of mala fide intentions and lack of transparency.

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  10. The tales of woe spun by Platinum don't jive too well with factual info. The bulk of the problem is not the recent recession....
    From Collier's Q3 2010 Downtown Market Report: Office space absorption and leasing activity in the downtown Calgary office market has exceeded expectations thus far in 2010. As at the third quarter of 2010, we have seen positive absorption climb to 1.2 million square feet, which pushes Calgary toward one of the strongest growth years on record. Absorption exceeded 550,000 square feet in the last 3 months alone. The outlook in 2009 was dismal for landlords after a year of significant downward pressure on rental rates, resulting from reduced office space demand and the increased availability of existing and new office space, but 2010 has seen a resurgence of demand and a corresponding increase in leasing activity in the downtown office market.

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  11. You can bet that this building will be sold out from under the investors to Strategic.

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  12. The property will be sold by the Lender under forclosure. The Mortgage has matured and an agreementwas reached with the Lender which requires principal paydown on March 31 in order to have the Lender agree not to foreclose. If the payment is not made then the Lender will start foreclosure proceedings.

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  13. with the current vacancy in the property the value is likely not much more than the mortgage amount so there will be no equity left for the investors.

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  14. Well, I didnt mind putting up the money to make it for another day. Too bad, we will take the loss on this.

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  15. rejesting the cash call probably will let Mamdani step in a scoop up the property at distressed sale prices, rather than waiting for the market to rebound and get more for the property in time.

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  16. PE keeps creating cash calls for more money, yet they don't want to account to Limited Partners for all the transactions they do until a year later.

    How do you expect to get more cash if you are not forthright in your answers and dealings with Limited Partners?

    Yet you put the Limited Partners invested money in jeopardy.

    Your business practices all suck!

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  17. Anonymous said...

    He already screwed and scammed the limited partners and still doing them. He only pretends to be good because he already spent our money on his personal, his family and his co-conspirators benefits and if he could get his hands on more, he would!
    Wednesday, March 23, 2011 8:49:00 AM

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  18. Why should LPs of 744 West Hastings give more money to a cash call? He already took a mortgage last year November 2010 against Sunpark/Pemberton to keep 744 West Hastings.

    What did he do with the mortgages he previously took against 744 West Hastings?

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  19. 744 West Hastings is the Pemberton building. 744 4th Avenue is the address of the Optima building in Calgary.

    2 completely different properties and projects in completely different cities.

    Coincidental that the street number is the same, but the cash call is only in relation to 744 4th Avenue and has nothing to do with the Pemberton building.

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  20. Still, where is all the $ going for these mortgages with clarification to Limited Partners?

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  21. Correction to post Wednesday March 23, 2011 12.18PM


    Still, where is all the $ going for these mortgages with NO clarification to Limited Partners?

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  22. What is happening with this?? As an investor, we need an update.

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  23. You may have gotten an email today from PE indicating this property is going into foreclosure. 3 of us have $100K into this. What can we do?

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  24. Does anyone know what is happening witht his investment. The previous post mentioned foreclosure. Information please!

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  25. I've received an email from Shariff Chandran this week saying my investment in the 744 4th Avenue SW building was a total lost. I want to find investors in this project who are interested in get together to discuss ways to get some of our money back. Please send your email to investor744@shaw.ca if you are interested.

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  26. He had sent the same type of letter to Optima Limited Partners stating he had lost their money, which is another lie.

    The truth is he stole your money.

    He has stolen money from limited partners in all the projects he ever sold to them.

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  27. Here is a copy of the letter dated Oct 12/11:

    Further to our letter dated May 24, 2011, the lender has since foreclosed on the above mentioned property. The property was listed for sale and since there was no offer was received the lender expected to keep the property. One of the main enforcement remedies exercised in Alberta is known as a RICE order. This is a court-ordered sale by way of what is known as a Rice Order which is a court-approved sale to the lender or a third party at an approved sale price. This order preserves the lender’s right to collect any deficiency balance. The lender on the property has now taken title to the property following a RICE order.

    With the current vacancy the property value was less than $8 million. The total owing inclusive of legal fees was $9.35M. They will be seeking a deficiency judgment against the guarantors for the shortfall. Tax slips will be prepared in order for our investors to claim the loss. We regret to inform you that this project ended in a loss but timing and market has caused significant impact to our ability to lease space and refinance. Unfortunately, we were unable to save this project as an overwhelming majority of the Limited Partners voted not to approve the cash call requested by the lender and the Limited Partners were aware of that decision was the possibility of a foreclosure. We tried our best and unfortunately without additional capital from the GP or LPs there was no way of saving the asset.

    Is this for real? What can we investors do?

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  28. All is going according to Mamdani and Chandran's plans. Mamdani is foreclosing on all the buildings, which he knew would happen since they inflated the prices and lied to investors about 3rd party appraisals. In case you folks have not figured out,these 2 conspired to defraud investors because they knew that the average person like myself would not be able to put forth the hundreds and thousands of dollars to fight them and bring them to justice. A RICE ORDER keeps everything neat for these two. If you think that Mamdani is going to sue Chandran for any shortfall, think again, both walk off with millions of dollars from investors and Mamdani continues to add to his collection of buildings in Calgary. As you know the GP has unlimited liability, so start adding all the buildings that have gone sideways. Would it not behoove Chandran to declare banruptcy? Of course that would mean a Receiver would have to look at his books. So to all my fellow investors, there is strength in numbers, please bombard the media, the ASC and the RCMP until we get our justice.

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  29. AnonymousJan 18, 2012 10:42 PM

    To All Limited Partners of Platinum and Accolade Equities Inc., past and present of all projects, please join our litigation group by emailing

    first, your contact information to

    sue_chandrans@yahoo.com.

    We shall advise you of what to do next after receiving your email first.

    ReplyDelete

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