Tulsa Real Estate Fund- Scam?

For a few weeks now I've seen posts about the Tulsa Real Estate Fund.

It's afrocentric and uses the historic "Black Wall Street" as an advertising tool, though it has no ties to Tulsa or the historic BWS whatsoever.

The IPO was yesterday and I think they raised a little less than $5 million out of a $500 million dollar goal.

I've looked over their SEC filing and saw many red flags such as



The "managers" of the company are going to pay themselves first at a rate of 5.5%

The company can at any time raise the amount they pay themselves

The companies ads/posts never really say what they are investing in

The company has no funds and no history

The company plans to leverage any properties they acquire up to 85 %

"Investors" may realize tax liabilities even if there are no cash disbursements

There is no way for "investors" to sell their shares. If the company does institute a buy pack program it will be at 5% value

"Investors" have no say whatsoever in company decisions



Basically the company is going to buy cheap property in the slums/ghettos of Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, and other war zones and somehow make a profit by "fighting gentrification".

My black friends tell me I just don't get it because I'm white.

To me at best it's investing in a slumlord's real estate empire, at worst it's just a scam aimed at fleecing black people using black pride as the center of the con.

Any stock market/ real estate investors out there have any insight on this?

You just described a Ponzi precursor scam.

"
The "managers" of the company are going to pay themselves first at a rate of 5.5%

The company can at any time raise the amount they pay themselves

The companies ads/posts never really say what they are investing in

The company has no funds and no history

The company plans to leverage any properties they acquire up to 85 %

"Investors" may realize tax liabilities even if there are no cash disbursements

There is no way for "investors" to sell their shares. If the company does institute a buy pack program it will be at 5% value

"Investors" have no say whatsoever in company decisions "

So..... how many RED FLAGS do you need....?


Abe, not directed at you..... rhetorical...

a reply to: Plotus

Idk, I have black friends that say " this is an historic moment we can tell our grandkids about".

It's an actual legit company that has filed with the SEC.

It just screams "con" to me.

I thought maybe someone here might have some insight that I don't.

fighting gentrification

Basically they are ensuring that cities continue to rot and can’t improve.

Brilliant!

originally posted by: projectvxn
You just described a Ponzi precursor scam.

When I saw in the filing that the company will still need "other sources of revenue" after raising the initial half a billion dollars, i thought the same thing.


But you'd think the SEC would catch on to that pretty quickly.

originally posted by: abe froman

originally posted by: projectvxn
You just described a Ponzi precursor scam.

When I saw in the filing that the company will still need "other sources of revenue" after raising the initial half a billion dollars, i thought the same thing.


But you'd think the SEC would catch on to that pretty quickly.

The SEC has about a billion other records to go through and as long as the paperwork is filled out correctly there is no reason for them to start digging. Until the complaints start coming in.

I would file a complaint.

Here is the founder being interviewed...

a reply to: projectvxn

I didn't invest.

The ads/posts for this syndication deal make a point of saying you don't have to be an accredited investor to get in with a $500 minimum investment.

If you don't want REAL investors that's a pretty big warning sign to me.

originally posted by: abe froman
For a few weeks now I've seen posts about the Tulsa Real Estate Fund.

It's afrocentric and uses the historic "Black Wall Street" as an advertising tool, though it has no ties to Tulsa or the historic BWS whatsoever.

The IPO was yesterday and I think they raised a little less than $5 million out of a $500 million dollar goal.

I've looked over their SEC filing and saw many red flags such as



The "managers" of the company are going to pay themselves first at a rate of 5.5%

The company can at any time raise the amount they pay themselves

The companies ads/posts never really say what they are investing in

The company has no funds and no history

The company plans to leverage any properties they acquire up to 85 %

"Investors" may realize tax liabilities even if there are no cash disbursements

There is no way for "investors" to sell their shares. If the company does institute a buy pack program it will be at 5% value

"Investors" have no say whatsoever in company decisions



Basically the company is going to buy cheap property in the slums/ghettos of Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, and other war zones and somehow make a profit by "fighting gentrification".

My black friends tell me I just don't get it because I'm white.

To me at best it's investing in a slumlord's real estate empire, at worst it's just a scam aimed at fleecing black people using black pride as the center of the con.

Any stock market/ real estate investors out there have any insight on this?

The founder is a get rich quick in real estate hustler... his spin is that he was "in the streets" and a convicted felon showing black people financial empowerment.

a reply to: Edumakated

From watching SHARK TANK I Know that a half a billion dollar valuation on a company with no money and no assets is a non-starter.

originally posted by: abe froman
a reply to: projectvxn

I didn't invest.

The ads/posts for this syndication deal make a point of saying you don't have to be an accredited investor to get in with a $500 minimum investment.

If you don't want REAL investors that's a pretty big warning sign to me.

This is still actionable.

There are enough red flags here for the SEC to be monitoring IF they get a complaint with a few details. Since you are closer to this I would suggest filing a complaint anyway. You don't have to be invested to report potential financial crimes.

He is praying on the black community's desire to build wealth. Seems like yet another charlatan selling hope and riches. The hustle is if I can get 20,000 people to just give me $50 bucks each... that is $1 million dollars.

I do agree that the community needs to focus on building wealth, but there are far easier and less risky ways to do so.

This is an excellent place to start an investigative career and will be interesting no matter if it is a scam or not. Someone (maybe someone who lives in the area or knows investors) should take interest and follow all news releases and keep a file on it and see how it evolves. Get all the companies public statements and news releases, follow their investment strategies, do a little research on the board members, etc. I'm guessing it would be fairly easy to get all of this and I'm willing to bet that having a solid research file on this company might be worth something should it become evident that they are doing something illegal (sell it to a new program maybe or law firm sueing them) or if they are actually legitimate then that would be a very good story on a business of that type! Seems like a win-win!

From the description of the OP, that sounds like a front company to either extort "diversity" contracts or gov funding (for providing housing) or maybe to launder money which could be done from any number of sources and can easily be done when investing in slum real estate - making it a nice money washing business. I can think of about 10 different ways that money could be laundered with real estate (money from drugs, guns, misc trafficking) using the nebulous business model stated. The other option is a ponzi scheme or mix of ponzi & laundering.

If I lived down there this would be very exciting to investigate and get in on the ground floor!

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

The company is actually based in Atlanta, Ga and the founder is a 3 time felon, former coc aine dealer, and seems to have actually made his money, not in real estate, but in his on line real estate "school" and seminars.

Ala, Trump University.

naw give a brother a btrak give some due dilligence if ya see

Is it really that difficult to for non-black people to fathom black people doing something positive in the community? Sheesh.

originally posted by: prob723
Is it really that difficult to for non-black people to fathom black people doing something positive in the community? Sheesh.

It doesn't take a white person to start a Ponzi scam either. The guy is basically selling you a dream of helping out your neighborhood, while taking your money and giving you crap in return. Outside of that he is also pushing the anti-gentrification angle in an effort to make you feel better about just handing him your money. This guy has scammer written all over it, but hey play the race card to shut people down (without knowing what race they are).

a reply to: Guyfriday
I'm a black guy and I can tell you this has all the looks of a Ponzi scheme. The subscription agreement mentions multiple times that they own no assets. "We have not conducted any revenue-generating activities and as such have not generated any revenue since inception" is another Risk Factor listed in their subscription agreement on their SEC filing. The company agreement is set up to have the investors take all the risks, they have to stay for at least one year and the company does not even have to have a reserve to fund withdrawals of members. They cannot produce any revenue with no assets, so all their money is from new investors. This will fall apart as soon as there are more old investors drawing money than there are new investors paying in.You can go to www.sec.gov... and see it for yourself.