Although there are still is much fighting about the proposed disbursement of funds, this month U.S. court appointed receiver Robb Evans & Associates submitted a detail distribution proposal to U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chang in Chicago. That means monies may soon be going to former PIWM / Nikolai Battoo investors.
Before any distribution can be made, however, the court must still rule on objections from liquidators in the British Virgin Islands. They say their claims to almost $25 million collected by the U.S. receiver are superior to that of most investors. That means they want the money to pay their relatively small class of investors.
It is also possible that others may surface and object to the receiver’s plans.
Assuming the plan is approved, a better than 50% chance in our opinion, money may soon be flowing to investors.
How much? That depends on how many people submit claims.
To date, the receiver has identified over 800 potential claimants and believes the claims to be $294,000,000. Divide $294 million by $25 million and its obvious that PIWM loss victims wont see much money. With the average investment being approximately $367,000, even ten cents on the dollar is something.
Many people won’t be getting a penny, however. Why? Because the receiver has only heard from approximately 660 of those 800 victims.
That’s right, over a hundred victims are potentially leaving millions of dollars on the table.
What worries us even more is that many folks with PIWM fraud losses are relying solely on the receiver to recover their money. If you purchased directly from Tracy Sunderlage, that might be the only option. But hundreds of folks have purchased from stockbrokers, financial planners, insurance agents and investment advisors. In many cases, those folks – or their insurance policies / employers – can be held responsible for losses.
If you purchased your investment from a third party (like a stockbroker), give us a call. Unfortunately, many of these “professionals” were more motivated by the high commissions these investments paid and did not act in the best interests of their clients.
We have teamed up with Chapman Law to pursue these claims against those selling investments in PIWM, Maven, Anchor Hedge Fund, First Fidelity, BC Capital and others who may be associated Nikolai Battoo and Tracy Sunderlage. We have successfully brought claims against insurance agents too.
If you wish to discuss fraud losses in general, contact the author at or by telephone at (direct). Have a claim involving PIWM, Battoo, Sunderlage, Maven, Galaxy or Anchor? We can help!
Post by Brian Mahany, Esq.
Tagged: PIWM fraud, Maven fraud, Battoo fraud, Nikolai Battoo, Tracy Sunderlage