Fatime Abdel-Fakhara, et. al. v. The State of Vermont, et. al., was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont on August 24, 2021 by investors claiming that the State of Vermont and several individual Defendants wrongfully solicited and used investor funds to complete the last two phases of a Vermont ski resort after they had knowledge that the first six phases were funded through a Ponzi scheme. The complaint alleges claims for: (1) civil conspiracy under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; (2) constitutional taking without just compensation against the State of Vermont; (3) constitutional taking with no Due Process against the State of Vermont; and (4) gross negligence against the individual defendants.

BelHealth Investment Partners has announced it has completed the sale of Care Advantage to Searchlight Capital Partners.

Care Advantage, based in Richmond, Va., offers in-home care services to patients across Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., and Delaware. Founded in 1988, the company states that it employs approximately 3,000 personal care aides, certified nursing assistants, skilled…

An Income Share Agreement (ISA) is a contract in which a lender gives a student money for education, and in return, the student promises to pay the ISA-provider a fixed percentage of the student’s income for a set amount of time after graduation. The student may repay more or less than the amount received, depending on the terms of the ISA.

The Western District of New York recently allowed the government to intervene in an FCA action brought months after the government’s initial notice of declination and more than seven years after the government initiated its investigation. U.S. ex rel. Teresa Ross v. Indep. Health Corp., et al., 12-cv-299, 2021 WL 3492917 (W.D.N.Y. Aug. 9, 2021). While the Government’s motion was filed more than seven years after the FCA action was initially filed under seal, the court allowed the Government to intervene, finding that it had satisfied each of the factors required to demonstrate “good cause” for intervening at a later date.

Patient Square Capital will acquire Summit BHC from FFL Partners and Lee Equity Partners, according to a news release.

Summit BHC, based in Franklin, Tenn., develops and operates behavioral health hospitals and addiction treatment centers throughout the country. Founded in 2013, the company’s primary focus is on psychiatric services and substance use disorder treatment.…

In an Aug. 12, 2021, opinion, the Delaware Chancery Court examined two seller-friendly purchase agreement provisions and held that public policy and Delaware law prevented the seller from invoking the provisions to block well-pled allegations of fraudulent inducement.
Online HealthNow, Inc. and Bertelsmann, Inc. v. CIP OCL Investments, LLC, et al. addressed allegations that the…

Thompson Street Capital Partners has announced it has acquired Vector Laboratories.

Vector, based in Burlingame, Calif., is the protein detection business unit of Maravai. Founded in 1976, the company manufacturers labeling and visual detection reagents for life science researchers conducting tissue-based protein detection and characterization.

Thompson Street Capital Partners, based in St.…

Ponzi schemes focused on fake investment opportunities are nothing new. Bernie Madoff, Allen Stanford and Tom Petters are now household names. But there has been a particular rise of Ponzi schemes specifically in the film and video content industry that has intensified in the last few years.

As streaming services vie for dominance in the frenzied content wars in an effort to draw in more and more viewers, this trend is likely to accelerate. These streaming services will spend tens of billions of dollars this year alone creating and acquiring video content.[1]

These conditions create a perfect breeding ground for Ponzi schemes, given the amount of money changing hands and the lax due diligence standards investors sometimes accept in exchange for the chance to tap into this hot market.

In the last year alone, the largest film financing Ponzi scheme in U.S. history collapsed, and these schemes spread to overseas markets, like China.

Mills v. Trustmark National Bank, et al. was filed in the Southern District of Mississippi on August 19, 2021 by a receiver appointed on behalf of companies engaged in a scheme to defraud investors by producing false deeds for the purchase and sale of timber.

Plaintiff Alysson Mills (“Plaintiff”) is the Receiver for Arthur Adams (“Adams”) and his company turned Ponzi scheme Madison Timber Properties, LLC (“Madison Timber”).  The defendants are Trustmark Corporation d/b/a Trustmark National Bank (“Trustmark”), Southern Bancorp Bank (“Southern”), Riverhills Bank (“Riverhills”), Bennie Butts (“Butts”), and Jud Watkins (“Watkins”) (collectively, “Defendants”).  Butts and Watkins were employees of Trustmark and Riverhills during the alleged Ponzi scheme.