Defense attorneys suggested that Brad Mascho, Bennett’s chief financial officer, may have been behind certain false statements and that Bennett may not have been aware they were false, based on the lack of available evidence that Mascho and Bennett had conspired. Prosecutors at the trial alleged that Bennett overstated the success of even while it was losing millions, while her defense argued that she “was not aiming for a profit” but rather was aiming to build market share. A federal affidavit from an FBI white collar crime agent describes this practice as an “indicator of financial stress.” Invoice factoring is a type of financing that allows a business to receive a cash advance on invoices it hasn’t received yet. At the time of the trial, he had not received any of his investment back.īennett also offered special benefits, promising one investor, a then-48-year-old man from Virginia who had already given her $3 million, preferential equity in 2016 in exchange for making an additional investment, according to a federal affidavit.Īt her trial, prosecutors claimed Bennett provided her investors with false financial statements in order to make her company appear profitable, even though was struggling and had begun to factor its receivables as early as 2013. Fox testified that he even borrowed $75,000 against his life insurance plan in order to invest it with Bennett. “It would be a killer if for any reason an investment in your fine company would lead to any more losses than what our portfolio has experienced in the recent past.” Over the following year, he relented and eventually wired Bennett a total of $851,985, according to a federal affidavit. “What you are managing is our sole security blanket,” he wrote again a month later. “My wife is suffering more than ever (if imaginable!),” he had said, “and we simply have to manage matters without further risk these days not knowing what might be any increasing costs for her treatment and/or care.” Bennett ended up managing his personal retirement savings as well, he testified, and she pitched him on in March 2015, writing, “because of your need for safety and guarantee and liquidity you need to call me.” According to court testimony, he had met Bennett in 2003 when he was looking for someone to help manage an employee retirement program for his museum. Michael Fox, a museum director from Arizona in his 70s who was caring for his ill spouse, was hesitant to invest at first. According to prosecutors, she solicited these investments in the form of promissory or convertible notes for which she offered an interest rate of 15%, and promised her investors she would use their money only for the operation and development costs of the business.įBI agents also found a "wealth of personal effects demonstrative of lifestyle." “Having listened to her radio program for well over a year … it was like meeting an old friend,” Thur recalled.Įventually Bennett began soliciting her clients and friends for an investment in, which sold clothes and accessories from luxury brands like Barbour, Arc’teryx and Porsche. to noon at the time, and later set up a meeting at Bennett’s Bethesda office. Peggy Thur, a former bridal consultant at Macy’s, said during her court testimony that she first learned about Dawn Bennett through her radio show, which aired from 11 a.m. It was popular with the retired set and featured interviews with investment experts, authors, economic researchers, and CEOs on topics like “The Freer the Trade, the Better,” “America’s Leadership Deficit,” and “The Middle-Class Massacre.” “Financial Myth Busting with Dawn Bennett” began airing on AM radio in Washington, D.C., and Maryland four years later. She started her own investment firm, Bennett Group Financial Services, in 2006. False promisesīennett started her brokerage career in 1987 at Wheat First Securities, according to FINRA records, and by 1996 was registered with Legg Mason Wood Walker, where she managed the accounts of some clients who stayed with her for decades and eventually became investors in. Even with that, Bennett’s defense tried to argue that her Hindu religion was not only irrelevant to the charges against her but that the prayer costs were actually proof she was trying to make her company succeed.
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