HousingWire is reporting that a Utah-based real estate investment firm offered investors a guaranteed ROI in turnkey houses that the SEC alleges bilked $28 million out of over 250 people. According to the SEC filing, Marquis Properties fraudulently represented that it sells interest in “turnkey real estate properties, promissory notes secured by real properties, and joint venture agreements to purchase real properties.”
The SEC said in its complaint that Marquis, the company’s president and chief executive officer, Chad Deucher, and its executive vice president, Richard Clatfelter, Deucher and Clatfelter represent that Marquis locates, purchases, renovates, and sells single family and small multi-family homes in “lucrative areas” of the country. According to the SEC, Deucher and Clatfelter tell investors that Marquis has “proven renovation crews, property managers and realtors on the ground” to assist with all stages of the project, thereby eliminating the need for direct involvement. Additionally, the SEC said that Deucher and Clatfelter represent to investors that they will receive “guaranteed return of principal and returns” from their investment in the form of rental income, interest payments, and/or profits from the sale of properties. But what Deucher and Clatfelter don’t tell investors is that the properties offered as collateral were often not owned by Marquis, were substantially encumbered, or were in uninhabitable or blighted condition, the SEC said.
