Category: SEC

On February 6th, the court finally approved the claims process! So, if you were a “net loser,” you should be receiving your packet within thirty days. I’ve updated the SEC docket to reflect the changes. Things have been pretty quiet otherwise.  The Receiver filed another status report but it’s really just more of the same.

I’ve updated the docket for the SEC case to include everything up to through January 11th.  I had pulled a more recent docket this morning but lost the browser tab and can’t pull it up without being double-charged for it, so I will need to wait until tomorrow to finish.  There’s nothing particularly interesting in the entries (not even on the docket I saw today), except two more fee applications were submitted.  Not much news to report these days it seems.

As you know, the Receiver filed for approval from the court for a claims process back on October 31st.  On December 4th, the motion was denied with no public explanation.  I’ve been patiently waiting to see the docket updated with some news that the Receiver had refiled and a little over a month after the motion was denied, he did just that! According to the renewed motion, the prior one was rejected for two reasons: The judge wanted to know what the Receiver’s plan was for mail that was returned undeliverable.  In this motion, the Receiver responded by stating that he would have to use online searches of public databases, which runs about $10 each.  If that didn’t work, he would have to employ a private investigator, which would run about $50 per search. This affects the sixty-day limit for claims disputes, since the clock can’t run on mail you didn’t receive yet.  So, the clock will start on the post-marked date of the claims packet you’ll receive.  If the mail is returned undeliverable, and the Receiver is able to find another address for you then the clock will start when he mails that second packet to you. The judge

The receiver has issued his first report and you can read it at the receiver’s site.  The report starts off by saying that due to the short length of time and the volume of information to digest, the report is a preliminary and the contents may change a lot.  Let me break down a few juicy tidbits:   Ed & Joel consented to the Preliminary Injunction.  This means that the restraining order has basically become permanent and that the court date for Monday is cancelled, since there’s no need for it now. Joel admitted that most of the ATMs sold weren’t real and the serial numbers made up. He said that he came up with the list of locations by combing the yellow pages and calling the location to see if they had an ATM there. While we all know that Joel can’t honestly claim ignorance, this document points out that because Ed could sign checks, did the tax returns and was also the registered agent of those Oasis Studio Rentals companies (the ones who received loans from NASI for large sums), he can’t claim it either. The receiver and the FBI showed up at NASI’s office on October 1st

The receiver site has recently been updated to include an open letter and there is a survey also available in which they ask for your contact information, the names of the people involved in recruiting you as well as the amount of ATMs you purchased and what price you paid for them.  So be sure to head on over there and fill out the survey! I’ve reprinted the open letter below as well as uploaded the pdf to the library.  A message to investors from the Receiver: Dear Investor, As you may already know, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently filed a complaint against the following companies and persons: NATIONWIDE AUTOMATED SYSTEMS, INC. JOEL GILLIS EDWARD WISHNER Defendants, and OASIS STUDIO RENTALS, LLC OASIS STUDIO RENTALS #2, LLC OASIS STUDIO RENTALS #3, LLC Relief Defendants The SEC alleges the Defendants operated a large Ponzi scheme by selling investments in automated teller machines (ATM’s) through purported “sale and leaseback” transactions. The complaint further alleges that Nationwide Automated Systems, Inc. (“NASI”) told investors they were buying ATM’s and leasing them back to NASI, who would in turn guarantee an investment return of at least 20% per year. The complaint states that

Well, we were off on the location of the website.  It’s actually http://www.nasi-nationwideatm.com/Edit: I guess the receiver changed his mind and dumped thsi domain name.  The new name is http://www.nasi-receivership.com. It’s…sparse.  I checked the domain holder and it is definitely owned by Trigild, the company who employs the receiver, William Hoffman. Those who are familiar with NASI’s old site, the one with the picture of the ATM, the contact form and the phony client login, will recognize the URL.  But you don’t.  The receiver’s site has a dash instead of a period after nasi.  Yeah, I know.  A bit confusing.   You can see for yourself at a place like http://whois.domaintools.com, you’ll see Trigild as the registrant for nasi-nationwideatm.com.

A member on the Quatloos forum spoke with the receiver today and there should be a website up and running today or tomorrow.  It should be nasireceivership.com, but we won’t be sure until it comes online. That domain name, the .org and the .gov names have not been registered yet.

Thanks to the SEC investigation and the minutes that accompanied the temporary restraining order, we know know more about the behind the scenes operations over at NASI.  Of course, the SEC is not finished investigating, so this information is subject to change. But, I thought I’d go through the order and break out the interesting elements. Since 2013, NASI raised $123 million in investor funds. ATM revenue accounted for less than 2% of NASI’s actual revenue. NASI operated like a typical Ponzi, using new investor funds to pay the guaranteed return of 20% on the old investments. There were three NASI-affiliated companies involved with this scam, and Edward Wishner was the registered agent of all three.  They were Oasis Studio Rentals, LLC., Oasis Studio Rentals #2, LLC., and Oasis Studio Rentals #3, LLC. NASI would charge $12k per ATM contract, the contracts ran for ten years. At the end of the ten years, the investor could have their ATM delivered to them, get a full refund of their initial investment or auto-renew the contract for three years.  In the complaint, it stated that some investors were charged $19k for an ATM contract. The contract prohibited the investor from contacting the

On September 30th, the SEC obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Nationwide Automated Systems, Joel Gillis, Edward Wishner, Oasis Studio Rentals, LLC, Oasis Studio Rentals #2, LLC and Oasis Studio Rentals #3, LLC.  This restraining order freezes their assets, prohibits the destruction of documents, grants expedited discovery and appoints a temporary receiver. This is obviously a huge win as several investors have reported that NASI has continued to receive investor funds after the SEC investigation started back in June and even after they started bouncing checks in August and September. There is a court date on October 27th at 10AM, at which point NASI will be able to contest the order.  If they fail, the SEC will get a preliminary injunction, which is quite a bit more permanent than the TRO. All NASI victims need to be aware that this order also bars you from trying to get any money you believe you’re owed out of NASI, except through the SEC.  The next steps at this point for all victims is to simply wait for more information from the SEC.  We’ve been told several times on Quatloos that the SEC will set up a webpage with information you’ll need,