yacht Archives - Benefit Group

January 27, 2023

IRS seizes $1.3M yacht, several vehicles, and more from Springfield multi-restaurant owner

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – Federal court documents show that Springfield multi-restaurant owner, John Michael Felts, is accused of using various companies to fraudulently apply for Paycheck Protection Program loans and Economic Injury Disaster loans.

Felts is a prominent business owner of familiar restaurants such as Hot Cluckers, Taco Habitat, Bourbon & Beale.

Federal documents show Felts received the loans using companies: Taco Habitat GMP LLC, Taco Habit Branson LLC, Habitat Restaurant Holdings LLC, Cluck 2 LLC, Super’s Entertainment LLC, Diagnostic Equipment Inc, Sonic Werx LLC, White River Brewco LLC, E-8 Productions LLC, and Concept Pro LLC.

Financial records obtained by the IRS show Felts applied for 12 PPP loans using the companies listed above. Federal officials say most of the companies Felts used did not have employees and were not in operation at the time he filed for the applications even though Felts stated he did have employees and were in operation at the time.

Felts also applied for 13 other PPP loans using synthesized or fake companies he owned. According to court documents, synthetic identity fraud occurs when criminals create new identities by mixing real and fake information to apply for credit.

Felts is accused of using the money from the PPP loans to buy or loan pay-off several pieces of personal property from May 2020 through November 2021. Federal officials seized all of these items in September 2022. Those items included:

2020 Lexus RX350
- Court documents say Felts applied for the PPP loan via E-8 Productions in April 2020. Felts stated on the application that the loan was for payroll and rent/mortgage and that E-8 had 32 employees.
- Felts deposited the $428,375.00 loan and in May 2020, Felts used around $69,000 to buy the Lexus in St. Louis for his mother-in-law.
- Authorities seized the car from his mother-in-law.
2020 Ford Transit Van
- In April 2020, Felts applied for another PPP loan under Habit Restaurant Holdings LLC. Court documents state that Felts falsely reported that the business had 19 employees and an average monthly payroll of $130,810.90.
- According to federal documents, Felts sent multiple wires totaling $298,484.90 between May 2020 and August 2020 to the account of Taco Habitat GMP LLC.
- Felts deposited the $327,000 loan. In June 2020, Felts bought a “catering van” for $25,984, portions of the PPP loan he deposited. Records from the dealership show the van was sold to and registered to Taco Habitat GMP LLC.
- Authorities seized the van from Taco Habitat in Springfield.
2020 Jeep Wrangler
- In May 2020, Felts applied for a PPP loan for Taco Habitat Branson LLC. In this application, Felts stated the business had 26 employees and an average monthly payroll of $124,000.
- Felts deposited the $310,000 loan. According to court documents, Felts obtained an EIDL for the company and claimed the business had 26 employees and gross revenue of $980,000, and a cost of goods sold of $425,000 when the business was not in operation.
- In July 2020, Felts used $58,594 of the funds to buy a “catering vehicle.” In August the Jeep was registered in the state by Jason Bucher. Bucher submitted a signed affidavit from Felts stating the Jeep was a gift to Bucher.
- Authorities seized the Wrangler from Bucher in Branson.
2018 Cadillac CT6
- In April 2020, a PPP application was filed by “Peter Gollan” on behalf of Diagnostic Equipment Inc. Federal documents show that “Gollan” was a fake identity used by Felts. The application claimed the business had 55 employees and an average monthly payroll of $330,148.
- “Gollan” also filed for an EIDL and falsely listed claims on the application. He deposited the $149,900 loan.
- Felts used the “Gollan” alias to file for another PPP loan and EIDL loan. The PPP loan was worth $398,825 and the EIDL was for $149,900.
- Federal documents show sometime between May and June 2020, Felts used $39,176 to pay off a loan, which was secured by the Cadillac. The vehicle was registered to Felts but was seized from a family member.
- Seized in Walnut Shade, Mo.
2021 Subaru Outback
- Between May and June 2020, Felts transferred $40,778 to pay off a loan used to buy a 2018 Jeep Wrangler. In July 2020, Felts’ brother registered the Jeep and submitted a signed affidavit from Felts stating the Jeep was a gift.
- Later that month, Felts’ brother traded the 2018 Wrangler for a 2020 Wrangler at a local dealership.
- In April 2022, Felts’ brother traded the 2020 Wrangler for a 2021 Subaru Outback.
- The Subaru was seized in Branson.
2020 Ford Transit Van
- In April 2020, Felts applied for a PPP loan using Cluck 2 LLC stating he had 18 employees and an average monthly payroll of f $111,363.77. Felts deposited toe $278,400 loan.
- In May 2020, Felts bought the “catering van” for $26,051.
- Seized from Hot Cluckers in Springfield.
2021 Galeon 470SKY Yacht
- In May 2021, Felts used the company name Habitat Restaurant Holdings LLC to apply for a PPP loan. He claimed the business had 28 employees and an average monthly payroll of $115,229.86. Felts deposited the loan worth $403,304.
- According to federal documents, during the summer of 2021, Felts wrote several checks via Habitat Restaurant Holdings LLC payable to Taco Habitat. In June 2021, Felts transferred $25,000 of the PPP loan to his personal checking account, which federal officials say, partially funded a wire in the amount of $50,000 to MarineMax East in Lake Ozark for the “Purchase of new boat…”
- Records from MarineMax show this wire combined with other funds was used to purchase the $1.3 million yacht.
- Federal documents show Felts then transferred $213,000 to his personal account and wired money to “Purchase of new boat…”
- The yacht was seized in Branson.
Baseball memorabilia and jewelry, federal court documents show:
- In May 2020, Felts used his company Super’s Entertainment LLC, and the fake identity “Tom Holland” to apply for another PPP loan. Flets claimed the business had 86 employees and an average monthly payroll of $464,449. He deposited the $1,161,100 loan.
- He used the “Tom Holland” alias to apply for more loans and grants.
- He used the funds from these loans to purchase a two-tone Rolex watch and two ladies’ sterling silver bracelets. Felts also used these funds to buy a $9,000 18-karat yellow gold Rolex and on a different occasion he bought two pieces of jewelry totaling over $4,000.
- In March 2021, Felts made a payment of $13,041 for various sports memorabilia from an auction agency in New Jersey. He bought a 1952 Topps #312 Jackie Robinson baseball card, and a 1980-1981 Topps Larry Bird, Julius Erving, and Magic Johnson rookie card, signed by all three.
- Felts applied for another PPP loan using his Cluck 2 company and used those funds to buy more jewelry. Federal documents show he spent $16,783 for a ladies’ “RoyalT” Tacori eternity band. He went back the next day to return the wedding band.
- On another instance, he bought more sports memorabilia from the same auction place in New Jersey. This time he bought a 1909-1911 Ty Cobb baseball card and a “2015-16 “Trio Autographs” Larry Bird/Magic Johnson/Julius Erving.”

Federal officials say Felts is also accused of using PPP and EIDL loan funds to purchase several lots of land in the Jones Spring subdivision in Greene County. He used the same companies and the “Peter Gollan” alias to apply for the loans to purchase the land.

KY3 reached out to Felts and his attorney on these accusations and they shared these statements.

“I wish I could tell the entire story and my attorney has advised me to not say a word. I am working with the authorities in multiple jurisdictions to resolve all issues.”

“Mr. Felts has been cooperating with authorities in an investigation into a business associate that conducted improper business transactions. Because this is an ongoing investigation, he cannot comment further as the investigation is ongoing.”

Felts is scheduled to appear in court in January 2024 for the lots of land in Jones Spring.

To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com

March 20, 2022

A palace, a yacht and a hidden fortune: How Putin purportedly maintains a life of luxury

Dubbed “Putin’s Palace,” the 190,000 sq.-foot mega-mansion was purportedly created for his individual use with money from billionaire oligarchs, whom he allegedly permitted to prosper in Russia’s notoriously corrupt economic system so long as they shared the prosperity — with him.

The property has its personal amphitheater, underground hockey rink and personal seaport, in accordance to a documentary made by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s anti-corruption team. There is a no-fly zone in the skies over and a no-boating zone in the encompassing waters.

The superb fortress stands in stark contrast to the tiny 800-sq.-foot apartment Putin promises in his formal 2020 economical disclosure.

But, even with the opulence of the hilltop retreat, “I would be really amazed if Putin at any time sets foot in there once more,” Nate Sibley, an skilled on Russian corruption who advises members of Congress, instructed CNN.

Sibley claimed the palace symbolizes what he sees as a bygone period of Putin pursuing, by the wealth of oligarchs, a high-class life-style that he could never afford to pay for on his federal government income. When Putin is believed to have amassed a concealed fortune by this kind of means previously in his occupation, Sibley claimed, he has since develop into considerably less reliant on his wealthy benefactors more than the a long time and has surrounded himself instead with government and armed service loyalists who share his hardline nationalist views.

The sprawling palace and property on the coast of the Black Sea are seen in this image from a video by Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.

That change, some Russia specialists told CNN, may make it extra tricky to make Putin individually really feel the sting of economic sanctions the US and its European allies have imposed to punish him for invading Ukraine.

Putin has positioned himself, as Sibley put it, “over the fray.”

It wasn’t constantly that way. Practically two decades prior to Putin drew intercontinental ire for his most recent unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin had Russia’s richest gentleman plucked off his private jet and billed him with crimes towards the state.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oligarch truly worth an believed $15 billion at the time, sat caged in the center of the courtroom during his highly publicized trial. Khodorkovsky, who had been important of authorities corruption under Putin’s management, was convicted of tax evasion and fraud, although he argued the rates ended up politically determined. Putin pardoned him in 2013 and he has because lived in exile.

Biden is vowing to seize Russian oligarchs' yachts. Here's where they are right now

Putin’s daring go towards the billionaire oil magnate was witnessed as a concept to other oligarchs: You may be following.

The tactic demanded the unwavering loyalty of the oligarch course.

The ensuing inflow of money, gifts and goodwill is a person explanation for how Putin, who statements a salary of just $140,000 a 12 months, is suspected of remaining a single of the richest men and women on the planet. He is rumored to individual or have entry to not only the Black Sea palace, but also a $100 million yacht, in accordance to posted reviews. CNN was not able to verify Putin’s link to the palace or yacht. The Kremlin has dismissed stories of Putin’s purported concealed wealth.

That the attributes and other belongings usually are not in his title does not make any difference, explained Tom Burgis, author of a ebook on worldwide revenue laundering known as “Kleptopia.” Burgis likened Putin to The Godfather and mentioned it really is recognized that when he asks an oligarch for one thing, it is not genuinely a request.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, left, and his close associate, Platon Lebedev, seen in a defendant's cage at a courtroom in Moscow on July 12, 2004.

“Ultimately they owe everything they have to the boss. And with the click on of a finger, as he has demonstrated in the previous, Putin can just take anything,” Burgis claimed. “Nevertheless influential they may well look, they are ultimately dependent on him.”

A number of of Putin’s closest associates — including childhood close friends, a female who was reportedly his previous lover, and a experienced cellist who is the godfather of one of his daughters, have secretly amassed big fortunes outside Russia for the duration of his time in ability, in accordance to leaked economical paperwork.

A complicated world wide web of shell corporations, offshore banking institutions and concealed transactions obscures their prosperity, with accounts spirited absent within 1 a further like Russian nesting dolls. But a series of leaks in the latest many years from corporations that facilitate the offshore finance system, together with the Panama Papers and the Pandora Papers, have stripped away some of those levels of secrecy.

The belongings tied to Putin’s interior circle consist of an apartment in a Monaco luxury making overlooking the principality’s glitzy harbor. The fourth-floor flat was ordered in 2003 for $4.1 million by a shell company termed Brockville Improvement Ltd., a corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands, paperwork revealed by The Washington Put up demonstrate.

The serious proprietor of the enterprise: Svetlana Krivonogikh, a previous store cleaner from St. Petersburg who reportedly had a passionate connection with Putin two many years back, according to paperwork acquired by the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists and claimed on by the Article and The Guardian. The organization was registered just months right after Krivonogikh, who was 28 at the time, gave delivery to a woman.

The full 'Putin list' of Russian oligarchs and political figures released by the US Treasury

Proekt, an impartial Russian media outlet that was banned in the country final yr, claimed that Putin begun a connection with Krivonogikh in the 1990s just before he grew to become President, and that her daughter has a patronymic center title that indicates “daughter of Vladimir.”

Krivonogikh has declined to remark about Putin to reporters, but her daughter — who had tens of thousands of Instagram followers prior to recently deleting her account — has acknowledged to interviewers that she shares a resemblance to the President.

In addition to the Monaco condominium, Krivonogikh owns a greater part share in a ski resort in which Putin has been observed hitting the slopes, quite a few other luxurious flats in St. Petersburg, and a yacht, the Post and the Guardian described.

The leaked paperwork don’t make very clear the supply of the fortunes amassed by Putin’s internal circle. But in various scenarios, corporations and economical establishments linked to them have gained rewarding state contracts.

Russia has the greatest volume of wealth concealed in offshore tax havens, both in conditions of complete volume — conservative estimates peg it all-around $800 billion in 2017 — and as a share of national GDP, according to a 2020 report by the Atlantic Council.

A whistleblower holding an envelope.

On regular, 10{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of earth GDP is held offshore. Nonetheless, in Russia, offshore prosperity accounted for as a great deal as 60{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of GDP in 2015, according to a 2018 Journal of Community Economics study paper, the most current estimate obtainable.

Authorities say about a quarter of this dim money is indirectly controlled by Putin and his tight-knit circle of oligarchs and poses a “significant national stability menace” to the United States. The Mueller report illustrated how Russian offshore accounts ended up used to interfere in the 2016 elections.

Previously this month, the Justice Division announced the development of a endeavor power devoted to imposing sanctions and other financial constraints designed to isolate Russia from worldwide marketplaces. The KleptoCapture activity power will target not only Russian officers and oligarchs, but “all those who support or conceal their unlawful conduct.”

White House announces new sanctions on Russian oligarchs

Gary Kalman, the director of the US business office of Transparency Global, an anti-corruption advocacy group, explained imposing sanctions will not be quick.

“It is terribly tough for law enforcement to test and ‘follow the money’ because at some point you are likely to basically hit a brick wall,” Kalman mentioned. “There is basically no paper trail.”

The United States and the United Kingdom are suitable places to stash huge quantities of cash, they are among the deepest fiscal marketplaces in the environment, and equally settle for anonymous shell firms, in accordance to the Atlantic Council.

A team of global researchers identified that shell firms in the US can be set up in below an hour for as little as $200, with no acquiring to legally disclose who owns or controls it. For a long time, Western providers — banking institutions and regulation companies — have profited from encouraging Russian oligarchs hide their revenue, location up intricate company buildings that make it nearly difficult to website link property or bank accounts to people today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, right, watch the Navy Day Military parade on July 27, 2014, at the main naval base of Severomorsk, Russia.

In the eyes of some longtime Putin observers, the enigmatic Russian leader has shifted his concentration from pursuit of prosperity to consolidation of electric power.

“It’s difficult to comprehend specifically what is happening within the Kremlin and within the thoughts of Vladimir Putin. But he is far more and far more in a tight partnership with a incredibly little group of men and women, and they have a tendency to be far more on the armed service and intelligence facet somewhat than company persons,” stated Jill Dougherty, previous Moscow bureau main for CNN, “simply because, certainly, if Putin cared about enterprise, he would not be prosecuting this war in Ukraine.”

“Suitable now it is not up to the oligarchs,” claimed Stanislav Markus, an affiliate professor of international company at the College of South Carolina. “It is the guns, not the funds that discuss loudest in the Kremlin today.”

Regardless of whether priorities have shifted inside of the Kremlin, Maria Pevchikh, head of investigations Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, argues the two the palace in the vicinity of the Black Sea and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrate the way Putin sees himself as considerably extra than a government official.

“He sees himself as a czar, as king of some type,” Pevchikh told CNN. “He has enormous programs. He has the vision of him getting a historical determine, currently being so highly effective, so mighty, so vital, and they invest a whole lot of money into this narrative.”

Scott Glover contributed to this report.

February 7, 2022

Credit Suisse securitises yacht loans to oligarchs and tycoons

Credit history Suisse has securitised a portfolio of loans linked to its wealthiest customers’ yachts and personal jets, in an uncommon use of derivatives to offload challenges affiliated with lending to ultra-rich oligarchs and entrepreneurs.

The Swiss financial institution, which has endured a bruising 12 months marked by repeated scandal, quietly offered on a slice of the risk related to $2bn of its “ultra-significant-web-worth” consumer loans at the conclusion of 2021.

The securitisation of the portfolio of loans to tycoons and oligarchs backed by their “jets, yachts, genuine estate and/or economic assets” was designed by a device of the lender that has formerly been plagued with sanctions-related difficulties.

An investor presentation for the offer, witnessed by the Financial Moments, explains that one particular of the most important aims of this division is to “create a favourable model perception of CS by financing the principals’ favorite business enterprise equipment (small business jet) and luxury toys (yachts)”.

Though banking institutions regularly interact in so-called substantial danger transfer transactions to cut down the funds they maintain towards financial loans, the derivative promotions typically entail staid company or property finance loan portfolios that form the bread and butter of financial institution lending.

The character of the underlying collateral intended Credit history Suisse experienced to offer you an eye-watering desire price of more than 11 per cent to entice a handful of hedge money into the $80mn transaction, an indication of the selling price the financial institution was willing to spend to make improvements to its capital place without tapping community equity markets.

Column chart of Size of outstanding loans against yachts ($mn) showing Credit Suisse’s yacht loans now exceed $1bn

The deal’s investor presentation also lifted the lid on the Swiss bank’s non-public banking division, detailing some of the intently guarded organization tricks of its worldwide wealth administration franchise.

A single slide discovered that in 2017 and 2018, Credit rating Suisse expert 12 defaults on its yacht and aircraft financial loans, with a third of these “related to US sanctions in opposition to Russian oligarchs”. Press reports at the time indicated that Oleg Deripaska and brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg experienced to terminate private jet leases with the lender.

The exact same slide stated an maximize in defaults on Credit Suisse’s’s home finance loan financial loans in people yrs for the reason that some customers “were not significantly pleased with the bank” as it pulled back again from specific marketplaces.

Though Credit rating Suisse has prolonged delivered financial loans to fund billionaires’ personal jet buys, its foray into yacht finance is relatively recent. The slides confirmed that it only commenced lending against yachts in earnest in 2014 but has rapidly expanded the small business, with its excellent financial loans exceeding $1bn past year.

The portfolio also contains financial loans versus rich clients’ holdings of stocks and bonds, as very well as their holdings in non-public fairness and hedge resources. The slides confirmed that on the latter, the bank was sometimes keen to supply 80 for every cent leverage on their positions, which it acknowledged was “above standard”.

The presentation extra that “lending catalysts” for these consumers can include things like a “change in private situation” these kinds of as a “divorce”.

The $80mn notes are outlined on the Intercontinental Inventory Exchange in the Channel Islands, a bourse that attained notoriety for its role in the Neil Woodford scandal but is normally the venue of preference for area of interest personal debt promotions.

Next publication of this write-up, Credit rating Suisse stated in a assertion that the transaction “priced in line with other considerable possibility transactions, supplied competitive investment decision and hedging conditions for our skilled trader clientele whilst growing the funds flexibility of the bank.”