Print the value of index0
Asbjorn Gosta, Balimo Investments - Lender Fraud / Extortion Attempt predatory lending, fiancial fraud, extortion zurich Internet
On 6/30/2015, our company – We began verbal “Skype” conversation with Balimo Investments AG and its representative, Mr Ásbjörn Gosta. The objective of this conversation was to establish the terms and conditions to be provided in a Letter of Intent for a business loan to be made by Balimo Investments AG. The initial call concluded and we were told to compose the Letter of Intent that would set forth these terms and conditions discussed. Later that day, we sent the Letter of Intent to Balimo Investments AG that included all points discussed with Balimo for its execution. Within a few hours, we received the Letter of Intent executed by Mr Gosta on behalf of Balimo Investments AG. The Letter of Intent was exactly in keeping with what was verbally discussed with Mr Gosta. In fact, Mr Gosta, told us that it was the “best Letter of Intent” that he had ever been presented. He then advised that Balimo would draft an Escrow Agreement that would further bind the parties and allow for funds to be transferred.
– – On 7/3/2015, RSA received the Escrow Agreement in the same format with the exact terms and conditions that were spelled out in the Letter of Intent. The Escrow Agreement called for a 1% $250,000 deposit to be made to Balimo’s Agent. We executed the Escrow Agreement and promptly SWIFTED (wired) the funds to Balimo Investment AG’s escrow agent – – Most Important Point – At no point, either in verbal discussions or in writing (via the Letter of Intent & Escrow Agreement), was there ever made mention of an additional “fee” to be charged by Balimo Investment AG.
– – On 7/8/2015, Asjborn Gosta informed our company that he had received confirmation that the escrow funds had been received by Balimo’s escrow agent. He also informed us that our loan would be closed within 5-7 “business days”. This would’ve equated to a funding not later than 7/10/2015. Obviously funding did not occur.
– – On approximately 7/8, we noticed that the Loan Agreement was missing or was being withheld. Both RSA and its representatives requested on several occasions that the Loan Agreement be made available but without response from Balimo Investments AG or Mr Gosta. – – On 7/20/2015, Mr Gosta sent to us the Loan Agreement. We reviewed it and became shocked when Balimo, for the first time, inserted a clause for a “4% Transmission Fee”. While we were very angered by the “Bait & Switch” that had just occurred, we were too far along in the process not to conclude the transaction and believed that a loan fee was not uncommon for financing in our industry. The important thing to note is that there was No due date for this mysterious Transmission Fee. When we discussed this troubling turn of events with Mr Gosta and Balimo we were told that it “due now and payable” even though there was no due date stated, it had not been properly disclosed and as is customary in the financing industry, any loan fees are not payable until the financing institution or bank actually closes on the loan and funds it. The lender then earns its “fee”.
– – Matters became worse between Balimo Investments AG and our company as we tried to negotiate a reasonable accommodation for both parties. At this point Mr Gosta also informed us that he was only an “employee” of Balimo and didn’t have authority in this matter; however, on 8/3/2015 we received a Skype message from Gosta that he had agreed to reduce the Transmission Fee to 3%. We responded by telling Gosta that he had lost our trust and that we would not send any more money to a group that lacks any and all forms of integrity. – – Finally we were able to track down a Mr Albert Aldrich who is shown on LinkedIn as Finance Director at Balimo Investments AG. Mr Aldrich seemed quite taken back and claimed to know nothing of the transaction and asked that we contact his legal department to sort the mess out. He also mentioned that he was so troubled by the state of events that he could not sleep. We promptly responded to Mr Aldrich that no one in our group had slept in over a week due to the horrific treatment that we received at the hands of Balimo Investments AG. We were also promptly informed by Balimo’s legal department to cease all contact with Ásbjörn Gosta.
-- We've been recently apprised that there is an "imposter" that has potentially "hijacked" Balimo Investments AG. All we can say is that we've dealt with the REAL Balimo Investments Company from the beginning and they STILL HAVE NOT closed our transaction and they STILL have our $250000 deposit.
VERY DISAPPOINTING STAY AWAY FROM BALIMO INVESTMENTS AND THEIR PERSONNEL:
Asbjorn Gosta
Eric Holin
Bosshard Kurt
Albert Aldrich
Jerome Cedric
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Escrow Problems at Balimo Investments AG
#2Author of original report
Sat, August 08, 2015
We have recently learned that the escrow agent might be in breach as they are no longer in possession of the escrow funds. According to the "Escrow Agreement", the "agent" is to keep in it's possession at all times the $250,000 escrow. We believe that a breach of the escrow agreement has occurred and that the entire escrow was sent to Balimo. This violates the "Escrow Agreement" and places the escrow agent at risk. According to the "Escrow Agreement", the escrow can only be moved under two cirumstances: 1) The default of the Lender. This has already occurred as Lender Balimo Investments AG has not funded the loan; or 2) The loan is funded by the Lender Balimo, in which case, the $250,000 escrow id returned to RSA Funding (borrower) within 72 hours. This has also not occurred.
The "Esrow Agent" listed in the "Escrow Agreement" is PROMIS Service. (promis.eu/eu/)