Complaint Review: Edward Macejka Viapath

Edward Macejka is a malicious con man who will steal your money.  I met Edward Macejka through mutual acquaintance when I met he seemed like a nice guy we had a very pleasant conversation we discussed everything from sports business and even politcs eventually the topic turned to business and investing.  I confided in him that I was frustrated with investments I had in the stock market and the lack of return I got.  He then shared with me his experience with the traditional stock market and then explained to me he had a better alternative.  Then went on to tell me about an exclusive private equity investment company he started with some friends. He then explained to me they were looking for new investors and suggested I check look into it.  He then described how the return on investment was much higher than the regular stock market.  According to Ed the average rate of return was over 30%.  I was skeptical however he reassured me that if I was unhappy I could withdrawal my investment at anytime.  I decided to pull 65k out of the stock market.  I closely monitored my investment daily and was encouraged when I saw my money grow.  

Edward then convinced me to remove all my money away from stocks and into private equity he assured me I hadn't seen nothing yet and it was about to skyrocket.  I was excited to watch my money continue to grow and even convinced a close and my cousin to invest.  Everything seemed promising until my friend came to me one day and said he was a little concerned when he went to withdrawal some the the money he made to put a down payment on a rental property he was trying to acquire he contacted Edward letting him know he wanted to make a withdrawal Edward said that was not a problem it would take a few days but he would recieve a check.  A week passed by and my friend never recieved the check and decided to contact Edward again and find out what was going on.  Edward apologized and said he started working on it but had been so busy he forgot Edward assured him he was taking care of it and asked him to bare with him and be patient. Several weeks later my friend was still waiting and tried to reach out to Edward again but was unable to reach him.  

This was in the middle of the summer and maybe he was still on vacation.  Edward had posted photos of himself in Hawai and Las Vegas over the past couple weeks.  A couple days later I tried reached out to Edward on behalf of my friend.  The first time I called him it went to voicemail and asked him to contact me.  When I didnt hear back from him I called him again and left him another voicemail this time I left a voicemail saying I was considering investing some more money with him.  Edward called me back about 15 minutes later.  We had a warm pleasant conversation for a few minutes before I asked him about my friends check he was expecting Edward immediately ended the call saying he had something urgent pop up and he was going to get back to me as soon but never did.  At this point I was seriously beginning to question Edward.  My friend eventually drove in to see him in person this time his story changed he said retrieving the funds was complicated because the funds were being kept off shore and their were some unexpected hoops to jump through and the called someone with what sounded like a Congo accent and asked him to send a check.  

Edward reassured my friend that the wheels were in motion and he would definitely get his check this time.  Edward also said he was leaving for a cruise and wouldn't be back for 10 days reaching him by phone would be hard but said he would be checking his email if we needed to contact him.  Several weeks go by and Edward never came back the website that tracked our investments also went down at this point I began to connect with other people who invested with Edward and they were also unable to retrieve or track their funds.  I decided to email Edward telling him if I didn't here from him in the next 24 hours we were going to go to the FBI and have him prosecuted.  

The next day he sent out a group email to all his investors.  Stating he was really sorry and claimed he was robbed by his international partner who was parking his funds and that he had been completely wiped out and there was nothing he could do.  We went to the authorities but there was limited recourse there was a clause within the contract we signed in fine print stating it was in at risk investment there was no guarantee our funds would be protected.  Edward then disappeared off the face of the earth for a while where nobody was able to find him.  The rumors were he left the country to avoid being prosecuted others said he just went into hiding.  Hard lesson learned never trust Edward.