Complaint Review: Joe Siegel (American United Capital)

We are a hard money and commercial loan broker in NJ.  An associate broker of ours brought us a fantastic deal

from an upcoming app developer seeking funding to develop and implement a new point-of-sale system for a

niche industry. The client was seeking $1,500,000 for a 1-2 year term offering a whopping 25% interest on the funds

plus 10% of the company's stock in addition to full repayment.  

I found Joe Sigel (of American United Capital) on Scotsmanguide seeking hard money Purchase & Rehab financing options

for my clients.  I left him a voicemail and he returned my call quickly. We started talking about purchase & Rehab

funding and he told me he has funded "some quirky stuff". He said that he has funded films,  

start-ups, and other hard-to fund deals  in addition to his usual real estate deals and that

'he funds whatever the **** he wants" since it's his money.  He asked if I had anything "different"

that I'd like to run by him.   I told him about the technology start-up I was working on. 

He asked if we could get the client on the phone right now?  I did , and after my client made

an impressive presentation, he said he was very interested in funding but he would need

up-front 'due diligence' fees of 1%  since the project was for a niche industry, which would

be non-refundable, but that he knew experts in the industry and just needed to make sure that

the project was 'viable.'

The client was wary of the fee but that they saw where he's coming from and that they were willing to 'play ball'. 

We asked him what his due diligence would entail, and he said that his attorney, Marty Bloom

(of BIEGING, SHAPIRO & BARBER LLP, Denver Colorado) handles everything for him,

and that when we send him $2500 of the $15,000,   Mr. Bloom would reply with  a letter confirming receipt

of the $2500 and then once we got the letter, the client was towire the remaining $12,500 for due diligence to

Joe's account directly. He also noted that usually, the attorney would not even provide a letter of confirmation

and that he was 'doing us a favor' by doing so.  When the client sent the $2500, Joe's attorney did

respond with the aformentioned confirmation letter.  The clients signed  and wired the remaining

$12,500 to Joe, who did not respond at all after receiving the funds.  Instead, Mr. Bloom responded

via email after about 24 hours of the due diligence funds being sent, and requested that we send him all

documentation that we have on the project including Business Plan, Corporate info, etc.

This request for documentation was the last contact we received from Mr. Bloom.   

In the following 2 weeks, Joe Siegel and Marty Bloom consistently ignored us, and did not return any

 calls or emails we sent asking for an update from them.  With the client on the phone, I finally got Joe to

answer his phone 2  weeks after the clients paid for "due diligence"; he was extremely vague and short

with us and said that he said  he was "waiting on one guy to get back to him about the deal"

and that he would have a final decision for us the following Monday.   

Needless to say, he did not get back to us that Monday.  Exactly 3 weeks after my client wired $15,000 to Joe,

he called me up and said that he cannot fund the deal because "his attorney advised him not to"

He said he could not tell me what the attorney's reasons were.   I told him that is not acceptable

and that if he is going to take $15,000 from my client and deny them, then he owes them an answer,

and he said he "cannot tell them why."  I tried to get an answer out of him and he hung up on me.

BE WARNED, MR. BROKER:  Do not trust Joe Siegel or his cohort lawyer Marty Bloom -

they are only after your due diligence fees and will definitely NOT fund your deal.