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Ryk Oliver Corporation Robert Van Eyk Joker Broker takes your money and runs! Consultant charges up-front fees and provides no services. Claims he can raise money for your business-Grant Funding Scam! ottawa, Ontario
I am the founder of Pumped Media, a start-up company that was looking for investors and grant funding. It is not uncommon that companies in need of capital go to a professional intermediary seeking funds for expansion and my business was no exception. We were seeking capital to expand our business in Canada and the USA.
I had been assisted by a company (I will not name them here) in preparing business documents to help me prepare for the funding process. It was this company that I was referred to Robert Van Eyk and his company, Ryk Oliver Corporation. The referral to Ryk Oliver Corporation was in Sept 2011. I was advised that Robert Van Eyk had seen my business documents and that he had expressed interest in my project and that he could easily raise funds for my business. I was made aware of his contact details and that Robert Van Eyk only takes on projects he deems can be successful at raising the funds.
I preceded to speak to Mr. Van Eyk on many occasions during the month of October 2011. He told me on many occasions that my business could receive funding in the form of government grants in the range of $30,000 to $160,000. On October 18, 2011 he sent me the following email.
"As promised please find attached a proposal for grant funding to support the marketing effort to expand in other cities in Canada and into the United States.
I would like to start on this grant immediately so that you have these funds to pursue marketing efforts outside of the Medicine Hat area.
I am now completing a second proposal that deals with accessing start up capital in the range of about $3,000,000 from private sources. I have spoken to may associate who has just now returned from New York for another project and we believe that we could be successful in raising this investment capital.
Please review the proposal that is attached and if accepted I will send you an invoice for the retainer payment and look forward to getting both the contract and payment back so that we can proceed with this project.
Regards,
Robert van Eyk
Ryk Oliver
Corporation"
The above email is directly copied from my email. Also in this email he attached a proposal that outlined his duties and responsibilities. He also included his CV for my review. On October 25, 2011 Mr. Van Eyk had contacted me stating he had confirmation from an investment company and that he was sending over a second proposal.
He also sent this email to me:
Ken,
Further to our telephone conversation today, this is to confirm that we can proceed with the grant funding immediately on receipt of the retainer payment in the amount of $3,000 plus HST.
I have confirmed with the equity investors that they are prepared to issue a term sheet for $1.5 million of 30% of the company common shares. The terms will include a 36 month investment with the intent to have the investment repaid within that period of time. There are other conditions but they seem to be reasonable and consistent with the other investments that they have made this
year. They propose to also provide a standby credit of a further $1 million depending on milestones for success and working capital if needed as the company expands. The investment group will require a commitment fee of $30,000 to ensure that you are committed to this.
We are prepared to proceed immediately with the grant funding as detailed on our proposal dated October 17th and ask that you proceed to pay the retainer fee in the amount of $3,390.00. I will send you an invoice for this amount. I ask that you sign the contract agreement and email that page to me as well. We will proceed to make the arrangements with the equity funding group.
Upon further telephone conversations and consideration, on November 23, 2011 I proceeded to send him a "retainer fee" of $3000.00 CDN plus taxes for a total of $3390.00 for his services using my Paypal account. He sent me confirmation as follows:
"From: Robert van Eyk [mailto:bobvaneyk@gmail.com]
Sent: November 23, 2011 10:50 AM
To: ken@pumpedmediainc.com
Subject: Re: FW: You sent a payment
Ken,
Thank you for proceeding with the grant contract.
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 12:45 PM, ken <ken@pumpedmediainc.com> wrote:
Bob,"
This was the last email I received from him. Later, he advised me they were working on the grant funding and that I would receive funding by Christmas 2011 from the government grants. He later advised me in an email that I would need $30,000.00 as a commitment to the investment company in order to receive private funding from the investment company. *I now realize this was a feeler to see how much money I had and to judge how much he could rip me off for!*
I proceed to follow up Ryk Oliver Corporation many times, with weekly emails and daily phone calls in January as I had not even seen the grant applications or term sheet from the investment company. I certainly can show email trail of this con-artist and that everything he said and did was to get the $3000.00 retainer.
His contract is a very clever and deceiving document and outlines that he can stop working on a client's project any time and for any reason he chooses. Robert Van Eyk is a wolf preying on entrepreneurs that are looking for help from a professional. I assure he is only after the retainer and will never call or contact you. Everything he said and did was to build trust and I assure you this man is a experienced con-artist. He is not a professional intermediary or business consultant, anything he sends you to reference is over 20 years old and impossible to confirm.
I have been unsuccessful in trying to reach Robert Van Eyk and the company that referred him will not return my calls. He is unresponsive to emails, text messages and his phone number can not be reached.
I can back-up everything I am stating here and provide a case in greater detail of the events and my experience with Ryk Oliver Corporation. Warning to all entrepreneurs and businesses looking for funding for their business: DO NOT USE RYK OILVER CORPORATION OR THE SERVICES OF ROBERT VAN EYK.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Guywhowasrippedoff
Ontario,Rip off Report is Correct: Retainer is not refunded
#7Consumer Comment
Thu, October 24, 2013
I would have to agree with the complaint about Mr.Van Eyk. I feel extremely upset over the report and I too have been scammed by Ryk Oliver and Robert Van Eyk. IF YOU ARE A PERSON LOOKING TO USE THE SERVICES OF THIS MAN: ROBERT VAN EYK...I WARN YOU NOT TO ADDRESS THIS MAN OR GET INVOLVED WITH HIM. STAY CLEAR! I am another victim of this man. I want to stay anonimous as I fear the reprecussions.
Ryk Oliver Corporation
Ottawa,Ontario,
Canada
Justification for Termination of Services to Pumped Media Inc and Ken Jarubowsky
#7REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, January 08, 2013
As promised I want to alert all of you who have read this far to the accusations by Mr. Jakubowsky and Pumped Media, to the effect that he was found guilty of breaches to the Alberta Securities Exchange. Here is the text of the decision reached by the Alberta Securities Commission:
Pumped Media Inc and Kenneth Edmund Jakubowsky Ken Jakubowsky Alberta Securities Commission finds Kenneth Jakubowsky guilty of illegal distribution of securities and making misleading and untrue statements Medicine Hat, Alberta
Last year Ken Jakubowsky CEO of Pumped Media attempted to involve me and our firm in an illegal securities issue. When we found out about his intentions we immediately terminated any further communications with him. As a result we suffered an attack against our reputation by his use of a Rip Off Report. We understand that this report will most like stay on the web site that google operates and will and has harmed our firms reputation.
We now wish to communicate the text of a decision and order issued by the Alberta Securities Commission against Mr. Jakubowsky and Pumped Media. We hope that those who read his Rip Off Report lodged on our web search sites will find that our reputation was harmed and that indeed we did the right thing to terminate our engagement with Mr. Jakubowsky. We also warn anyone else who may now or in the future fall a victim of this crook. Here is the text of the order by the Alberta Securities Commission and the link to the web posting:
ASC issues market bans against Kenneth Edmund Jakubowsky
Dec 21 2012
The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has imposed sanctions against Kenneth Edmund Jakubowsky of Medicine Hat after finding that he illegally distributed securities and made misleading or untrue statements.
In the order, an ASC panel ruled that, for three years, Jakubowsky:
must cease trading in or purchasing securities and exchange contracts;
is banned from using any Alberta securities laws exemptions;
is banned from acting as a director or officer of any issuer, registrant
or investment fund manager; and
is prohibited from acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities market.
Jakubowsky has also been ordered to pay an administrative penalty of $2,500. The ASC panel sanctions follow a
joint recommendation regarding sanction proposed by ASC staff and Jakubowsky.
The sanctions stem from Jakubowskys admissions that from February to June 2012 he solicited investors, from Alberta
and elsewhere, by posting a public advertisement on Facebook.com. Jakubowsky admitted he breached Alberta securities laws by making statements in these solicitations that he knew or ought to have known were misleading or untrue. He also admitted that he raised no investment funds through his activities.
A copy of the decision has been posted to the ASC website at www.albertasecurities.com
The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province's securities laws. It is entrusted
to foster a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and to protect investors. As a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators, the ASC works to improve, coordinate and harmonize the regulation of Canada's capital markets.
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For further information please contact:
For Media Inquiries: Mark Dickey Senior Communications Advisor 403.297.4481
Ryk Oliver Corporation
Ottawa,Ontario,
Canada
Pumped Media and Mr. Ken Jakubowsky
#7REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, May 22, 2012
Thank you for reading down to this rebuttal. We value our reputation and have worked with reputable companies such as Inceptive Solutions. We did not know much about Pumped Media or Mr. Jakubowsky but since his company was referred to us we proceeded to offer him and his company a diagnostic assessment of the possibilities for the company to access government grants and contributions to develop certain parts of his business. And if the diagnostic assessment indicated that his company qualified for government grants that we would be amenable to prepare the applications. Our diagnostic assessment indicated that he did not meat the conditions for many reasons. However, we did identify the grant programs that are open to applications once he met the conditions and this was reported to him. Our understanding is that he met with a lawyer and the lawyer confirmed to him that our work as set out in the scope of work was delivered to him and that we met the terms and conditions of the contract.
Allow me to provide some details of our work on this file. We asked him for specific information about his company and in particular the financial statements in order to ascertain his eligibility for government grants. We also checked out whether the strategic development of his business met the criteria for government grants and in particular that this was an innovative and leading edge business for which there was no other company already providing this service. In both cases we did not receive the financial statements, and once we investigate the services provided by other companies we found that there were other companies that were already in this business and indeed were market leaders, contrary to his representations to us.
More importantly, government programs have conditions that all of the contributions are to be used for the intended purposes and we were led to believe that Pumped Media was in effect almost bankrupt and the personal financial situation of Mr. Jakubowsky was about the same. He represented to us that he would use the proceeds of the government grant to pay a loan that he had with a financial institution. If that were true then our reputation with the government program would be destroyed and we are truly vigilant that our reputation with the government programs are paramount.
We have provided Mr. Jakubowsky with a diagnostic assessment of the government programs that he can proceed to make application. We are not interested in proceeding with him for the reason we have described above.
He asked us to connect him with a registered investment dealer and with an angel network that is in the business of equity financing. Our firm is not registered for that purpose and we do not hold ourselves out to be a registered investment dealer. We did tell him that the Angel Investment dealer who we are aware of might be interested in investing and relaid to him the conditions under which that firm would review his application. We did send him a communication that it would mean that he would need to pay them (not our firm) the retainer that they require. We were not fishing to find out what ability he had to proceed. It was just a way to help him. Instead he made out as if we were trying to defraud him of his money. This was simply not the case.
In May of this year we continued to receive calls from Mr. Jakubowsky to the effect that he was going to destroy our reputation and make our lives hell. This has been a situation of real annoyance to us as it simply shows how destructive he can be. And reinforced our situation that we do not want to do business with him. I speaking to Derek h*o, CEO Inceptive Solutions it was made clear to us that Mr. Jakubowsky is a very difficult person to deal with.
In early May we were directed by another valued client to have a look at his Facebook page. It appears that he was making a public offering for shares for a minimum of $4,000 per issue for a total of 1,000,000 shares at 70 cents per share promising that he will raise the price to $1,40 based on future earnings or other factor. It appeared to our firm that this was an offer of shares to the public without meeting the requirements of the Alberta Securities Commission. Our firm and the association that we have with the Angel Investment firm state categorically that we have no part in this transaction whatsoever. We have no knowledge of this transaction and will not be implicated in such a transaction. Mr. Jakubowsky has incessantly tried tactics of intimidation and destruction of our reputation. We hesitated to respond with so much detail as we honored the non disclosure agreement signed with him. However, under advice of our legal counsel and since the blog is posted in the public google items we were told to put forward our rebuttal. We are also advised that Mr. Jakubowsky is in breach of the non disclosure agreement has made misrepresentations about us and has maliciously tried to damage our reputation that is the grounds for our firm and myself to start a legal action against him. We will do that unless he is prepared to make a full apology for his actions and post that on the Internet in this blog. We give him 14 days from the date of this rebuttal to do so.
PumpedMedia
Medicine Hat,Alberta,
Canada
Van Eyk of Ryk Oliver twists contract references and words to defraud.
#7Author of original report
Mon, May 21, 2012
The above is Robert Van Eyk's attempt to build a case for himself as myself and others have found him to be a total fraud. I am not alone in the fight against his gross misrepresentation and fraud. In fact since I posted the first complaint on Ripoffreport I have had other entrepreneurs claiming the story sounds the same as theirs. Do not be fooled by his rebuttal and his obvious attempt to make my claims seems false. I can support all my claims made and have never stated anything to him or his company that I could not support. He simply knows how to twist words in his favour, the mark of a true con-artist. I have many references and can provide proof of my claims on my business, Pumped Media.
In reference to Inceptive Solutions, I provided them with an excellent reference in public on their website. I did find their work not to the expectations of what they stated, but they were able to provide a finished product I had to have redone elsewhere. I never asked for any money back but did try to get the best deal I could for myself on a product that I was not happy with, but I have never gone to any authorities or agencies to claim about their services. My problem is not with Inceptive Solutions, it is the fact they deal with a company like Ryk Oliver. Ryk Oliver has never been able to provide any results, any grant applications, any diagnostic assessment or ever asked me to provide proof of my claims, this way he can say he did and not provide any results, so he can keep the retainer. He talks big and can not provide proof of his claims either. I do have gas station partners as per my claims and I have never lied, again it is a way to claim he did an assessment and never call you back or provide anything of value. His contract is written to say just that, he can walk away anytime and for any reason he chooses, so do not be fooled by this man. If you are reading this rebuttal, I am happy to show anyone that what I am claiming is true and that my claims are not fraudulent. I am willing to provide anyone whom is interested to contact me to provide proof of his fraudulent actions and provide solid references to back up what I am claiming.
I was never shown any grant applications or any kind of application for funding from any source. Mr. Van Eyk simply copies and pastes web links off the internet anyone can get and them claims he has special sources he can get funding from. Believe me, he won't be able to provide you with anything but 20 year old useless information. He is unprofessional and has used several profanities towards me. If you want to know what he said to me on several occasions, I have a recorded call that states his intentions are to destroy me and leave me with no family and home, all using extreme profanities. I did and still have contacts in France and Asia, anyone wanting me to provide proof of that could have simply just asked me for the phone numbers to call my contacts. Instead it is easy for him to state that I could not provide them, along with my gas retailer partners, and just say I could not provide them and keep my retainer fee. Why would I not provide them if it would secure the funding I needed? I turned to this man for assistance and all I have received is false promises, his fraudulent misrepresentations, countless months and time wasted on a true wolf in sheep clothing! To top it off he after almost a year in dealing with him , he can't even spell my name! Goes to show you how much real time he spent on his diagnostic assessment of me and my company.
Again, I can back up all my claims of my company, and please if you are an entrepreneur looking for funding DO NOT HIRE THE SERVICES OF ROBERT VAN EYK OR RYK OLIVER CORP. Do yourself a favour and contact me as others have to find out more about this twisted con-artist.
Ryk Oliver Corporation
Ottawa,Ontario,
Canada
pumped Media
#7REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, May 17, 2012
Mr. Ken Jabubowsky stated in an email to us that " We have secured over 40 gas stations in Canada and over 500 gas stations in all the largest DMA's in the US. We also have connections in France and Asia that could provide a global presence." This statement is just total fraud. He has not made any of these contracts. He could not support his claims to us at all. And he has tried to discredit our company with his his lies and misrepresentations in order to have us invest in his company.
Ryk Oliver Corporation
Ottawa,Ontario,
Canada
Pumped Media
#7REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, May 17, 2012
I sent a rebuttal to Mr. Jakubosky that appears to have gone beyond the limit of the response. So let me summarize. The information that M. Jakobowsky has sent is untrue. We have fulfilled the terms of reference of the contract that we have with him. We have completed the diagnostic assessment. In addition we have represented his proposal to two funding partners and they have determined that he has misrepresented his proposal and they have declined his application. In terms of government incentive applications he has represented how he will use the government grants and accordingly we have terminate our engagement with him. In our discussions with Inceptive Solutions, the company that referred him to to us, we know that he has been has a difficult client that has gone to make complained to various agencies to about them. It is our understanding that in this case he paid $1.500 to Incentive Solutions for an investment deck and then wanted his payment back when he was not satisfied with the results. He has a history of pushing for more than the contract terms of reference. I our case we provided the outputs that we specified in our contract. He consulted a lawyer who confirmed that our work was completed as specified in the contract. He wants to do mischief and destroy our company reputation unless we succumb to his black mail and we stand firm in our reputation otherwise. In response I have contacted our legal counsel to prepare a legal action against this client,