Complaint Review: Summitt Enterprises

I worked for Ivan Anderson of Summitt Enterprises from November 1999 to July 2000. As the Office Manager and bookkeeper, I was treated fairly, but I didn't care for his business practices. Ivan Anderson (that is his wife's maiden name)was fired from his job in Portland, Oregon and started a company called Summit Enterprise leasing oil wells in Texas.

His partner in the original company in Oregon (I don't recall his name) came down to Lake Forest looking for Ivan, as Ivan owed him some money. Ivan and his two partners changed locations to Irvine. His two partners set up a separate company called Wellington-Cabot, Inc. Ivan made sure his name did not appear on any of the corporation paper work.

Around March of 2000, they moved their offices again to Bake Pkwy in Lake Forest. At this time they got into the travel business and sold some kind of travel package to "investors". That wasn't profitable, so they tried sports and celebrity memorabilia. Again, there was no profit. At this time, Ivan talked about his families gem mine in Brazil (Ivan is from Brazil) and selling gems to his investors.

What Ivan would do was to call leads (he usually used the same leads that invested in the oil wells), they would invest money into the company and promised a percentage return on the profits. The money that was "invested" was used to paying for rent and some expenses (they were usually behind), and most of the money was disbursed between the three partners. Nothing went back into the company as capitol.

Ivan would also put some of the money into his wife's business, since it was taking a big loss each month. Monica would give the money from her company to Ivan who would deposit in the bank. I don't believe Monica had anything to do with any financial matters. She was a corporate officer for Wellington-Cabot but was not involved in any aspect of it. Usually Ivan signed her name on documents.

I do remember Greg from North Carolina(he put in a ripoff report). He invested $100,000 and relocated to California to work for the company (he was promised a job and good money). I do remember that he was put on the corporate paperwork as the President, but it seemed very odd to me that he had no authority or management function in the company. He seemed to be an employee who was not paid very well at all. (Hi Greg, how's your dog?)

I also remember the name Bette. One of the partners (P.B.) visited her in Minnesota while I worked for them, and he raved about her. I also remember meeting P.B.'s sons. I'm sorry to hear of his passing. He was the honest one in the company. I really liked him.

On a Monday morning in July 2000, I called P.B. and told him that I could not work for the company (Ivan) any more. I warned P.B. that Ivan was mismanaging the money. P.B. had previously asked me to ensure that all bills were paid on time, but Ivan insisted on having control of the checkbook. I told P.B. that bills were not being paid. I don't know what happened with the company after July 2000.

Nancy
Newport Beach, California
U.S.A.