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| BUCKHANNON, PAGANES |
Less than three weeks after exclusively confirming the existence of convicted felon Robert Buckhannon's expanding scam, under the moniker “Phoenix Rising Ventures”, I've discovered a former hedge fund crony of Buckhannon's has also jumped into the game.
Michigan resident, Chris Paganes (shown above in clown regalia), recently launched his own Alignable page, as seen in the screen grab below.
According to SEC documents, the “wrongdoing that underlies Paganes’s injunction occurred from August 2008 to at least May 2009 while he was a managing member of Imperium Investment Advisers, LLC (Imperium), an investment adviser registered with the Commission.
During part of that time, he was also affiliated with Maximum Financial Investment Group, Inc. (Maximum), a broker-dealer formerly registered with the Commission. Maximum and Imperium served as trustee for a Bradenton, Florida-based hedge fund, Vestium Equity Fund, LLC (Vestium).
In November 2011, Paganes was ordered by the SEC to “disgorge $650,000 and and prejudgment interest of $90,339.19 and to pay a $650,000 civil penalty".
Paganes and his wife declared bankruptcy on November 30, 2012. Paganes' debts were officially discharged on June 13, 2013, except for his SEC fines and penalties, which remain unpaid.
The SEC permanently barred Paganes from “acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities to the public.” In addition, FINRA indefinitely barred Paganes from association with any investment broker or dealer and barred him from association with any investment advisor.
And neither the Michigan corporation database or any Metro Detroit-area DBA sources show any formal registration of Phoenix Rising Ventures as a legal business entity here in Michigan.
The Phoenix link between Buckhannon and Paganes goes back nearly a year, as you can see in this exclusive email between the duo and an unidentified prospect from October 2018.
In addition, on his Alignable page, Paganes specifically calls out financial planning and investments as two of Phoenix Rising Ventures' offerings.
How is that possible?
It shouldn't be, but it appears Buckhannon is not under any meaningful scrutiny by federal law enforcement.
The image below was taken from Buckhannon's Alignable page on July 10, 2019, shortly before the link was deleted, presumably by Buckhannon.
As you can see, Buckhannon's keenly interested in working with financial services professionals...however you define that term.
Hello, feds.
Are you listening?