Three Utahns Ordered to Pay $42.5 Million for their Fraudulent Conduct through their Firm, Real Estate Workshop

Following false promises of financial freedom that decimated the bank accounts and retirement savings of thousands, three Utahns have been ordered to pay $42.5 million in fines and restitution for their misdeeds.

For more than a decade, MJ Augie Bove, Troy Stevens, and Cory Wadsworth operated a seemingly brilliant yet fraudulent scheme to rob trusting individuals and families by promising they could earn easy riches after learning how to invest in real estate.

But in reality, the intent of this dastardly threesome was to use Bluffdale, Utah-based Real Estate Workshop, and its various namesakes, to suck dry the monetary resources of their victims by upselling them from free events to multi-day seminars, trainings and consultations costing upwards of $50,000.

That is why Judge Kent R. Holmberg of the Third Judicial District Court of Utah recently handed down what was apparently one of the stiffest civil judgments in Utah history against these Three Malfeasant Musketeers — $42.5 million — specifically,

• ~$2.83 million in restitution, and
• ~$39.66 million "... in fines and penalties for statutory violations."

These three were also permanently barred in Judge Holman's ruling "... from selling any type of business coaching or similar services in the future."

According to the news release announcing the "Landmark Victory" against REW and its owners,

"The REW Defendants deceptively enticed thousands of customers to attend free seminars with promises of generating high passive income through real estate investing techniques. Rather than provide training, they pressured attendees into purchasing increasingly expensive training packages.

"This often involved encouraging buyers to use credit cards, take out home loans, or deplete their retirement funds to pay for the packages, resulting in significant debt and damage to credit. Adding to this unconscionable misconduct, the Division demonstrated that the REW Defendants never delivered on the expensive training, leaving many purchasers insolvent or filing for bankruptcy."

Due to violations of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act and the Utah Telephone Fraud Prevention Act, Judge Holman ruled in his Finding of Facts and Conclusions of Law that the actions of Bove, Stevens, and Wadsworth were "egregious and widespread.”

He further noted that

“... the harm to consumers as individuals was often catastrophic, shattering their economic well-being and forcing some into bankruptcy.”

Continuing, Judge Holman wrote that

“... given the magnitude of payments from consumers, a large fine is necessary to deter other potential violators from engaging in similar conduct.”

Summarizing the Case Against Bove, Stevens, Wadsworth, REW, et.al.

According to the Division of Consumer Protection, Bove, Stevens, and Wadsworth used REW to entice unsuspecting individuals to attend free seminars about techniques to achieve high passive investing success in real estate, producing a promised pathway to wealth and riches.

However, in fact, these freebies were nothing more than traps designed to browbeat "... attendees into purchasing increasingly expensive training packages."

These REW actions, the Division wrote in its news release, included

"... encouraging buyers to use credit cards, take out home loans, or deplete their retirement funds to pay for the packages, resulting in significant debt and damage to credit."

Then, adding insult to injury, the Division stated that REW et.al. " ... never delivered on the expensive training ... (which left) many purchasers insolvent or filing for bankruptcy."

And to be clear, Bove, Stevens, and Wadsworth did not just use REW to line their pockets.

Nope, not at all.

In reality, the trio also operated under several names and alter egos in efforts apparently designed to further deceive the public and siphon funds into their own pockets, including real (or fictional) organizations known as

• Bo-Roc Management,
• Chad Chiniquy Find, Fund, Flip,
• Flip and Build Wealth,
• Government Tax Lien Network,
• Mantis Management,
• Opus Management Group,
• Prosperity Learning, and
• Real Estate Tax Lien Network,
• Selective Marketing Company.

And to be clear, the Bove/Stevens/Wadsworth triumvirate did not limit their enticement efforts to just Utah ... far from it.

For example, from 08 May 2017 through 30 November 2017, the Court reported that REW et.al. ran radio advertisements from sea to shining sea promoting free seminars to entice the unsuspecting and sell promised wealth-generating real estate knowledge.

For example, during this six-month ad blitz, REW, through its alter egos, ran radio spots promoting its free events in

• Atlanta, Georgia,
• Austin, Texas,
• Charlotte, North Carolina,
• Chicago, Illinois,
• Dallas, Texas,
• Denver, Colorado,
• Houston, Texas,
• Indianapolis, Indiana,
• Jacksonville, Florida,
• Los Angeles, California,
• Las Vegas, Nevada,
• Miami, Florida,
• Minneapolis, Minnesota,
• New York City, New York,
• Norfolk, Virginia,
• Orlando, Florida,
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
• Phoenix, Arizona,
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
• Portland, Oregon,
• Sacramento, California,
• San Diego, California,
• San Francisco, California,
• Seattle, Washington,
• St. Louis, Missouri,
• Tampa, Florida, and
• Washington D.C.

During these commercials (and with attendant direct mail pieces), REW promised consumers they could

"... earn significant returns on your investment buying delinquent tax liens ..."

"... start earning an extra income of up to $7,800 or more per month..."

"... get (their) hands on great properties at a 25% discount ..."

and many other similar attestations by REW, its employees, and representatives.

Through the investigation of the Consumer Protection Division, the Court learned that although REW did not register in the state as a telemarketer, it engaged then Orem, Utah-based Jive Communications to do its bidding for it.

{AUTHOR'S NOTE: Jive Communications was purchased in 2018 by LogMeIn for a reported $342 million.}

From February 2018 through October 2018 there were over 90,000 calls made by, for or to REW to upsell prospective customers into purchasing

• Three-day seminars (prices not disclosed),
• Personalized coaching (generally priced at $25,000), and
• REW Advanced Training packages (with prices ranging from $39,900 to $50,000),

among other training /consulting services.

But the Bove/Stevens/Wadsworth-led REW also went so far as to try and convince many of its victims that they should open new credit cards to pay the fees associated with these extra trainings and consultations from REW.

And in some instances, REW also helped consumers inflate the income shown on their applications so they could have higher limits on their credit cards.

According to the Finding of Judge Holman, between 2015 and 2017,

• Over 9,000 consumers purchased the three-day seminars, while
• ~1,900 of these individuals went on to purchase the Advanced Training package.

Yes, at the full price, that equals $95 million dollars in ill-gotten gains (over a three-year period).

That. Is. Insane!!!

Closing Thoughts

To be clear, this was not a criminal matter, but was rather a civil case (from a strictly legal standpoint).

Hence, to be precise, none of these three men is actually a felon, at least not in connection with Judge Holman's ruling.

That said, although the wheels of justice sometimes grind slowly, even imperceptibly at times, they do, in fact, move forward.

And in this instance, to the tune of $42.5 million.

So at least for now, in the matter of Case No. 190907053 in the Third Judicial District Court of Utah re.

UTAH DIVISION OF CONSUMER PROTECTION, Plaintiff, vs. TROY STEVENS, an individual doing business as REAL ESTATE WORKSHOP; CORY WADSWORTH, an individual and partner in REAL ESTATE WORKSHOP; MJ AUGIE BOVE, an individual and partner in REAL ESTATE WORKSHOP; PROSPERITY INTERNATIONAL LLC; FLIP AND BUILD WEALTH; REAL ESTATE WORKSHOP; PLI LLC, OPUS MANAGEMENT GROUP, LLC; MANTIS MANAGEMENT, INC.; SELECTIVE MARKETING COMPANY; and BO-MANAGEMENT, INC. Defendants,

it appears that justice has been served.

Addendum

If you found this write-up interesting, you might also check out this episode of Legally Speaking, a semi-regular podcast produced by the Utah Attorney General's office, with Host Richard Piatt (the Deputy Chief of Staff-Communications for the AG's office). Thanks. DLP

Publisher's Note

Are you interested in timely Utah-focused monetary, financial, and/or business news, context, and analysis, content NOT currently available through any other source?

Then you should become a subscriber to Utah Money Watch. Today!

Simply,

1. Click on a "Subscribe" button on any Utah Money Watch webpage,
2. Enter in your name in the proper field in the popup window that appears on-screen, and
3. Enter your preferred email address in the proper field too.

That's it. And "Yes," it really is that simple.

And it IS free ... for now, at least.

So we hope to see you join us as a subscriber of Utah Money Watch.

Thanks.

Team Utah Money Watch

P.S. For context, the purpose of Utah Money Watch is to publish news, information, context, and analysis NOT available through any other source.

[You might think of us as the inverse of Bloomberg, CNBC, and/or The Wall Street Journal. In other words, we are passionately focused on uncovering the most important monetary, financial, and/or business news and information that impact the organizations and people of Utah first, followed by regional news/info second, and national/international info/news last of all.]

To that end, this article/report was originally published and distributed to our Subscribers at approximately 1:45pm (MT) on Tuesday, 01 October 2024.

However, if this report/article came to your attention sometime after this date/time and you'd like to change that, then to become a subscriber, please follow the steps above.

Thx. DLP