PEP fund with Lane Kawaoka

[Account Closed]

Has anyone else invested with this guy?  I got roped into this PEP fund he was advertising by a friend who had invested with him before.  The fund was advertised as a boring "preferred equity" fund that pays 10% a year (or something along those lines).  So I took money I was saving for a down payment and went in with this guy.  They sent out an email last Friday saying they are stopping distributions.  The email was replete with grammatical and spelling mistakes too for added professionalism.  Plus they sent out late Friday afternoon which always spells "disaster."  Anyone familiar with this?  Now they won't respond to my emails or calls of course.  Lane sent out a form email which he probably sends out to all his investors.  Can't believe I fell for this.  The email advertising this deal literally has a "pyramid" drawing in it.

[Scott Trench]

@Victor S. I am not aware of Lane's participation on any BiggerPockets podcasts - it is possible, as I have not reviewed all 1,000 of them, that he has appeared on a BiggerPockets show, but I was not able to find one from a simple search. We have no control over whether Lane appears on other shows outside of our network. 

Lane has contributed to a "Member blog"  at one point, but has not published an article in the last 3 years. This is distinct from the BiggerPockets professionally produced blog content.

 Lane is being accused of bad behavior and of losing investor capital by investors in this thread and others. BiggerPockets is not in a place to verify the truth or falsity of these claims. We are, however, providing a forum where this and other types of discussion can happen. 

I believe it would be irresponsible to remove Lane's ability to post to the forums, as that would remove his ability to defend himself.

@Lane Kawaoka is surely aware of these posts. Whether he chooses to respond is up to him. We will remove members if they violate our rules or terms of use. 

Last, I want to call out that many investors, LP and GP, are losing in today's environment. I have no way of knowing if losses are due to bad luck, fraud, negligence, naivete, or acts of god. I suspect that we will see each of those at play as factors in wins and losses for investors in the coming years. 

As an LP myself, who will likely get flushed on a deal with a syndicator, I believe that this industry needs a bright light shined on as many operators and capital raisers as possible. A place where we can review sponsors, provide direct feedback, positive or negative, and practice reviewing deals, now that the tide has gone out and we are starting to see syndicators and sponsors swimming naked. 

We are creating PassivePockets.com to drive this accountability and anticipate a Q3 launch. 

I take the issue of sponsors acting as fiduciary to their investors very seriously, regardless if they are legally required to or not, and plan to create a platform that calls out those who don't, and celebrates those who do. However, I cannot personally call out specific bad actors. 

Even if I am right, I could create risk for the company. Instead, I will let the community discuss who is good, who is bad, and call out their perceptions of the unethical/unprofessional. 

I will of course, however, let those accused respond, as long as they abide by our forum rules.