DO NOT INVEST with SCOTT CARSON (We Close Notes) or Inverse Asset

[Gerry Cohen]

I have been reluctant to broadcast this information to the note investment community, hoping not to "hang out my dirty laundry" with colleagues or the note investment community. However, it is time to speak out and address this reckless and unethical behavior of SCOTT CARSON! It must be STOPPED!

After attending SCOTT CARSON's (We Close Notes) seminars, Master Mind programs, and listening to his podcasts, I decided to invest as a passive investor (joint venture partner) with SCOTT CARSON (Inverse Asset Fund) to acquire a number of defaulted real estate notes. SCOTT CARSON and (Inverse Asset Fund) acting as the lead investment manager to secure the notes and properly disposition. Not so dissimilar from most note joint ventures agreements.

Once funds transferred the joint venture immediately transformed into a bad movie! SCOTT CARSON never followed up, never shared information on the status of the investment (notes) nor paid out interest income per the agreement. After more than 24 months, following the terms of the agreement I gave SCOTT CARSON (Inverse Asset Fund) the appropriate notice to dissolve the joint venture, return principal and interest owed to me. I am still waiting for proper disposition and return of principal.

Naively, I thought SCOTT CARSON (Inverse Asset Fund) would do the "right thing" and meet his obligation if treated like a professional. No such luck!

After several attempts to address this obligation directly through legal counsel, I instructed my attorney to secure a judgment against SCOTT CARSON and Inverse Asset Fund, If you take the time to research Travis County, Texas county records you should see my approved judgement as well as other judgments awarded to other passive investors. 

This is not how the "note investment business" works! In closing DO NOT INVEST with SCOTT CARSON (We Close Notes) and Inverse Asset Fund. 

[Gary Headrick]

I appreciate your post and regret your experience. This forum is a good place for sharing both positive and negative associations.

Finding new and reliable sources is always a difficult task. My old sources recently ran dry and I had to venture out. Whether I have been successful is TBD but the process is shaky at best.

[Jay Hinrichs]

@Chris Seveney  chris did you do your initial training with Scott ?

Gerry are you saying you actually brought legal action and was awarded a money judgement ?? 

most of these JV's I see don't guarantee returns.. as that would be a REG A filing. most of them disclose the 50 ways you can lose your money.. ? just curious..

[Patrick Desjardins]

That's unfortunate. Sorry to hear that.

Anyone else have a similar story and can corroborate? It matters because myself and others have recommended his videos and other informational stuff before, and I wouldn't if it leads to stories like these.

[Ronald Rohde]

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

Gerry are you saying you actually brought legal action and was awarded a money judgement ?? 

most of these JV's I see don't guarantee returns.. as that would be a REG A filing. most of them disclose the 50 ways you can lose your money.. ? just curious..

Yes, cause nos. D-1-GN-19-001705, D-1-GN-19-001694

received a default on 7/23

Another default  D-1-GN-19-001295, received judgment in May 2019.

PLAINTIFF

ASSOCIATE IN REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LTD

7/23/2019

ORD:JUDGMENT

[Jonathon Weber]

Originally posted by @Gerry Cohen:

I have been reluctant to broadcast this information to the note investment community, hoping not to "hang out my dirty laundry" with colleagues or the note investment community. However, it is time to speak out and address this reckless and unethical behavior of SCOTT CARSON! It must be STOPPED!

After attending SCOTT CARSON's (We Close Notes) seminars, Master Mind programs, and listening to his podcasts, I decided to invest as a passive investor (joint venture partner) with SCOTT CARSON (Inverse Asset Fund) to acquire a number of defaulted real estate notes. SCOTT CARSON and (Inverse Asset Fund) acting as the lead investment manager to secure the notes and properly disposition. Not so dissimilar from most note joint ventures agreements.

Once funds transferred the joint venture immediately transformed into a bad movie! SCOTT CARSON never followed up, never shared information on the status of the investment (notes) nor paid out interest income per the agreement. After more than 24 months, following the terms of the agreement I gave SCOTT CARSON (Inverse Asset Fund) the appropriate notice to dissolve the joint venture, return principal and interest owed to me. I am still waiting for proper disposition and return of principal.

Naively, I thought SCOTT CARSON (Inverse Asset Fund) would do the "right thing" and meet his obligation if treated like a professional. No such luck!

After several attempts to address this obligation directly through legal counsel, I instructed my attorney to secure a judgment against SCOTT CARSON and Inverse Asset Fund, If you take the time to research Travis County, Texas county records you should see my approved judgement as well as other judgments awarded to other passive investors. 

This is not how the "note investment business" works! In closing DO NOT INVEST with SCOTT CARSON (We Close Notes) and Inverse Asset Fund. 

 Thanks for sharing. Too much Under Armour clothing in his videos...just saying. 

I never spoke with him as I was doing the research but watched a few videos. I came across a company in NJ that I spoke with in length that provided all of the insight needed. Once you get past credit unions, local banks and hedge funds that purchased in bulk, you gotta be careful. 

[Christopher Winkler]

There are so many more...

[Adam Adams]

@Jay Hinrichs A lot of us learned from Scott. I can say that I probably wouldn't have started buying notes without his class. A few months into it, I started hearing the stories like Gerry's. We've revamped our business and did away with a lot of the things he taught us.

@Patrick Desjardins - There are a lot of similar stories. Most of them from his students. If you run a background check, you'll see some nasty stuff. And some of the guys he promotes are just as bad. I invested with one of his buddies. After I gave him my money, I learned that he was a disbarred attorney. He was suspended for mishandling client funds and disbarred for practicing while suspended. I was lucky and got my money back, but I know several folks that are in a bind because of him and will probably lose their investment.

Since I got involved with those two fellows, I always tell everyone who writes me or calls me to do a background check before giving anyone any money. There are a lot of services online that will do it for $10-$40. It's a cash business which means no one is screening these folks like they should. If it were a commercial deal with leverage involved, not one bank would give them a loan. Spend $10 on due diligence before giving someone $10,000.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Adam Adams:

@Jay Hinrichs A lot of us learned from Scott. I can say that I probably wouldn't have started buying notes without his class. A few months into it, I started hearing the stories like Gerry's. We've revamped our business and did away with a lot of the things he taught us.

@Patrick Desjardins - There are a lot of similar stories. Most of them from his students. If you run a background check, you'll see some nasty stuff. And some of the guys he promotes are just as bad. I invested with one of his buddies. After I gave him my money, I learned that he was a disbarred attorney. He was suspended for mishandling client funds and disbarred for practicing while suspended. I was lucky and got my money back, but I know several folks that are in a bind because of him and will probably lose their investment.

Since I got involved with those two fellows, I always tell everyone who writes me or calls me to do a background check before giving anyone any money. There are a lot of services online that will do it for $10-$40. It's a cash business which means no one is screening these folks like they should. If it were a commercial deal with leverage involved, not one bank would give them a loan. Spend $10 on due diligence before giving someone $10,000.

wow  he contacted me once and wanted to have me come for free to his class's and I guess network or something.. I declined respectfully he had me on his e mail blast I had to tell him to shut that stuff off not interested.

great point about background..  for me personally I have a credentials package that is available to anyone who wants to work with us.. and I encourage them to run a background check..I mean look at what landlords put poor tenants through who are looking to make 700 dollar rents.. and yet they will fork over 100's of thousands and never do any deeper check other than what the guys are promoting.. 

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Adam Adams:

@Jay Hinrichs A lot of us learned from Scott. I can say that I probably wouldn't have started buying notes without his class. A few months into it, I started hearing the stories like Gerry's. We've revamped our business and did away with a lot of the things he taught us.

@Patrick Desjardins - There are a lot of similar stories. Most of them from his students. If you run a background check, you'll see some nasty stuff. And some of the guys he promotes are just as bad. I invested with one of his buddies. After I gave him my money, I learned that he was a disbarred attorney. He was suspended for mishandling client funds and disbarred for practicing while suspended. I was lucky and got my money back, but I know several folks that are in a bind because of him and will probably lose their investment.

Since I got involved with those two fellows, I always tell everyone who writes me or calls me to do a background check before giving anyone any money. There are a lot of services online that will do it for $10-$40. It's a cash business which means no one is screening these folks like they should. If it were a commercial deal with leverage involved, not one bank would give them a loan. Spend $10 on due diligence before giving someone $10,000.

Well it seems you have the education side of his business that was beneficial to many of you guys on BP as I have heard over the years endorsements or just statements that folks learned from his class's and his class's were more reasonably priced not like the 50k guru packages. 

then it appears he set up some funds and those are what have gone wonky.. ??  do I have that right ??  

although off line I have had others tell me that the notes he was pitching were very high risk low quality and he was just liquidating his positions 

and those that end up with the paper had poor investments.. ?? is that right ?  again just what someone told me so its hearsay. 

[Andy Mirza]

Sorry to hear that but I appreciate posts like that because we all benefit by knowing who to avoid doing business with. We have a couple of JV partners from a few years ago who I believe partnered with Scott and weren't happy. I'll follow up with them

[Account Closed]

@Jay Hinrichs Can you clarify about the credentials package?  Haven't heard that one before.  Sounds like a resume type thing you would share with lenders/ investors?   Sounds interesting!

[Andy Mirza]

@Jay Hinrichs Can you go into more details regarding your credentials package? We recently had a potential investor ask about doing a credit and background check on us before investing but we told him "no." (We also invited him to visit our office so we could show him the physical collateral files and show him the online portals for our note servicer, bank accounts, note management systems, but he declined. He also didn't call any of the references we sent him.)

I think you bring up a good point about vetting sponsors and I'd like to know how you do it. My partner and I felt like it was invasive to have the investor run our credit. Maybe if we run our own credit and redact certain info? Providing a credentials package would help potential investors.

[Jonathon Weber]

Originally posted by @Adam Adams:

@Jay Hinrichs A lot of us learned from Scott. I can say that I probably wouldn't have started buying notes without his class. A few months into it, I started hearing the stories like Gerry's. We've revamped our business and did away with a lot of the things he taught us.

@Patrick Desjardins - There are a lot of similar stories. Most of them from his students. If you run a background check, you'll see some nasty stuff. And some of the guys he promotes are just as bad. I invested with one of his buddies. After I gave him my money, I learned that he was a disbarred attorney. He was suspended for mishandling client funds and disbarred for practicing while suspended. I was lucky and got my money back, but I know several folks that are in a bind because of him and will probably lose their investment.

Since I got involved with those two fellows, I always tell everyone who writes me or calls me to do a background check before giving anyone any money. There are a lot of services online that will do it for $10-$40. It's a cash business which means no one is screening these folks like they should. If it were a commercial deal with leverage involved, not one bank would give them a loan. Spend $10 on due diligence before giving someone $10,000.

That is some disturbing information.  Thanks for bringing it to the light of day. 

[Bob Malecki]

 @Gerry Cohen I'm sorry to see you had such a lousy experience. I looked up Scott on the Travis County district court website and saw your case. I know another investor who got tangled with Scott on a JV and he said to contact the TX attorney general. Scott was quick to return his capital.

I've been doing note JVs for the past 3 years and being 100% transparent and preserving my investor's capital are 2 of the most important aspects for me. I hold all partner's funds in separate accounts and if I can't deploy their funds within 90 days, they have the option to call their capital back and use it elsewhere. 

When one is using other people's money to run an investment business, reputation and integrity is the highest priority in my book. Its unfortunate that Scott has had so many suits filed against him. Sometimes a sponsor starts to "borrow from Peter to pay Paul" and that can become a vicious circle of ponzi-like activity that cannot be overcome. That's no way to run a business and this business is too small to get away with it. 

[Gerry Cohen]

Hi Bob, Thank you for the heads up. Best regards, Gerry 

[Account Closed]

Oh man, I had heard this about him as well when I mentioned to another reputable note investor that I was taking his Note Blueprint training online...

[Al Curiel]

I also got railroaded by Carson. My story is an exact carbon copy as that of Gerry's. Lots of calls, constant pressure to invest, etc. The seduction lied in the fact he is, arguably, a liked and respected member in the Note industry. Soon after the money was deployed, the calls from him became less and less frequent. After asking for status reports, his then assistant would give me a short answer and advise Carson had more to tell me but that he was traveling....always traveling, and that he would call me back upon returning to the office. He is adroit at excuses. Eventually, the assistant was terminated and my calls, texts and emails to him simply went unanswered. 

 There are 16 lawsuits filed against this guy. Thanks to those of you, (you know who you are) who have supported Gerry and me in this most unfortunate experience. I am in the process of finalizing details to be a guest on several Notes ad Real Estate  Podcasts. All of these Podcasters either know him or know of him and were NOT surprised to hear any of this. I will make certain to tell them our story and to warn folks to proceed with extreme caution whenever an "investment" opportunity comes their way from Scott and I will cite this very experience to drive the point. Moreover, we are also in the process of creating a website and will post all 16 lawsuits. They are all public record so feel free to research it but if you don't mind waiting just a little bit longer, you can see it when we post them. We have done all the work and will put them all on the website for the world to see. This guy just needs to be stopped. He has the audacity to go on a month long European vacation and laughing all the way to the bank from the yield of our labor. That is just not right. 

The thing that is appalling and quite disturbing is that he calls himself your friend and gains your trust only to dismiss you like a cheap suit after he has taken your cash and moved on to the next "friend". Carson shows no remorse or interest in making people whole. In fact, he never even showed an ounce of respect nor professionalism to make an appearance on his own behalf in court and thus, the reason I got a default judgment. I am told he brags during his podcasts that he enjoys getting sued for, according to him that is a good way to measure his company's growth. All I have to say to you Scott, if you are reading this, is, if you measure the growth of your enterprise by the number of lawsuits filed against you, your morals, ethics and values are grossly flawed. Your character as a man is nonexistent and your business practices are downright backwards.  

[Jonathon Weber]

16 lawsuits? Wow. Click the unsubscribe button on YouTube. I have no respect for scammers.

[David Nutakor]

@Jay Hinrichs, is this not a good information that the entire BP community needs to know about? Thanks for your willingness to share.

[Patrick Desjardins]

I don't know what Jay does but the credentials package is a good tool. I almost guarantee you've seen them before. Most executive bios have them and talk about the person's previous experience.

I made one a while back. There is an executive summary of who I am and my real estate experience. Then examples of past deals.

I haven't had anyone do a background check on me, but if someone was serious about investing a good amount and wanted one, I would gladly do it. I've shown people the company's bank account statement before so they knew we actually have money to pay them back. To me all of that is an asset so why hide it?

[Beth Hale]

I was one of the lucky ones! I invested some of my money along with two partners into INVERSE ASSET FUND. It was six figures in total. I realized things had gone awry when 9 months had gone by, and he still hadn't cancelled the Land Contracts on the non performers we invested in. Being a note investor myself, I thought this indicated he wasn't managing the assets. When I exercised my rights under the JV agreement to cancel, have my principle returned, along with interest owed me, it started out with radio silence, then turned to downright lies. I suspected a Ponzi scheme, and told an associate of SCOTT CARSON's I was considering alerting the SEC.

I got my money back, but the almost dozen people who wrote me did NOT!  At least not as of this writing.

A public records search, searching for SCOTT CARSON or INVERSE ASSET in several counties throughout Texas,  and one in Florida gleaned the following case numbers and venues, for whatever it's worth.

D-1-GN-16-002939	Travis
D-1-GV-12-001425	AUSTIN
CC-17-06044-E	DALLAS
2013CI10367	Bexar County, Court 045
17-2905-211	Denton County
15-0137-C277	Williamson
C-1-CV-19-002060	Travis
C-1-CV-16-010712	Travis
C-1-CV-17-010820	Travis
C-1-CV-18-003876	Travis
D-1-GN-19-001295	Travis
D-1-GN-19-001694	Travis
D-1-GN-19-001705	Travis
429-05770-2018	429th Dist TX - Collin
18-0653-C26	26th Judicial Ct - Williamson
2014-013559-CA-01	FL Circuit & County Miami Dade

PM me and I'll send you the initial complaints, but they are available to ANYBODY, as they are public record.  It's a sad thing when somebody so public in the note business does this to so many people.

[Ken Hobbick]

Thanks for having the courage to share this information,  note investing community is quite small and this information should be out there for anyone to easily find. 

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Patrick Desjardins:

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

@Jay Hinrichs Can you clarify about the credentials package?  Haven't heard that one before.  Sounds like a resume type thing you would share with lenders/ investors?   Sounds interesting!

I don't know what Jay does but the credentials package is a good tool. I almost guarantee you've seen them before. Most executive bios have them and talk about the person's previous experience.

I made one a while back. There is an executive summary of who I am and my real estate experience. Then examples of past deals.

I haven't had anyone do a background check on me, but if someone was serious about investing a good amount and wanted one, I would gladly do it. I've shown people the company's bank account statement before so they knew we actually have money to pay them back. To me all of that is an asset so why hide it?

Actually I do more than just a bio..  I have a package I put together with my bona fides and then verifications. 

any one can write a glowing bio..  :)   

[Al Curiel]

Thanks for sharing, Beth. As you people can see, there are 16... count them 16, lawsuits against Carson. They are all filed in the various counties and easily accessible as they are public records. I regret the day I ever found his "We Close Notes" website. 

Folks, please do your due diligence and DO NOT trust... until you verify. And this goes for all of the companies he is affiliated with as well. Just be careful.  I made an error in judgement and I am paying dearly for making a rookie mistake but I am happy to report I am  making my investors whole out of my own pocket every month. I am not complaining. I deserve it for being gullible, but at least I can hold my head up high and people won't point fingers at me. That's just the way I was raised. Unfortunately I can't say the same for Scott Carson.   

[Account Closed]

What kind of funds did you get scammed for?

@Al Curiel