Be careful who you invest with (and who you LISTEN to)

[Wendell De Guzman]

I never scammed nor defrauded Sylvia Pomazak or anyone.

I had valid reasons for changing my name.

I feel terrible for being subjected to trial by publicity here on BP and by the hurtful remarks by many BP members who never cared to hear my side of the story and immediately jumped to wrong conclusions after hearing only one side of the story.

For those of you who asked, this is my side:

I did not defraud Sylvia Pomazak. Garrett Stevenson did. Although I am embarrassed to admit it, I too became Garrett’s victim more so than Sylvia did.

Who is Garrett Stevenson and why did I recommended him to Sylvia?

Garrett was my first acquisition guy. He helped me acquire properties for several years He was my acquisition guy from 2005 to 2010. We got reconnected in 2014. He was honest and never stole money from me back then and I worked with him for quite some time so naturally I trusted him. We went through the real estate crash of 2008 and survived it together. This is the reason why I told Sylvia “I trust him with my life” because it WAS true.

Sylvia asked me for help in getting her first deal. She wanted a “buy-and-hold” property. I told her I like Cincinnati for buy and hold due to its low taxes. I asked Garrett if he has a property and when he showed me a property I like it so much I even told Sylvia I am willing to lend her half the money needed to acquire it.

Later on, she told me she could put up ALL the funds ($40,000) together. To make the long story short - I referred Garrett to Sylvia and I let the two of them work it from there. After the referral, I was out of the picture. After a few months, Sylvia complained that Garrett did not do the rehab work so I called Garrett to find out what was going on. (NOTE: I have no joint venture with Sylvia and Garrett on this property so legally, I have no obligation to help out but I did). Garrett even emailed Sylvia (cc’ed me) a video that the work is completed and since I trusted Garrett, I thought and assumed the issue was then solved. I was surprised a few months later to hear from Sylvia that she just wants out of the property.

Garrett claimed that the property is about to be rented so we will have no problem selling it to another investor buyer. Hence, based on Garrett’s recommendation, I told Sylvia I am willing to buy her property for what she invested in it. Before I share with you the reason why I failed to close on the purchase of Sylvia’s property, let me tell you how I got scammed by Garrett.

I trusted Garrett so much that I invested $144,000 with him (this is between me and Garrett alone) with the agreement that he will buy, fix and sell properties for me in Cincinnati area (I am based in Chicagoland) and we’ll split the profit after we pay my funder.

Garrett did buy 4 properties with the funds and he showed me pictures of the rehab progress. I got excited when he told me that he has buyers for these properties. However, the closing fell through for 3 of the 4 houses (and the other house was sold on owner financing). There was another closing with a back up buyer but for some reason, the wire was delayed - or so Garrett said. To make the long story short, my investment with him did not return any profit and what’s worse, is that he did NOT return the $144,000 invested. He stopped communicating with me on or about the end of October 2016. I found myself calling and emailing him with no response. I was completely surprised as this has never happened before. It was during this time that I was supposed to close on Sylvia’s property. Because of Garrett’s suspicious and sudden disappearance, my funder was not comfortable investing more money in Cincinnati and unfortunately, my funder did not agree to proceed to close on Sylvia’s property.

Garrett betrayed me. I felt devastated much more than Sylvia did not because the amount I have invested is higher than hers but I felt I was betrayed by my own brother (because that was how I treated him). I still can’t believe that Garrett could do this and I can’t understand why he did what he did.

I reported Garrett to the police at Cincinnati, Ohio. To my dismay, the police said I do not have probable cause for a criminal case against him by virtue of the joint venture agreement that I have with him. I was told I may have a civil claim though. Determined to at least recoup the capital back, I hired an attorney (Attorney Brian Shrive of Finney Law Firm) to help recover the properties that Garrett acquired. I found out too that Garrett transferred the title of some of these houses without paying me back my investment. That was an absolute betrayal of trust and a clear violation of our joint venture agreement. Case number A1607010 is filed with Hamilton County in Ohio on Dec 21, 2016. The case is still ongoing and I hope to at least get the capital back once I get control of these houses.

So here’s the bottomline: I did NOT defraud Sylvia. Garrett defrauded her and Garrett defrauded me. I am a victim like her, not the perpetrator. I feel it is beyond unfair that Sylvia blames me and calls me a scammer because of Garrett’s fraudulent actions. This hurts me deeply.

Why Did I Change My Name?

I partnered with some close friends in past real estate deals but things did not turn out as we all wanted (as I mentioned on my podcast interview, one building I bought went into foreclosure) so those former close friends took matters personally and became my vicious enemies committed to destroying me. To add to their hostility, they also felt sympathy for my ex-wife who happen to be their friend too and who was unfortunately the victim in our divorce. True, I made serious mistakes in the past on my personal life and I am not proud of it.

But I never committed any fraud against anyone which is why the court trashed the malicious fraud case filed against me by my false accusers. After facts (not feelings) have been investigated, I was cleared of all false allegations. So these people went online instead and spreaded false, malicious content about me pretending to warn others when they are clearly bent on destroying me.

I also got involved with a group of people who offered to become my manager. Much like managing a celebrity. They would manage everything. My events, training programs, everything. To my dismay, these people mismanaged the seminar-training business and I was left with clients complaining to me about the way my management team was handling everything. My management’s actions reflected on me personally though. And that became the end of my seminar-teaching career.

I lost everything back then. I lost my family… I lost even my self-belief. I was very emotionally distraught at that time due to the character assassination I was experiencing and the divorce I was going through. I didn’t even have the strength to fight and refute the false things being said about me online.

It took a while before I could recover.

And when I regained my self-belief, I decided to go back to real estate investing. Real estate investing has always been my passion. I wanted to do it again. I felt that I could not go back to investing because of the malicious and false accusations spread on the Internet by my detractors and my ex-wife's supporters. I just want to make it clear: none of these accusations on the Internet were ever proven in court. But they’ve done so much damage that I’ve decided to change my name.

I changed my name through legal means. The Dupage county court granted my name change request because I am NOT guilty of any crime. In the state of IL, one will NOT be allowed to legally change his name if he is convicted of any crime. Let me repeat, one will NOT be allowed to legally change his name if he is convicted of any crime.

So there - I changed my name for valid reasons. I was never guilty of committing any fraud or any crime against anyone. It is my right to change my name and I took advantage of that right to be able to start over.

To end, I just like to say that I really feel hurt, devastated and broken by what happened with Sylvia and myself and especially with Garrett’s betrayal of my trust. It’s saddening as well that many people here on BP became my judge, jury and character executioner even though they only heard Sylvia’s side of the story. Goes to show how one’s words can damage one’s reputation instantly. Despite the many people I’ve helped here on BP, some were quick to judge and condemn. What a shame!

I want to thank the few who asked me to share my side of the story. I am even more grateful to those who expressed their support.

I welcome any formal complaints that Sylvia Pomazak have filed or will file against me as I am anxious to clear my name through the due process in court. I mean, it’s easy to allege that so and so defrauded me but only after thorough investigations can the truth come out. I can not wait for the truth to come out.

I want to make it clear that Ms. Pomazak’s claim that I defrauded her is unproven in court. Her false accusations against me are weighty and damaging and have caused me much harm already.

In addition, I received a collection letter crafted by Ms. Pomazak’s attorney basically stating that I should be responsible for the liability of Garrett Stevenson even if the letter itself acknowledges that I only referred Ms. Pomazak to work with Stevenson. I can not express how appalled I am to be asked to pay for someone else’s liability. I mean, I too was scammed by Garrett Stevenson but should I go to my buddy who introduced me to Garrett and demand that he pays me what Garrett did not return to me?

See what I’m saying?

With the collection letter and now this destructive write-up about me on BP, I realized that Ms. Pomazak is wrongfully dragging me into this issue with a view to make me pay for Garrett Stevenson’s liability even though she fully knows and she fully understands that the liability is not mine.

She builds on the lie that she had a partnership with Garrett that includes me but her own narrative here in BP makes it obvious that the so-called partnership between her, me, and Garrett exists only in her imagination. Notice how she put quotes on the word ‘partnership’ in her post? That should tell you something, right? Let me tell you this. She fully knows that such partnership with me does NOT exist. She is fully aware that she entered into a joint venture agreement with Garrett Stevenson only, not with me. More importantly, she fully knows that I was out of the picture after she and Garrett sealed their agreement. She herself proves this with her own words on her BP narrative. If you read her narrative again, it will be clear to you from her own words that I was ONLY back in the story ONLY AFTER she felt dissatisfied with Garrett Stevenson’s performance on THEIR joint venture which is exactly why she sought out my help to get her out of their deal. Gracious me, I did even try to help her by looking for a funder so I can get her out of the deal.

Anyway, it is completely clear to Ms. Pomazak that the liability is Garrett Stevenson’s but somehow she’s bent on making me pay for Garrett Stevenson’s debt. I find it very distasteful.

Does it really not matter whichever the way is as long as one gets his capital back? It doesn’t matter which Source? It doesn’t matter which means? Who would use some imagination-based collection letter so she could wrongfully demand another person to pay for someone else’s liability? Who would go to BP to put more pressure for this person to pay her something he does not owe to her?

Let’s not be fooled by sympathy-begetting narratives. We should also open our eyes to the motives behind all of this. The made-up partnership with me that never existed. The destructive BP post against me. The demand for me to pay for something I do not owe. I just can not help but shake my head in disapproval.

Learn from my mistake. Beware of people who will do what is being done to me with you.

No matter what has been said about me, the truth is the truth, and will always be the truth.

I simply CAN NOT WAIT

for authorities to begin their investigation

so once and for all

my name will be cleared

from all these false allegations.

In addition to the lessons Sylvia enumerated on her post,

let’s not forget these lessons as well:

Be careful who you listen to.

Assess the motives of the person talking.

Read between the lines, and actions.

Do not immediately jump to conclusions. Do not get fooled.

Sharpen your insight to see things that are more difficult to detect.

And finally, beware of wrongful blamers and false accusers.

Thanks for hearing my piece.