Armando Montelongo Now Faces a Civil RICO Lawsuit Backed by 164 Former Students
Many that have followed me over the years know that my first exposure to Real Estate education was through one of Armando Montelongo’s very first bus tours. I was told I would be rich, that being in his inner circle was all I needed to find deals, lenders, agents, contractors and all that is needed to achieve wealth – at least that is what I remember of the promises.
Naturally when I got home I realized after attending some REI meetings that I didn’t know enough about real estate in my local market. I bought more programs, listened to as many podcasts as I could, and watched as many webinars as I could as I found the path of investing that worked for me. I’m still here, investing in real estate, and no, I’m not rich yet.
Here is an excerpt from the press release:
Emergent has filed suit under the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) on behalf of 164 former students of “Flip This House” star Armando Montelongo and his companies, alleging that the real estate mogul’s educational offerings — which cost up to tens of thousands of dollars, and which are attended by thousands of students every year — do not live up to the central claim that the Montelongo “system works in any financial market, at any given time,” and are instead the heart of a fraudulent scheme to sell students worthless “education.” In what appears to be the first major lawsuit brought against the defendants over their seminars, the students seek over $12 million in trebled RICO damages.
A copy of the complaint is here. If you’d like to know more about this lawsuit or our other group action work, contact us.
You can read more about Emergent Law on their web-site.
What is RICO?
RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations. This is not the same claim that Presidential candidate, Donald Trump is accused of with his “Trump University” Real Estate education program. That is merely a class action suit that he’s been fighting for almost 6 years now. (See http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/05/04/TrumpU.pdf.)
Where I’ve seen similarities in the seminar business (see The Seminar Business and the Hard-Sell Up-Sell) from many educators, I’ve never known any to receive such a strong law suit filed against them.
You can read the claim here.
160 more disgruntled unicorn chasers discovered that real estate investing requires actual work. Who knew? Time to pull their underpants back on, get out of their mother-in-law’s basement, and start making it work like adults. And stop suing other people, because riches didn’t just fall in their laps.
I never trusted him. Also left what appeared to be a great wife for a bimbo.
Hope the people filing the lawsuit get some closure.
DO NOT FALL FOR IT!!!
My husband and I spent WAY too much. Was told that we would get help, advice, etc. but it all fell through. Eventually got a home but it cost us a bankruptcy, almost failed marriage, and more money than we made.
Let your conscience be your guide and really think first. Armando is a great persuasive speaker.
RICO act….. straight out of the Saprano’s !!!!
I bet these seminar companies get sued all the time; you can’t make everybody happy.
I had a friend named John Stefanchik who sold courses on how to make thousands with mortgage notes. He was sued by the FTC also and lost a 20 million dollar suit including losing his home. Hr found out that if you promise that you can make 100K doing his system than every one who buys it must also. The problem being most people who buy just put it in their bookcase and forget about it. YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION
Jay your probably a kiss ass employee for armando, dont kiss too much ass because his employees dont last long, i was cheated out of over 40,000 dollars, at our last seminar was when i noticed the scams he was running to get more money out of students, like saying he was picking 12 students that stood out for his higher priced seminar but actually spoke to everyone and said to keep it quiet and having the students believe they were doing outstanding work, having students max out their credit cards having them believe they were going to make it back, having students write down what they were up too to pinpoint those students with money, ignoring students who no longer had any money left, pushing students to open LLC without any properties yet, false estimates on repairs, false information of investors in certain city that will invest in flipping and so much more.
DEADLINE APPROACHING: For those of you who have been financially harmed by purchasing the Armando Montelongo Seminars, you have a limited time opening to join the RICO Act Lawsuit. It doesn’t cost a penny to join. The Lawyers are taking the case on a Contingency to help you the victim of Armando’s sales tactics and lack of services. Please visit this website http://www.flippinrefund.weebly.com – private – private and join the forces today to help yourself get your life back. Come join the forces that are in this case already. You have everything to gain and the legal support to get you through. The deadline to get into this case is August 31, 2017. Please share this post with anyone that you know that needs help. #emergentlaw #chriswimmer #sernaandassociates