Yes…Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive…
I was there, the summer of 2010, a relatively new real estate investor trying to learn as much as I could about real estate investing and wondering if commercial real estate was a path for me. Heavily promoted, the Commercial Goldrush with DC Fawcett and Karen Hanover was to blend the best of both guru’s – the short sale expert with the commercial investing expert. (You can read my initial report HERE.)
This was heavily promoted by the most compelling gurus active with their internet marketing programs, and they all shared in the huge number of sales. Originally set to be inside a hotel, they had to move to a different venue to accommodate the several hundred, if not into the thousands, to an independent facility. Now I know the money wasn’t in the admissions, but in the UP-SELLS, which there were plenty, as are common at these types of events. (The Seminar Business and the Hard-Sell Up-Sell.)
While there were plenty of products for sale there, one in particular, Karen Hanover’s Fast Track program, raised millions of dollars for Ms. Hanover. The program was offered at $29,997 and it promised 2 vetted commercial properties to hand to busy investors, such as doctors and other professionals that didn’t have enough time to do their own due diligence. The difference between this up-sell and the other products sold at the event, is there was no product delivered.
As soon as I returned home, there was a lot of talk about Karen Hanover and her ethics. Sure enough, I looked on regular public records and she has a history of not paying her rent and other contractual altercations. The investors I met from the event claimed they would not do ANY deals with her, even though we paid the higher premium to have access to her lenders and her expertise.
A few months later, someone reached out to me because they had a friend that spent the $30k, but never heard anything from Ms. Hanover or her staff. Sadly, I had to point her to another web-site that exposed a lot of concern from others having the same experience. It appeared nobody was going to see their money again.
In the mean time, Ms. Hanover, in an attempt to stop people from accusing her of fraud, changed identities and threatened people to stop complaining. I don’t know if there is a law against that in itself, but she then used a voice spoofing tool and claimed to be an FBI agent. That is a federal offence (impersonating an FBI agent) that landed her in jail for 6 months.
Ms. Hanover vehemently denied her part in any wrong doing, and named me as a few other bloggers with clear intentions to sue. Her attorney did send me a letter asking me to take down a poorly worded blog post I wrote, which was since corrected with proper wording (like using the word “alleged” before the word “scam”.)
What seems like an eternity for many affected since that day in 2010, she has finally plead guilty to wire fraud, which comes with a maximum sentence of 23 years in prison, financial restitution and more. You can see the guilty plea HERE.
Here is the video of the sales pitch
She admits to intentionally defrauding 48 people out of $1.5 million.