Warren Buffett denies any relationship with an investment firm that claimed to have him as company’s honorary chairman.
The real estate firm was shut down on Monday. It was accused of siphoning off hundreds of thousands of dollars into Philippine bank accounts with false claims that Warren Buffett was chairman.
The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order freezing the assets of International Realty Holdings Inc. of Palmdale and its operators.
The SEC filed a 10-page fraud lawsuit against the company’s operators and IRH on Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
“I am not, nor have I ever been, the ‘Honorary Chairman’ of the Board of Directors of IRH,” Buffett said in the declaration. “I have never had any personal business relationship with IRH.” IRH had also falsely claimed that the company was 50% owned by Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse and promised annual returns of up to 15%.
Warren Buffett’s name was also misspelled in its investment brochures as “Buffet” and a photo of Buffett with eight supposed IRH employees were actually students from the University of Michigan business school.
Many investors had invested thousands of dollars into IRH and it raised at least $485,000 and probably $700,000 from at least 15 inevestors in six states, the SEC lawsuit said.
“Of the approximately $700,000 deposited into IRH’s accounts as of Feb. 28, 2009 (at least $485,000 of which is investor money), no less than $535,000 has been wired by IRH into bank accounts held by a law firm in the Philippines,” the suit said.
The SEC is working to have the funds returned to the U.S.
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