Since 2003 I have invested money with Mary Perkins at Carlton Financial, others in my family have been investing for over 40 years. I purchased 1st and 2nd trust deeds. I was told I owned a portion of the property and they were all recorded. I was receiving monthly income up until November 2009. In Dec I rec'd a letter from Greenblatt, Associates stating that they are doing an audit on Carlton Financial and all payments will be suspended for 30 to 45 days.
I emailed him for more information and rec'd nothing, I called and the call wasn't returned. I called again and was able to get ahold of him. He said that the investments went bad and the properties were foreclosed on. Some are in a holding company, but he didn't tell me who the holding company is or what it's purpose is. He said he' get back to me next week, however, he's never returned anyone in my family's calls. Nor has he returned my calls, so not real hopeful.
Have you invested with Carlton Financial or Mary Perkins? Did you get the same letter from the attorney? Have you tried to contact the attorney? How much of your life savings is on the line? I'm looking for other people in my same situation. We need to organize and demand information who do we call next, the DA the FBI...I will respond to all fellow investors
Hi Beth,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Devkirn Khalsa. I have investments with Mary Perkins, they were inherited from my parents. My parents were invested with her for more than 40 years, since the beginning i believe. They continued to invest up until right before my mother died. My sister and i inherited her investments more than 3 years ago. I received my last check in November, a check was sent in December for a small amount but came back account closed. I tried to talk with Mary, but no return calls, then the letter from the "lawyer". I emailed him, but no response. Talking to my financial advisor yesterday he woke me up and said i needed to get a lawyer, which ineed i think we need a joint lawyer. I called the law office this morning and the "legal assistant" named Mary said she would "try" to get an answer. I do not think i will hear from them. I believe we need to talk to the DA and the FBI...there is nothing coming from the
lawyers office that i would expect, like an accounting of money. Do
i think it is a Ponzi scheme, at this point i am beginning to wonder. My parents loved Mary Perkins, but people loved Bernie Madoff too! I am wondering where the rest of the investors are? Do you know, are they all just waiting like i was, not believing this could be as it appears to be? I would love to connect with you and make a plan about what to do next! Thank you, Devkirn Khalsa
Hi Devkirn,
ReplyDeleteHow can I contact you?
My email address is blkjakbeth@aol.com
I'd love to talk to you
thanks
Beth
Investing with Mary Perkins must have been easy. Months before my mom passed, she invested another $22,000 with her. Every time a mortgage was paid off in full the money was reinvested with Mary. I think that early on one of the mortgages was paid off in full, Mary ask me if i would like to reinvest it with her, i declined. I don't know why, just a feeling, and not knowing enough to give her more money. Just like anything, i guess that it appear too good to be true and it was. I feel like anyone out there that is reading this and has invested money with her needs to step forward and we need to work together. I don't think i really understood the scope of it until today when i spoke with Beth and i believe there are many older people out there without access to internet that have no one communicating with them about this situation and are just waiting for someone to tell them it is ok. I do not think this is magically going to fix itself...we need to understand what is going on ourselves and work together to do it.
ReplyDeleteI also invested with Carlton Financial. The exact things happened to me. I invested once in June 2009 - Shirley Elliott was my contact. I thought I checked out everything carefully: the name of the borrower, the property value being used as collateral, the Promissory Note Secured by Deed of Trust, other documents looking very legitimate. I received interest checks as agreed through November 2009. I then received the letter from Mary's attorney saying they were auditing the books and to wait patiently. Today I was told that Mary Perkins filed for personal bankruptcy last year. ??? Why didn't my salesperson, Shirley Elliott, know about the looming problems ??? It looks like Carlton Financial was in trouble when I got started. I'd like to know who other people dealt with to "make the deal"? Was it Mary directly or was it Shirley Elliott? How many people were on the "inside"? I understand there is a brother who is a realtor: Robert Russell? Anyone else?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I too invested with Carlton Financial Trust through Shirley Elliott for the past 6 years. Received every payment on time every month until the infamous letter from the Attorney, who turns out to be a bankruptcy attorney...not good. From what I've learned there are over 100 investers. I have some serious money in what can only be called a scheme of some sort (you're right, I think it has become a Ponzi). Have also learned that she was paying out of her pocket to try to keep everything afloat after the housing market plummeted. Hopefully we can get as many people as we can together as I think we will get far more attention from the local and state district attorneys and FBI.
ReplyDeleteI am glad people are beginning to come forward. I reported what my sister and i experienced to the FBI in California yesterday, i do not live in Ca, but when i called the local FBI they told me to report it at the LA office, i do not think there is an Orange county office. Yes, i think the whole thing is quite large and i do not know where the money went, because if we were actually recorded as first and second lean holders we would have been contacted when the properties were foreclosed on, that is the way it works! I also understand Mary declared bankruptcy sometime last year, and yes there is the "lawyer"who is obviously trying to
ReplyDeletecover Mary. We need to ask Shirley Elliot to help find the people who have invested, she was probably invested too...but she was instrumental in bringing people and knows who many of them are.I think we have to cover ourselves and see if there is anything to recover, i have a sense the investments will add up to alot of money. Where shall we go from here?
Carolton Financial and everybody I've communicated with has fabricated stories and all my documents - these are criminal actions and they need to be prosecuted! We went to the house this morning which is collateral for the "First Mortgage" we hold. The owner has never heard of Carolton Financial, his name is close to what's on my copy of the Deed of Trust and Promissary Note but far from accurate, and he is unemployed vs. working as an Edison employee for 20 years as I was told. My documents are a composite of lies. I've been duped!! ... how many others??
ReplyDeleteI got another letter from Mary's lawyers yesterday via email. They were clearly upset that some of the investors had gone to governmental agencies, how dare we. This they said was making it impossible to give us information since Mary had been told not to talk about it. The only thing i regret is that i did not report it earlier, it is not right. It might ( and at this point it really might, as i have questions) have been legit at the beginning but it is not now and seems to have not been for so long. I am not sure if i we will every know. Does anyone think a class action suit is possible?
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI am the executor of my grandparents estate and in going through their financial records found that they also had several investments. they also have not received any funds in quite some time and in trying to track down contact info for this company I came accross this blog. Can someone that has more information on this situation please give me a call or send me an email. Brook 602-391-7164 bmiller7@cox.net.