CONTACT: Mike Brown
PHONE NUMBER: (813) 218-5308
Tallahassee, Florida – The Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) today filed an amended complaint in Circuit Court in Orange County, against Trans Continental Airlines, Inc. (Trans Continental), Louis J. Pearlman, the company's president, other related companies, and various other named individuals. The complaint alleged that the Trans Continental Employee Investment Savings Account, or E.I.S.A. program, had raised at least $95 million from over 1000 investors, but that tens of millions of the dollars received had been used for other purposes.
After considering the verified complaint, Circuit Judge Renee A. Roche of Orlando entered an Order appointing a receiver over the assets of Trans Continental Airlines, Inc., Trans Continental Airlines Travel Service, Inc., and Trans Continental Enterprises, L.L.C.
In addition, the Judge ordered Trans Continental, various other related companies, Louis Pearlman, Robert Fischetti, Michael Crudelle, and others to repatriate all assets abroad which were derived from the illegal transactions, and prohibited them from further violations of Florida's securities and banking laws and from altering, destroying, or moving records relating to the E.I.S.A. program.
The OFR alleged that Trans Continental Airlines, Inc., Pearlman and others fraudulently offered investments in a purported Employee Investment Savings Account or E.I.S.A. program to investors nationwide. Investors were allegedly told that their investment deposits were secure, backed by FDIC insurance and/or a private insurance policy, and would earn high yield money market rates only available to large corporations. But in reality investor funds were not protected by any type of insurance and were allegedly misappropriated and diverted to other business entities controlled by Pearlman, and used to pay commissions to sales agents and to pay dividends to earlier investors.
"This case illustrates the dangers associated with making investment choices without adequately researching the legitimacy of the investment," said Don Saxon, OFR Commissioner. "Our Office is committed to taking aggressive action against those who commit investment fraud."
The Florida Office of Financial Regulation encourages investors to thoroughly investigate investment offerings and to call the offices of OFR to determine if the company, broker and investment are legitimately registered, and if they have a complaint history.
Investors seeking further information should contact the Receiver, Jerry McHale, at (407) 345-0004 or visit the website
www.t-con.com. The Office of Financial Regulation can be contacted at (813) 218-5308 (Tampa) or (407) 245 0608 (Orlando).
Pease visit our website at
www.flofr.com or call us toll free within Florida at 800-848-3792 or directly at 850-410-9898.
