Armed with search warrants, FBI agents raided the Newport Beach office and homes of two real estate investment executives this week, seizing boxes of materials as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Around 6 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, agents descended on the Newport Beach and Laguna Beach residences of AB Capital’s co-owners, said Brian Werlemman, a wealth manager who alleges he was defrauded out of about $2.7 million in 2018 as part of an elaborate Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the company.
The raids lasted several hours, with FBI agents using a bullhorn to announce their presence to those inside the homes, Werlemman said.
In a video broadcast on KCAL News, the FBI agents could be seen carting boxes and bags of evidence from one of the dwellings.
Also on Tuesday, the FBI searched AB Capital’s former Newport Beach headquarters at 15 Corporate Plaza Drive, said Werlemman, who described himself as the company’s largest investor.
Laura Eimiller, spokesperson for the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, confirmed that the searches are connected to an ongoing criminal investigation but declined to provide further details.
Neither of AB Capital’s two principals could be immediately reached for comment Thursday and information was not available on whether they face criminal charges.
Werlemman said he has been cooperating with the FBI and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in the investigation, and estimated that more than 100 victims across the country, many of them elderly, have been swindled out of about $100 million.
The investigation stems from an involuntary bankruptcy foisted upon AB Capital in 2022 by disgruntled investors, he added.
A civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court connected to the bankruptcy names AB Capital principals Joshua R. Pukini and Ryan J. Young as defendants.
The lawsuit alleging breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and other offenses seeks at least $50 million in…
Read the full article here
