seekinglegaladvice
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- California
My boyfriend was scammed by someone who was a close friend of ours and we would greatly appreciate advice on if we can recover any of the money or if it is worth taking him to court.
For some background, I was close friends with this person for 10 years and my boyfriend was for 7. Over the past 2 or so years, he developed a serious addiction to cocaine which has formed him into a very paranoid and manipulative narcissist. He had also scammed his former business partner into getting his first salon space, as well as his ex-boyfriend out of $15k+ but we did not know or realize all of this at the time. He had gotten away with both situations and has never had to pay consequences for his actions. This situation took place from March-May of this year in California. It is a long story, but I will try my best to keep it concise. Any additional details are because we don't know if it is something we can sue him for in court. I will refer to my boyfriend as Greg and my former friend as Steve.
Steve is a hairstylist and the space next to his salon became available for rent. My boyfriend Greg used to do hair as well, and Steve convinced my boyfriend to go into business with him and get back into doing hair. The original deal was that they would become partners on Steve's LLC and Greg would work in and manage renters in the new space. Greg was to put forth $10,000, and Steve was to pay half of it back, so that they were both putting 5k into building out the new space. It was originally going to be a loan from Greg's parents, but they gave him an advance on his inheritance in place of a loan. Greg was to pay 33% of the rent for both spaces until he built up his clientele and got his license renewed, or the space started to make money off of renters. The initial agreement was verbal and I was the only other person present to witness it, but there are also text messages from Steve himself confirming some of the terms of the deal and that he was to pay that money back. We knew Steve had horrible credit and needed my boyfriend's credit and money to get approved and build out the new space, but we had been friends with him for so long that we both were convinced that it was a good and genuine offer.
After they got approved for the space, Greg transferred the $10k into the LLC bank account and Steve immediately spent all of the money to stock and furnish the place. Steve also got denied the apartment he was subleasing, so we let him move into our house (he has lived with us 2 times before this and always paid rent) while he looked for a new place and we agreed he would just pay rent as per usual. We then found out he had been upcharging the products he was selling my boyfriend to use for doing his family's hair by 300% even though he repeatedly stated and promised my boyfriend that it was being sold to him at cost. My boyfriend was already the one picking up all the product for him, because Steve had sold his car for money earlier this year. This was the first sign that something was off.
My boyfriend and I took a trip out of the country with my family. Towards the end of the trip, Greg starts receiving texts from Steve who is trying to reduce the amount he owes Greg. Steve starts demanding things like Greg needs to pay for the whole deposit of the new space and needs to give more money for things such as more product to stock the shelves. He also starts acting entitled to Greg's money accusing him of "embezzling" money meant for the business and using it on vacation because Greg doesn't want to put any more money forward when Steve has put forth nothing so far. The amount that Greg and Steve originally wanted was 12k but it was reduced to 10k by Greg's parents, and Steve was now also trying to claim that Greg 'embezzled' the extra 2k even though there are bank statements clearly showing that he never received it. He also tried to sign Greg onto the LLC while we were abroad asking for Greg's SSN and other sensitive info over text, which Greg luckily refused. Steve then intimidates and convinces Greg that Greg now suddenly has to pay half the rent for both spaces, even though it was originally agreed he was to pay 33% of both space's rent. His reasoning was that because Steve took the profits from the product he sold (which were purchased with Greg's money) and "divided them 50/50 towards the rent" (on his own accord without communication), Greg now had to pay 50% of the rent for both spaces. He also then goes back on the original agreement and claims that Greg was only supposed to pay 33% for the first month. It was at this point that Greg decided Steve was no longer trustworthy and that he did not want to go into business with him anymore or sign onto the LLC. He communicated this to Steve when we returned from our trip and it was agreed both verbally and in text message that Steve would just take the entire amount as a loan and 'buy Greg out' and that he would come up with a payment plan for Greg and start paying him in May. However, before Steve was even open to discussion about it, he demanded Greg pay money to him first 'to replace the products that were sold' (the ones purchased with Greg's money) so Greg reluctantly paid him more money.
Steve had also hired Greg's brother-in-law to move his furniture to our house and a shelf got scratched during the move. Greg's brother-in-law offered to repaint it, but Steve wanted money as compensation and was asking for more money than he paid the guy which was already a small amount (over scratches to his ikea shelf). When we returned from our trip, Steve threatened Greg saying that his furniture got damaged because our garage door didn't work, which he claimed was false advertising punishable by jailtime even though he asked to move in, our house was never advertised, he is only renting a room, and he refused to pay rent for the majority of the time he was living in our house. We got Greg's brother-in-law to talk to him and explain that his shelf got scratched during the move out of his former apartment. Steve then claimed to file a police report against the brother-in-law for vandalism and threatened to take him to small claims. Steve's dressers were moved into his bedroom by the brother-in-law, because he did not specify to the brother-in-law where he wanted them. Greg offered to help him move the dressers to the garage to clear up space in his room, but Steve refused. Steve then says that our house has unlivable living conditions due to the amount of dressers that were placed in his room (by his mover) and again refuses to pay rent. He also claimed that he is building a court case against us and the house and claimed to have 'incriminating photos'. He then sends random people to our house in the middle of the night over the course of a week to get his things from our house without notifying us and while giving these strangers our front door code. When we asked him to notify us when he is sending over someone to our house, he claimed we were abusing his rights as a tenant and that is one of the reasons he won't pay rent. On the final day, he sends his friends to our house all day to deconstruct furniture and they leave our house trashed. They did a bunch of coke in our guest room and left their dirty tissues all over our floor along with their other trash and basically left both the bedroom and bathroom a complete mess. They also left a dresser on purpose. Greg asked them to take it so Steve doesn't still have access to our house, but they refused and claimed that Steve said he is going to sell it. We told them we would put it outside, but checked online and saw that legally we had to give him a notice of abandonment before removing it from our property. We wanted to follow all the proper legal ways to do everything, since Steve likes to abuse or threaten to abuse the legal system in any way he can.
Greg goes to the original salon space (that he had to pay rent for) and tapes the notice of abandonment to the front door because Steve wasn't there. Steve then texts Greg claiming that Greg is trespassing and he will have him reported to the police and is not allowed to come onto that property. At this point, Greg doesn't want to stay working in the new space where he would have to still deal with Steve, so he contacts the landlords to get off the lease. Greg pays 2 months of rent upfront to get off the lease, and Steve demands that he also forfeit the deposit before he agrees (even though Steve has no say in whether Greg gets off the lease). The landlords say that the deposit is on Steve and Greg to figure out and remove their involvement stating that they already had to deal with this with the former business partner and it became very messy when they got involved. Greg never agreed to forfeit it, but Steve refuses to pay him back for it. When Greg gets approved to leave the lease, Steve tells him he is to notify him before he comes to pick up his stuff. Greg schedules a time with Steve and goes to collect his things from the salon only to find that a bunch of his stuff (furniture, products, and tools) are missing from the space. Steve is the only other person with access to the new space (he was using it as storage) and nobody has been working out of there so it is pretty obvious that Steve stole it. We have footage of the space when everything was still present and again after Greg's stuff was removed. We also have text messages from Steve agreeing to move Greg's stuff over to the new space. There are ring cameras at his salon that probably have footage of him moving it back to the other salon, but Greg no longer has access to it.
Following his removal from the lease, Greg requests his stolen property and that Steve sign a promissory note that he will pay back the loan. Steve refuses and starts coming up with whatever accusations and vague threats that he can every day for 2-3 weeks straight. He was making baseless accusations such as that Greg stole profits from him (the profits that Steve put back into his business i.e. paying for rent and product, the bank statements clearly show that Greg never received payment from the LLC), that Greg had no intention of joining the business, he was falsely advertised a garage, etc. and made vague threats that he would 'make moves' against Greg and that he had been nice so far and would be more of a "hard ass" if Greg kept "pushing' (i.e. asking to be paid back). Steve then says that Greg has to wait until May to discuss the loan and to give him a chance to pay Greg. May arrives and Greg asks Steve for the payment plan he was promised and for Steve to sign a promissory note. Steve then claims that Greg asking about the loan and for him to sign a promissory note is harassment and refuses. Steve then tells Greg he is no longer allowed to communicate with him other than through e-mail and that he will be blocking Greg. Greg complies and only e-mails from then on and suggests they get a mediator to work it out and Steve refuses. Steve continues to claim Greg stole profits and refuses to discuss the loan. He continues sending the same baseless accusations and vague threats to which Greg says that he will no longer be entertaining them and that if Steve does not start paying back the loan and sign the promissory note, he will take it as Steve having no intention of paying him back. Steve responded threatening to have wellness checks against Greg and the house, and for him to look at how it played out with Steve's former business partner. He then stated that he 'will no longer participate in this harassment' and reiterated that he thinks Greg stole profits from him and then stopped communication. The majority of everything is documented in both text messages and e-mails aside from some of the terms of the original agreement.
TL;DR: Boyfriend got scammed into loaning $10k to a former friend's LLC. Agreement was verbal but is referenced in text messages from the former friend. Former friend thinks he can come up with random bs (false accusations and vague threats) to get out of paying the money back and refuses to pay, sign a promissory note, or agree to getting a mediator. Location is California, US.
We have discussed what happened with other people and realized that since Greg would have to sue Steve's LLC, Steve could just claim bankruptcy and open a new LLC (we know Steve is aware of this option). Our questions are:
* Is it worth it to go to court if he can just claim bankruptcy?
* If it is worthy of a court case, is it better to hire a lawyer for this or go through small claims court?
* Is it possible or worth it to try to also get the money back for the things he stole, the salon deposit, and the rent he didn't pay?
* Would it be worth it to pay to consult a lawyer about this? Or should we cut the losses and take it as an expensive life lesson?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I apologize for the lengthiness! We are not sure what to do, it is our first time dealing with something like this and we are extremely grateful for any help or advice!
For some background, I was close friends with this person for 10 years and my boyfriend was for 7. Over the past 2 or so years, he developed a serious addiction to cocaine which has formed him into a very paranoid and manipulative narcissist. He had also scammed his former business partner into getting his first salon space, as well as his ex-boyfriend out of $15k+ but we did not know or realize all of this at the time. He had gotten away with both situations and has never had to pay consequences for his actions. This situation took place from March-May of this year in California. It is a long story, but I will try my best to keep it concise. Any additional details are because we don't know if it is something we can sue him for in court. I will refer to my boyfriend as Greg and my former friend as Steve.
Steve is a hairstylist and the space next to his salon became available for rent. My boyfriend Greg used to do hair as well, and Steve convinced my boyfriend to go into business with him and get back into doing hair. The original deal was that they would become partners on Steve's LLC and Greg would work in and manage renters in the new space. Greg was to put forth $10,000, and Steve was to pay half of it back, so that they were both putting 5k into building out the new space. It was originally going to be a loan from Greg's parents, but they gave him an advance on his inheritance in place of a loan. Greg was to pay 33% of the rent for both spaces until he built up his clientele and got his license renewed, or the space started to make money off of renters. The initial agreement was verbal and I was the only other person present to witness it, but there are also text messages from Steve himself confirming some of the terms of the deal and that he was to pay that money back. We knew Steve had horrible credit and needed my boyfriend's credit and money to get approved and build out the new space, but we had been friends with him for so long that we both were convinced that it was a good and genuine offer.
After they got approved for the space, Greg transferred the $10k into the LLC bank account and Steve immediately spent all of the money to stock and furnish the place. Steve also got denied the apartment he was subleasing, so we let him move into our house (he has lived with us 2 times before this and always paid rent) while he looked for a new place and we agreed he would just pay rent as per usual. We then found out he had been upcharging the products he was selling my boyfriend to use for doing his family's hair by 300% even though he repeatedly stated and promised my boyfriend that it was being sold to him at cost. My boyfriend was already the one picking up all the product for him, because Steve had sold his car for money earlier this year. This was the first sign that something was off.
My boyfriend and I took a trip out of the country with my family. Towards the end of the trip, Greg starts receiving texts from Steve who is trying to reduce the amount he owes Greg. Steve starts demanding things like Greg needs to pay for the whole deposit of the new space and needs to give more money for things such as more product to stock the shelves. He also starts acting entitled to Greg's money accusing him of "embezzling" money meant for the business and using it on vacation because Greg doesn't want to put any more money forward when Steve has put forth nothing so far. The amount that Greg and Steve originally wanted was 12k but it was reduced to 10k by Greg's parents, and Steve was now also trying to claim that Greg 'embezzled' the extra 2k even though there are bank statements clearly showing that he never received it. He also tried to sign Greg onto the LLC while we were abroad asking for Greg's SSN and other sensitive info over text, which Greg luckily refused. Steve then intimidates and convinces Greg that Greg now suddenly has to pay half the rent for both spaces, even though it was originally agreed he was to pay 33% of both space's rent. His reasoning was that because Steve took the profits from the product he sold (which were purchased with Greg's money) and "divided them 50/50 towards the rent" (on his own accord without communication), Greg now had to pay 50% of the rent for both spaces. He also then goes back on the original agreement and claims that Greg was only supposed to pay 33% for the first month. It was at this point that Greg decided Steve was no longer trustworthy and that he did not want to go into business with him anymore or sign onto the LLC. He communicated this to Steve when we returned from our trip and it was agreed both verbally and in text message that Steve would just take the entire amount as a loan and 'buy Greg out' and that he would come up with a payment plan for Greg and start paying him in May. However, before Steve was even open to discussion about it, he demanded Greg pay money to him first 'to replace the products that were sold' (the ones purchased with Greg's money) so Greg reluctantly paid him more money.
Steve had also hired Greg's brother-in-law to move his furniture to our house and a shelf got scratched during the move. Greg's brother-in-law offered to repaint it, but Steve wanted money as compensation and was asking for more money than he paid the guy which was already a small amount (over scratches to his ikea shelf). When we returned from our trip, Steve threatened Greg saying that his furniture got damaged because our garage door didn't work, which he claimed was false advertising punishable by jailtime even though he asked to move in, our house was never advertised, he is only renting a room, and he refused to pay rent for the majority of the time he was living in our house. We got Greg's brother-in-law to talk to him and explain that his shelf got scratched during the move out of his former apartment. Steve then claimed to file a police report against the brother-in-law for vandalism and threatened to take him to small claims. Steve's dressers were moved into his bedroom by the brother-in-law, because he did not specify to the brother-in-law where he wanted them. Greg offered to help him move the dressers to the garage to clear up space in his room, but Steve refused. Steve then says that our house has unlivable living conditions due to the amount of dressers that were placed in his room (by his mover) and again refuses to pay rent. He also claimed that he is building a court case against us and the house and claimed to have 'incriminating photos'. He then sends random people to our house in the middle of the night over the course of a week to get his things from our house without notifying us and while giving these strangers our front door code. When we asked him to notify us when he is sending over someone to our house, he claimed we were abusing his rights as a tenant and that is one of the reasons he won't pay rent. On the final day, he sends his friends to our house all day to deconstruct furniture and they leave our house trashed. They did a bunch of coke in our guest room and left their dirty tissues all over our floor along with their other trash and basically left both the bedroom and bathroom a complete mess. They also left a dresser on purpose. Greg asked them to take it so Steve doesn't still have access to our house, but they refused and claimed that Steve said he is going to sell it. We told them we would put it outside, but checked online and saw that legally we had to give him a notice of abandonment before removing it from our property. We wanted to follow all the proper legal ways to do everything, since Steve likes to abuse or threaten to abuse the legal system in any way he can.
Greg goes to the original salon space (that he had to pay rent for) and tapes the notice of abandonment to the front door because Steve wasn't there. Steve then texts Greg claiming that Greg is trespassing and he will have him reported to the police and is not allowed to come onto that property. At this point, Greg doesn't want to stay working in the new space where he would have to still deal with Steve, so he contacts the landlords to get off the lease. Greg pays 2 months of rent upfront to get off the lease, and Steve demands that he also forfeit the deposit before he agrees (even though Steve has no say in whether Greg gets off the lease). The landlords say that the deposit is on Steve and Greg to figure out and remove their involvement stating that they already had to deal with this with the former business partner and it became very messy when they got involved. Greg never agreed to forfeit it, but Steve refuses to pay him back for it. When Greg gets approved to leave the lease, Steve tells him he is to notify him before he comes to pick up his stuff. Greg schedules a time with Steve and goes to collect his things from the salon only to find that a bunch of his stuff (furniture, products, and tools) are missing from the space. Steve is the only other person with access to the new space (he was using it as storage) and nobody has been working out of there so it is pretty obvious that Steve stole it. We have footage of the space when everything was still present and again after Greg's stuff was removed. We also have text messages from Steve agreeing to move Greg's stuff over to the new space. There are ring cameras at his salon that probably have footage of him moving it back to the other salon, but Greg no longer has access to it.
Following his removal from the lease, Greg requests his stolen property and that Steve sign a promissory note that he will pay back the loan. Steve refuses and starts coming up with whatever accusations and vague threats that he can every day for 2-3 weeks straight. He was making baseless accusations such as that Greg stole profits from him (the profits that Steve put back into his business i.e. paying for rent and product, the bank statements clearly show that Greg never received payment from the LLC), that Greg had no intention of joining the business, he was falsely advertised a garage, etc. and made vague threats that he would 'make moves' against Greg and that he had been nice so far and would be more of a "hard ass" if Greg kept "pushing' (i.e. asking to be paid back). Steve then says that Greg has to wait until May to discuss the loan and to give him a chance to pay Greg. May arrives and Greg asks Steve for the payment plan he was promised and for Steve to sign a promissory note. Steve then claims that Greg asking about the loan and for him to sign a promissory note is harassment and refuses. Steve then tells Greg he is no longer allowed to communicate with him other than through e-mail and that he will be blocking Greg. Greg complies and only e-mails from then on and suggests they get a mediator to work it out and Steve refuses. Steve continues to claim Greg stole profits and refuses to discuss the loan. He continues sending the same baseless accusations and vague threats to which Greg says that he will no longer be entertaining them and that if Steve does not start paying back the loan and sign the promissory note, he will take it as Steve having no intention of paying him back. Steve responded threatening to have wellness checks against Greg and the house, and for him to look at how it played out with Steve's former business partner. He then stated that he 'will no longer participate in this harassment' and reiterated that he thinks Greg stole profits from him and then stopped communication. The majority of everything is documented in both text messages and e-mails aside from some of the terms of the original agreement.
TL;DR: Boyfriend got scammed into loaning $10k to a former friend's LLC. Agreement was verbal but is referenced in text messages from the former friend. Former friend thinks he can come up with random bs (false accusations and vague threats) to get out of paying the money back and refuses to pay, sign a promissory note, or agree to getting a mediator. Location is California, US.
We have discussed what happened with other people and realized that since Greg would have to sue Steve's LLC, Steve could just claim bankruptcy and open a new LLC (we know Steve is aware of this option). Our questions are:
* Is it worth it to go to court if he can just claim bankruptcy?
* If it is worthy of a court case, is it better to hire a lawyer for this or go through small claims court?
* Is it possible or worth it to try to also get the money back for the things he stole, the salon deposit, and the rent he didn't pay?
* Would it be worth it to pay to consult a lawyer about this? Or should we cut the losses and take it as an expensive life lesson?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I apologize for the lengthiness! We are not sure what to do, it is our first time dealing with something like this and we are extremely grateful for any help or advice!
