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Q: Is this venture capital firm realible? need answer quickly... ( Answered,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Is this venture capital firm realible? need answer quickly...
Category: Business and Money > Finance
Asked by: aieoncorp-ga
List Price: $25.00
Posted: 09 Jan 2003 16:53 PST
Expires: 08 Feb 2003 16:53 PST
Question ID: 140168
I am the Cheif Financial Officer of Aieon Inc. We have been up and
running for 7 months now and have decided to look for some venture
capital to help us expand faster. We submitted a  breif overview of
our company to http://www.tsdv.com and within 72 hours we had a bank
personaly call us to ask us exactly what we were looking for.

Today we recieved notice that we have been choosen, part of a select
few, that they actually want to interview. The interview is in
California, and they will fly us out and back. The company that helped
us, http://www.tsdv.com, has a $5,000 charge up front and a $10,000
once accecpted.  With the amount we expect to get if we choose to
persue this matter, that won't be a problem, but I decided I wanted a
little background information about this company before I decided to
hand over 5K in funds.

Is this a realible company? How do they rank amoung other venture
capital firms?

A quick reply would be greatly appricated.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Is this venture capital firm realible? need answer quickly...
Answered By: clouseau-ga on 09 Jan 2003 18:07 PST
 
Hello aieoncorp,

Thank you for your question. I understand your hesitation at remitting
"up front" funds prior to an initial interview.

I did a search based on [Tri Star Diversified Ventures] and discovered
the following:

At Pennsylvania Enforcement Actions:
http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Securities/actions/tristar.html

Commission Halts Unregistered Activity
By Tri Star Diversified Ventures, L.L.C.

Harrisburg, PA, January 6, 1999 - - The Pennsylvania Securities
Commission issued a Summary Order to Cease and Desist against Tri Star
Diversified Ventures, L.L.C. (Tri Star), Charles Woods, CEO of Tri
Star, Gregory R. Boretz, President of Tri Star, and Susan Wuest,
Public Relations Director of Tri Star, all of Las Vegas, NV, to halt
the offer and sale of unregistered securities in Pennsylvania...


I double checked the TSDV website to be sure this was the same
company:

Management Team:
http://www.tsdv.com/team.html

The Company’s management team has in excess of seventy-five (75) years
cumulative experience in mergers, acquisitions, corporate finance,
partnerships, joint ventures, sales, marketing and technical support.
In addition, the team has a diverse background in starting and
managing new organizations.

The following is a brief description of the business background of the
executive officers, directors and consultants of the Company.


Charles Woods
James Beck
Gregory R. Boretz
 
So, indeed, it is the same company.

The Pennsylvania article continues:

"...In December 1998, a Pennsylvania resident received a post card
relating to an investment in venture capital and phone calls from
Wuest and others representatives of Tri Star, offering shares in Tri
Star for 50¢ a Share. The PA investor also received offering materials
indicating that Tri Star is offering for sale 10,000,000 Class A
Convertible Participating Preferred Shares in Tri Star at $.50 per
Share with a minimum subscription of 40,000 Shares for an aggregate of
$20,000 per Unit and a total offering price of $5,000,000. The
respondents omitted to state material facts, e.g., that, in September
1998, both Kansas and Missouri issued Cease and Desist Orders against
Tri Star and other respondents to halt the offer of unregistered
securities in their states..."

*******************************************

I came across a mysterious page here:
http://www.shout.net/raul/music/companies.html

It appears that these are links to music companies Tri Star has
invested in, though I can't be positive. Should that be correct, you
might wish to contact these companies to see if they would share their
experiences with you.

IllGames
http://www.illgames.com/

No contact information, but appears to be owned by Tri Star

Max Phone
http://www.maxphone.com/

Paramax Inc.
MaxPhone.com
4 Corporate Plaza Suite. 215
Newport Beach, California 92660
U.S.A

Toll-Free 1-800-525-2324

Corporate Website
www.paramax.net

In a Confidential Private Placement Memorandum by Paramax at
www.ucsupandrunning.com/Exchange/ paramax/ppmparamax.pdf, the
following regarding Tri Star is noted on page 7:

"In August 1999, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"SEC")entered a formal order of investigation entitled "In the Matter
of Tri Star Diversified Ventures, LLC." The order alleges that Tri
Star Diversified Ventures, LLC ("TSDV"), its employees and others,
directly or indirectly, offered or sold securities without an
effective registration statement and made misleading statements in
connection therewith."

They continue that they had documents subpoenaed and that the results
of this investigation would have an unknown effect on their business
as TSDV was a 25% shareholder of their company.


World Shopping Network
http://www.wsnmall.com/

Their investor relations page at
http://www.wsnetwork.com/Investors.htm shows the following contact
information:

Company headquarters:
1502 Brookhollow Dr., Suite B
Santa Ana, CA 92705

General Customer Service: 800.700.2475
Investor Relations: 888.518.8300
Ordering/Order Questions: 888.518.9100
Fax: 714.427.0763

**********************************************

I found a page that might be of interest to you at Investor's Data
Exchange

http://www.pre-ipo-investing.org/investment_index.html

Listed below are "ONLY THE NAMES" of the companies Investor Data
Exchange has investigated for the members in our club. All of written
investment analysis is available to Investor Data Exchange members
only.

Investor Data Exchange collects investment information from the
following sources and applies proven venture capital guidelines.

1. Private Placement Memorandums and supporting documents. 
2. Members feedback and past investing experiences. 
3. Public news sources. 
4. Onsite inspections of the companies. 
5. The SEC, FBI, FTC and other State and Federal Regulatory. 

Tri Star is included in their list of previously investigated
companies. Visit this page for information on joining and obtaining
their report:

http://www.pre-ipo-investing.org/investment_club.html

Investor Data Exchange Offers Three Different Membership Plans. 

Full Membership $295.00 a year. 
One Review Membership $59.95 
Entrepreneur Membership $295.00 a year. 

It appears that for $59.95, you may receive valuable information on
TSDV.

**********************************************

I could find no mention of TSDV on Google Groups.

I trust my research will be helpful in evaluating this company. If a
link above should fail to work or anything require further
explanation, please do post a Request for Clarification and I will be
pleased to assist further.


Regards,

-=clouseau=-

Request for Answer Clarification by aieoncorp-ga on 12 Jan 2003 08:37 PST
Thank You for your prompt answer.  We have read the material and
understand the questions that arise from actually trading shares with
this company.  But in terms of receiving equity capital from this
company, are you led to believe that they are for the most part
reliable?

Yes, we also understand the legalities from this question, but we are
merely asking for an educated "opinion."  Thank You;)

Clarification of Answer by clouseau-ga on 12 Jan 2003 09:17 PST
Hello again aieoncorp,

You asked:

"...in terms of receiving equity capital from this company, are you
led to believe that they are for the most part reliable?"

This is impossible for me to determine not having any first hand
experience with this company, nor being able to locate any
testimonials or complaints from their clients on the Internet. The
above mentioned infractions in trading (or claimed infractions) do
raise flags for me, and were I in your position, I would choose to
research further through other channels.

The report from IDE might be an invaluable resource for you and seems
reasonably priced at $59.95. Likewise, I would contact the companies
and contacts listed above to see if they would share their experiences
in dealing with TSDV. Paramax may have more recent information since
the investigation is now three years old and their investors relations
package may contain updates.

I just noticed that the link on the Paramax offering was inaccurate in
my original posting. The correct link is:

www.ucsupandrunning.com/Exchange/paramax/ppmparamax.pdf 

My apologies for this oversight.

Best of luck. 

Regards,

-=clouseau=-
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