On Wednesday, October 28, 2020, a class action lawsuit (Zimmerman v. Burns and Matson Money) was filed against Chris Burns, a financial advisor based out of Atlanta, Georgia who unexpectedly disappeared on September 24 of this year. Burns disappeared only one day before his deadline to hand in documents relating to his businesses to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). After his disappearance, it was revealed that Burns allegedly conned an estimated 100 investors out of millions of dollars.
Along with attorneys from the Doss Law Firm, Gaslowitz Frankel partner Robert Port has filed a class action lawsuit seeking recovery from Burns, Burns’ investment advisory company Investus, and the investment advisory firm Matson Money, a registered investment advisor (RIA) managing over $8 billion dollars.
About the Case
Between January 2018 and September 21, 2020, lead plaintiff Susan Zimmerman invested about $350,000 of her retirement savings into Burns’ schemes, including $50,000 that Burns allegedly convinced her to contribute just three days before his disappearance on September 24.
The next day, on September 25, Burns’ wife filed a missing person report with police in Gwinnett County. She explained that her husband had indicated that he would be traveling to his parents’ residence in North Carolina, but they had not communicated since the prior evening. When interviewed, his parents said they had no plans for their son to visit and that they had not seen him.
In the days following his appearance, his vehicle was found abandoned nearby. Inside were copies of three cashiers checks totaling more than $78,000, according to the FBI. In late October, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officially issued a warrant for Burns’ arrest on the account of mail fraud charges.
The lawsuit alleges that from at least 2017 to September of 2020, Burns convinced investors to put their money into unregistered promissory notes under the impression that they were investing in a “new peer-to-peer investment opportunity.” The lawsuit alleges that the promissory notes were actually part of a Ponzi scheme, in which money contributed by new investors was being used to pay “interest” to earlier investors.
The complaint asserts that Chris Burns, who is also being investigated by the IRS, executed his business through various entities, including Investus Advisers, LLC, Investus Financial, LLC, Dynamic Money, and Peer Connect, LLC.
Involvement with Matson Money
The class action lawsuit alleges that Burns had an exclusive agreement with Matson Money to refer all his clients to Matson Money, and Burns’ agreements with his clients expressly required them to open investment accounts with Matson Money. The suit claims that Matson Money, in turn, was required by its contracts with Burns’ clients to invest their money solely in its proprietary mutual funds.
The suit states that Matson Money failed to conduct adequate due diligence to identify the source of the funds being received into their clients’ accounts and which were under the firm’s control, even though it was required to do so.
“Matson Money owed fiduciary duties and contractual obligations to the clients Burns referred to them, as well as the duty to reasonably supervise Burns to assure he was not engaging in illegal acts,” said Robert Port. “We believe the evidence will show that Matson Money failed in the numerous obligations it owed to the investors that Burns referred to them and for which Burns/Investus, along with Matson Money were co-advisors. Under applicable law, we believe Matson Money is liable for the damages suffered by those whose hard-earned money was lost after being entrusted to Matson Money, ”
Are you a victim of Chris Burns’ Ponzi scheme?
Our firm is gathering information to assist in this class action suit. If you were defrauded by Christopher Burns, please contact our attorneys handling this lawsuit.
Gaslowitz Frankel LLC is the Southeast’s premier fiduciary litigation law firm. Our legal team specializes in all aspects of fiduciary disputes, representing individuals, executors, trustees, investors, shareholders, and corporate fiduciaries in complex fiduciary disputes involving wills, estates, trusts, guardianships, and businesses.
