Jackson Jambalaya

Has another scam taken place in Jackson? Such a scenario might be the case according to recent U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings in Jackson. Steadivest is a "Family of companies" according to a letter written by its managing member, W. Marshall Wolfe. The family consists of Steadivest Capital, Steadivest Development, Steadivest Lending, Steadivest Properties, Steadivest Resources, and the Steadivest Contrarian Fund (Hereafter the "family" will be referred to as Steadivest.).



Copy of deed of trust






Steadivest advertises on its website expertise in property management, mortgage lending, realtor services, and construction. It promotes its "portfolio services to investors and even offers a "buyback" of properties if necessary:
"SteadiVest’s real estate investment portfolio Program was developed to provide an alternative for investors to achieve exceptional returns in non-owner occupied rental real estate without the challenges of investment property selection and daily management and with all the benefits of portfolio diversification. Your SteadiVest™ portfolio will be professionally selected and managed. Through our SteadiVest™ family of companies, we utilize our proven techniques and experience to select investment properties that will provide a mix of geography, size, current income and appreciation potential. Then we actively manage every aspect of portfolio growth and administration right up to the day you exit your portfolio.

We even offer a guaranteed buy-back* of your SteadiVest™ portfolio properties. Our goal is to build your portfolio value as consistently as possible while minimizing any action from you…and we keep you informed of that value every step of the way through our focused reporting. "

Steadivest even went so far as to produce several slick videos such as this one,



for potential clients, touting investment opportunities in Mississippi. This operation provided an affluent lifestyle for Mr. Wolfe as he purchased the home in the Palisades shown above (The home is currently for listed for sale at $879,900. The deed of trust shows he borrowed $754, 400 from Regions Bank on an ARM at 6.375% for a fixed period of five years.). However, things were apparently not doing as well as claimed by Steadivest. Steadivest, LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 23, 2009. There were between 100 and 199 creditors according to the petition and assets between one and ten million dollars were listed as well. Liabilities were estimated claimed as being less than ten million dollars. Ridgeland attorney Jeffrey Tyree represented Steadivest in the petition. Copy of petition

Investors lost millions of dollars in Steadivest. The top 20 creditors holding unsecured claims are:

Scott Stevens, Cabot, AR: $996,563
MYSY Rental, Inc, Flowood, MS: $996,563
Bobby Isonhood, Canton, MS: $958,694
Alex Breeland, Jr., Madison, MS: $805,224
Ray Montgomery, Jr., Brandon, MS: $737, 457
Natalie Dautenhaum, Brandon, MS: $328,660
Linda Matthews, Cabot, AR: $274,055
Richard Lacey, Brandon, MS: $268,604
Claude Smith, Brookhaven, MS: $205,115
Barbara Albritton, Jackson, MS: $196,993
Jack & Toni Williams, Brandon, MS: $149,484
Terry Bailey, Canton, MS: $127,560
James R. Donald, Raymond, MS: $116,059
Freda Hudson, Brandon, MS: $114,106
Arthur Warren, Flowood, MS: $109,821
Robert Isonhood, Liberty, MS: $99,656
John D. Smith, Brookhaven, MS: $98,371
Sheila Stone, Vicksburg, MS: $96,619
Alex Breeland, Canton, MS: $88,513
Leila Stone, Vicksburg, MS: $81,943

Total: $6,784,060.
Copy of list
List of all creditors

Although Mr. Wolfe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, several creditors filed a petition with the court to convert the filing to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The petition claimed:

"Steadivest is a holding company with various operating subsidiaries as more particularly described on the flow chart attached as Exhibit "A". None of the operating entities have filed for bankruptcy protection; however, the operating subsidiaries all operating under the Steadivest company name as if it is one entity. In addition to the operating subsidiaries identified on the flow chart, the Lacey Group believes that three additional entities, Investline TFS Income Fund, LLC, Steadivest Contrarian Fun I, LLC, and Steadivest Kansas City, LLC are owned and/or affiliated with the Debtor. "

Steadivest claimed in state court it owned these subsidiaries. A cursory glance on the Mississippi Secretary of State's website at the list of companies in which Mr. Wolfe is an officer reveals he had his fingers in many corporate pies:
Jackson Property Liquidators
MTW Investment Financing (dissolved October 16, 2008)
Steadivest Capital (Created November 15, 2006)
Steadivest Development, LLC (Created October 26, 2005)
Tactical Financial Solutions (Created November 15, 2006)
Invision Real Estate and Property Management (Created August 7, 2007)
Steadivest Properties, LLC (Created August 7, 2007)

Steadivest Contrarian Fund is not owned by Marshall Wolfe BUT he was added as manager in corporate documents and SCF has the same address as the other Steadivest companies. It also was created on October 16, 2008, when MTW was dissolved. Steadivest Lending (Mr. Wolfe was an officer) was licensed with the Department of Banking as a mortgage broker but dissolved on December 15, 2008. However, the motion continues:

"Steadivest, through its subsidiaries, solicited individuals to loan money to Steadivest in return for promissory notes which paid above-market interest rates in monthly installments and contained a provision for repayment upon demand..."

"In November of 2008, Steadivest contacted its note holders and advised that it was unilaterally reducing the interest rate on its notes to 3% and suspending the demand feature of the notes. See Exhibit "B".

"Since the filing of the bankruptcy proceeding, Steadivest has not been able to pay its bills as they come due. Specifically, Steadivest was unable to meet its payroll on Friday, April 10, 2009 and has insufficient cash in the bank to pay the rent on the building where the business is located..." Copy of petition, Steadivest financial statements, List of properties owned by Steadivest

The Court agreed and ordered on May 15, 2009 a conversion of the bankruptcy petition from a Chapter 11 to a Chapter 7 filing. The case is currently pending further action as additional creditors had to be notified of the bankruptcy filing.

I have seen this scenario so many times that I can almost predict the outcome. Firm solicits investors in some exotic creation that promises a new way of doing business. Firm is actually a "family" of companies that are constantly created and dissolved with ownership moved around from officer to officer. Said companies also tend to have very short life spans. Owner lives high on the hog, buying a fancy home on the water in the Palisades as investors give him millions of dollars, only to see the money lost in bankruptcy. Owner files bankruptcy1 for one company while keeping the others operating, thus allowing him to continue the um, game (can't say scam, might get me sued at this point.). This one smells, folks and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what is going on in this case.