The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a New Jersey-based healthcare company and its founder with fraudulently raising nearly $4m from over 130 investors nationwide through the sale of membership units in the company.
Premier Healthcare Solution LLC and its founder, Josiah David – who has felony convictions and an extensive history of regulatory violations – have been raising money from investors by selling them membership interests in Premier, a company that purported to offer employers a supplemental medical reimbursement plan, SEC’s complaint said.
The SEC’s complaint alleged that since July 2017, Premier and David defrauded investors by making misrepresentations claiming that the company had secured a bank loan necessary for its business plan to succeed. In reality, it had not done so. Additionally, the firm was making misrepresentations that the concept underlying Premier’s business model was either patent-pending or patented. However, the US Patent and Trademark Office had repeatedly denied Premier’s applications.
The complaint further alleged that David deceived investors by failing to disclose and lying about his prior criminal and regulatory history when he was known as Dennis Lee.
Commenting on the case, SEC’s New York Regional Office director Richard R. Best said, “Investors deserve accurate and complete information about a business’s performance and assets, and about its key persons’ criminal or regulatory histories, if any.
“We will vigorously pursue those who fail to provide this information to investors.”
Furthermore, the SEC also alleged that David’s plan consisted of a tax-exempt healthcare-related contribution from the employee to Premier, a loan from a lender to repay the employee’s contribution and an insurance policy obtained by Premier payable at the employee’s death to repay the loan.
Filed in federal district court in New Jersey, SEC charged Premier and David with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and permanent injunctive relief. The complaint also named two parties, Denis Joachim and Provision Corporation LLC, as relief defendants and seeks to recover from them investor monies they received from Premier.
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