posted June 9, 2008
 Former Ooltewah currency trader Luis Rivas held sway in this $4 million Florida mansion in April |
Steve Buckalew, who sold Rivas his $4 million palatial house on the Gulf, said Rivas raked in over $2 million from local investors before "leaving in the middle of the night."
Investors in Chattanooga and elsewhere said they had a similar experience. Rivas has been forced into bankruptcy in Chattanooga, but he is nowhere to be found. The FBI is looking into the case.
Mr. Buckalew said he was introduced to Rivas near the end of March by a real estate friend, Brian Mack, who was helping Rivas find investors for his foreign currency system, which promised fabulous returns for those who trusted their money with him.
Mr. Buckalew said he didn't buy into the Rivas venture. He said, "I didn't believe a word he said. I didn't even think he was a good con man."
He said Rivas visited his six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home on Weakfish Way along with assistant Angie Jefferson. He said Rivas kept admiring the home, which Mr. Buckalew said is "the best house in three counties." He said the house was built 20 years ago and he has owned it for six years.
He said Rivas asked about buying the house, and he told him it was on the market for $4 million. He said he told Rivas if he would pay him $350,000 down, he would finance the rest of the purchase.
Mr. Buckalew said Rivas returned the next day and offered $50,000 down along with a $300,000 promissory note that would pay 10 percent interest every month. He said he accepted the offer and Rivas moved in along with his entourage.
Mr. Buckalew said he kept close tabs on the goings on at the big house while Rivas was living there because he kept a 50-foot yacht docked outside.
He said Rivas moved in some furniture after closing down his office in Spartanburg, S.C. He said Rivas also bought $15,000 worth of flat screen TVs for the house.
Mr. Buckalew said, "It was like a circus at that house. There were so many cars parked outside that I told him it looked like he was dealing drugs. There were eight-15 people in and out all the time."
He said Rivas brought in a number of his employees from other offices, including Chattanooga. He said Tina Richardson came down and he put the power and the phones for the house in her name. Ms. Jefferson stayed on, and others from Chattanooga included Lisa Cole, Karen Goldman, John Shelling, and a guy named Larry, he said.
Mr. Buckalew said he heard the 55-year-old Rivas "bragging about sleeping with various women. He was talking about sleeping with the mother of a young girl he had just had a child with. He said he was going to start an office in Orlando and sleep with a bunch of women over there."
He said Rivas was at Panama City the entire month of April except for a week in Miami to take in some money there.
Mr. Buckalew said, "He started hiring everybody he ran into. He was giving jobs away like candy. He hired people he met at Circuit City or cleaning his house. These were very gullible people who had never been around anybody who threw around that kind of money."
He said, "He was buying cars for these people and telling them he would buy them houses. And he would take 25-30 people to a restaurant and pay for everybody."
Mr. Buckalew said one girl still has a $65,000 Volvo that Rivas got her.
He said he asked Rivas why he threw so much money around and he responded, "I like to see people happy."
He said early on, he and his wife began to have suspicions about Rivas and ordered a background check on him. "We found out he had done nine years in prison for securities fraud," he said.
Mr. Buckalew said other investors started to commission their own background checks. He said, "The only person who made any money down here off Rivas was the private investigator."
He said his first house check from Rivas was due May 1 and was for $74,566 counting interest. He said the check bounced. He said Rivas wrote him a second check on Coastal Community Bank and it bounced too.
He said in early June he went to his house one morning and it was cleaned out.
Mr. Buckalew said Rivas did leave behind numerous cards of thanks he had received from employees for the gifts he showered on them.
He said Rivas took with him some of his personal belongings that he had left in the house - a karaoke machine, six pool sticks and a couple of TVs. He has taken out a warrant against Rivas for the thefts.
He said when Rivas bought the $15,000 in TVs, he put down $7,500. He said the TV dealer has theft warrants for him, too.
He said the duped investors at Panama City have hired attorney Larry Perry to try to get their money back.
Mr. Buckalew said Rivas had left, saying he would be gone two days. But no one has seen him since.
Mr. Buckalew said his maid packed Rivas' suitcase for the trip. "She said there was over $1 million in the luggage in stacks of $100 bills."
He said Rivas went on a private plane along with Angie Jefferson and Karen Goldman. He said the plane went to Atlanta, and Rivas rented a car there.
Mr. Buckalew said he kept in touch with Rivas for a couple of weeks via cell phone. He said Rivas would not answer the phone, but he would send him text messages.
He said Rivas asked why he was upset since he had gotten his house back and been paid the $50,000. He said then the text messages stopped.
Mr. Buckalew said tracking showed that the Rivas cell phone was apparently sent by mail to Kentucky, then on to Washington state.
He said Rivas' Jaguar, that Tina Richmond had brought down from Chattanooga for him, and his Mustang were found "by the side of the road."
He said he has no idea where Rivas is, but he thinks the FBI does. "I believe they are going to bring him to justice very soon," he said.
Mr. Buckalew said he gets numerous calls from people who Rivas duped when they find out Rivas once operated from the mansion.
He joked, "I tell them he's still here. Come and get him. They tell me they'll be down for some Tennessee-style justice."
) Lou Rivas |
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