file:///C:/Users/pc/Downloads/502018CA004256XXXXMB_5.pdf
Its complicated, as would be expected…
Huh. I just read through the case documents out of curiosity…
so this situation involves CR, her husband, and a third player - Silvia. All convincing a 65 year old female Palm Beach resident who knows nothing about horses to wire $400,000 to the Netherlands to buy a 1.6 m show jumper for BM to compete at Tryon… and sell for MILLIONS afterwards. All as part of an ownership group… Apparently the lady had a “friendship” with Silvia and was really impressed with BMs riding… right. Sounds like a slightly lonely, wealthy retiree they conpletely targeted and manipulated. Sad.
Sonehow or other though, after wiring $400,000 to the Dutch bank for the horse, the woman’s Money is gone, she doesn’t have any ownership papers for this horse, and this group of characters has moved right along and has no use for her anymore.
So who in the Netherlands sold this horse - “Lebron” and took this woman’s $400,000? Possibly the fellow tangled up in the AT case who allowed them to use his bank account for a small fee? And what was the ACTUAL sale price of this horse?
At what point do these people get investigated by the feds for wire fraud? It’s all well and good for the victims to pursue civil cases… but it seems obvious there is criminality here, and ongoing wire fraud.
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And to top it off, they have the horse. Now that takes you-know-what.
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The question is, are they so shameless as to try and campaign it now? Who will be listed as owner? It’s ridiculous.
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“Millions of dollars”? I mean, these horses are hella expensive, but “millions” plural? I wonder what stories the ‘investor’ was told that convinced her of that.
"The horse would be competed at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon … " Because they have a lock on the selection committee, I suppose. Clearly the poor lady client investor really didn’t know how this works.
“Lebron”? Let me guess the color of the horse. Tacky use of a person’s name for an animal. I mean, while we’re at it, might as well bring it up and ask if they are planning to name any horses after white athletes. Maybe “Tom Brady” would be a good name for a grand prix horse?
I think every Roffman article has mentioned that she had a baby two years ago. I’m mystified as to why this is relevant to the legal case. Media doesn’t normally itemize the children of male athletes.
Well, the general outline of the deal seems to be similar to the Tarjan fiasco. Give a ‘client’ only part of the story, route money hither and yon, cut off communications and call it done. Burn bridges on the client relationship and move on.
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The spectators may gossip, but the show will go on. I’m sure the extra financial padding in their pockets makes it easier to ignore the whispering and pointing.
After the 2012 Olympics, Eurocommerce went bankrupt and had to auction off their horses, including London (the silver medallist). He sold for 8.6 million Euros (to Glock). So, there is at least some precedence: http://www.ghpc.at/en/netherlands/news/details/article/gerco-schroeder-and-london/
Horse is chestnut and who knows whom it is named after.
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I think the Lebron name is more about it’s jumping talent than anything else. Grand Prix jumpers have been named for basketball players before… Air Jordan Z comes to mind.
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Beat me to it- jumpers got “hops”. Dressage horses often named after musicians: Sammy Davis Jr is competing in the WC right now, Mendelssohn, etc.
Back on topic, CR now has two young children, a business, nice horses, and a couple of scandals before the age of 30. How on earth does she find the time for this stuff. I’d be exhausted.
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It was widely reported that Vindicat W was sold to Jessica Springsteen for I think $8m after the 2012 games.
it was a big deal back in like, 1988, when The Natural sold for a million. This isn’t new. Dressage horses don’t win nearly the kind of money that Jumpers do and somehow Faberge MF was sold for $900k. Why does millions for a jumper surprise?
whats more unlikely is that a horse acquired at the end of 2017 would campaign, qualify, compete successfully, and then be sold all by August 2018.
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I’m not challenging that a top quality jumper MIGHT be able to be sold for a price tag in the millions IF it qualifies for WEG… AND performed well… AND stayed sound.
Yup - it’s possible.
HOWEVER, this particular case is about someone who put money into this horse as an INVESTMENT. Not because she is a talented amateur rider, and wanted to ride the horse herself if the scheme fails, not because she owned a farm and wanted a good competition horse with a top rider out competing and associated with her farm name in order to raise it’s profile, and certainly not because she wanted to develop a breeding program of any kind (Lebron is a gelding). She put money into the horse, according to the complaint, because it was presented as a short term “investment opportunity.” And there was some bit about this woman wanting to get a seat at a table at an exclusive polo club.
The odds of this “investment opportunity” panning out? HORRIBLE. It’s incredibly likely any number of things will go wrong.
Well isn’t that the point of the lawsuit? When she found out that the terms of the “investment” were not what they seemed, she asked for her money back. Parties allegedly said yes then did not deliver and so she filed suit.
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“… who knows whom it is named after.”
Oh really ??? :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
The ratio of horses (and other animals) named after black athletes & celebrities compared to white is large to small. (As the examples given here illustrate.) I get that this population of owners is an insular club comprised of a vast majority of elite wealthy whites, but hopefully someday they will start to THINK when choosing cute celebrity horse names. While the rest of the plebian world argues about the name of the Washington Redskins, etc. & so on. I wince for the entire horse world every time I see another horse named Tiger Woods, Shaq or Kanye. Or Lebron.
Practically speaking, being in the 1% does exempt people from a lot of things, but they should hold themselves accountable, and pick out some celebrity/athlete-names more equably. Or name them something else.
Just imo. 
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Lebron is a fairly common French male name and it literally means “little brown one.” Considering the horse is a solid liver chestnut, it’s entirely feasible that someone named him “little brown one” without any further motives.
It’s also (in its accented form) a fairly common last name in the Andalucian region of Spain.
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Is no one concerned for CR and BM’s safety let alone their two children? This woman hired an undercover FBI agent posing as a hit man to kill her husband and her oppositions attorney. Further, her fathers bones were found underground in the family’s basement, the murder went unsolved.
^^^ That you Dressage Hub?
^^^ That you Dressage Hub?
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You guys will never know who I am.
Might want to go revisit those news articles. This was well publicized since she was running for senate at the time. Two drifters confessed and were convicted of the killing in a robbery gone wrong.
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