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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Fraudster Just Won’t Stop, Investors Say

SALT LAKE CITY (CN) - A securities recidivist wasted no time between schemes and bilked a Utah company of more than $1.5 million, the company says, spending the money on a Porsche, private planes and courtside tickets for the Utah Jazz.

Q-6 Associates sued Dwight Shane Baldwin, Silverleaf Financial, Silverleaf Acquisition Holdings, and Baldwin's alleged associate, Mark Staples.

Baldwin "was charged in 2010 by the State of Utah with two felony counts of securities fraud and two counts of felony theft," according to the complaint in Salt Lake County Court.

"Mr. Baldwin plead[ed] guilty in 2010 to two counts of theft and entered into a plea in abeyance. Unfortunately for the plaintiff, Mr. Baldwin has not kept out of trouble, but instead is up to his securities fraud tricks again.

"The fruits of Mr. Baldwin's fraud are evident in his lavish lifestyle. Mr. Baldwin flies around in two twin-engine private planes, drives a Porsche Panamera, has front-row tickets to the Utah Jazz, and gives away expensive gifts."

To top it off, Q-6 says, other investors sued Baldwin in Nevada in June this year, claiming he had "swindled them out of one million two hundred thousand dollars."

Q-6 says it invested $4 million in Silverleaf Acquisition Holdings, "an entity run by Mr. Baldwin and defendant Mark Staples." For the $4 million, Q-6 says, it got 4 million shares of the company.

The money was supposed to be used to buy, manage and liquidate real estate and loans, including a golf club in Wisconsin, condos and an industrial building in Milwaukee, and residential developments in Flagstaff and Tubac, Ariz. The investment supposedly would be protected by titles to two properties: a mall in Oklahoma and a storage company in Florida.

But Baldwin made a slew of misrepresentations, including that he and his associates had invested $10 million or more in the projects, and had secured another $17.5 million in financing, Q-6 says.

Q-6 says Baldwin "redeemed" 2 million of its shares, but not the other 2 million. It says it foreclosed on Baldwin's and Silverleaf Financial's 18.75 percent interest in Silverleaf Acquisition Holdings, but Baldwin et al. still owe it $1,575,492.

Baldwin lives in Layton, Utah; Staples in Salt Lake City, where the defendant businesses are based.

Q-6 demands an accounting and $5 million in damages for fraud, unjust enrichment and breach of contract.

It is represented by Erik Christiansen with Parson Behle & Latimer.

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