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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Rolled for $1.5 Million, Investors Say

SALT LAKE CITY (CN) - An investment firm claims Celerity World Capital used church ties, Bentleys and Rolls Royces to bilk it of $1.5 million. Celerity principals Wayne Aston and Nick Smith promised returns of 25 to 100 percent per week, the Opes Capital Group claims in its federal complaint.

Opes claims that in seeking investors, Aston and Smith said they owned a title company, a mortgage company, a race car team, and hosted a celebrity poker tournament. They also said they were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as were the principals of Opes Capital, according to the complaint.

Opes claims it found the religious ties reassuring, and wired $1.5 million into an escrow account, expecting the promised returns of $375,000 to $1.5 million a week.

But Opes claims it found out later that the defendants had set up a bogus trading account, and that Celerity's traders were unlicensed and the securities it pushed were unregistered.

Also named as defendants are Townsend Venture, House4Cash.info, Valley Forge Unlimited and Metro National Title of Northern Utah.

Opes is represented by Nathan D. Miller with Jensen, Duffin & Dibb.

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