Suthers
DENVER (Legal Newsline) - Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced on Thursday that a $160,000 judgment has been filed against an Aurora, Colo., broker for violating an order to stop soliciting business.
On Feb. 18, Tyrone E. Tymkovich was barred from soliciting businesses, but he has allegedly continued to do so under the name "Adam Smith," working for HDI consultants in New Jersey, Suthers says. The consent judgment permanently bans him from any further broker solicitations.
Tymkovich admitted to failing to make proper disclosures while acting as a business broker and claimed his company generated more than $2.8 million in revenue from monies collected for valuations, even though it has earned less than $100,000 from business sales.
Suthers filed a lawsuit against Tymkovich, and Sam Levine of Castle Rock, Col., for allegedly defrauding more than 700 businesses in Colorado and elsewhere during the period between July 2006-Sept. 2009.
The complaint stated that Tymkovich, Levine or their employees at two Englewood-based businesses - Corporate Acquisitions Group and Global Acquisitions Group - approached small businesses telling them either buyers wanted to buy their firms or that they believed their businesses could be sold.
Through their businesses, Tymkovich and Levine allegedly convinced more than 700 businesses to allow them to conduct an appraisal of their business for a fee of $5,000. From that money, only about $1,000 was really devoted to completing the appraisals, Suthers says.
A money-back guarantee was also promised by Tymkovich and Levine if there was no sale, but they allegedly only provided refunds if a business complained to either the Better Business Bureau or the authorities.