Abington Investor Settles Racketeer Case Over Alleged Loan Fraud

ABINGTON, PA — An Abington Township man has entered into a settlement agreement in his case stemming from an alleged fraud relating to an investment loan.

Paul Ledebur, who resides in the Glenside section of Abington, and co-plaintiff PE&L Investments of Conshohocken, filed a federal lawsuit back in February of this year against Glen Mills resident Arthur S. McHenry, III, Philadelphia-based MAC Business Services LTD, and Be The Bank Investments, also of Philadelphia, over allegations that he was defrauded after entering into a non-traditional home equity loan transaction.

Court records show that a consent settlement agreement was filed with the court late last month, stating that the matter was amicably settled between the parties.

The lawsuit, which was filed at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, stated that Ledebur met a BTB sales representative, Lauren Richards, at a Philadelphia networking event in February 2016, during which he was told by Richards that BTB deals in non-traditional loans typically made to small developers looking to flip houses in South Philadelphia.

Ledebur said he was interested in becoming a lender on such projects, and the following month he was introduced to defendant McHenry by Richards, the suit states.

The complaint said that in the spring of 2016, McHenry told Ledebur he had found a potential lendee and that he would help Ledebur get a home equity loan from Santander bank.

McHenry stated that the lending opportunity was a good deal because he had invested his own money, and that the deal had a collateral backup as well as a guarantor in the oil business, SG Energy Longsport, with whom McHenry was close with, the suit reads.

McHenry told Ledebur that BTB would be working as Ledebur’s agent in the loan, and that it would complete all the due diligence.

Ledebur was told his money would be loaned to Maxo and Martha Michel, and that he would be a lienholder on their property at 7150 Ogontz Avenue in Philadelphia as collateral for the loan, according to the complaint.

McHenry told Ledebur he would receive $2,500 per month in interest until the loan was paid off in a three-month timeframe.

Ledebur completed paperwork with a Santander Bank employee in July 2016 for a home equity line of credit, the suit states. Shortly thereafter he wired $200,000 from his home equity line of credit to BTB’s bank account, according to the complaint.

Ledebur received interest-only payments of $2,500 a month wired to him from MAC’s bank account from September 2016 until May 2017, but after that he did not receive any further payments, the lawsuit stated.

Ledebur ultimately sued, saying that he did not receive satisfactory answers from McHenry, BTB and MAC regarding an accounting of where his $200,000 went.

The civil suit contained a total of five counts, including fraud, breach of loan agreement and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, also known as ‘RICO.’

In late July, after being made aware of the consent settlement agreement, U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe ordered the court clerk to place the matter in civil suspense for no more than 180 days. The parties were ordered to submit reports as to the status of the terms and conditions of the settlement agreement every 30 days, according to the court record in the case.