Garcia is Sued by American Express

American Express is suing John Garcia of Angel Strategies. It seems as if Garcia owes $43,901.35 on his credit card. This is the fourth lawsuit filed against John Garcia since April 2009. To learn more read other entries on this blog. Or, go to occourts.org.

John Garcia Seems to Indict Himself

The attorney at the California Department of Corporations responsible for the Desist and Refrain order that was issued by the department tells us, "Mr. Garcia has failed to timely request a hearing on the Commissioner's Order; accordingly, that Order is now final."

For the non-lawyers out there this means: Garcia missed an opportunity to try to clear his name. The California Department of Corporations ruling states, "the California Corporations Commissioner is of the opinion that the securities of Angel Strategies were offered or sold in this state by means of written or oral communications which included an untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made...." John Garcia must agree as he did not protest the finding.

We learned from talking with Hattie Bryant that a person has a right to protest the finding of the California Department of Corporations. Ms. Bryant said, "The attorney who handled our complaint against John Garcia of Angel Strategies called to tell me that it had issued a 'Desist and Refrain' due to its discovery. Mr. Garcia would have 40 days to protest and if that happened we would have to be witnesses for the Department of Corporations."

John Garcia did not request a hearing, the matter is closed and the ruling stands. To see the ruling you can go to the California Department of Corporations.

John Garcia was Served a Third Lawsuit

on Friday, October 30, 2009. The lawsuit was filed in the Orange County Courthouse accusing John Garcia of Breach of Contract, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, and Securities Fraud (fraudulent misrepresentations in connection with the sale of securities).The complaint was filed by an investor in Innovateur.

Garcia claimed that he generated for Angel Strategies investors a 58% internal rate of return each year for ten years from 1998 through 2008. He claimed that Angel Strategies was an early investor in Krispy Kreme. This is fall-out-of-your-chair funny when one learns that Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937. He claimed that Angel Strategies was an early investor in Broadcom. A record search produces no evidence of this. He claimed he was on the Board of Governors at Chapman College, and now it seems that no one at Chapman knows John Garcia.

All of these lies and more are part of the John Garcia sales pitch, and when he was not able to provide paperwork to verify these claims, this particular investor sued. Keep in mind that the former partners in Innovateur removed Garcia from leadership and are now suing him.

John Garcia Has Failed His Bank

John Garcia of Angel Strategies, a man who told many people that he earned millions every year from 1998-2008, has not made a mortgage payment since March 2009.

In October John Garcia and Christina Ohlsson Garcia received "NOTICE OF DEFAULT AND ELECTION TO SELL UNDER DEED OF TRUST" from NDEX WEST on behalf of Wells Fargo Financial. At the time of the notice the couple was over $30,000 behind in their payments and it seems as if they stopped making payments about the time they put the house on the market to sell.

The Trustee Sale No is: 20090177900797
The Title Order No is: 090689079

This notice was recorded in Official Records, Orange County
Tom Daly, Clerk-Recorder
10/05/09 at 2:05 pm Record No: 2009000526891

To inquire about this in writing, email: rein@NDEXWest.com

John Garcia was in Orange County Court

to deal with two lawsuits on October 20, 2009.

To follow what is happening, go to occourts.org. Choose "online access" then choose "civil cases" then "accept the terms" then you can search by name or by case number. The lawsuit filed by Hattie Bryant and Bruce Camber is case #00122059 and it was filed in 2009. Yesterday Garcia was served another lawsuit with the plaintiff being Innovateur. The case number for that lawsuit is #00312675.

John Garcia of Angel Strategies was a founding partner of Innovateur. Now it appears that the young men who were his partners in that venture perhaps have discovered that John Garcia of Angel Strategies does not keep his promises and he is not who he pretends to be. Here's the actual filing.

Yesterday, Harrison Long, the attorney who was representing Garcia in case #00122059 was in the court and he withdrew from the case.

We were told that John Garcia, who pretended to be a million dollar angel investor, bragged in the past that he had never been sued. Those were the good old days.

John Garcia Keeps Lying

even after the California Department of Corporations told him to stop. In an article posted below and written by a reporter for a Swedish newspaper, John Garcia of Angel Strategies said, "They (referring to Hattie Bryant and Bruce Camber) have put this in the system and sued the former partners around the U.S. for many years. I have been working for 21 years and this is the first time I get sued, "said John Garcia.

We contacted Hattie Bryant and she said, "Bruce and I have been in business for over 30 years and neither one of us has ever sued anyone. We talked with the co-founder of Angel Strategies and we talked with many individuals who invested in John Garcia's scam. These are the people John calls his partners. All of the them have walked away from him either sadden or disgusted by his lies. The only person who harmed us is John Garcia. When he says we have gone around the country for years suing his former partners I cannot imagine what he is thinking. We have only known him for a few months."

This photo of John Garcia was taken by and provided to us by Frank Peters.

John Garcia of Angel Strategies Exposed by

a Swedish newspaper on October 16, 2009.
For your convenience, we provide the article in English with the help of Google Translation.

Angel may be controversial disqualification

The American venture capitalist and business angel John Garcia launched last winter by the publicly funded business developer Teknopol among new firms in Lund and Malmö. Here was a man who could invite entrepreneurs both inspiration and money. Now his halo has gone askew after disqualifications in the United States.

- Thankfully, there was no agreement with any of the companies here, "says Bodil Jönsson Rosvall, CEO of business incubator Minc. John Garcia is subject to disqualification in California, after authorities there found that he lied about what he had to offer.

When Garcia visited Minc in Malmö in December last year he said his company Angel Strategies is, “…probably the largest business angel network in the world.”

In his appearance, which was filmed, he said that his network consists of 226 investors who everyone, including himself, invested one million U.S. dollars each year. But according to the California authorities' investigations, Angel Strategies had only 39 investors, who invested much more modest sums.

John Garcia is accused not only of lying about his skill as an investor and company builder, but also for having deceived the people to invest money in the U.S. A few paid John Garcia to arrange venture capital for their businesses. Some investors, however, never seemed to receive the money. A couple have sued Garcia, who in turn has sued them.

- They have put this in the system and sued the former partners around the U.S. for many years. I have been working for 21 years and this is the first time I get sued, "said John Garcia.

However, there may be more lawsuits. Similar cases are now rolled up with people who have invested money or shares in his company for help by Garcia and his firm Angel Strategies, but received little or no return.

John Garcia's statement that the complaints come up right now is the economic situation, but also that entrepreneurs sometimes think that money will put everything right when it turns out that their business idea does not hold.

It was Teknopol who invited John Garcia to Ideon Innovation in Lund and Minc in Malmo at the end of last year.

Rosvall Bodil Jönsson is CEO of Minc. She is glad that no agreements were reached with contractors there.

- We have learned a lesson. We asked for references, but they never came.

Teknopol requested no references at all.

- Goran Eriksson, whom I have known for many years, introduced him, "said Marianne Larsson, business developers Teknopol.

Goran Eriksson has lived in Southern California in 26 years and worked with venture capital, including a fund, which he formed with John Garcia. The two have gone their separate ways since the allegations against Garcia rolled up.

- Whether there is much, little or nothing behind the allegations against him became so unbearable that he was a member of the fund, which, incidentally, is on hold now because of the economic situation. Goran Eriksson says he does not know much about John Garcia’s activities.

- More than that he has long been a well-known figure in business in California. He has also been to Sweden to find ideas in the past, including at Ideon, but I have not been involved.

Sydsvenskan has repeatedly asked John Garcia for references. But Garcia cannot state the names of individuals or companies to prove that he has been successful in the venture capital industry. Finally he says that he can do it if we sign an agreement to keep the information secret. We think not.

John Garcia of Angel Strategies Dismisses

his counter-suit against Hattie Bryant and Bruce Camber. The couple filed suit against Garcia claiming fraud and asked that the $50,000 they paid him to raise money for them and the $25,000 that they invested in Angel Strategies be returned along with the $11,000 they had paid to attorneys prior to the filing in April 23, 2009. Garcia answered with a denial then counter-sued for libel and slander asking for $1 million. On September 17, 2009, the same day that the California Department of Corporations served Garcia with a "Desist and Refrain," Garcia dismissed his counter-suit. To read the "Desist and Refrain" go to the Web site of the California Department of Corporations.

This is very good news for people who are being wooed by John Garcia of Angel Strategies and Innovateur as a little research will provide the truth to them about John Garcia of Angel Strategies and Innovateur. The Department of Corporations told us that its ruling will be on the Web permanently. John Garcia of Angel Strategies and Innovateur has been found guilty of lying about the performance of his "fund" called Angel Strategies.

John Garcia is told to Stop Lying

by the California Department of Corporations. John Garcia of Angel Strategies is the man who has pretended since at least 2004 to be an investor who earns profits for others. Yesterday we received a copy of the "Desist and Refrain" order that was served in the last couple of days to John Garcia.

The order basically says that Garcia has been lying to people while in the process of selling securities. The order focuses just on the lie that he had 200 investors who each invested $1 million into Angel Strategies. The Department of Corporations discovered no more than 39 investors and not one that had invested any amount close to $1 million. All of the John Garcia victims we have spoken with heard this lie plus many others. Some even saw this lie in print on a power point presentation.

To read the document for yourself, go to the Web site of the California Department of Corporations.

We know that several victims of John Garcia's fraud took time to file complaints and many victims spoke with the attorney in charge of the investigation at the Department of Corporations. This is what it takes to stop criminal behavior. The honest people have to raise their voices.

John Garcia of Angel Strategies is a person

who has lied about his history, his capabilities, and his results. When one understands that John Garcia has built a business on myths and misinformation, it makes sense that he has no employees, no office, and a big mortgage. If this is your first visit here, be sure to go to the blog archive and begin at the beginning.

John Garcia of Angel Strategies Is Selling

his house in Santa Ana. John Garcia, the man who says he is an investor and is the co-founder of Angel Strategies, is selling his home. John Garcia of Angel Strategies who has been telling people since 2004 that he is an investor is probably leaving Orange County, CA.

In January 2008 John Garcia of Angel Strategies took out a $936,000 mortgage on this house located in Santa Ana. According to the mortgage records, John Garcia purchased the house in 1997 for $585,000.

Esteemed Angel Tells His John Garcia Story

According to his Web site, Frank Peters, has been around Orange County since 1983 when he started a software company which he eventually sold. He has been an angel investor since 1999 and is the chairman emeritus of Orange County's Tech Coast Angels. He writes on his blog, The Frank Peters Show, about his experience with John Garcia the managing partner of Angel Strategies.

The Los Angeles Times Misses the Point

In the Sunday, May 31 article in the Los Angeles Times, a lawyer drove the format. We were told by the writer that the lawyer at the Times got cold feet about the article and forced the writer to cut it very short.

While the key lies of John Garcia's sales pitch to get clients have been the same for years and were recorded (you can see below the YouTube video with his lies) the writer allowed John Garcia to say that he would not have been so glib if he had known he were being taped.

First of all, John Garcia told us when he returned from Sweden in December, 2008 that a young man had asked permission to make a video tape of the presentation and Garcia granted permission. Back then John Garcia of Angel Strategies bragged, "It is already up on YouTube and I linked it from my blog." He said this with a big smile on his fact because we believe he was confident that this was great publicity for him. Therefore by pretending to the LA Times writer that he did not know he was being taped was a fabrication. We know that the SEC has talked with the videographer of that tape and we have spoken with him also. He told us that John Garcia of Angel Strategies had given him permission to make the video.

Second, John Garcia of Angel Strategies had some of the lies up on his PowerPoint presentation for the group to read. John Garcia was not being glib. John Garcia was prepared and he was repeating the lies because when John Garcia of Angel Strategies tells these particular lies people give him money.

Bruce Camber wrote this letter in response to the LA Times article.
John Corrigan, Business editor
Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012 T: 213.237.7163

To the editors:

We are very grateful for Alana Semuels work on the article, “Start up funding scarce?” The issue, of course, is not about the scarcity of start-up funding; it is about John Garcia’s deceit. Perhaps a better title would be “Angel or demon?”

The fact is that John Garcia of Angel Strategies lies about who he is and what he does, he entraps people, and then he steals as much of their money as he thinks he can take without getting prosecuted. John Garcia is a fraud.

John Garcia of Angel Strategies continues to lie about himself. When interviewed for the article, he tried to minimize his lies as “glib” comments. Far from being glib, his comments were willful, intentional deceit. Without their permission, he used the biographical information of very substantial people on his Web site – people so wealthy they are just beyond the reach of most of us – to make himself appear what he is not. That version of the Web site has been taken down; however, it is still accessible through the Internet’s archives.
Here is a key URL: http://tinyurl.com/JohnGarciaDeceit

Alana Semuels writes, “Many of Garcia's disgruntled clients concede that they should have been more cautious in signing the contracts with Garcia, but say they were won over by his charm.”

That is true. We were also all won over by those pages on his Web site and his other abiding lies. We have all heard these lies multiple times. In the article, it read: “In the video, Garcia said that 226 investors each put $1 million a year into an angel-investment fund his firm managed and that none of the companies it invested in had ever failed. Garcia also said that Angel Strategies was "probably the largest angel group in the world." These are among his blatant, consistent, and willful lies. Your readers really should hear and see him in action for themselves. The video is on the web: http://tinyurl.com/JohnPGarcia To read it, they would go to http://johnpgarcia.blogspot.com/

So, I think perhaps the most important statement in the article is this one, “Garcia later conceded that his comments were "glib," adding that he "would have been more careful" if he had known he was being videotaped.” Of course, he gave permission to a student, yet he never expected that this footage would be posted on the web for all of us to study those words and intent. We have all have had a chance to go over all of his nonsense just one more time. Garcia chose all those words very carefully; these are words that are part of his dark scheme to entrap. His words are all well rehearsed, the antithesis of glib. In that speech in Malmo, Sweden, John Garcia of Angel Strategies was working the crowd. John Garcia was doing what the thieves do on the web; he was phishing.

We learn as children, “Buyer beware.” And, learn we do. Throughout our life, we all get hooked by con artists and liars. Yet, John Garcia of Angel Strategies is diabolically smooth. He is after big sums of money, obviously hoping against hope that the only repercussion will be our personal animosity towards him and our feelings of stupidity for being duped.

For the last 15 years, we have traveled the country and the world looking for the best, most ethical people within business. These people would become the stars of our television series on PBS stations throughout the USA and on the Voice of America around the world. Nobody could ever pay or has ever paid to be on this show. For 15 years we been surrounded by very good people. As a result, we lost our chops for being able to discern the con man. To select a person for the show, we would interview as many as 40+ local business leaders to ask, “What about this person?” If there was ever a red flag, we would move on to the next. Obviously I made a huge mistake. I should have vetted John Garcia and the people listed on the web site of Angel Strategies as carefully as we have done our vetting for television series over the years. I should never have trusted my instincts.

My second mistake, actually a series of similar mistakes, was not responding to the red flags when each popped up. Once we begin to believe – the fish hook has been planted – we tend to continue to believe because we do not want to appear absurd to ourselves. And, there I stand.

Now, the most telling comment John Garcia of Angel Strategies makes is his admission of guilt. It is not about the entire debacle of his past five years, but just one small instance. Yet, this cunning use of self-deprecation, usually a rather endearing quality, is truly an analogue for this chapter of his life and maybe a pre-cursor of things to come. Within all the mythopoetics of John Garcia's mind, he was being profoundly honest when he was quoted as saying, "I personally feel guilty," he said. "The signs were all there." Yes, the signs are all there. He does seem to know a little guilt. In some of his last words to me, he said, “Maybe you’ll be the ones to stop me.” It felt more like an appeal, that he was just tired of being caught up and entrapped within his own lies, and he wanted a path to redemption. Perhaps this is so. I hope it is.

Though I invited him to go to church more than once, redemption can only begin with real contrition. I have not seen any interest from John Garcia of Angel Strategies.

So, again, I say, “Thank you for publishing the article. Thank you for opening the door so truth can come into the light.

Warmly,

Bruce

Robert Heaton wrote this letter.

To the editors:

I was disappointed by the story "Start up funding scarce?" published May 31st because it mis-characterized the basic issue.

John Garcia has no history of raising Startup funding, as the title implies. He ran a simple scam. He took money from investors and startups and pocketed it, without any intent to invest it or provide services: a down market version of Bernie Madoff.

I am shocked that the LA Times would present the story as an investment issue, given the detail information on the scam that is readily available.

Regards
Robert Heaton.

The California Department of Corporations

For any person reading this who believes they were ripped off in an investment scam, go to the website of your state and file a complaint. This is what Hattie Bryant did and a case was opened by the California Department of Corporations to try to understand John Garcia and his company, Angel Strategies. You can also file a complaint on the web site of the SEC and at the IRS web site you can follow instructions to file complaints. John Garcia of Angel Strategies provides "investors" with very little paperwork but we were told that John Garcia sent out some k-1s for 2008. Some investors commented to us that the k-1s must be falsified as there is no data to support the numbers on the k-1s. This is the type of complaint one can file with the IRS.

Sad Story

John Garcia of Angel Strategies is a person who has lied about his history, his capabilities, and his results. When one understands that John Garcia has built a business on myths and misinformation, it makes sense that he has no employees, no office, and a big mortgage.

There are many people with the name, John Garcia. The person this blog is about is John Paul Garcia who told us he was born in Santa Barbara, California. This is a photo taken of him in September of 2008.



Brief History by Bruce Camber and Hattie Bryant

On December 30, 2008 three of our business friends from Phoenix came to meet with John Garcia of Angel Strategies in his office located in Santa Ana as they were looking to raise money for their new venture. They came based on Hattie’s recommendation and the information that was on John Garcia’s website at http://angelstrategies.com/. Today that information has been removed, but we do have copies of all the earlier pages. Only place holder information remains at that URL. All references to substantial people throughout the angel investment community have been removed. Two of the three Phoenix men found John Garcia’s pitch to be so bold that it raised questions in their mind. One even said, “I smell a rat.”

Revelations.
Our friends in Phoenix began doing some research on the web. When they sent us this link -- http://www.john-garcia.ot1.com/ -- a carefully crafted statement by Robert Heaton, it was compelling. Bruce called Robert Heaton; he found him to be deeply informed and his story had a profound sense of truth. Later, we met Robert and he seems to us to be a hard-working, honest person who also lost $75,000 doing business with John Garcia of Angel Strategies and Innovateur.

One of the three Phoenix friends also pointed us to a video tape of the presentation John made to MBA students in a business incubator on a trip to Sweden. Now what John Garcia of Angel Strategies and Innovateur said to our three Phoenix friends, to me and my husband, and to so many others since about 2004 is no longer “he said/she said.” You can watch John Garcia of Angel Strategies and Innovateur make his false claims on YouTube today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlkhNZNomwU

If by chance John Garcia is successful in removing that video, there are several other places on the web to watch it. Let us know and we will provide those links.

The Basic Misinformation and Lies.
John Garcia of Angel Strategies says that he has for 10 years had 226 investors who put in $1 million each year including himself. John Garcia says that those investors are getting a 60% internal rate of return or 12 times their annual investment each and every year. John Garcia says that Angel Strategies created six billionaires in Orange County due to its investment in Broadcom. John Garcia says that Angel Strategies has 126 companies currently in its portfolio and all of these companies are making money. John Garcia says that he has started and successfully exited 30 companies himself.

Since January 4, 2009 this is what we have learned after speaking with Angel Strategies investors and business owners who have paid John Garcia for his advisory services:

Not one of the statements that John Garcia of Angel Strategies uses in his standard presentations even comes close to being true.

· We cannot find one Angel Strategies $1 million investor much less 226.
· We cannot find one Angel Strategies investor who has earned a penny of profits. All have lost every penny they put in.
· We have been told by the co-founder and primary stockholder of Angel Strategies, that Angel Strategies did not invest in Broadcom or JetBlue.
· We cannot find one company in the Angel Strategies portfolio that is making money. For sure there is nothing close to 126. And the more we dig into the details, we do not believe that Angel Strategies owns interest in any company that is turning a profit. Angel Strategies probably doesn't have any value as of the date of this posting.
· We cannot find one company that is thriving as a result of a relationship with Angel Strategies since its formation in 1997.
· We have contacted most of the people who were mentioned within early January 2009 version of the Angel Strategies website -- the site that was used to perpetuate John Garcia’s myths – and here are a few of the comments that were made:

“I have made no money and of course have lost what I put in.”
“John Garcia betrayed me.”
“John Garcia has gone to the dark side.”
“John Garcia never raised a dollar for my company.”
“John Garcia wasted my time.”
"John Garcia takes money in amounts that people just walk away from because it costs too much to go get back $20K or $25K. “
“I was in denial for years about John Garcia. I guess it is now bad enough that I have to take some action.”
“If you do put together a class action suit, please call me back.”
“John Garcia charges people to learn what John does not know.”
“We need to put John Garcia in jail. He is dangerous.”

· John Garcia of Angel Strategies claimed people were his advisors when for years they had asked for their names to be removed from that site.
· We can’t find one company, much less 30, that John Garcia of Angel Strategies has created value for that would result in a happy exit for investors or founders.

More deceit and fabrications.
John Garcia told us in June 2008 that he was expecting Tony Gonzalez (the Kansas City Chiefs tight-end) to put $10 million into his new fund. A person close to John told us in February 2009 that John Garcia told him that Tony had put $1 million into John Garcia's new fund called Innovateur. We can confirm based upon communication with Tony's agent that both of John Garcia’s statements are false. Since then, the other partners of Innovateur have removed John Garcia from leadership.

John Garcia of Angel Strategies told a friend of ours that he had invested in films by Moctesuma Esparza, was an executive producer of a Moctesuma Esparza film and that he had gotten Mr. Esparza appointed to the board of directors of Wal-Mart and Calpers. Mr. Esparza confirms that John Garcia did none of these things.

Though we have lost $75,000 to John Garcia of Angel Strategies and now eight months of our life, we know the names of others who have lost $100,000, $75,000, $50,000, $25,000 and $20,000. We know of many who did not lose money but they lost months of time doing free work for John Garcia of Angel Strategies assuming he would make good on his promises which he did not do. It is clear from talking to all of these people that John Garcia has hit a “sweet spot” for himself and has hurt many. John Garcia of Angel Strategies takes money in amounts that people will not hire an attorney to recover as most attorneys advise against trying to win back these “small” amounts.

John Garcia also has a blog at http://yanyara.com/ The person who wrote the “Rookie Mistakes” that John Garcia is posting on that blog points out that John Garcia is doing so without attribution to the true author. This is plagiarism and amounts to intellectual property theft.


Conjecture and facts.
First, we do not think John Garcia has any money in the US. In January 2008 he took out a $936,000 mortgage on the home he and Christina Ohlsson Garcia have lived in since 1997. It was purchased in 1997 for $585,000 and in today’s market, it would not sell for much more than the current mortgage. Garcia has told us and others that his personal money is in Liechtenstein. That is currently being analyzed through connections in Washington, DC.

His physical office was located at 1515 N. Tustin Avenue, 5th floor, Santa Ana 92705. We discovered that he moved out of this office sometime in March 2009.
He keeps an “office” at a Postal Annex at 17601 17th Street #102 Tustin 92780
If you go to the current Angel Strategies website, you’ll see a high rise building with the Postal Annex address provided.
John Garcia cell: 714-687-5775
John Garcia email: jgarcia@innovateur.com
jgarcia@angelstrategies.com
john.innovateur@gmail.com

Restraining order.
John Garcia of Angel Strategies is very concerned about this process of discovery about him.

Hattie: “On Friday, February 20, 2009 a sheriff served me with a temporary restraining order. I had to appear in court on February 27 with our attorney. John Garcia said he is afraid of me. John Garcia claimed that he was afraid I might physically harm him or his family. John Garcia showed up in court with his wife and no attorney. In reviewing the details, the judge threw out his request and required him to write a check to me for my legal fees. The judge said that I am only exercising my right of free speech and that my activities do not meet the court’s definition of harassment. John Garcia of Angel Strategies does not like it that we now know who he is and that so many people are sending emails to others about the details of his history. As of May 28, 2009 John Garcia has not followed the judge's order to pay. We have filed a complaint which will ruin his credit. I guess since John Garcia of Angel Strategies has gotten away with his scam for so long he figures he is above the law."

Next steps.
In his statement for the court to initiate the restraining order, John Garcia of Angel Strategies described these emails and this entire process as character assassination. Character is an important attribute in business. It is something that seems to be placed on the back burner in place of greed and self-importance.

In that light, the truth hurts, but there can be healing. Apologies and restitution make one whole. It can never pay back the lost hours, days and years, but at least integrity and authenticity become the cornerstone of new dynamics. Our guess to date is that John Garcia of Angel Strategies could begin the process of making himself whole by making others whole and he could do it for less than $1M and many, many apologies.

The truth has a way of finding the light of day.

Yet, there just may be even deeper truths to be learned. We do not know. We do know that on January 4th we asked John Garcia of Angel Strategies to return our money. Bruce asked again politely and calmly on January 29th and he basically laughed at us. Next we hired an attorney and we have asked again. John Garcia of Angel Strategies has missed his deadlines but we are still hoping that he begins to do the right thing. In the meantime, we are glad to share this story with our friends, so they might share it with their friends and family so no more people are hurt by John Garcia of Angel Strategies.

First, a review

John Garcia of Angel Strategies makes several claims on this video at YouTube:

Here's the transcript of the video you can see right here. It was taped on Dec.14, 2008 at MINC, a business incubator in Malmo, Sweden.

… *The money that we use is money from our own pockets as well as capital from our friends and losing is not an option. *We refuse to lose money.

Some other things about how we are unique. Probably the most important is #4 the hands-on approach that we have. *We are extremely hands-on. If we cannot be involved in the companies we will not invest. *If we can’t open doors for you, we will not invest. *If we don’t know who’s going to buy you down the road, we won’t invest. *If we don’t think that you’re thinking the right way, we won’t invest. *If we don’t believe your family is with you, we won’t invest. These are very important things because the hardest thing you will ever do is try to become an entrepreneur.

I can’t tell you how many physicians that I know who tell me later that it was easier going to medical school than trying to become an entrepreneur. In medical school there were books I could read, there were direct outcomes but to be an entrepreneur there are no rules. I have to figure it out as I go.

Here’s a little history on us. You know us as Innovateur Capital but behind us is a company called Angel Strategies. I’ve been the managing partner of Angel Strategies for 10 years. It’s a 10 year-old, *probably the largest angel group in the world. *It has 226 investors who put in $1 million each *myself included. *The $226 million is what we have to invest every year into the economy. *As a result we’ve been averaging 12 times our money. *I will tell you that we have out-scored every other angel and venture fund in the United States and maybe in the world. We have never disclosed these numbers until last year as we started to break off with a new venture fund under the name of Innovateur.

*An internal rate of 60% is virtually unheard of. *This is 12 times our money which means that sometimes we got thirty times our money back. *We did that with a company called Broadcom. You might be familiar with it they are one of the big chip developers in the world.
*We made 6 billionaires in Orange County at Broadcom as well as at JetBlue Airlines which is one of the big airlines in the United States.

*We have 126 companies so far today and that number is going up we’re probably exiting up to one third of our portfolio. The most important and what I am most happy about is that *not one of these companies has failed. *They are all there. *Either they are just making money if they have not sold they are there. We kind of believe they are like children we don’t want to lose any children or leave any children behind.

This is who I am if you want to learn about me. I have 21 years as an investor. I sold my first company when I was 28 years old. I sold it to a major medical company. *I have been investing ever since mostly in the Silicon Valley. I have been on many boards of directors for non-profits as well as for-profit companies. *I recently have been asked to be on the board of directors of General Motors who *is a client. And recently *I have been invited to do something very high level here in Sweden. I won't share that.

(NOTE: In October Garcia told us that President Obama's team was asking him to be the American Ambassador to Sweden. But his wife Christina told him that she did not want him to do it. Garcia kept the story going and said every time we saw him he had a comment about how he was being vetted by the President and that he had filled out a form or had to send in a photo to the Obama team.)

*My biggest thing is to be able to find the next big thing. *That's the key and that's why I do what I do. I am always trying to find out what's next, what's next. I am really entrepreneur. All of the people around us are entrepreneurs who happen to be investors. We're not investors trained in financial services and then came into the financial world, we're actually entrepreneurs. *I have over 30 startups of my own I have exited. -End of Video Transcript


*There is no proof that this is a true statement. Garcia has been asked about these claims and he always says that he must protect the identity of his investors or that his computer is down and he can't print a report.


Stolen Biographies
Go to the legacy site of Angel Strategies and see the people John Garcia used without permission to prop up his scam. You can start at this link then navigate to the "team" he said was his.
http://tinyurl.com/johngarcia

Here's the homepage as it was and we are told that Nadim did not provide this quote to John Garcia of Angel Strategies.
http://tinyurl.com/JohnGarciaDeceit

Here's Europe Reporting on Garcia
http://eonunreality.blogspot.com

Comment from Los Angeles
Upon reading this blog a top executive at Larta Institute said, "Excellent sleuthing. I smelled a rat years ago. John Garcia is nothing more than a narcissistic charlatan."