Gerety examined by bankruptcy trustee

On December 16, Shawn Gerety appeared in Philadelphia for a Rule 2004 Examination of the Debtor related to his attempts to bankrupt his BuildTrend entity and discharge all debts.  Under oath, Gerety answered further questions from the Chapter 7 Trustee, multiple creditors, former BuildTrend business partners and representatives of the Attorney Generals of Pennsylvania and State of Delaware.

Gerety's appearance today follows the bankruptcy court judge Stephen Raslavich ordering him to show up.

All of this public information, including motions from the Trustee to compel him to appear and the December 10 order from the judge, can be found here:  http://ecf.paeb.uscourts.gov associated with Case 15-17039.

BuildTrend bankruptcy: Assets discovered & Gerety's counsel moves to resign

Following the first meeting of creditors in Lancaster on November 16 there have been a couple of interesting developments.

Please note that all of the following are based on documents filed with the bankruptcy court: http://ecf.paeb.uscourts.gov under Case 15-17039.

1) The Chapter 7 trustee changed this matter to "Asset" case from the "No Asset" bankruptcy petition that Shawn Gerety had filed on 9/30/2015.  This appears to indicate that she has discovered assets Gerety has attempted to conceal from her and the court.  Due date for creditors to file proof of claim is February 18.

2) The next meeting will be a Rule 2004 Examination of the Debtor on December 16 at the law firm offices of Maschmeyer & Karalis, PC, 1900 Spruce Street, Philadelphia PA 19103.  This presents an opportunity for the trustee and creditors to question Gerety under oath.

3) Barry Solodky, counsel to BuildTrend who sat with Shawn Gerety at the meeting of creditors in Lancaster, filed a motion on November 20 to withdraw from representing him.  In his motion, Mr. Solodky also indicated that the "the debtor and its principal has advised Movant that he does not intend to appear at the Bankruptcy Rule 2004 Examination in Philadelphia."

Perhaps this schedule and order from the court interferes with Gerety's European vacation and travel that are likely funded by his thefts and fraud.

HomeAdvisor's role in BuildTrend fraud

At the meeting of creditors hearing in Lancaster this week, Shawn Gerety gave sworn testimony before the bankruptcy trustee that he paid HomeAdvisor for customer leads.  He said HomeAdvisor was his primary source of business when BuildTrend was grossing $200,000 in revenues per month.

Fraud victims describe 5-star ratings of BuildTrend Construction on HomeAdvisor.com as a driving influence in their unfortunate introductions to this crooked contractor ring.  Validation by HomeAdvisor appears to have influenced consumers to develop undue confidence in the contractor, even when the introduction may not have originated from HomeAdvisor.

What is HomeAdvisor?
HomeAdvisor appears to collect comprehensive reviews and connect consumers with "trusted home improvement pros."  From their website:

With more than two million pro reviews and one of the industry's most comprehensive screening processes, HomeAdvisor gives you the peace of mind that comes from knowing you hired a pro you can trust. 

HomeAdvisor listed BuildTrend as a 5-star contractor on their site until late September 2015.  Indeed, from Google search results for BuildTrend, HomeAdvisor's endorsement was consistently a top ranking.  HomeAdvisor also promoted an independent listing for Trend Investment Group - another one of Shawn Gerety's  registered contractor entities - until October 2015 when the Trend page was also finally removed.

What Background Checks?
HomeAdvisor claims to perform background checks on recommended contractors.

If they actually perform checks, how did they miss that both Shawn Gerety and Vincent Cottrell are felons?  How did HomeAdvisor also miss prior bankruptcies, civil actions, criminal theft and theft by deception convictions and prison time for drug crimes?

Shawn Gerety and others could have made misrepresentations to HomeAdvisor, but how rigorous or independent was HomeAdvisor's supposed vetting when they missed ALL of these reasons to question this contractor?

Why does HomeAdvisor suppress critical reviews?
We have heard of multiple customers whose projects were going wrong attempting to post on HomeAdvisor only to see their critical reviews quickly purged from the HomeAdvisor site by staff of that website.

What service was this to other consumers who may have benefited from a balanced perspective of actual customer experiences with this contractor?  What value does HomeAdvisor provide by curating reviews to only retain the most positive ratings?  What steps does HomeAdvisor take to validate if positive (or negative) reviews are even originating from real customers?

Were the BuildTrend's listings with HomeAdvisor removed when Shawn stopped paying for advertising?  or for some other reason?

How much do contractors like BuildTrend pay HomeAdvisor?
Shawn Gerety testified that his companies paid HomeAdvisor for leads and that this was his primary source of business.

In the case of BuildTrend, leads HomeAdvisor sold turned out to be a hit list for the next crime victims, folks who would have their lives disrupted by the thefts and frauds of this ring of scammers.

BuildTrend Meeting of Creditors

Meeting of Creditors details announced by the bankruptcy court:

November 16, 2015 at 1:00pm
Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square
25 South Queen Street
Lancaster, PA 17603

The debtor's representative must be present at the meeting to be questioned under oath by the trustee and by creditors. Creditors are welcome to attend, but are not required to do so. 

Romania?

Romania and the United Kingdom are the top non-US locations for viewers of this blog.

Shawn, did her family and friends discover how you paid for the ring?  

More filings in bankruptcy attempt

Shawn Gerety and BuildTrend have filed additional documents this month with U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania: Case 15-17039.

http://ecf.paeb.uscourts.gov

Since the initial Chapter 7 petition on 9/30/2015, Shawn Gerety has made additional filings which show BuildTrend Construction LLC with $338,652 of assets, $115,354 in claims by secured creditors, $11,000 in claims by the Internal Revenue Service, and $1,238,634 in claims by all other unsecured creditors.  

From documents filed by Shawn Gerety on 10/9/2015: Schedule A shows BuildTrend with no real property. Schedule B indicates 99% of assets of BuildTrend derive from $334,852.60 due to BuildTrend from related contractor RBSF Construction (Garvin Donaghy) for "breach of contract."  Schedule F lists approximately 120 "unsecured nonpriority" creditors.  The unsecured creditors appears to include at least 18 customers for which BuildTrend failed to start or complete contracted home renovation projects.  Schedule F also includes certain BuildTrend crew members like John McDevitt, John Maersch, Travis Waid, James Fishbourne and Trend Consulting (Vincent Cottrell).

Status remains "Awaiting First Meeting."   When anyone notices the court announcing a time/place for the meeting of creditors, please advise and we'll get that information posted to this blog. 

The government trustees handling the bankruptcy are:

George M. Conway, U.S. Trustee, (215) 597-4411

Christine C. Shubert, Chapter 7 Trustee, 609-938-4191, christine.shubert@comcast.net

Will the trustees let Gerety get away with discharging all these debts given so many questions about the legitimacy of this bankruptcy attempt?

BuildTREND Bankruptcy Filing

Here's the Chapter 7 filing on 9/30/2015 for BuildTrend Construction LLC with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania: Case 15-17039.

http://ecf.paeb.uscourts.gov

This is a long-expected filing for those subcontractors, suppliers and customers with whom Shawn Gerety has been discussing his bankruptcy plans for at least a year.  For victims from whom BuildTrend collected deposits and payments this summer for construction work that still has not started, this filing may be a surprise.

Shawn Gerety and BuildTrend are represented by: Barry Solodky
(717) 299-3726  bsolodky@n-hlaw.com

Stephen Raslavich is listed as the judge.

The Trustee is: Office of the U.S. Trustee, 833 Chestnut Street, Suite 500, Philadelphia, PA 19107 (215) 597-4411

Current status is "Awaiting First Meeting"

From boxes checked on the voluntary petition form, the debtor estimates more than 100 creditors, between $100,000 and $500,000 in assets and between $1,000,000 and $10,000,000 in liabilities.

He notes the Department of Justice and Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection as creditors. Shawn also lists Trend Consulting Group (Vincent Cottrell's company) as a creditor!   There is more information about Vince and his role at BuildTrend elsewhere on this blog.

Among the many questions this Chapter 7 filing raises:

• What's the status of other entities owned and operated by Shawn Gerety, including his other residential construction contracting businesses? 
• Is a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for BuildTrend in 2015 legal if BuildTrend has been a single member LLC owned exclusively by Shawn Gerety who previously discharged all debts in a 2010 bankruptcy?  
• If the projects customers paid and contracted BuildTrend to complete were not even started in many cases nor completed in any cases, and if many sub-contractors and suppliers were also not compensated fully for their services, then where did all the money actually go?  

This follows a post from early September when customers started to see BuildTrend project manager Jamie Wermuth and attorneys giving formal notice of intent to file Chapter 7.

Shawn Gerety Drug Convictions

Shawn T. Gerety of BuildTrend has a record of Pennsylvania drug crimes.

Gerety was arrested in Indiana County, PA in October 1994 and charged with Use and Possession of Drugs and Drug Paraphanalia.  He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and paid a fine.

Gerety was then arrested by Pennsylvania State Police in Franklin County, PA in March 1995 and charged with Manufacturing, Delivering or Possession with Intent to Deliver Controlled Substances.  He ultimately pleaded to Felony - Delivery in November 1995 and was imprisoned in the Franklin County Jail in Chambersburg from February 1996 until parole-probation in April 1996.

Perhaps drug convictions at age 25 are not relevant to Shawn's contractor businesses now. Or maybe they are.

Some victims of Shawn's contractor fraud schemes are wondering if perhaps some of the money he collected for home improvement projects that would never start or advance beyond the demolition stage actually went to pay drug-related debts.  We are also hearing of a number of other theories about where the money may be.  Unfortunately for customers, very little of the funds he collected recently has gone to work on BuildTrend's contracted projects.

Pennsylvania Criminal Records of BuildTrend VP

Here is the Montgomery County PA criminal record of BuildTrend VP Vincent Cottrell.

Vincent was charged in Pennsylvania with: Theft by Deception - False Impression. Theft by Unlawful Taking.  Receiving Stolen Property.  Deceptive Business Practices. 

Following his incarceration in New Jersey from August 2010 to March 2011, it looks like Vincent spent a few days in Montgomery County PA prison the very same month he was released by NJ and until bail of $300 was posted by a Carolyn S. Mellwig of Delran, NJ.

This supplements a prior post about Vincent's New Jersey criminal record for Theft and Theft by Deception :
http://buildtrend.blogspot.com/2015/06/criminal-record-of-vincent-e.html

The scale of thefts by BuildTrend and related parties appear to be orders of magnitude larger.

RBSF & J.D. Kelly

J.D. Kelly Corp (John Kelly) is a registered general contractor also associated with this ring of scammers. We are hearing of many J.D. Kelly connections to Gerety, Cottrell and BuildTrend, including common subcontractors, suppliers and representatives.  J.D. Kelly Corp has been a registered Pennsylvania contractor #035571 since July 2009 with a Bucks County PA address.

RBSF Construction Company (Garvin Donaghy) is another registered Pennsylvania contractor intertwined with the BuildTrend ring.  We are hearing that Garvin has been a subcontractor on several BuildTrend jobs, approaching customers with contracted and substantially paid BuildTrend projects directly for payments and threatening liens on BuildTrend customer properties where very little work had been completed.  RBSF is Garvin Donaghy's PA registered contractor #114667 since March 2015 with a Media (Delaware County, PA) address. Garvin also owns at least one other contractor entity that has a current registration in the Commonwealth: RBS Builders Inc., a PA registered Home Improvement Contractor #088891 since 2012 and using a Drexel Hill address.

Garvin made the news when the Philadelphia Parking Authority released a list of Top 25 parking offenders :

No. 16 on the list, Delaware County's Donagnew Builders, is owned by Garvin Donaghy, who has operated a network of construction companies across the Philadelphia suburbs and in Camden. Donagnew has $9,632 in unpaid tickets and 144 violations. Donaghy, who repeatedly has been sued in Pennsylvania and New Jersey by construction suppliers, did not respond to messages left at his home and business addresses. 

Perhaps when creditors (and parking bureaucrats) are in pursuit, creating and registering new entities while collapsing and bankrupting spent corporate shells helps one to stay a few steps ahead.

Delaware County Victim Contacts

We are hearing Delco victims are reporting crimes by the BuildTREND-Gerety-Cottrell-Trend contractor ring to detectives.  If you have information to share:

Delaware County District Attorney’s Office

Criminal Investigation Division

(610) 891-4700

We have also heard about a crime report filed with the Pennsylvania State Police Media Barracks in 2014.

Contractor fraud victims should also report to the Attorney General 1-888-520-6680.  

Montgomery County Victim Contacts

We are hearing victims in Montgomery County have been reporting thefts by BuildTREND to Lower Merion since December 2014. 

Lower Merion Police Department

71 E. Lancaster Ave

Ardmore, PA 19003

610-645-6235

Contractor fraud victims should also report to the PA Attorney General (1-888-520-6680). 

Contributions to this blog

Interest in this blog is exploding with over 100 views per day each day in the past week.

A number of parties have contributed content here.  If you have information about BuildTREND to share, please send to: buildtrendscam@gmail.com 

We'll post reliable information while protecting anonymity unless you ask for attribution. One can also contribute to comments sections which are available under each post.  

Bucks County Victim Contacts

Contractor fraud victims in Bucks County should consider contacting Detective Eric Landamia and Deputy DA Alan Garabedian. Main numbers: 215-348-6344 and 6354.

Here is news coverage about their criminal prosecution of a fraudulent Yardley PA contractor:

Succi repeatedly signed contracts for renovations, additions and new construction, only to demand more money for shoddy, unfinished work that he typically failed to complete. When customers tried taking him to court, Succi would file for bankruptcy protection, often changing the name of his company to further avoid collection efforts.

Succi was sentenced to 15-30 years in prison after conviction on 27 felony counts.

John Succi does not have a known relationship to Shawn Gerety, Vince, Garvin, John, Jamie or others in the BuildTrend ring, but the scams and the experiences of multiple victims sound similar.

9/21/2015 update:

We are also hearing about Bucks County victims of the BuildTrend ring reporting to Detective Tim Williams of the Warrington Township Police Department.

BuildTREND in Bankruptcy

Hearing from multiple sources that Shawn T. Gerety is telling attorneys contacting him on behalf of victims that BuildTREND Construction LLC is in bankruptcy.

Yet no bankruptcy filing to date.  If any readers can confirm definitively, please send info in and we'll post to the blog.

Shawn Gerety at the beach, summer 2015

Where has customer money gone if initial payments collected by Shawn for materials to start projects has not gone to work on the jobs?

What other entities and assets has Shawn been using to hide stolen funds from victims whose projects he will never complete?

Shawn registers a second PA contractor entity

Shawn T. Gerety registered TREND Investment Group Inc. (PA116781) as a new Pennsylvania registered home improvement contractor in May 2015.  TREND Investment Group appears to be a successor to BuildTREND Construction LLC (PA073348) which has been registered since October 2010.

One can look up the PA registrations directly here:
http://hicsearch.attorneygeneral.gov/

Shawn indicates no petitions for bankruptcy, no civil judgments related to home improvement transactions and no record of criminal offenses for either business.  Read the rest of this blog (and note Shawn's 2010 bankruptcy, ongoing civil complaints related to business practices and his VP's record of criminal theft by deception). Judge for yourself if Shawn Gerety has made accurate representations to the Attorney General and the consumer public with his business registrations.

BuildTREND Construction... TREND Investment Group... Trend Consulting Group... The three names sound really similar.  Indeed, the names of Shawn's two registered contractors, BuildTREND and TREND Investment Group, could be confused with Vince's (unregistered) Trend Consulting Group.

Are Shawn and Vince getting back together for new contractor fraud schemes?

What other entities is Shawn using to hide customer funds that aren't being used to complete projects?

Vincent executive contractor

Recent BuildTREND vice president now builds relationships and trust for Trend Consulting Group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4AQFxOc4I0

When I say "we," we're not actually the construction firm, we're the management firm... we work strategically with our partners and we're only as good as our trade partners and vendors - the contractors, subcontractors, trades...

One of the ugly words in our business is change order.      

- Vincent Cottrell

Confirming multiple victims in PA & DE

We have learned of several other victims of crooked contractor Shawn Gerety and BuildTREND Construction.  Since starting this blog, we have heard directly from victims across multiple Pennsylvania counties and the state of Delaware.

The stories sound similar - BuildTREND collects significant early payment while promising prompt work, months of delays, similar excuses, requests for change orders and ultimately failure to actually start or satisfactorily complete work.  Two victims say they have damages of around $100,000 due to BuildTREND's theft and deceptions, while others say they are out in the range of $5,000 to $45,000 before significant hassle, anxiety and life disruption.

To reach the PA Attorney General with information about BuildTREND email to HIC@attorneygeneral.gov or call 1-888-520-6680. 

Here is the link to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General:
https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/Consumers/Home_Improvement_Consumer_Information/

Contractors Linked to BuildTREND & Shawn Gerety

We have heard from a number of BuildTREND's suppliers and subcontractors since starting this blog.  His victims are not just customers from whom he has collected deposits and progress payments but also plumbers, electricians, carpenters, cabinet-makers, flooring suppliers, and other trades who may have legitimate businesses that have been injured when BuildTREND has failed to pay on time for their work.

Too busy for contracted projects

But BuildTrend owner Shawn Gerety has time and money to travel to London:

London has called... I listened...

— Shawn T. Gerety (@ShawnGerety) December 17, 2014

Shawn is so extremely busy he can't focus on projects he was paid for months ago:

Keep moving... Keep doing... Keep living... The moment we stop, we are dead...

— Shawn T. Gerety (@ShawnGerety) May 31, 2015

Vince Cottrell - BuildTREND Vice President

Cottrell has apparently moved on from a public affiliation with BuildTREND.  He now represents himself as Managing Partner of Trend Consulting Group (TCG).  That name sounds similar to BuildTREND doesn't it?

Vince is still in the construction business and seeking to hire "skilled Project Managers who poses the necessary background, experience, and expertise required to manage large commercial construction projects and/or multiple mid-size construction projects simultaniousley."

(Note: spelling and grammar carried forward from the source job posting)

Criminal Theft by Deception

BuildTREND Vice President Vincent E. Cottrell has a criminal record.

Vince was booked for "Theft by Deception" and other charges in New Jersey and incarcerated from August 2010 to March 2011.   In March 2011, he was then arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with "Theft by Deception" yet again.

See NJ mugshots of Cottrell in orange jumpsuits here:
http://www.bustedmugshots.com/new-jersey/camden/vincent-e-cottrell/47696651
http://mugshots.com/US-Counties/New-Jersey/Camden-County-NJ/Vincent-E-Cottrell.8077319.html

Arrest Information:

Name: Vincent E Cottrell

Location: Camden, New Jersey

Age: 33 years

Processing Date: 02-03-2010

Booking Charges:

2C:20-4 THEFT BY DECEPTION

2C:20-2B THEFT

2C:45-3 VIOLATION OF PROBATION OR SUSPENDED SENTENCE

2C:21-5B(2) BAD CHECK

Race: White

Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Height: 5′ 11″ (1.80 m)

Weight: 240 lb (109 kg)

Birth date: 3/30/1976

SBI Number: 000834031C

Admission Date: 8/20/2010

Current Facility: Paroled from CRAF

Current Max Release Date: 10/27/2012

Current Parole Eligibility Date: N/A

Sentence Information:

Offense	Offense Date	Sentence Date	County of Commitment	Commitment Order	Mandatory Minimum Term	Maximum Term
1 count of : 2C:21-5*4 Bad Checks:No Account(>$200 - < $1000)/4	November 14, 2009	August 20, 2010	Camden	10-04-00401-I	None	12 Months
1 count of : 2C:20-4*3 Theft by Deception /3	March 25, 2008	August 20, 2010	Camden	CAM090200690I	None	3 Years 6 Months
1 count of : 2C:35-10*3 CDS/Poss,Use or Being Under Influence /3	December 12, 2006	August 20, 2010	Camden	CAM070200521A	None	3 Years

Incarceration History:

Date In Custody	Date Out of Custody
August 20, 2010	March 10, 2011

Aliases:

• Cottrell, Thomas
• Daddino, Thomas

2010 Bankruptcy of BuildTREND principal

Shawn T. Gerety and his then wife with the same last name (now ex wife) filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy in Pennsylvania Eastern Bankruptcy Court and received a discharge of all debts in May 2010.
http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/judpquy1/pennsylvania-eastern-bankruptcy-court//

BuildTREND's contractor license in Pennsylvania may have been fraudulently obtained as Mr. Gerety failed to disclose the bankruptcy when registering as a home improvement contractor.

Pennsylvania's Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (HICPA) requires disclosure of bankruptcies within the prior 10 years.  See HICPA 73 P.S., Section 517.4 Procedures for registration as a contractor (a) (1) (vii)

BuildTREND has also not disclosed that corporate Vice President Vincent Cottrell has a criminal record for "theft" and "theft by deception" in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which appears to be an independent HICPA violation.

9/22/2015 update:

In addition to their 2010 bankruptcy together, Ms. Gerety had also filed for another Chapter 7 discharge of personal debts in July 2000.

We are hearing from sub-contractors that Gerety's wife has had a role in managing finances and accounting for BuildTrend and other businesses.

9/27/2015 update: 

Ms. Gerety contacted this blog to deny all involvement with BuildTrend and post comments. She subsequently claims comments were posted without her permission. All comments from her are now removed and references above are all to documents in the public domain already.

Lawsuit reveals BuildTREND's debts & contracts with Cottrell

Shawn T. Gerety and BuildTREND are defendants in a civil action filed in Delaware County PA in January 2015 by former BuildTREND Vice President Vincent Cottrell.

The complaint accuses BuildTREND of fraud, claims "BuildTREND owed subcontractors in excess of $600,000" and includes Cottrell's employment contract with BuildTREND.

The contracts between Shawn Gerety / BuildTREND and Cottrell's entities acknowledge that Cottrell is an "Acting Vice President" of BuildTREND and describe a plan for Cottrell to receive compensation of a regular draw and commissions based on collections of "newly sold contracts, change orders, referrals and additional work" with payments due to Cottrell "by the end of business each Friday following actual date of contract and or change order signing and deposits paid by clients to BuildTREND."

The performance incentives that Gerety created for Cottrell with this contract were to maximize sales, change orders and collections or payments from customers, rather than performance of  project work.

Read the full complaint here:
http://roam.co.delaware.pa.us/delco/search.do?indexName=delcoimages&lq=EventEntryID%3A7282492

Defendant                                              Plantiff

BuildTREND Construction LLC

Shawn T. Gerety is the owner of BuildTREND Construction which has registered addresses of 283 Black Oak Drive, Lancaster, PA 17062 and 1960 Horseshoe Road, Lancaster PA 17602.

BuildTREND is a registered contractor in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware under license numbers: PA073348, NJ1613239 and DE2011600708

www.buildtrend.com is a slick site. Do any of the images represent actual BuildTREND projects?