“PetSmart lured prospective dog groomers with promises of ‘free’ paid training, only to trap them into staying with the company,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement.

In a lawsuit filed in Denver District Court, Weiser’s office highlighted a half-dozen PetSmart ads claiming that its grooming academy was free. In reality, it cost either $5,000 or $5,500. If an employee stayed with PetSmart for at least one year after graduating, half of that cost was forgiven. If the employee stayed for two years, the full tuition was forgiven.

“For most associates, thousands of dollars was too high a cost to pay to leave their position,” the lawsuit states. “This meant that many associates stayed in their positions for two years, even if it meant giving up higher paying opportunities or better work environments.”

Meanwhile, training at the grooming academy was substandard, the government alleges. One Colorado employee showed her PetSmart grooming certificate to a prospective employer “who laughed and confirmed the certificate was not valid elsewhere,” Weiser’s office says.

The state’s lawsuit gets much use out of the name of the contract PetSmart grooming students were required to sign: a training repayment agreement provision, or TRAP.

Spokespeople for PetSmart, which has 35 stores in Colorado, declined to comment Tuesday.

The attorney general’s office is asking Judge Heidi Kutcher to prohibit PetSmart from collecting on debts from former grooming academy participants. It is also seeking penalties of up to $50,000 per TRAP, which it claims violates the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.

Read more at our partner, BusinessDen.

The national trash company has leased several buildings at 3600 E. 48th Ave. in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood since 2005 without much problem, according to a lawsuit it filed last week.

“Waste Management Recycle America faithfully paid all rent and performed its lease obligations,” it wrote. “But in 2024, (Armstrong Capital Development) purchased the buildings and, unlike the prior landlord, immediately demanded that WMRA perform almost $2 million in repairs, despite knowing the condition of the buildings before its purchase.”

Armstrong, a private equity firm headquartered in Greenwood Village, paid $18.3 million for the property early last year. On July 21, it gave Waste Management an ultimatum, according to the company: Either make more than $1 million in repairs or be kicked out.

“The threatened eviction has ramifications far beyond just the relationship of WMRA and ACD,” according to the former’s lawsuit. “Since a huge amount of recycling flows through the WMRA 48th Street facility, the threatened eviction would disrupt an estimated 10 to 15 percent of all recycling in the Denver metropolitan area. That is a serious public impact.”

Jarrett Armstrong, the CEO of Armstrong Capital Development, declined to talk about that.

“Although we don’t agree with Waste Management’s assertions in the lawsuit, our practice is not to comment on pending litigation,” Armstrong told BusinessDen. When asked if he will be evicting Waste Management from 3600 E. 48th, he said, “Any potential eviction of Waste Management similarly concerns pending litigation and ACD does not comment.”

Waste Management’s spokespeople and lawyers did not answer requests for an interview.

The dispute between tenant and landlord concerns a warehouse roof that dates to the 1940s and has leaked since Waste Management moved in, according to the company. It has paid for several roof repairs and replacements over the years, its lawsuit explains.

In 2023, Waste Management signed a lease through 2026, with the expectation it will move to its new Aurora location after that. Then, Armstrong bought the property and almost immediately demanded that Waste Management make $1.9 million in repairs, the tenant alleges.

“While WMRA was surprised by this sudden change from the position of any prior landlord, and disputed the extent of repairs demanded, WMRA has substantially complied with a large portion of Armstrong’s demands” by landscaping, painting and repairing the warehouse.

Still, its landlord is demanding more — and unfairly threatening to evict, the tenant claims.

“Waste Management vigorously opposes the defendant’s improper attempt to use eviction proceedings as leverage … and thereby threaten continued waste recycling for large segments of Denver and the surrounding communities,” according to the July 23 lawsuit.

Waste Management’s lawyers are Dana Eismeier and Michael Ley at Burns Figa & Will.

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The lawsuit, filed last month in Pitkin County District Court, is the latest fallout from a financial scandal involving Lugano Diamonds, which has a store in Aspen, and its founder Moti Ferder. Lugano’s parent company fired Ferder in May and sued him for fraud in June.

“What has been uncovered through the investigation thus far does not reflect who we are as a business and the values we uphold,” Elias Sabo, the CEO of Lugano parent company Compass Diversified, said in May of an audit that revealed financing oddities and misconduct.

One aspect of that financing is the source of the recent Aspen lawsuit. Bryan Gadol and Darren Testa, two investors from Orange County, California, say that Ferder approached them last year with an opportunity: The duo would give him money, he would buy diamonds and create rings from them, and Ferder would then split the profits with them after the jewelry sold.

Some Lugano pieces sell for north of $10 million, according to a recent Forbes cover story.

Gadol, a partner at the national law firm Holland & Knight, says he invested $3 million in Ferder’s diamonds. Testa, a technology executive, says he invested $2.5 million.

“Mr. Ferder did not actually buy diamonds with most of the money that he obtained from investors, including the plaintiffs,” they wrote in their lawsuit June 18.

Gadol and Testa say they are now owed $7.9 million and $6.4 million, respectively, from Ferder and Lugano. After their demands for payment were ignored in May, they sued Ferder.

“The actions of Mr. Ferder were malicious, oppressive and taken in reckless disregard of the plaintiffs’ rights,” Gadol and Testa allege, “so as to justify an award of punitive damages sufficient to punish and deter Mr. Ferder from engaging in such conduct in the future.”

Ferder did not respond to BusinessDen’s emails. Gadol and Testa declined to comment.

The investors’ lawyers are Michelle Schindler and Marcus Gould with Ferguson Schindler in Aspen, plus Alice Hodsden and Jonathan Altman at Theodora Oringher in California.

Ferder, 55, was born in Israel and emigrated in 2005 to Orange County, where he and his wife started Lugano Diamonds. The company has nine stores. Ferder bought the 6,000-square-foot home at 1220 Red Butte Drive in Aspen for $18.7 million in 2021.

Brad McDonnell, a principal at Littleton-based Horizon Capital, was sued by Chicago-based BMO Bank in Arapahoe District Court at the end of June. Horizon Capital, which operates under the name Technology Leasing, sells information technology equipment and services.

McDonnell is accused of exploiting BMO’s dealer trading agreements, a program that allows sellers such as Horizon to refer customers in need of financing to BMO. The bank then sends the money directly to the seller — in this case Horizon — to cover the purchase.

McDonnell reached out to BMO on behalf of Horizon in 2023 and represented that Horizon had annual revenue of $2 million, BMO says. After conducting standard due diligence, BMO approved Horizon’s application for a dealer trading agreement in early 2024.

Using an online submission tool, McDonnell and Horizon then referred 91 supposed borrowers to BMO, which sent Horizon $12.27 million between January 2024 and March of this year.

“Shortly after proceeds were disbursed, many of the customers (McDonnell and Horizon) referred to BMO defaulted on their payments,” according to its June 30 lawsuit.

“BMO began attempting to collect payments. BMO discovered that many of the defendants’ ‘customers’ did not know about the loans from BMO and had not authorized the defendants to submit a loan application. Others complained that the defendants never provided them with the equipment paid for by BMO’s funds. BMO has been unable to locate others.”

Only 34 of the 91 loans are current. BMO claims that at least 16 loans worth $2.1 million were “wholly fraudulent” and it suspects an additional 30 (totaling $4.6 million) were too. It has been unable to find 42 supposed borrowers whose contact information appears to be falsified.

BMO alleges that its investigation into McDonnell has revealed that on occasion he immediately transferred loan disbursements to a man named Craig D. Davis. Last August, Davis pleaded guilty to a felony wire fraud charge in Virginia after admitting that he used a phony IT company to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars in loans from banks, according to BMO.

McDonnell and Horizon did not respond to requests for comment on BMO’s allegations.

“Across 91 loans issued in just 14 months, they received $12,267,657 directly from BMO,” that bank says of Horizon and McDonnell, who is listed as its vice president, “all while knowing that if BMO knew the truth, it never would have entered into the relationship with Horizon.”

BMO’s lawyers are Adam Massaro and Nick Erickson in the Denver office of Reed Smith.

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Known for its rustic Western appearance, the building at 28075 Highway 74 dates to the 1880s and has been Little Bear since the 1970s. It was last sold in late 2023.

The buyers were JR Iannaccone, Patrick Robson and Alexandra Robson. Iannaccone owns Bistro Del Lago, an Italian restaurant down the street from Little Bear, and Evergreen-based JR’s Landscaping & Property Maintenance. The Robsons are a local married couple.

On June 17, Iannaccone sued the Robsons and made some major accusations about them.

“Bank records reveal the defendants have been using the (Little Bear) LLC’s checking account and credit card as their own personal checking account and credit card, funding their personal life and failing to make necessary payments on behalf of the LLC,” he alleged.

“Due to the actions of the defendants, vendors, employees and even the LLC’s landlord have either not received monies owed to them or have had checks issued by the defendants on behalf of the LLC bounce,” says the lawsuit in Jefferson County District Court.

Iannaccone claims that he is the treasurer of Little Bear Holdings Saloon LLC and yet does not have access to the company’s books. He reportedly invested $100,000 in Little Bear Saloon but hasn’t received a single disbursement while the Robsons have taken several.

“Iannaccone owns several other businesses in the area and is concerned his business reputation is at risk based on the defendants’ actions,” last week’s lawsuit explains.

So, he wants out. Iannaccone is asking Judge Jason Carrithers to dissolve Little Bear Holdings Saloon LLC and require the Robsons to refund his $100,000. The Evergreen man is suing the Evergreen couple for civil theft, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties.

Patrick and Alexandra Robson did not return emails and a phone call seeking comment.

Iannaccone’s lawyers are John Coaty, Dylan Woods and Rachael Wachs with the firm Coaty and Woods in Evergreen. They also did not respond to requests for comment.

This story was originally published on BusinessDen.

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Brian Firestone of Florida says he was approached in December by a man named John Smith with the Alpha Stock Investment Training Center. Smith offered to teach Firestone how to trade cryptocurrencies and gifted him $500 to begin, according to the Florida man.

The Alpha Stock Investment Training Center, which listed an address of 1660 Lincoln St. on its now-defunct website, advised people to trade crypto through CoinBridge Partners, a company at 950 S. Cherry St. that claims to have raised $10 million from 600 investors last year.

“CoinBridge is really an entirely fake exchange,” Firestone wrote in a June 11 lawsuit.

Alpha Stock Investment engaged in what’s called signal trading, in which “professors” message Firestone and others with a recommended trade at a set time, say 5 p.m. “Students” click to accept the trade and their CoinBridge account buys or sells a cryptocurrency accordingly.

Firestone says the initial $500 he was given soon multiplied to $55,000. So, in January, he invested $50,000. Within weeks, his CoinBridge account balance was $2 million, he says.

“Professor, I must thank you,” he texted Smith on Feb. 8, according to his lawsuit. “My results were outstanding. Thank you for letting me in this trade today. This is so exciting!”

But a bad trade then sent his account balance free-falling to just $12,000. Undeterred, he decided to invest an additional $800,000 at Alpha Stock Investment’s urging: $470,000 in cash and $330,000 borrowed from the school, he recalls. His account balance soon rocketed to $24.5 million.

Then, on March 9 came the signal for his biggest trade yet: an investment in the cryptocurrency USDT, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar. But he couldn’t click to accept it.

“I can’t close it,” he urgently messaged Smith. Then, panicking: “I ncant clpsoe it.”

Firestone was later told that a “system error” blocked the trade and, inexplicably, also wiped away the $24.5 million in his CoinBridge account. His lawsuit alleges that Alpha Stock Investment “intentionally sabotaged his trade to once again empty his CoinBridge account.”

Still, he was not done. Two days later, Firestone borrowed $1 million from the training center and began trading again. His account soon showed a balance of $6.6 million. But then that $330,000 loan came due. He paid $200,000 of it in U.S. dollars but couldn’t pay the rest and ASITC wouldn’t accept crypto as payment. So, on May 1, the school closed his CoinBridge account.

Between January and March, Firestone made 11 payments totaling $861,570 to ASITC and CoinBridge, according to the lawsuit that he filed in Denver’s federal court last week. Looking back, he now believes all of it — the signals, the gains, the losses — was phony.

“ASITC was a fraudulent entity designed to take as much money from the plaintiff as possible without giving any value in return,” according to the lawsuit, which accuses ASITC, CoinBridge, Smith and CoinBridge founder Raymond Torres of fraud, theft and more.

Firestone’s lawyer, Frank Schirripa in New York City, did not answer an interview request.

Attempts to contact ASITC and CoinBridge Partners were not successful. An email address for ASITC no longer works and a listed phone number for CoinBridge has been disconnected. It is not the same company as Coinbridge Partners in Wyoming, which operates bitcoin ATMs.

“This is not us, nor do we condone what they have allegedly done,” CEO Manny Rivera said.

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On May 12, a former employee at the personal injury law firm in Belcaro accused it of hiding the fact that it would be paying her only $18 per hour, among other transgressions.

“I took my shot & it was a living nightmare,” wrote Jazmyne Sanchez in a one-star review. “Taking advantage of people who are (a) different race, discrimination – u name it.”

“Scum joke of a law firm,” she went on to say. “Oh and the days I worked they never paid me for. … Enjoy a scum firm who looks at people as a product not as a genuine human being.”

“All I have to say is do not bother, they will run you dry like me,” Sanchez concluded.

Galperin & Associates has a Google review rating of 4.8 out of 5. Hundreds of past clients have taken to Google to praise its work on their cases. Firm founder Jake Galperin has responded to many of those reviews, positive and negative, himself. Sanchez’s bothers him.

On June 12, Galperin & Associates sued Google for libel because it won’t delete the review.

“The prohibited Google review contained false and misleading information regarding (Galperin & Associates) that was defamatory to its reputation and character,” the firm alleges.

“Plaintiff’s clients, prospective clients, co-counsel, opposing counsel, business associates, members of the judiciary and the general public has had and continues to have unfettered access to view the prohibited Google review at any time,” it goes on to complain.

Google didn’t answer a request for comment on the Denver District Court lawsuit. Neither did Jake Galperin, who is representing his firm in its case against the tech giant.

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Freebird has been under the control of a court-appointed caretaker, the turnaround company Ampleo, since being sued by KeyBank in May for allegedly not repaying $15.4 million.

“The receiver learned in the first few days that the company remains in a precarious financial situation” and “a severe liquidity crisis,” Ampleo’s Doug Charboneau wrote June 9.

That includes owing $6 million to a manufacturer in Mexico that supplies 85% of its shoes. The bootmaker has gone out of business as a result of Freebird’s unpaid invoices.

“Without product being shipped to replenish inventory and without any apparent refinancing options remaining, the receiver had to take quick action,” Charboneau explained in a receiver report to Denver District Judge Jill Dorancy, who appointed him May 20.

On June 2, Charboneau “started closing the worst performing stores, vacating its corporate office and reducing staff,” he wrote. The receiver has begun closing 14 stores and will close another four on Monday if a buyer isn’t found. That would leave just two stores.

Charboneau declined to be interviewed about which stores are being closed and how many workers are out of a job. The company had four locations in Colorado when he was appointed: Its flagship in Cherry Creek and others in Boulder, Lone Tree and Castle Rock.

“No comment,” Charboneau told BusinessDen when asked. “The report speaks for itself.”

On June 6, the company’s HQ at 2955 E. First Ave. in Cherry Creek was closed. Furniture was removed and computers were wiped clean so they can be auctioned off.

In a move that may surprise customers, Charboneau has decided that all new Freebird sales are final and no products can be returned, according to his receiver report.

KeyBank supports Charboneau’s shrinking of Freebird, he says, “as the best path to achieve the highest value return, but by no means is it anticipated to result in a full recovery.”

Charboneau has also been on the lookout for buyers for the company. Last week, he was “in active negotiations with two” who have signed nondisclosure agreements, he wrote.

“While a sale outcome remains uncertain, the receiver will continue to pursue that path in tandem with the receiver’s store closure plan to reduce operational costs.”

Freebird boots are handmade and range in price from $200 to $400. CEO Mike Murphy, who founded the company in 2009, declined to comment on Charboneau’s actions.

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VNYL Inc., a St. Louis company that owns similar subscription services, announced Tuesday that it had acquired Vinyl Me, Please on May 27 for an undisclosed price.

“We have big plans to grow this community and welcome a new generation of collectors,” VNYL CEO Nick Alt was quoted in a news release about the sale, which was first reported by Variety. “But first, we have to do right by the customers who built it. That means making things right, listening closely and proving — through action — that VMP is still worth believing in.”

Vinyl Me, Please has been criticized by customers in recent months for slow delivery times. The company has apologized at times and said it was restructuring its business.

VMP was founded in 2012 and thrived amid a national revival of vinyl. But Rich Kylberg, a Harvard graduate and chief strategy officer at VMP until his firing last spring, has claimed in court that the company was struggling with stagnant revenue by 2019. Vinyl Me, Please burned through $3 million in investor capital and lost $1 million in 2020, he says.

Kylberg was fired alongside CEO Cameron Schaefer and Chief Financial Officer Adam Block for starting Vinyl Media Pressing, a 14,000-square-foot plant in RiNo. Vinyl Me, Please claims they used company funds on the venture, which was independently owned by the trio.

The fired executives are countersuing Vinyl Me, Please for unpaid compensation and claim they were let go to save on severance. A three-day trial is scheduled for mid-December.

It remains to be seen what impact, if any, VNYL’s acquisition has on that case. In its news release, the new owner says it is focused on rebuilding the trust of customers.

“Vinyl customers deserve a white-glove experience, and that’s far from what they’ve gotten recently,” said Emily Muhoberac, the new president of Vinyl Me, Please. “We intend to do that by getting back to the fundamentals of VMP with a great customer experience.”

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If it is allowed to be built over a neighbor’s objection, 7 Brew Coffee will be a 575-square-foot drive-thru kiosk. No food, no indoor tables or chairs, no waitresses. Just drinks.

“As such, 7 Brew is not a restaurant,” its would-be landlord wrote to a judge last month.

Or is it?

The kiosk is being developed by ERC Hospitality, a Highlands Ranch company, on land it leases at 21925 E. Quincy Ave. from Alberta Development Partners, a Tech Center firm.

A few doors down, at 21805 E. Quincy, Goddard School day care leases space from Armstrong Capital Development, a Greenwood Village company opposed to the 7 Brew.

“This case is about a developer thumbing its nose at clear and unambiguous use restrictions … over the objections of the other lot owners,” it told a judge last month.

“(Alberta) has refused to change course and its actions … necessitate court involvement.”

The dispute between the developers dates to December 2023, when Armstrong got word of the proposed coffee kiosk. It made clear to Alberta that it believed the kiosk violates the subdivision’s governing documents. Both sides agree that restaurants are not allowed, the only exception being a carve-out for an existing eatery, known as the Taco Bell Exclusive.

In early 2024, Armstrong demanded that Alberta stop development of its 7 Brew kiosk. It also filed an objection with the City of Aurora, but the city opted not to weigh in on the controversy and approved the development plan. So, Armstrong and Alberta went to court.

As Alberta sees it, Armstrong previously tried to buy and develop 21925 E. Quincy. When those plans fell through, it became determined to stop Alberta from developing the parcel.

As Armstrong sees it, “there is simply no question that (Alberta)’s construction and intended operation of 7 Brew violates” the ban on restaurants not named Taco Bell.

Arapahoe District Judge Thomas Henderson IV will decide the dispute from his courtroom in Centennial. Henderson has not yet scheduled a hearing on the coffee conflict.

Alberta’s lawyer is Mikaela Rivera with Waas Campbell Rivera Johnson & Velasquez. Armstrong’s attorneys are Stephanie Kanan and Kate Krukowski with Snell & Wilmer. 7 Brew is represented by Krista Tushar and Uyen Dang at Fairfield & Woods.

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