like I wouldn't know who he was if it wasn't for you like most of these people wouldn't you know when you say I'm attaching you it's because you're marketing them everywhere we see uh flipping NJ there's DJ Envy so if I I'm just looking at it I'm saying that this is a guy that I'm investing with I'm investing based off your likeness hey trendys trendsetters on my trendy tribe welcome to the Deep dive into DJ Envy's involvement of the alleged real estate fraud investors Anthony Barone and Anthony Martini are accusing real estate influencers Caesar Pina and Jennifer Pina and DJ Envy of taking 1.5 million dollars from multiple projects that never happened in the lawsuit the investors allege that the three individuals began evading them after the investment funds were received they are accused of running a classic Ponzi scheme DJ Envy is a co-host and DJ of the morning radio show The Breakfast Club the morning show is in over 90 markets and consists of hip-hop culture celebrity gossip politics and more a mutual friend named knit the grit introduced Caesar Pina to DJ Envy DJ Envy and Caesar began doing real estate seminars together DJ Envy has had Caesar on The Breakfast Club at least five times over the last few years is Rashawn Casey better known as DJ Envy being used as a scapegoat or is he as culpable as Caesar and Jennifer Pena DJ Envy was born Rashawn Casey on September 3rd 1977 and is from Queens New York DJ Envy once named DJ shrimp in high school due to his height at the time which was 5-2 and his friend DJ mono formed a duo called Envy production DJ Envy said quote we always used to save people envied us so we were called Envy we weren't making no money so he told me one day look I don't want to do this no more I'm into girls you do this so I just kept doing it and kept doing it and every time I would bring a tape it would say Envy on it because it was both of us so the Bootleggers who would sell it was like you got the new Envy oh Envy's here and it just stuck thank God or you'd be calling me DJ shrimp right now end quote he was mentored by a neighborhood DJ who introduced him to the mixtape circuit in the mid-1990s the DJ that mentored him turned out to be DJ Clue in an interview DJ Envy recalled quote my neighbor at the time was a DJ and I didn't know what he did all I knew is he drove fancy cars and had nice jewelry so one day when I was waiting for the school bus I stopped his car and I was like what do you do end quote DJ Envy set the neighbor slash DJ asked him to come by the house after school he said he thought there would have been some illegal activity going on but the neighbor revealed to him that he was a DJ and that's what the DJ revealed himself to be DJ Clue DJ Envy had one of his big breaks Landing a job as a mixer on Hot 97 once a month for a show called taking it to the streets taking it to the streets was hosted by Angie Martinez from 12 a.m to 4 AM he filled in for Angie Martinez when she became pregnant later he co-hosted Hot 97's Morning Show with Miss Jones from 6 a.m to 10 a.m daily the morning show ended in 2008 When Miss Jones moved to Philadelphia DJ Envy ended up spending on his own mixed shows on hot 9 27th the show was called The People's mix and it aired on Saturdays from 12 P.M to 2 p.m and he had a show called The People's Choice hit list that aired on Sundays from 5 PM to 8pm he also had a segment on Hot 97 called knew it too where he played the newest hits from 2PM to 2 30 p.m he hosted his own midday show on Power 105 before joining Charlemagne tha God and Angela Yee to create the show The Breakfast Club in 2010. DJ Envy said quote we brought on Charlemagne we brought on Angela Yee and we came up with all these different names Illuminati in the morning the big three and all these different things and somebody came up with the idea The Breakfast Club and is stuck and 10 years later we still here end quote on an episode of in the know money with Marseille Martin DJ Envy briefly explained how he got into real estate he said quote I love real estate because you can always get paid and you can use real estate to continue to get money I purchased my first investment property in Detroit at the time properties were only ten thousand dollars I bought that property for ten thousand dollars I held it and I wound up selling it for one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in quote he went on to explain quote then you buy a two-family house let's say a two family house is two hundred thousand dollars usually you have to put ten percent down 10 of 200 000 is twenty thousand dollars so that means you owe one hundred and eighty thousand dollars you have to pay that off in 30 years paying it off in 30 years your mortgage or your rent will be two thousand dollars you live on one floor you ran out the top floor the person that pays the rent on the top floor pays you mortgage taxes and all your bills so now you're living rent free and you own a property in quote DJ Envy interview sees opinion on an episode of The Breakfast Club on October 15 2018. during the episode DJ Envy said that he was introduced to Cesar Pina via a friend named Nick the grit knit the great owned the label fetty WAP was signed to the dope thing about season and shout out to Nick which is uh he was signed to fetty WAP assigning it he and DJ Envy must have hit it off because they soon began doing seminars together and according to DJ Envy they are business partners Cesar Pena refers to himself as a self-educated street guy when he was in prison he says he met a guy who told him about real estate in the interview with Bigger Pockets he stated quote back in 08 when everybody was running away from Real Estate that's when I jumped in and I started with the smaller properties flipping properties more rental properties got into commercial properties then kept on going kept on going now we have about 1600 rental units in the whole us and we flip about 50 to 80 single-family homes a year and now we're also developing bigger buildings a 50 unit a 60 unit a 80 unit and a 100 unit end quote on Thursday July 6 2023 a civil action complaint was filed Anthony Barone and Anthony Martini plaintiffs versus Cesar Pina Jennifer Pina Taylor Court Apartments LLC flipped the Dow LLC Rashawn case aka DJ Envy Jane and John does one through ten in this segment we will review the complaint against the defendants to include DJ Envy in detail all statements that are read within this chapter are directly from the publicly filed complaint Cesar Pina and Jennifer Pina and their Confederates convinced plaintiffs to invest 1.5 million dollars into Taylor apartments based on numerous false promises and fraudulent statements Taylor Apartments was represented as the next great real estate investment opportunity being pursued by the Pena's who have gained notoriety a successful real estate flippers and are more commonly known by their real estate venture flipping NJ the opinions did not stop with Taylor Apartments apparently emboldened they next solicited Planos to purchase fractional shares of real estate marketing the investment opportunity as a real estate investment trust called flip to Dow using similar fraudulent tactics plaintiff Barone invested three hundred thousand dollars unfortunately over three years later the opinions have disappeared and so has the money invested by plaintiffs with nothing to show for their Investments Cesar Pena is the sole manager of Taylor Apartments Jennifer Pina is the majority owner of Taylor Apartments Rashawn Casey aka DJ Envy is a business partner of the opinions and a promoter of the Taylor Apartments development project and the flip to Dow investment in 2018 Barone heard DJ Envy on Power 105.1 talking about his successful real estate investments in partnership with the opinions to buy undervalued homes in Patterson renovate them and flip them for sale or rent them for positive cash flow on a short-term investment did DJ Envy also promoted his Investments with opinions on his Instagram account beginning in late 2019 Caesar Jennifer and DJ Envy specifically promoted the opportunity separately to Barone and Martini to invest in Taylor Apartments which involved the development of 50 apartment units located at 555 Main Street Paterson New Jersey aka the Taylor Apartments project in September 2019 Caesar sent Martini a certificate of formation and stock purchase agreement for martini to purchase 25 of Taylor Apartments which was the entity to own and develop the Taylor Apartments project Jennifer held the remaining 75 interest in Taylor Apartments the pinions represented that the Taylor Apartments project was already funded with a 2.5 million dollar investment from Jennifer and a 3.5 million construction loan which would cover the anticipated 5.6 million dollar construction cost Martini's investment will be used to cover any cost overruns and operating costs until the units were rented or sold in late 2019 Barone had lunch with DJ Envy Caesar and others at the hunt and fish Club in New York City to discuss possible real estate Investments during that lunch Caesar and DJ Envy presented Barone with the various investment opportunities that they were working on together one of the opportunities promoted by DJ Envy and Caesar to Barone was a Taylor Apartments Project based on that conversation and what he had previously heard from DJ Envy on his show on Power 105.1 baronne was interested in potentially investing with them and agreed to continue discussing possible Investments on December 2nd 2019 Caesar confirmed the terms of the Taylor Apartment project including that the purchase price for the vacant property was five hundred thousand dollars and that the value of the project along with Township approvals was already 1.5 million dollars exhibit B A true and correct copy of Caesar's December 2nd 2019 email to Barone Caesar simultaneously promoted two other similar real estate investment opportunities with the Redevelopment of two School properties each with projected annual rental incomes in excess of one million dollars to further entice Barone to invest in DJ envies in the penis projects opinions invited Barone and others on a tour of their projects in Patterson in early 2020 the pinions and DJ Envy spent approximately four hours giving Barone his friend ayton Sugar Man DJ Clue and Gary vaynerchuk AKA garyvee a tour of all their Investments properties in Patterson after the Patterson tour Caesar offered Barone the opportunity to invest in the Taylor Apartments project Caesar represented to Barone that construction of the project will be completed in early 2021 Caesar initially requested a one million dollar investment for 25 ownership stake however Barone was not willing to invest 1 million dollars instead they agree that Barone would invest five hundred thousand dollars for a 12.5 interest according to the pins the seven million dollars in then existing assets and Barone's five hundred thousand dollar investment were more more than sufficient to cover all of the costs to complete construction of the Taylor Apartments project and to fund operating costs until all the units could be sold or rented in April 2020 Caesar provided Barone with a cash flow chart and construction schedule among other documents to confirm the status and timeline for the Taylor Apartments project those documents confirmed net profits of over nine hundred thousand dollars per year the documents further estimated construction costs of approximately 5.6 million dollars notably the cost for the foundation was estimated to be only 650 000 on May 6 2020 Jennifer in Barone executed an operating agreement for Taylor Court Apartments LLC along with other documents confirming Barone's purchase of 12.5 percent of the company from Jennifer as Martini was already a member of the company his signature was required on the Taylor Apartments operating agreement and the resolution of unanimous consent Martini's signature was not immediately provided but following several requests by Barone Caesar emailed documents purporting to contain Martini's signature Martini did not sign those documents and upon information and belief one of the piñas forged his signature Caesar instructed Barone to wire his 500 000 investment to another one of the penis companies Warehouse llc at its Bank JP Morgan to bolster his credibility Caesar promoted on Instagram his connections with celebrities like Snoop Dogg Nikki Jam 50 Cent garyvee and his book soon after Barone invested his money Caesar advised him that the covet pandemic created construction delays and would extend the construction schedule in late 2021 Caesar told Barone that construction was beginning and they would continue to build straight through 2022 to complete the Taylor Apartments project Caesar told Barone that the incident had actually caused rent prices to Skyrocket and to be patient as they will now make more money than Caesar originally represented in November 2021 he told Martini that everything is moving guys are there non-stop every day working on the construction in late December 2021 Caesar told Martini that everything is moving finishing Plumbing Foundation done in reality no construction was done during 2020 and most of 2021. in early 2022 Caesar repeatedly advised Barone that construction was underway and would be completed that year in February 2022 Caesar repeated the same story to Martini that construction was underway workers were actively building and the project should now be completed by November 2022 more excuses ensued during the summer of 2022 Caesar represented to Barone that construction on the Taylor Apartments project was moving along nicely and would be completed by the end of the year or by January 2023 at the latest at that same time and growing frustrated Martini repeatedly complained to Caesar about the constant delays in the project after receiving no responses from Caesar for several months Martini drove past the project in August 2022 and saw that no construction progress had been made for over a year Martini then began to demand the return of his money from Caesar Caesar responded that he needed to refinance the debt on the project and as soon as he could do so he would repay Martini his entire investment in the fall of 2022 Caesar represented to Martini that construction work had begun again and the still support beams will be installed soon during 2023 Martini repeatedly demanded to be repaid and for information about the status of the refinancing Caesar delayed obfuscated and or simply did not respond to the inquiries to date only the foundation has been poured and no other construction has started as of June 2023 this is the current condition of the Taylor Apartments project flip to Dao after successfully procuring plano's investments in the Taylor Apartments project Caesar began pitching a new investment opportunity to the plaintiffs in early 2022 Caesar told Barone about an idea he had to allow people to use crypto and or credit cards to own fractional shares in a building for as low as one hundred dollars Caesar promoted this as a great opportunity because it can be available to anyone and allows people to start off small with real estate investing in April 2022 Caesar sent Barone a pitch deck promoting this new crypto investment opportunity which he called flip to Dow that same month Caesar also pitched the flip to Dow investment to martini the pitch deck misrepresented that the flip to Dow investment was led by the following team members Caesar Pina the founder Jennifer Pina founder Johnny Marines co-founder fund manager DJ Envy co-founder Stephen C Terrell Morgan Lewis general counsel Marcus Asante managing partner Birchcrest advisors and Armando Juan Pantoja software engineer in response to questions from Barone Caesar misrepresented that the attorney Stephen Terrell was part of the team precisely to ensure that flip to Dow complied with all SEC requirements and other laws related to fractional investing Caesar represented to Barone that Jose Rodriguez aka the credit dude had already invested in the flip to dial investment Caesar represented to Barone that he and DJ Envy were giving away a house in Paterson with the opportunity to win open to members of the flip to dial investment only to induce and accelerate Investments as Caesar's suggestion Barone watched the promotional video of DJ Envy and Caesar promoting the opportunity to invest in flip to Dow and to win the house Caesar later posted a video on Instagram announcing that Nadine Barker a woman in her 70s and a first-time real estate investor was the winner of the flip to doll house giveaway Caesar promised Barone returns for the flip to dial investment would be between three and six times his investment within one year on May 31st 2022 Caesar misrepresented to Barone that 1500 people had already invested in flipped it out investment exhibit f is a true and correct copy of a text message sent from Caesar to Barone on May 31st 2022. in June 2022 Caesar told Barone that if he wanted to get in on flip to dial investment he needed to do it immediately and he would be the last person allowed to invest Barone stated he wanted his lawyer to review the contract first but his lawyer was away Caesar pressured Barone to wire the money anyway because the opportunity was closing and he could not wait for the attorney to review the contract Barone then wired three hundred thousand dollars to flip to Dow's account at PNC Bank on June 10th 2022. on June 24 2022 DJ Envy invited the opinions to be guests on his radio show The Breakfast Club on Power 105.1 FM which is also streamed on YouTube during the show DJ Envy explained that during many of the seminars that he and Caesar hosted people would ask how they could co-invest with him and Caesar he stated that previously they never offered audience members an opportunity to co-invest with him and Caesar but now Caesar came up with a way to allow people to invest with them Caesar then touted their flip to down investment as the solution for people without a lot of money to invest with he and DJ Envy DJ Envy explained that previously he did not want to take money from anyone else for Investments but now with the flip to their investment their quote will be a way whereby people can invest and be a part owner on some of the projects that we actually buy in quote main thing with the site and also which is the biggest thing is people always ask how can I invest with you guys and we never take anybody's money and the reason being is I don't want to be responsible for anybody's money not celebrity that's athletes that's anybody but now there will be a way where people can actually invest and be a part owner on some of the projects that we actually buy think about it right now you have a hundred dollars in the bank how much interest do you earn a year on that hundred dollars point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero eight okay so if you have a hundred dollars that's not a fact there's something around it so you take a hundred dollars right you buy uh a share and flipped it down right now that hundred dollars on average right now are Returns on our real estate Investments are anywhere between 16 so let's say about 22 right let's say a year so that means on that hundred dollars you'll make 18 a year within the bank you'll make about zero in another post DJ Envy confirmed in no uncertain terms that he was a quote partner of the piñas in connection with flipping NJ as a promo video featuring DJ Envy and Caesar posted on the Instagram account for flip to dial reflex DJ Envy States quote you could partner with us on some deals make some money with us your partner end quote in September 2022 in response to Barone's question about the investors and flip to Dow investment Caesar represented that he Jennifer and DJ Envy were the majority owners on December 21st 2022 an operating agreement of flip the Dow doing business as flip two down was executed by Caesar Jennifer and Barone reflecting Barone's one percent interest in the company flipped it out also was required to provide quarterly and annual reports reflecting the accounts receivable deliverables and activities of the company Caesar and Jennifer never provided any quarterly or annual report to Barone in in late May 2023 Tony the closer Robinson began posting on Instagram information about Caesar Pina Jennifer Pina and DJ Envy running a 13 plus million dollar Ponzi scheme for investors he posted numerous photos and videos containing information that he received from victims of the Ponzi schemes after seeing Tony the closest post Barone called DJ Envy to confront him remarkably and notwithstanding that he was listed as a co-founder on the pitch deck and the flip to that website and had expressly promoted his involvement with flip to down on his show The Breakfast Club DJ Envy denied any involvement in the flip to down investment Barone then called Johnny Marines who had been listed in the flip to dial pitch deck as a co-founder and fund manager of the flip to down investment Marines likewise stated that he is not a part of the flip to down investment and has nothing to do with it after learning this Barone contacted Stephen Terrell Esquire of Morgan Lewis The purported boston-based General Counsel to the flip to down investment Terrell indicated that his firm quote has not been engaged as counsel to flip to Dao end quote upon information and belief Terrell was listed without his knowledge or consent to make the investment appear legitimate and lawful on May 30th 2023 Tony the closer removed all of his social media posts relating to the Ponzi schemes purportedly run by the penis on May 31st 2023 he created a new post stating in part quote you can lose your life over exposing this blank upon information and belief Tony the closer deleted his post about the Ponzi schemes because his and his family's lives were threatened for having exposed that information around the same time other victims of the piñas began to share their stories one Anonymous poster stated that Caesar stole one million dollars from her Jose the credit dude Rodriguez posted that he invested 150 000 into flip to dial based on false statements by Caesar and only received the return of his initial investment after threatening to publicly expose Caesar's fraud on May 15 2023 Amy Phillips LLC filed a lawsuit Amy Phillips LLC versus from start to flipping LLC atal in New Jersey Superior Court against Caesar Jennifer and another one of the real estate investment companies accusing them of fraudulently inducing a 500 000 investment on May 31st 2023 Barone Pina spoke Caesar accused Tony the closer of lying Barone demanded the return of all his investments in the flip to die investment and the Taylor Apartments project by June 6 2023 baronne told Caesar that Caesar did not return his money but wrong would involve law enforcement Caesar responded by stating quote bro if I go to jail then nobody is going to get paid end quote the opinions have not responded to any additional requests for information or return of funds as far as Barone can determine the Pina simply took his money for their own personal uses or to pay off other victims of earlier schemes on June 14 2023 Council for Barone and Martini demanded access to the books and records of Taylor apartments and flipped to dial in accordance with the respective operating agreements Caesar and Jennifer did not respond to the demand and did not make any company records available Caesar and Jennifer have failed to pay Municipal Taxes on 555 Main Street and have allowed tax liens to be filed against the property putting the property at risk of tax lien foreclosure Caesar and Jennifer have provided no documentation of the current finances assets or liabilities of Taylor apartments or flipped down Cesar and Jennifer Pena have not responded to requests for information about these projects DJ Envy similarly has provided no info information about the status of such Investments Beyond merely denying his involvement there are seven total counts cited I will cover the fifth count that addresses specifically DJ Envy fifth count aiding and abetting against LaShawn Casey and Jane and John does acting in concert with opinions defendant Rashaan Casey and other Jane and John does whose identities are not currently known aided and abetted and rendered substantial assistance to the piñas in committing the underlying fraud by using his public likeness as a well-known radio disc jockey to promote their real estate investment scheme and influence plaintiff's decisions to invest in the Taylor Apartments project and flip to down Investments as well as the investment decisions of the greater public representing himself to be a partner of the penis to Garner the interest of actual and prospective investors like plaintiffs co-hosting quote educational investment seminars with Caesar to not only give the impression of legitimacy but coax individuals into becoming Investment Partners with himself and the penis serving as co-founder of the flip to down investment alongside opinions as reflected on the pitch debt participating in a members only house giveaway alongside Caesar to encourage investors such as plaintiffs to participate in the flip to down investment and which prize was ultimately awarded to an investor in her 70s who had never invested in real estate before Casey as well as Jane and John Doe's presently unknown undertook such actions as intended that the plaintiffs rely on set misrepresentations in order to lure them into the investment scheme described in detail above with full knowledge of and his contribution to or furtherance of the primary fraud but for Casey's role in lending legitimacy to the real estate Investments and portraying himself as a partner of the penis plaintiffs would not have invested their money as a result of Casey's delivery acts and omissions which aided and embedded and rendered substantial assistance to the fraud committed by the penis plaintiffs have been directly in proximately damaged as of August 5th 2023 in an article published by hip hop wired and citing the shade room DJ Envy is pushing back on the claims filed against him and saying that he too was a victim of the penis alleged fraudulent dealings and that he was never an employee or representative for Taylor company or flip to dial DJ Envy claims that he also lost money dealing with Caesar and Jennifer to the tune of five hundred thousand dollars which he said he was scammed out of while working with a couple on a separate project Envy said he was promised a return on his initial investment within one year along with a monthly dividend of about seventeen thousand dollars but to date he said he hasn't received a dime now he's asking the court to dismiss the case with prejudice DJ Envy says that he believes the plaintiffs intentionally included him in the lawsuit solely to exploit the fact that he is a well-known individual and to sensationalize the case the documents also include text messages between Anthony Barone and jnb where Barone opened up about the issues he was having with the penis Envy believes that Barone was reaching out to see if he could obtain additional information regarding Caesar and his wife but Envy explained that he was not involved with the penis with respect to the Taylor Apartments project and flipped down sees a corroborated Envy story agreeing that The Breakfast Club co-host is not and never was a member of flip to Dao he went on to say that Anthony Barone his wife and himself are the only members of flip to Dao however flip to Dao may have included Mr Casey's name in a certain flip deck discussing the business a move that was done without his knowledge and consent the fact of the matter is that you know that season been doing bad business and you just right now really trying to distance yourself because you don't want to be implicated with it you know that he's a people over he owes you money you told me last night he owes you money [Music] um