Immigrant investor case settled

Businessman to pay more than $1 million

A Broward County entrepreneur who sought to build a chain of smoothie and yogurt shops with foreign investor help has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging he misled the investors and misused their money.

In a complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, the commission alleged that Jason Adam Ogden diverted more than $1 million for his personal use and changed his business model without informing his investors. While agreeing to repay slightly more than $1 million in investor funds plus $41,000 in interest and a $160,000 penalty, Ogden did not admit to or deny the allegations, the commission said in a statement.

The proposed settlement is subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.

According to the SEC, Ogden announced he was developing two retail businesses called Juiceblendz and Yoblendz and raised $6.7 million from 14 investors. According to the complaint, Ogden created a company called AJN Investments LLC to facilitate investments in the stores under the federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.

In its complaint, the SEC asserted that instead of developing franchise locations in strip malls as originally outlined in offering materials, Ogden focused on creating kiosks in sports arenas and on college campuses. The upshot, according to the complaint, was smaller returns than advertised and fewer jobs created through the EB-5 program.

The program is designed to offer foreign citizens a road to permanent residency in the United States when their investments create at least 10 jobs for American workers.

But the change in business plans “jeopardized” the investors’ EB-5 status “because kiosks don’t stimulate the same job creation as fullsize stores and construction projects,” the SEC said in a statement.

The commission also alleged that $1 million diverted by Ogden went toward the repayment of a personal loan and for meals and entertainment.

“As alleged in our complaint, jobs and green cards fell by the wayside as Ogden abruptly changed his business plan and diverted funds for his own benefit,” said Shamoil T. Shipchandler, director of the SEC’s regional office in Fort Worth, Texas.

Florida corporate records show AJN Investments started in 2010 and was based in Weston. From October 2011 to April 2015, according to the SEC, Ogden told the investors that their investments generated a 5 percent return and other cash distributions.

But the complaint alleges Ogden used investor funds “for various undisclosed purposes, including funding lawsuit settlements and loans unrelated to AJN, paying management fees to Seekem Inc., [the Ogden-controlled managing member of AJN], and funding AJN payroll and other operating expenses.”

In order to resolve an arbitration, the complaint says, Ogden ceased operating AJN in August of this year. He transferred all of his shares in AJN, Yoblendz and Juiceblendz to a third party that assumed control of the business. The new owners of the business, which is now headquartered in Sugarland, Texas, had no role in the case, the commission said.

Ogden, a resident of Southwest Ranches, could not be reached. His attorney, Adam Schwartz of the Miami law firm Homer Bonner Jacobs, was not immediately available for comment. Fort Lauderdale lawyer Evan Appell of GrayRobinson, who is listed as counsel for AJN, also could not be reached.