Time for some proper due diligence/ independent auditing in our communities

[coffeebean]

This week's Ami

[yoohoo]

What i'm saying is a lot of the questions are easily explainable and are more questions from lack of knowledge than actually wrong for example he has run a investment firm since 2014 but its only been blackbird since 2019 pretty simple also the picture of reb elyashiv he thought would be a nice touch in a jewish office why he came from vegas he's originally from lakewood and due too personal reasons moved back also most incosistencies in the numbers are from the half year report or the full year or they're ytd numbers remember when you have a 3rd party admin its hard to fudge numbers thats the whole point

theres a business/financial chat with over 300 professionals who started probing JS (he’s on the chat) and his answers, for lack of a better term we’re childish.

[moshe25]

@moshe25 I understand your point of view as a friend of his, and many of us would probably react the same way if we knew JS.

However, everyone else here doesn't know JS, so all they've seen is the information which has been shared publicly by BS and JS, which has not been very convincing. As many have said above, people here have seen far too many scams and bad investments come through our community (see 5k+ posts here for a few examples) to sit quietly when people may be falling unsuspectingly for something that's not in their best interest.

Is your friend a scammer? Nobody here is saying that. People here are simply saying that your friend is a young person who might not have enough experience to be doing what he's trying to do, and that there are definitely some red flags that what he's claiming might not be all it's hyped up to be. None of us have the years of context that you have from knowing him, so don't come on here and expect everyone to trust and believe the guy the same way you do as a friend of his. You're expecting the whole world to judge him the same way a trusting friend does, and that's just not reasonable.

I'll add that based on what I've seen, I'm sure your friend is an extremely ambitious, smart person- most people wouldn't have the ambition or intelligence to get as far as he has in this. He's probably a great guy, and almost certainly means well. (I say that 100% seriously.) That just doesn't mean it's a good place for people to put their hard-earned money though.

I hope this helps you step out of your own shoes and understand everyone else's perspective here.

Fair and true and I get I don't want people to believe it right away I actually warned him that it's a tough time with people on edge but as someone who's been a friend of his since childhood and actually am invested by him it was hard to see the hate and was trying to help people out of they're shoes and see it as if it was someone they're close too

[moshe25]

theres a business/financial chat with over 300 professionals who started probing JS (he’s on the chat) and his answers, for lack of a better term we’re childish.

As were a lot of the questions he actually told me when people started getting personal it's hard to keep it professional and nice

[ari3]

Time to give credit to where it is due.

I don't think BS was trying to do any harm or deceive ppl.
I assume this weeks publications will still have the advertisement but at least more ppl in our communities are more mindful.

Give credit? For what?

BS is full of BS. He did all these ads and the video touting how great Blackbird is without telling you he is getting paid for this. Did he really take all his savings from the S&P and put invest it with Blackbird? I highly doubt it.

Basically he saw he was getting lots of bad PR from this and this was tarnishing his perceived brand so he moved on.

[MoYS]

@moshe25 I understand your point of view as a friend of his, and many of us would probably react the same way if we knew JS.

However, everyone else here doesn't know JS, so all they've seen is the information which has been shared publicly by BS and JS, which has not been very convincing. As many have said above, people here have seen far too many scams and bad investments come through our community (see 5k+ posts here for a few examples) to sit quietly when people may be falling unsuspectingly for something that's not in their best interest.

Is your friend a scammer? Nobody here is saying that. People here are simply saying that your friend is a young person who might not have enough experience to be doing what he's trying to do, and that there are definitely some red flags that what he's claiming might not be all it's hyped up to be. None of us have the years of context that you have from knowing him, so don't come on here and expect everyone to trust and believe the guy the same way you do as a friend of his. You're expecting the whole world to judge him the same way a trusting friend does, and that's just not reasonable.

I'll add that based on what I've seen, I'm sure your friend is an extremely ambitious, smart person- most people wouldn't have the ambition or intelligence to get as far as he has in this. He's probably a great guy, and almost certainly means well. (I say that 100% seriously.) That just doesn't mean it's a good place for people to put their hard-earned money though.

I hope this helps you step out of your own shoes and understand everyone else's perspective here.

This is a very fair take. I have been following the back and forth, while it's true nobody said he was a con-artist the implication of the repeated use of "needing to do due diligence" seemed to me like people were suspecting him of illegal activities . I have not seen any proof or even something to cause real suspicion (in my opinion) of fraud. (Besides, perhaps, the advertising)
The difference between fraud and just a bad investment have been discussed earlier in this very thread regarding RE, and while they both require DD on the part of the investor, it is not fair to throw them in the same boat.

But the bar for LH probably changes when its a bad investment (which there is no proof to) as opposed to fraud, so the comparison to Enron earlier was unfair.

[zh cohen]

two different return numbers for the same year were put out on two different statements

When people make false accusations like this one, that are easily refuted by looking at the statements, it takes away from the real concerns that are being raised.

The statements were posted upthread. One number was only for part of the year (until June 30 iirc) the other was for the full year.

[liosac]

When people make false accusations like this one, that are easily refuted by looking at the statements, it takes away from the real concerns that are being raised.

The statements were posted upthread. One number was only for part of the year (until June 30 iirc) the other was for the full year.

Sorry my friend, you missed the boat. The two statements, one issued in 2021 and one issued in 2023 both reported returns for FULL YEAR 2019. They did not report the same numbers. That is a big flag.

[Yehudaa]

Fair and true

This is a very fair take.

Thanks. I appreciate that.

as someone who's been a friend of his since childhood and actually am invested by him it was hard to see the hate

I can understand that. In some cases it may be best just not to come out here online if you're emotionally invested in the person involved. It may be better for your emotional wellbeing to stay out of it.

was trying to help people out of they're shoes and see it as if it was someone they're close too

While that's a noble intention, the issue is that trust is built over time, and the skill to manage people's hard-earned money is proven slowly over long periods of time. Neither can be achieved by having an anonymous friend of the proprietor on a forum trying to convince you that the guy means well.

the implication of the repeated use of "needing to do due diligence" seemed to me like people were suspecting him of illegal activities

-1. I think there were a couple of people here who mentioned fraud, but I believe the general sentiment was that this simply might be a risky investment.

[Yellow]

theres a business/financial chat with over 300 professionals who started probing JS (he’s on the chat) and his answers, for lack of a better term we’re childish.

I was on the chat. His responses to serious questions were just... jokes?

I was mindblown. Truly.

That said, i wish him all the very best, and he should have many years of (honest) business success.

[Yehudaa]

This week's Ami

The thing with print media is that there's no deleting or editing if you change your mind...

[hcn0132]

I was on the chat. His responses to serious questions were just... jokes?

I was mindblown. Truly.

That said, i wish him all the very best, and he should have many years of (honest) business success.

Care to give an example or two?

[aygart]

It is not as much whether or not it is risky but more about whether or not it is appropriate for the investors targeted. There is a reason why hedge funds need accredited investors. They are free to use non-conventional investment instruments. Their fees are MUCH higher than standard mutual funds. Part of the fees are typically based on daily gains. These add risks and costs that can be amazing for the wealthier investor while being entirely inappropriate for the regular standard retail investor.

There is a reason why there are advertising regulations for the hedge funds too. The profile of those targeted by ads does not fit the profile of appropriate hedge fund investors. If he thinks they do then that is itself a red flag.

[Euclid]

There is a reason why there are advertising regulations for the hedge funds too. The profile of those targeted by ads does not fit the profile of appropriate hedge fund investors. If he thinks they do then that is itself a red flag.

Based on what his friend wrote on that WhatsApp group - he made the cheshbon that there's a lot of "new money" in Lakewood who could be targeted by "regular" frum advertising mediums. He likely doesn't have the networking capability to access these people, since he's so inexperienced and is a nobody.

[chevron]

Give credit? For what?

BS is full of BS. He did all these ads and the video touting how great Blackbird is without telling you he is getting paid for this. Did he really take all his savings from the S&P and put invest it with Blackbird? I highly doubt it.

Basically he saw he was getting lots of bad PR from this and this was tarnishing his perceived brand so he moved on.

I was about to say the same thing. I used to watch his videos years ago about all you know give more to tzedaka than you can afford.

I think he's just an empty suit 

[Onefishtwofish]

Sorry but some of the comments here are becoming disgusting.

He made a mistake and owned up to it. Time to move on.

[Yehuda57]

Sorry but some of the comments here are becoming disgusting.

He made a mistake and owned up to it. Time to move on.

What did he own up to exactly?

[liosac]

[Yehuda57]

"The average blackbird client has a net worth of 10m,which is why we put up billboards and ran ads in community magazines using a social media influencer rather than a renowned investor to target multi millionaires only"

[aygart]

"The average blackbird client has a net worth of 10m,which is why we put up billboards and ran ads in community magazines using a social media influencer rather than a renowned investor to target multi millionaires only"

That may have been more attention seeking and looking to be one of the big boys than anything else.