Kennedy Funding Financial – Lending Scam, Lawsuits
Kennedy Funding Financial is a hard lender based in New Jersey, United States. Their owner is Kevin Wolfer.
The company is notorious for scamming businesses and investors by charging fees for a loan they never close. In the following review, you’ll learn about the various scams Kennedy Funding Englewood Cliffs, NJ has pulled:
Kennedy Funding Financial Claims: What They Want You To Believe
Kennedy Funding Financial is a direct private lender that claims to specialize in providing bridge loans for development, foreclosures, workouts, commercial property acquisition and bankruptcies. The headquarters of this firm is in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, US.
Read about: Eric Mitchell Porat
The CEO of this firm is Kevin Wolfer. Kennedy Funding Financial claims to have closed over $3 billion worth of loans.
And the company wants the whole world to know of this fact as it spends heavily on press releases and paid promotions. If you’ll google “Kennedy Funding Financial PR”, you’ll find numerous posts:
Why does a simple lending company spend so much on PR? Because there are too many Kennedy Funding Financial complaints on the web. I’ll go through them and the Kennedy Funding lawsuit briefly to help you understand why this company is spending so much on paid promotions.
Kennedy Funding Financial Are Scammers According To The Public
With so many Kennedy Funding Financial complaints online, the popular opinion on this firm is very negative. Particularly, in the finance sector. Most brokers and organizations agree that KFF isn’t a reliable company.
For example, here’s a discussion between various finance professionals about this lender. They share that Kennedy Funding Financial takes a significant amount of capital upfront and then finds a way to not close the deal. The client ends up losing the upfront fees.
One user highlighted that KFF is indeed a scammer and runs another company called Silver Arch Capital Partners. However, this review is specifically on Kennedy FUnding Financial so I won’t go into detail about the other company.
Read about: Brendan Kennedy Privateer Holdings
Such discussions are proof of what people think of this lending firm. With so many lawsuits and complaints against this company, it’s no surprise people think of them as scammers.
Kennedy Funding Financial Client Furious After Getting Defrauded By The Company
Here’s a complaint similar to a Kennedy Funding ripoff report post. The reviewer points out that Kennedy Funding Financial is a scam. It charges a due diligence fee that can go up to $100,000 but the company never explains what this fee is about.
The reviewer tried to get more information about this fee but it was of no use. Kennedy Funding didn’t disclose any crucial information. They didn’t respond to their calls, emails or messages.
Finally, when the reviewer visited their office, the company informed them that they can ask for a refund within 3 days of paying the due diligence fee. However, the company didn’t respond to their refund request.
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The reviewer alerts other consumers that they should stay away from KFF. You can easily find a ton of similar Kennedy Funding Financial complaints online. They have many victims.
$180,000 Loss Reported By Kennedy Funding Financial Customer
This is another complaint against Kennedy Funding. Here the customer highlights that they know 2 different investors who this company scammed. The company looks into your project and claims that they can fund it. But they require a Due Diligence fee to underwrite the loan.
They make the client sign a contract which says they aren’t required to do anything for the money you pay them.
The reviewer says that they know several investors who paid Kennedy Financial up to $180,000 in due diligence fee.
Once you pay the fee, the company waits for a while and then tells you that they can’t fund your loan. They add fake projects on their website and do things such as flying out to give the illusion that they are a legitimate enterprise.
Like the previous complaint, this reviewer also warns investors and businesses against dealing with this lender.
$1.67 Million Lawsuit Against Kennedy Funding Inc
This review wouldn’t be complete without talking about a Kennedy Funding lawsuit. A cemetery owner had filed a case against Kennedy Funding Financial because KFF had breached its contract.
KFF had to keep $675,000 in escrow for giving them a bridge loan for their cemetery. However, they never added any funds to the escrow account.
As a result, when the person tried to take their funds out of the escrow account, they couldn’t. Because there wasn’t any money to begin with.
They took the matter to court where a jury decided that Kennedy Funding would have to pay $1.675 million to the person for breach of contract and fraud. However, the verdict was changed later in the appeals court and KFF only had to pay $675,000.
You should know that the dispute lasted for nearly 2 decades. Kennedy Funding Financial was trying its best to avoid paying that person.
Kennedy Funding Inc In A $282 Million Lawsuit With Fortis
Apart from common people, Kennedy Funding has had disputes with large corporations too. In this Kennedy Funding lawsuit, Fortis Bank had filed a case against this lender which they later settled for an undisclosed amount.
Note that Kennedy Funding Financial wasn’t the only lender involved in this case. This was a $282 million lawsuit and was a blow to the lender’s finances.
Kennedy Funding is reputed for going after real estate developers for defaulting on their loans. In this case, they were the ones facing the wrath of a lender.
Fortis Bank had alleged in its lawsuit that the increasing defaults by Kennedy’s borrowers allowed it to force the defendants to pay back their debts quickly or to turn over the loans to serve as collateral for that debt.
Certainly, Kennedy Financial knew it can’t win the battle in court and so, settled it outside the same.
More Kennedy Funding Lawsuits:
Breach Of Contract Dispute With The Strand Corp
Breach of contract dispute with The Strand Corp. In this case, Kennedy Funding had scammed a real estate firm by claiming to offer them a loan of $3 million and charging an upfront fee. However, at the time of issuing the loan, KFF kept changing the terms, and didn’t issue the loan.
$2.7 Million Fee Conflict With Royale Laua Resort
KFF had a $2.7 million dispute with Royale Laua Resort. Here, the court had granted in part and denied in part some counts against Kennedy Funding. However, here too, Kennedy Financial was found guilty of breaching the contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Other Kennedy Funding Financial Lawsuits
Construcciones Haus Sociedad filed a case against Kennedy Funding to get back the commitment fee Kenendy charged for issuing a loan they never issued.
Omni Credit Alliance filed a case against Kennedy Funding Financial to get back the $260,000 commitment fee KFF had charged them for a loan they never closed.
Dan Keener filed a lawsuit against Kennedy Funding Financial because they charged an advance fee for issuing a loan which violates the South Carolina Loan Brokers and Unfair Trade Practices Acts.
Ibarra V. Kennedy Funding. Here, Kennedy Funding failed to foreclose a loan in time and the borrower defaulted. Now, they wanted the borrower to pay the entire debt.
Vladimir Isperov filed a case against Kennedy Funding Financial in 2020 for alleged fraud. The case is still ongoing.
Anthony Modica had filed a suit against Kennedy Funding for charging a commitment fee for a loan that was not closed. They had charged a commitment fee of $82,500.
Kennedy Funding Financial Review Verdict
All the lawsuits against Kennedy Funding Financial are either for breach of contract or for charging an upfront fee for a loan they never closed.
There are too many Kennedy Funding complaints online against their shady business practices. Due to these reasons, you should avoid this firm at all costs.
I am an experienced CRE loan consultant. KF is not paying me for this review. I have known KF for many years and I have personally closed 2 loans with them where they have gone far and beyond of any other many lender that I know. KF have stick to their word, I personally talk to their closing attorneys and it’s the only lender that I truly feel confident my clients can put money up front. On the borrower side the attorneys also feel confident. These are among the best attorneys in the USA and the Americas and the Caribbean you can possibly find. I am in the first name basis with them and their client KF. We have met in person with borrowers that have closed our loans with KF. However, if you think that just by paying a DD deposit to KF you are guaranteed a loan, you are definitely a rookie in the CRE hard money loan industry and you have no clue about what you are doing. Do you want to close your impossible deal?? … email me, I will pre-underwrite your file and let you know if it’s worthy and we can get a possible closing. If you are going with KF, you better be ready to play with the big boys in the big leagues. It’s NOT a child game!
I am a consultant with a large commercial developer and am unimpressed by the complaints. Most of the complaints are from just after the real estate collapse in 2008-2011. The company is not to blame for properties whose value is wildly misrepresented by potentail clients. The term sheets Kennedy provides include protections for appraisal valuations allowing for siginifcant and fair inout from the client — including the process of selecting the appraiser. Keep an open mind, read the term sheet and representations and you’ll be treated fairly.