PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland’s biggest business criminal case since the days of Andrew Wiederhorn began this week with an array of posturing, dramatic testimony and finger-pointing.
The Aequitas trial revolves around three executives, including Robert J. Jesenik, the former CEO of the Lake Oswego-based investment firm who was charged in the summer of 2020 in a multi-count indictment alleging a fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Also charged were N. Scott Gillis, the company’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer; Brian Rice, president of wealth management; and Andrew MacRitchie, chief compliance officer.
Gillis pleaded guilty last May to submitting a false statement to obtain a $4.2 million loan and is not on trial with the other three, who entered not guilty pleas. The trial is expected to last about five weeks.
Those charged in the case face decades in prison and millions in fines.
Aequitas’ collapse in 2016 ranks among Oregon’s biggest financial scandals. The firm claimed to have $1.7 billion in assets at one point, but the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Aequitas in civil charges of hiding its true financial condition and of operating in a "Ponzi-like” fashion.
The U.S. Attorney for Oregon alleged that the four executives used the company to solicit investments in a variety of notes and funds that were supposedly backed by trade receivables in education, health care, transportation and consumer credit. According to prosecutors, the four solicited investors by misrepresenting the company’s use of investor money and the firm’s financial health and associated risks.
Here's a look at the trial’s specifics via the Portland Business Journal, a KGW news partner, and the circumstances that led to it.
On the trial’s first day, jurors heard about private jets, retreats at fancy resorts, student loan and medical receivables, a bank run and alleged lies and schemes. A huge chunk of the trial dealt with student loans from Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit technical school. Aequitas had Corinthian loans with a face value of more than $200 million, representing an investment of $100 million by Aequitas.
On the trial’s second day, Brian Oliver, formerly Jesenik’s second-in-command, took the U.S. District Court witness stand and described a firm that was hemorrhaging money while at the same time painting a rosy picture for prospective investors.
Oliver, who already pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering, recounted events in 2014 and 2015 that would lead to the Lake Oswego firm’s collapse in 2016. He also testified in depth about his relationship with Jesenik.
Here’s more from the PBJ’s coverage of the Aequitas trial, which is slated to last five weeks. Check back for more coverage over the next month.
