Posts tagged tech stars

John Ball is Boulder latest flim flam man since Jared Polis

The Resort at Pikes Peak was never going to open.  According to the state of Colorado John C. Ball  tried to sell securities illegally.  They put a stop to him on the Pikes Peak Deal.

In his previous most recent deal gone bad, Ball also managed to  skim all of the money out of Eller Industries, a Boulder based broadband company according to two of it’s main stock holders.  That company was a pink sheet penny stock company which never produced anything, yet took investors for millions according to sources close to that company.  Ball came in to help raise money for a second round, but sunk Eller further in debt. “He got paid, we lost everything” they said.

Pink Sheet stocks are notorious shells used to defraud investors. Companies like Eller were made famous in the movie Bolder room.

There are also questions about John Balls credentials not only as a businessman but as an engineer.  Local media have covered this story with a lot of high hopes failing to see that the Pikes Peak Ski resort is just another stock scam.

There have been anonymous posts put up about Ball concerning another Ball company called Running Eagle. According to Scam Book Ball has taken loans out for this company and not repaid them.

Some Eller Industry Boulder stock holders who wished to remain anonymous told Boulder Channel 1 news on Friday that ” John Ball is a fake”.  Much of Balls Linked in information could not be verified either.

Boulder Police, District attorney and Colorado Attorney General refused to comment on their investigations into John Ball fraud allegations, but one assistant AG did say “Our office gives theses kinds of cases the highest priority. It is the Lions share of our work. You would be amazed at the number of shady investment deals our office see.”

Actually, we wouldn’t.  Boulder  has been notorious for scams since Horace Greeley pitched a handful of bad investments concerning railroads in the 19th century.  Boulder has seen its share of Gold and coal mine investments go bust too.  We’ve had Oil well dusters for over 100 years. The Penny Stock scams of the 1980’s saw companies like NBI go bust. We had huge banking scandals in the 90s. The 2000’s saw Dot bomb busts such as Jared Polis billion dollar loser Blue Mountain Arts  on line. It was sold to EXcite but 1000’s of  small investors lost millions to Polis in the Excite stock deal. Polis walked away clean, even a hero, but Excite stock holders were ruined.

 Some Boulder Billionaires scoff at Polis stock deals including Bob Greenlee former city council member and investor of numerous successful media ventures. Greenlee started the famous KBCO 97.3 in the 1980s. He sold it and then started other Radio stations, bought and sold media properties as well as restaurants and casinos.  He has made a lot of people rich and has few losses  in his portfolio.  He happens to be a conservative Republican compared to Polis radical leftist leanings. Does this suggest that all leftists are crooks and republicans are ethical ?? Not by boulders standards.  Leftists can do no wrong in Boulder. Alls fair in Startups and Stock scams There seems to be an ethics difference between those who run successful thriving companies Like Greenlee and Boulderites who create bad stock deals from the beginning.

Jo Pezzillo lost investors money in Go GaGa an ill conceived  internet radio station. Pezzillo still prances around Boulder like a God, but he’s another guy with a losing track record with other peoples money.  In his case he took some of Greenlees money as well as other VC money, but Go Ga Ga was a dud from the beginning. It is when the public is duped that scammy investments hurt most. Pezzillo still pushes himself in social media as a successful entrepreneur, but his records show a list of Start up failures including Metafly. Pezzillo represents hundreds of scammers who hustle money in Boulders coffee shops

VC’s can weather losses. But not everyone with money should be a VC. Current Start Ups pushed by Tech Stars have had their share of dry holes too.  It is always the investors, the little guy, the husband and wife who put their hard earned money in these companies with hope of riches only to lose it that makes us wonder about Boulders start up craze..  Right now Brad Feld and David Cohen are Boulder darlings in the tech startup world.  They are worth millions, but their high risk startups are funded by investors. Investors that Feld and Cohen have groomed into becoming Venture Capitalists. It is all a bit quirky.  Will Tech Stars blow up too leaving investors burned??  The odds are in that favor.But Boulder always loves a good financial scandal and we never learn from them.

Our advice is watch your wallet and open investment accounts only with the  most conservative of houses.  Most of Boulders rich use Well Fargo Brokerage at the main branch on the Pearl Street mall.  They have been in business there since the gold rush days and they don’t make wild investments.

In the end John Ball is in good company here in Boulder.  He is just less skilled at conning investors.