ATLANTA — They invested in what they believed to be Atlanta real estate professionals, but now they don’t know what happened to their money.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray spoke with several investors who had similar experiences.
“Anyone has the opportunity to make $100,000, $150,000 or even $200,000 over the next 18 months just by flipping property,” Duron Dimock said in the cellphone video.
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Ben Lee recorded part of Dimock’s real estate sales pitch at the base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
“I was really impressed with his story, he was such a great guy,” Lee said.
“The market is crazy,” Dimock said in the cellphone video.
As Lee was preparing to leave the military, the investment opportunity seemed attractive.
“I just took a leap of faith,” Lee said.
He paid $5,000 in coaching fees to get started and invested another $15,000, but he didn’t have to attend any of Dimock’s in-person presentations.
“The problem is you’re complacent, and you’re happy with where your life is,” Dimock said in a video posted to Instagram.
Atlanta real estate investors are also promoting themselves on social media.
“He knows how to talk,” Daphne Bonilla said.
She first met Dimock on the set of a movie in Atlanta, where she invested $20,000 in him.
“The agreement was that we would receive a minimum of 20 percent of the investment within 90 days of the project’s launch,” Bonilla said.
“I’ve known Duron since high school,” Zuri Ferngallo said.
Zuri and his wife, Asa Petersen Ferngallo, lived in New York but turned to Dimock when they wanted to flip a house in Atlanta.
“We really jumped at the opportunity to have someone who calls themselves an expert in this field be able to do it from afar,” Asa Petersen Ferngallo said.
“You give him $30,000. What do you get in return?” Justin Gray asked.
“Nothing,” Petersen Ferngallo replied.
MORE 2 Investigation
The Ferngallo couple, Ben Lee and Daphne Bonilla, all had similar reasons for wanting to invest and are all in similar situations now.
“I was in contact with him and his assistant all the time until he stopped responding,” Lee said.
“He started ignoring me. He stopped talking to me. He was making excuses,” Bonilla said.
“We never saw the property, we didn’t know any details about it,” Petersen Ferngallo said.
“Oh, oh, oh, oh, it’s all done,” Duron Dimock said in a Zoom interview, checking in on work at an Atlanta property he’s renovating.
“You can’t have the success I’ve had, you can’t achieve what I’ve achieved, by stealing from other people. You can’t,” Dimock said.
He said soaring interest rates and inflation changed the business overnight as investors looked for quick profits.
“The cost of materials went up, prices went up, it just happened. We almost lost everything,” Dimock said.
He showed Gray the contract, which began with a statement: “Client understands that the real estate market may change unforeseen circumstances and that some of the information provided by Consultant may become invalid.”
“People who are looking to invest and get a quick return don’t understand or have ever understood the process,” Dimock said.
The Ferngallo family doesn’t buy that argument.
Their lawyers said $10,000 of the amount they are seeking was a wire transfer for an initial investment that Dimock wanted paid out sooner, so he sent it via Venmo a second time.
“Send it that way, it takes too long. If you send it digitally, which is faster, we’ll refund your money. But nothing ever happened,” attorney Tasia Zeigler said.
“Do you owe them $10,000? Does anyone owe them $10,000?” Justin Gray asked Dimock.
“GWP owes them $10,000. That’s correct,” Dimock replied.
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Mr Dimock claims it is not him who is owed the debt, but a limited liability company called GWP Consulting. His company is GWP Holdings. Both companies are listed on the Secretary of State’s register as dissolved companies.
Dimock said Daphne Bonilla’s money is still invested in the unfinished project.
“The only solution is just give us a little more time and we can figure it out,” Dimock said.
As for Ben Lee, “I can say this with certainty: Ben Lee is an honest man. Ben Lee will make a full recovery,” Dimock said.
Lee said he’s heard it before.
“They repeatedly told me the date the payment would be made and told me to make arrangements for payment, but every time that day came, no one responded,” Lee said.
“We certainly don’t own any real estate, which is probably the hardest part about this? That’s $30,000 that could have been invested in the market. That could have been invested in actual real estate,” Petersen Ferngallo said.
Mr Dimock claimed the Ferngallos had walked away from three projects and lost their deposits because of it.
A Cobb County court, by default, ordered GWP Consulting to pay the Ferngallos $30,000 plus attorney’s fees.
They have not received any of that money, and they are also suing Duron Dimock directly.
That lawsuit is still pending, as is another lawsuit filed by Ben Lee and Daphne Bonilla.
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