Lex Talamo

alexa.talamo@shreveporttimes.com

The FBI has confirmed its involvement in investigations Tuesday in Shreveport at businesses associated with David deBerardinis, who has recently been the subject of civil litigation alleging he defrauded investors out of as much as $29 million.

Agents from the FBI, Secret Service and Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office were on site Tuesday afternoon at two businesses, one on West 67th Street and the other on East 70th Street in Shreveport. Businesses at both locations are tied to deBerardinis, according to a business database.

The southeast Shreveport home of deBerardinis also was searched by federal authorities, according to a KTBS report.

DeBerardinis could not be reached for comment by telephone or at his Shreveport home.

Neither the FBI nor the Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office confirmed the allegations of the home search.

FBI spokesperson Craig Betbeze confirmed only that the FBI was "conducting law enforcement actions in and around the Shreveport area." Sheriff's office spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick also confirmed only that sheriff's deputies were involved in an investigation with the FBI.

"There were some search warrants that were executed by both agencies," Chadwick said. "This will most likely not be over today."

A business database search showed the business on West 67th street was associated with Financial Resources Acquisition Co. and FR Fuels Wholesale South, of which deBerardinis was listed as both a manager and member.

The Muslow & Juneau accounting building, the facility under investigation on East 70th Street, was listed as the location for almost a dozen active businesses of which deBerardinis was a member, director or manager, according to the database, including FR Fuels Distribution LLC, FR Fuels Hauling, FR Fuels Wholesale LLC, Little River Hunting Club, Ark-la-Tex Petrochemicals, Double D Transit Company, Financial Resources Real Estate, Financial Resources LLC, FR Fuel Management LLC, Sunbelt Business Capital II LLC and Syn Maxx II LLC.

DeBerardinis also is associated with seven additional active Louisiana-based businesses, four active Texas-based agencies and six currently inactive businesses within Shreveport and Florida, according to the database.

Cpl. Ken Davis, a deputy with the Caddo Parish's traffic safety unit, was stationed at the East 70th Street location starting at 6 a.m. Tuesday. He said he had been given limited information about the FBI and Secret Service operations in the building.

"I'm here as a supportive presence for the FBI and Secret Service, who are conducting operations inside," Davis said. "I have no idea when this is going to be over."

DeBerardinis, 55, is the subject of a civil lawsuit alleging that he defrauded investors to sign off on a loan. Five businessmen alleged in the civil lawsuit, filed in July in Dallas County, Texas, that deBerardinis used fake documents, forged signatures, forged trading agreements and a dummy email domain to manipulate them into signing as guarantors on a $29.5 million loan.

In the lawsuit, the businessmen claim the situation put them in a position where they were in "imminent danger of losing everything" as a result of the "pervasive and sinister fraudulent business scam."

In July, in response to the lawsuit's claims, deBerardinis told The Times: "I intend to fight this on their behalf as well."

Carol Collins Payne, the attorney representing deBerardinis in the Texas-based case, said she cannot comment on pending litigation.

A civil lawsuit filed with the Caddo Parish Clerk's Office in 2003 also involved deBerardinis, along with several other defendants. Plaintiffs alleged that deBerardinis, who was a director for a time at the Biedenharn Investment Group, was actively involved in obtaining a rating on documentation called the "Towers Notes" from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The lawsuit states deBerardinis then presented the rating to two insurance companies, the Central Life Insurance Co. and the Kilpatrick Life Insurance Co.

The insurance companies later found that "false representations" had been made to obtain the rating in a way that "committed fraud," was a "bad faith" breach of contract and "violated the security laws of the State of Louisiana" and the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act, according to the lawsuit.

Other documents on file with Caddo Parish Clerk's Office showed that deBerardinis had been subpoenaed in 2014 by the Texas-based 193rd Judicial District Court to provide documentation related to FR III Funding LLC, a company of which he was a member, that included all financial statements, contracts, communications, engagement agreements and all digital files, databases and emails from 2012 to the present.

A background search of deBerardinis in the Caddo Parish Clerk's Office also found two tax liens with the IRS on file: one for $55,362 filed in 2009 and the other for $46,988 filed in 2010. A civil suit filed by First Louisiana Bank in 2008 also demanded that deBerardinis pay a $281,022 unpaid balance on a promissory note that was issued in 2006, which deBerardinis eventually paid in full, according to the court's ruling in the case.