Developer Bobby Ginn Sues Investor over His Gripe Site Using the Ginn Name

June 29, 2008 - PRLog -- In response to the growing frustration over his disastrous investments in two of Bobby Ginn's high end golf resorts, investor Hilton Wiener decided to set up a web site and blog entitled www.GinnLawsuit.com, with the intention of reaching out to similarly situated investors.   Upon comparing notes with other investors, it seemed there was a barrage of lawsuits against the smooth-talking Bobby Ginn alleging violations of federal and state law, deceptive trade practices, fraud and misrepresentation.

 One suit filed by 99 disgruntled Michigan investors even alleges that the entire Ginn machine is nothing more than a huge Ponzi scheme since it was promoted as an investment vehicle, in violation of SEC regulations, and the properties were marketed to be flipped and sold at inflated prices.   It is alleged that the early purchasers included Ginn, his buddies and employees who made unseemly and undisclosed profits in simply flipping the lots, reselling them for profits of hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes in a matter of days.

 Wiener decided to put up the site after realizing that he was in the same predicament as most of the other investors that purchased at the much hyped  all-expense-paid party "launches" and was left "holding the bag."  In many of the Ginn developments, he claims that amenities that were promised in glossy brochures were never completed and the heavily marketed resorts now resemble mere ghost towns, with a flood of foreclosures.

The response to the Ginn lawsuit web site was overwhelming.  According to Wiener, it seems there were literally thousands of Ginn investors spread all over the world that felt they were duped and conned.  The properties are worth a mere fraction of their purchase prices.  In fielding all the responses, it seemed that every investor had his own story of being hyped, conned and misled.  The common theme among the complaining investors is that the property was promoted solely as a vehicle for a quck flip and easy profit.  Investors were targeted as opposed to end users and they were urged to purchase multiple properties.

Although Ginn characterizes such complaints as nothing more than the fallout from the recent poor real estate market, Wiener points out that the web site has disclosed numerous allegations of activities that are, to say the least, highly  improper and not at all indicative of even the most heavily marketed real estate projects.

Ginn Real Estate brought this complaint against Wiener with the National Arbitration Forum pursuant to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution policy claiming that the www.ginnlawsuit.com domain name registered by Wiener should properly belong to Ginn.  According to Wiener, the complaint is nothing more than a desperate attempt to close down his site and silence communications among aggrieved investors.  

According to Wiener, "I am not looking to sell real estate or promote golf resorts by taking advantage of or improperly using the Ginn name.  This is nothing more than a "gripe site" which is clearly permissible.  Ginn's claim is so groundless that it's purpose can only be to put financial pressure on me in a vain attempt to stop the groundswell of complaints and litigation against Ginn."  Wiener claims he will vigorously defend the complaint.