PERRYSBURG – Two Michigan men, who leased a couple of their several business offices in Wood County, are
being charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with conducting a Ponzi investment scheme.

The SEC’s complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan describes a scenario
wherein John Bravata and Richard Trabulsy raised more than $50 million from about 440 investors through
BBC Equities LLC and Bravata Financial Group Inc. by offering membership interests in a real estate fund
with promised annual returns of 8 to 12 percent.
But the SEC contends that not half of that money was spent on real estate. The commission told the court
that proceeds from the operation were used to finance the "expensive lifestyles" of the two
men as well as Bravata’s wife, Shari Bravata. The complaint states that several million dollars of
investor money funded luxury homes, watercraft, jewelry, gambling, exotic vacations and expensive cars.

"Investors thought they were investing in a safe and profitable real estate investment fund, but
instead their money was being used to pay for luxury homes, exotic vacations, and gambling debts of the
defendants," said Merri Jo Gillette, director of the SEC’s Chicago regional office, in a release
from the SEC.
The SEC accuses John Bravata and Trabulsy of misappropriating $7.2 million for personal use and then
spending another $11.3 million of investor funds to make quarterly payments to other investors.
Casey Pogan, a spokesperson for Levis Commons, said BBC Equities and Bravata Financial leased
second-floor offices from the shopping center but that the businesses closed their offices effective
Aug. 8.
The SEC’s complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief and disgorgement from the all of the defendants,
and financial penalties from John Bravata, Trabulsy and Bravata’s son Antonio Bravata. The SEC’s
complaint further seeks disgorgement of all investor funds or assets acquired with investor funds from
relief defendant Shari Bravata.
Antonio Bravata is being charged with selling unregistered securities and acting as an unregistered
broker.
According to the SEC, a temporary restraining order and asset freeze was granted against John Bravata,
Trabulsy, and the investment companies. The SEC says assets also have been frozen for Antonio Bravata
and Shari Bravata, who is named as a relief defendant in the case for the purposes of recovering
investor funds.
As the SEC’s Division of Enforcement can only recommend investigations of securities law and bring civil
actions in federal court, the parties are not charged in the complaint with a crime. A spokesperson with
the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s office in Toledo did not return a message seeking comment on the
possibility of criminal charges. And the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Toledo declined comment.
"The commission brings this lawsuit to put an immediate halt to the defendants’ ongoing misconduct,
to prevent further harm to investors, to hold defendants accountable for their flagrant and repeated
violations of the federal securities laws, and to disgorge ill-gotten gains from defendants and Shari
Bravata," the commission stated in its complaint.
Gregory Bartko, an Atlanta corporate attorney representing the Bravatas, said his clients are
"pretty stung" by the allegations – which, he said, "are just off the mark. They’re just
not correct, and it’s going to unfortunately take some time and a fair amount of resources to establish
the true set of facts here."
He also took issue with "inflammatory buzz words" and phrases such as "Ponzi scheme"
and "luxury cars" used in the SEC complaint.
Bartko said any use of the dollars received by investors was disclosed in clear language. He said the
materials did not seek to mislead investors with any easy-to-overlook small print. He would not comment
on charges that Antonio Bravata sold unregistered securities until more records were obtained for
review.
The business asked investors to participate in a long-term plan, he said.
He said the business model included a portfolio of distressed real estate properties that were to be
refurbished and resold when the market improved. He said the SEC captured a "snap-shot" of the
business and filed suit.
"You don’t get a return on investment in buying distressed assets in the first year or even the
first two years," he said. "There’s a life cycle to the business. That life cycle would not
have turned around for three to five years."