Some investors were confident that faded retail names like RadioShack, Pier 1 Imports, and Dressbarn still had life left. Others were persuaded by a YouTuber who once went viral for hawking wisdom from the Lamborghini-stocked garage of his Beverly Hills mansion. The Wall Street Journal digs into Taino "Tai" Lopez, one half of a duo accused of running a massive Ponzi scheme. Known for his "here in my garage" videos and paid courses on how to get rich, Lopez raised more than $230 million from hundreds of mostly small investors to fuel a plan to rescue the former retail heavyweights and turn them into online success stories. But about $112 million of that money came through fraudulent securities offerings, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investor payouts were allegedly funded with fresh cash from new backers. None of the acquired retailers were profitable, former employees told the Journal, and money was allegedly shuffled between brands to cover shortfalls. Payments to investors stopped in late 2022, many lost six-figure sums, and the FBI is now running a criminal probe. Lopez hasn't publicly addressed the collapse, but the Journal looks into his past, including a reported breakthrough as a salesman, writing effective Google ads, followed by meetings with influencers and billionaire Mark Cuban, who appeared with Lopez in a 2015 video he now says he wasn't keen to do. For the full investigation, including internal messages and investor stories, read the Journal piece by Suzanne Kapner and Alexander Gladstone.
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