I am writing this letter as an official complaint against East Coast Financial, Inc. Has been alledgenly involved the scam of selling misrepresented art work as advertised in the local paper with the advertisement stating “Due to losses caused by Bernie Madoff Auction”. I have written several letters to AMEX detailing and providing information on East Coast Financial which you can find on scam.com and ripoff report.com.
In my investigation, East Coast Financial Inc is a corporation registered in the State of Georgia under several different addresses and only one officer by the name of ADAM LEVISOHN. The corporation has had numerous addresses such as:
- 4200 Olde Mill Lane, Atlanta, GA. Phone # 770-451-9691
- 2065 Peachtree Industrial Ct, Chamblee, GA. Phone # 770-451-0350 / 404-254-5142
- 6917 Collins Ave, PH12, Miami Beach, FL 33141
They claim having a license from State of Florida as an Auction Business issued by the Department of professional Regulational.
On February 13, I purchased various art paintings as listed in the attached invoice with their respective Certificates of Authenticity (“COA”) from a Mr. Nathan Daniel Isen as an authority on the painter. All the paintings contained his COA.
In addition, I purchased a Rolex watch. The sale was contingent on the seller providing qualified appraisals on all the items and a Rolex box. This request is handwritten in the invoice which totaled $38,918.00. At the bottom of the invoice in small print is the language “all sales are final, no refunds or exchanges. All merchandise stated in very small print “as-is”, "where-is" and any dispute would be resolved by abritration, otherwise specified in writing above.” Which I did by writing the additional phrases appraisals to be provided which of I never received. The language also says “any dispute arising out of this transaction should be determined by arbitration before American Arbitration Association. I have been trying to locate the company but all the numbers have been disconnected except for the latest one which American Express, my credit card company I have been disputing this with to obtain a full refund for about a year now. The last phone number I had for East Financial which was given to me is 770-458-1197. I have left several messages regarding this issue. A gentleman named Keith Mankowitz answered and I explained the situation. He said he would get back to me by the end of that week. That was 3 or 4 months ago. Since then, I had no other contact. All letters from East Coast are faxes to American Express without any number reflected on the top of the page or on their letter head. American Express has not been helpful in protecting my interest as their customer and continues to keep them on as a merchant.
In my last reference letter to Ms Di Paola from American Express Customer Service, I explained in full detail all this scam and misrepresentation of East Coast Financial and some of its affiliates have committed on the public.
Here are some examples I obtained:
- In website Scam.com you can find subject matter on East Coast Financial an affiliate and Mr. Nathan Isen the only supposed art expert which gave all the COAs on all the different artists. The majority of the COAs (I provided signatures page copies) had different signatures and even wrong information. I spoke to Mr. Isen and he said that maybe one of his associate ssigned it for him in which case is fraud and misrepresentation because I do not know if Mr. Isen even looked at the art piece.in addition, I provided additional information that he has no experience to certify any of those paintings except the Icart which he co-author a book on the artist. However the COA had the wrong name of the print, date it was done, etc He should have not been this sloppy on this aspect. His only qualification is to provide the COA is that he owns a gallery, graduated from Wharton School of Business and commerce// as explained by East Coast. An appraisal expert should at least belong to IFAA or Appraiser Association which are organizations in which appraisers and person who have are qualified to authenticate a painting should belong to.
I called all the associations and not one had a member named Nathan Isen. Mr. Isen also provided all the CPA's for each painting in the auction. The ones i purchased all had different signatures on the COA. I spoke to Mr. Isen and he said that it might have been one of his associates who signed his name. Therefore, that is misrepresentation.
Finally, I had one of the most expensives paintings authenticatedby a qualified an art expert familar with Chagall dedications and in a enclosed report the conclusion was that it was a fake.in addition, the FTC has filed a complaint against AMEX also in aidind and abeting this East Coasst Financial Company.
I just want my money back. They keep having these fake auctions and no one has done anything to stop them.
Thank you for your immediate attention regarding this matter.
0 comments