SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City family has filed a $2.7 million federal civil lawsuit against a Utah company that they say promised big financial returns in exchange for backing concerts by music stars R. Kelly, Kenny Chesney and Maroon 5.
Court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City show Dick Bickerton and his daughter Lauren Rudd invested $925,000 with Orem-based Ikon Partners LLC in 2007. The investment represents the family’s life savings, their attorney, Douglas C. Smith, said. The family was promised "above market" returns of 15 to 18 percent on their investment but later learned the money funded a Ponzi scheme run by Arizona businessman Miko Dion Wady, who pleaded guilty to 10 combined counts of federal fraud and money laundering charges earlier this year. Wady faces an 11-year prison term when he’s sentenced Oct. 24 in Phoenix. Prosecutors said Wady bilked about 140 investors out of $25 million dollars in a scheme that falsely promoted tours of top-tier acts including The Rolling Stones and Barbra Streisand. In fact, he organized only a handful of concerts for local or lesser-known artists and used money from new investors to pay off old ones. Court papers filed in the Utah case say Ikon executives Jaren Ahlmann, Dusty Dastrup and Jarom Dastrup were working with Wady, and knew he was the subject of an FBI investigation and numerous lawsuits, but did not disclose that information to investors. All three are named as defendants in the lawsuit, which asks a jury to award financial damages totaling more than $2,775,000 — which is three times the amount of the family’s investment — plus interest, costs and attorney fees. A message left for Mark Eddy, an attorney who has previously represented Ikon in court cases, was not immediately returned Thursday. A telephone number for Ikon, which lists an Orem address with state Department of Corporations, could not be located by The Associated Press. No phone listings could be found for Ahlmann and both of the Dastrups. A check of both state and federal courts in Utah found no criminal charges have been filed against Ikon or its executives in connection with the lawsuit’s allegations that the company violated state and federal laws when it sold unregistered securities. Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for Utah’s U.S. attorney, could not say whether the company is being investigated. Court papers say Bickerton and Rudd were specifically asked to front funds for three concerts featuring R&B star R. Kelly in November and December 2007. The family singed "joint venture agreements" with Ikon partners, and the lawsuit contends those turned out to be nothing more than a set of investment contracts. According to the lawsuit, Rudd was approached about investing by one of the Dalstrups who was a customer of the boat dealership where she worked.
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