Mutual Credit Corporation (MCC) Wins Preliminary Injunction from California Superior Court against Mark Ross and Companies
Ross and Collaborating Agents Acting in Concert with Him Could Be Held Liable for Millions of Dollars, According to MCCÂ
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Honorable Ronald L. Bauer, Judge of the Orange County Superior Court, granted MCC’s request for a preliminary injunction against Mark Ross, his companies, and those acting in concert with them. The injunction comes five weeks after Judge Bauer entered a restraining order against the same group for various violations of contracts and tort law.
Mr. Ross, having lost a court decision which issued a preliminary injunction against him, has put out a press release filled with false and reckless statements — adding further to the damages he will owe MCC, according to MCC.
Both the restraining order and the preliminary injunction were based on MCC’s claims that the purpose of Ross’ breach of contract and tortious interference was to wrongly devalue a portfolio of premium finance loans for life insurance in order to misappropriate them at deflated prices — with the intended result of benefiting Ross and others working in concert with Ross by tens of millions of dollars and harming the interest of MCC and its clients.
Judge Bauer took the time to thoroughly review all the evidence and found it likely that, at the trial of this matter, MCC will prevail on claims that Ross broke key contractual obligations, misappropriated trade secrets, wrongfully interfered with contracts, and engaged in unlawful competition.
Reacting to the second significant victory in the case for MCC, General Counsel Lisa Fuller said, “We appreciate that the Court carefully reviewed the evidence and found it is likely that Mr. Ross violated contract obligations and other laws such as the trade secret and unfair competition statutes.”
“We are satisfied the Court ordered Ross to stop using confidential information obtained during the period of time Ross worked to approve the same transactions that his recent lawsuit wrongfully attacked. In fact, the hypocrisy of Ross’ position in the litigation is there for all the world to see: he approved, controlled, promoted and made millions from the very loan transactions he is now attacking.”
“We are also thankful the Court ordered Ross and his companies, and the agents working under their direction, to immediately stop entering into agreements or relationships that are directly or indirectly adverse to the interests of the MCC loans. Further proceedings will determine the amount of Ross’ liability for the damages already caused by his misconduct.”
The case has been moving quickly, and successfully, for MCC. On March 13, 2007, competitor and former business associate Ross, and one other person, filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court attacking the MCC loans. The claims in the lawsuit are meritless and filled with unsupportable accusations. Contrary to those claims, MCC’s loans have been and continue to be a legitimate and valuable means of providing insurance and financial benefits to hundreds of wealthy seniors.
On March 22, MCC filed its own lawsuit against Ross and his companies and sought a Temporary Restraining Order against them before Judge Bauer. The MCC claims allege, among other things, that Ross, and those he has wrongly collaborated with:
- Breached contractual obligations to use his “best efforts” to maximize the value of MCC’s loan portfolio;
- Breached a confidentiality agreement, improperly misusing MCC’s trade secrets and proprietary information;
- Wrongfully interfered with MCC’s contracts in order to poach customer relationships; and
- Worked to damage the fair market value of insurance policies of wealthy senior insureds by creating a false and misleading appearance regarding the value of such policies.
MCC stated, while Ross claims to be the one upholding ethics, his own ethics are again part of the public record.
- Attached to MCC’s lawsuit and provided to the court was the public record showing that on March 10, 1975, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission found Ross had committed securities fraud by “dominating, controlling, and manipulating the market . . . and by creating a false and misleading appearance of a widespread and independent interest” in the stock of a particular company. For 25 years Ross was barred by the S.E.C. from association with any broker-dealer, investment company or investment adviser. That bar was finally lifted on July 13, 2000.
- Also attached to MCC’s claims are public documents evidencing that Ross has had numerous judgments entered against him and his business interests for millions of dollars, some of which remain unpaid.
- Mr. Ross used money from his current funder to finance policies he is trying to usurp from a previous investor, whose value he contractually agreed to maximize, without the current funder’s knowledge. That funder, the Arche Master Fund, filed suit for over $30,000,000 in breach of contract damages on April 13, 2007, and has cut off funds to support Ross’ activities.
- The Arche Complaint alleges that Ross is engaged in self-dealing and usurpation of corporate opportunities that rightfully belong to XE-R and that “Ross is in violation of the covenants to act in a good faith and in a commercially reasonable manner.”
- MCC’s evidence proved that Ross tried to intimidate numerous innocent third parties, including lenders, brokers and agents, by threatening reputational harm and lawsuits.
MCC will take all necessary steps to protect and preserve the value of the loans and policies.
MCC intends to proceed into full discovery, seeking depositions under oath of any agents and others who have been complicit with Mr. Ross in his conduct that sought to diminish the value of MCC’s assets. MCC intends to bring additional claims against those who, like Ross, are acting in their own self-interest to the detriment of their clients.
MCC’s Fuller also said: “While we are again thankful for the temporary restraining order and the preliminary injunction, we are confident that after complete discovery and a final decision on the merits, we will again prevail and Mr. Ross and his company and those who have acted in concert with them will be liable to MCC for millions of dollars of damages caused by their illegal and unethical conduct.”
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