Document for ARNTSEN FAMILY PARTNERSHIP, LP, et al vs. GREGORY J DAVIS, et al

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                                1   Collin J. Vierra (State Bar No. 322720)
     EIMER STAHL LLP
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     99 S. Almaden Blvd., Ste. 600
 3   San Jose, CA 95113-1605
     Telephone: (408) 889-1668
 4   Email: cvierra@eimerstahl.com
 5   Attorney for Plaintiffs
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 7                     SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
 8                                    COUNTY OF SAN MATEO
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      Robert Arntsen; Mary Lee; Arntsen Family          Case No. 22-CIV-01148
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      Partnership, LP; and Brian Christopher Dunn
11    Custodianship;                                    Dept. 21

12                   Plaintiffs,                        Hon. Robert D. Foiles
      v.
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14    David M. Bragg; Silicon Valley Real Ventures DECLARATION OF JOHN HO
      LLC; SVRV 385 Moore, LLC; SVRV 387
15    Moore, LLC; Gregory J. Davis; Kevin Wolfe;
      Jason Justesen; Paramont Woodside, LLC;
16    and Paramont Capital, LLC;
17                   Defendants.
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     DECLARATION OF JOHN HO
 1            I, John Ho, attest as follows:

 2            1.     I am over the age of 18, of sound mind, and otherwise competent to make this

 3   Declaration.

 4            2.     Dave Bragg (“Dave”) 1 and his co-director of Silicon Valley Real Ventures, LLC

 5   (“SVRV”), Kurtis Kludt, asked me to invest in the Moore Road Project in September 2018. They

 6   shared with me an operating agreement for the Moore Road Project, specifically, for SVRV 387

 7   Moore, LLC, and an accompanying investment-subscription agreement, which Dave and I signed.

 8   True and correct copies of that operating agreement and investment-subscription agreement are
 9   attached as Exhibit A and B, respectively. Pursuant to those agreements, I invested $100,000 in
10   the Moore Road Project on October 16, 2018. A true and correct copy of a record obtained from
11   Bank of America in discovery evidencing this transfer is attached as Exhibit C.
12            3.     On November 15, 2018, I asked Dave for the list of other shareholders in the Moore
13   Road Project. Dave told me that including me, “we have about $750,000” invested in the Moore
14   Road Project, and that the investors were “either internal like [Dave] and company or they are Bob
15   Arntsen who’s a repeat [investor] with us[.] [T]he rest of the investors are his family[:] two of his
16   sisters[,] his daughter[,] and a nephew.” Dave also said he had “a private equity group that’s
17   coming in with the remaining needed to close the loan,” but he did not tell me who that group was
18   or what the terms of its investment would be. A true and correct copy of this email exchange is

19   attached as Exhibit D. I had no reason to believe the investment from this group—which turned

20   out to be Paramont Woodside, LLC (“Paramont”)—would purport to subordinate my investment

21   in any way. In fact, the operating agreement that I received indicated that no amendments could

22   be made to the agreement without the written consent of all members.

23            4.     Dave did not even tell me he had closed the deal with Paramont until mid-2019.

24   And even then, he did not share the Paramont operating agreements with me (nor did I sign them).

25   He never asked me to consent to any amendment to the operating agreement I signed. I would not

26   have invested in the Moore Road Project if I had known that Dave would secretly amend the

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28   1   Hereinafter, “Dave” refers collectively to Dave and SVRV.
                                                      2
     DECLARATION OF JOHN HO
 1   operating agreement. In fact, the operating agreements that Dave secretly signed with Paramont

 2   purported to grant me no membership interest in the Moore Road LLCs. Instead, under these

 3   agreements, only Paramont and SVRV were members in the Moore Road LLCs. And to the extent

 4   that SVRV’s investment somehow reflected my interest in the property (even though I had not

 5   invested in SVRV and had never been given an associated ownership interest in that company),

 6   my interest was given a subordinate equity position to that of Paramont. I never consented to this.

 7          5.      In late March 2020, Dave and Kurtis told me that they urgently needed more money

 8   to prevent the Moore Road Project from going into default. They followed up this conversation
 9   with an email. On March 28, 2020, Kurtis Kludt emailed me to say that “in order to remain in good
10   standing with the Senior Lender, Genesis . . . the March mortgage payments need to be made by
11   the end of the day on Friday, April 3rd for each property.” He also said this money would be repaid
12   “after the senior debt [to Genesis] is repaid, but before Paramont, common equity, and any net

13   profit distribution.” Dave was included on this email. A true and correct copy of the March 28,

14   2020 email from Kurtis is attached as Exhibit E.

15          6.      Believing it was necessary to protect my investment in the Moore Road Project, I

16   provided $2,000 to Dave and the Moore Road LLCs on April 1, 2020. A true and correct copy of

17   a bank record evidencing this transfer obtained from First Republic Bank in discovery is attached

18   as Exhibit F. I did not learn until this litigation that Dave actually used this money to pay his

19   business partner, Kurtis. Vierra Aff. ¶ 10, Ex. F.

20          7.      When the Moore Road properties sold in September and October 2020, Dave did

21   not even tell me they had sold. I learned this from the Internet and then contacted Dave. Dave

22   refused to return any money to me even though Paramont received its capital back and received a

23   significant profit. Dave admitted that he did not return my capital in discovery. Vierra Aff. ¶ 6, Ex.

24   B (Response to RFA 12). I did not learn until this litigation that Dave signed an explicit agreement

25   with Paramont purporting to prevent me from receiving any funds from the Moore Road LLCs

26   after the properties sold. Through 2020 and 2021, I tried to obtain information about the Moore

27   Road Project from Bragg for both myself and Jacky, but Bragg largely refused to provide me with

28   any information.

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     DECLARATION OF JOHN HO
 1          8.       Dave told me all of my investments and loans would be used exclusively for the

 2   Moore Road Project. I relied on this when making my investments and loans, and I never would

 3   have authorized my money to be used for any other purpose. In summary, Dave defrauded me of:

 4                   a. $100,000 from my equity investment in the Moore Road Project.

 5                   b. $2,000 in principal on my April 1, 2020 loan;

 6                   c. 12% interest on the $2,000 principal on my April 1, 2020 loan running from

 7                      April 1, 2020 to the present.

 8          9.       Dave’s fraud has also caused me to forego years of interest and to incur significant
 9   attorneys’ fees in the form of a 33% contingency on my recover(ies).
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            I declare under penalty of perjury, under the laws of the State of California, that the
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15   foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.

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            Dated:    March 21, 2023
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     DECLARATION OF JOHN HO