I am writing this complaint as a follow-on to a comment I posted to another complaint. My concerns have grown that Mr. Fotiadis is continuing to mislead potential investors, that he has not notified any of his existing shareholders/members that their investment is about to dissolve due to his failure as CEO, self-dealing. securities fraud and misuse of corporate funds. This note is designed as a warning to anyone considering investing money with ProtoGroup or Mr. Fotiadis personally and as a notification to existing ProtoGroup LLC members of what is transpiring.

The complaint listed below is re-posted here to ensure that it will be available to those existing and potential members because Mr. Fotiadis continues to break the laws of the State of Illinois by not notifying them of this dire situation. This action is only one of many that this company will suffer once all of the members are notified of the judgments already that weigh on Mr. Fotiadis personally and on ProtoGroup for fraud and more.

In the last 18 months, Mr. Fotiadis has suffered multiple judgments at the hands of judges, accrued a large amount of debt, and had his entire management team and his BoD resign because of his actions. As a result, Mr. Fotiadis has been reported to and is being investigated by several state and federal authorities (SEC, IRS, and the State of Illinois) for his misconduct and failure to disclose material information to new investors, employees, BoD members and existing shareholders/members.

In the coming months, as the existing members of ProtoGroup become aware of what has been transpiring - multiple suits from various people are certain to be filed in several states. Mr. Fotiadis has taken in via mis-information - and squandered - more than $900, 000 - without producing any sellable or working product or even one sale over the course of six years.

In an attempt to save himself - Mr. Fotiadis broke the law AGAIN. Following his first round of legal losses in Virginia, Mr. Fotiadis created a fraudulent charity web site (www.saveamericandreams.org - see attached) in an attempt to defraud friends and former co-workers of money to fight his growing legal bills. Even in the midst of being investigated, even following his fraud judgments, even while being sued for fraud in another State - Mr. Fotiadis STILL published on his "charity" web site fraudulent claims and he failed to disclose the nature of how the money "donated" would be used. What he failed to tell people was that he wasn't fighting an opponent but simply seeking money to post an appeal of his judgments. More of the same deceitful behavior that has brought him to ruins. Lies upon lies.

Anyone who is approached by Mr. Fotiadis for an "investment" should contact the authroities listed above immediately. The State Corporation Commission and Attorney General's office in the State of Illinois is the best place for you to start.

Given the fact that the existing judgments against him have already been registered in the State of Illinois, Cook County - it is certain that Mr. Fotiadis will have the assets of ProtoGroup and all of his personal property siezed to cover the judgments and other existing debts - leaving his investors with nothing more than an empty shell of a company and a CEO who may face criminal charges. Multiple attempts to engage Mr. Fotiadis to make his investors whole or to do what he could to return some of their investments by appropriately managing the company through bankruptcy have been spurned or ignored by Mr. Fotiadis and will likely cause his legal problems to multiply as time goes on.

To ensure that all of the existing complaints are visible to investors - I am re-posting Mr. Rowen's legal action that is currently pending in the State of Virginia against Mr. Fotiadis and against ProtoGroup.

I applaud Mr. Rowen's efforts and the personal expenses he has incurred in his attempt to stop Mr. Fotiadis from hurting others.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mr. Rowen's Complaint:

ProtoGroup LLC and Christos Fotiadis (CEO) Complaints - Fraud, Negligence, and Breach of Duty Litigation
Review all ProtoGroup LLC and Christos Fotiadis (CEO) complaints
ProtoGroup LLC and Christos Fotiadis (CEO)
Posted: 2010-12-10 by mrowen

Fraud, Negligence, and Breach of Duty Litigation
Complaint Rating: Company information:
ProtoGroup, LLC
2043 W Belmnt Ave #4, Chicago IL
Virginia
United States
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/virginia/vaedce/1:2010cv00261/251944/

I am writing this message in an attempt to communicate to two sets of people: any ProtoGroup LLC member, and any prospective investor in ProtoGroup LLC. My goal is to inform you of the severe financial and legal liabilities facing ProtoGroup that I believe you are unaware of. I have asked Christos Fotiadis (ProtoGroup's CEO) on numerous occasions to inform it's members of the dire situation facing ProtoGroup, but Mr. Fotiadis perpetually refuses to do so. I've asked for contact information for the members (which I have a legal right to according to the ProtoGroup Operating Agreement) but he refuses to provide me with their contact info. Last week I heard that Fotiadis was trying to raise money for ProtoGroup again, and thinking that he would not disclose material information as he failed to do when I invested, I am posting this info online with the hopes of preventing more unsuspecting investors from being defrauded by Mr. Fotiadis.

I purchased ProtoGroup LLC member units directly from Christos Fotiadis in May of 2009, and then subsequently loaned money to ProtoGroup LLC in June of 2009. I made these investments based on what looked like a breakthrough software migration product developed by ProtoGroup called ReGen. While the slick demo he used to get me to invest worked flawlessly and was incredibly impressive, over time I came to the realization that the software could not successfully migrate real world software applications. As time went on I became aware of more and more material information that Mr. Fotiadis failed to disclose to me prior to my investing, and also uncovered a myriad of lies that he told me and other investors, board members, and employees. As a result, I have file a lawsuit against Mr. Fotiadis and ProtoGroup alleging fraud, negligence, and breach of duty. My evidence is over 1500 pages in length, and I've attached a link to my lawsuit should you wish to read the ugly details. For those of you who would prefer just an overview of my lawsuit and ProtoGroup's current status, I'll provide that below.

I estimate that ProtoGroup currently has over $1, 000, 000 in liabilities and $0 in the bank. I have to estimate these figures because Mr. Fotiadis has refused to provide any updated financial statements more recent than year-end 2008. The company is clearly insolvent, and at any time, the debtors could demand payment and force the company into bankruptcy.

Mr. Fotiadis hired a COO, head of sales, and a CFO, 2 of which were based in Virginia. He also added to board of directors members, both based in Virginia. ProtoGroup then opened an office in Virginia. When I sued in Virginia (where I live and the ProtoGroup Virginia office where I witnessed the demo), Fotiadis tried to deny that ProtoGroup ever had a presence in Virginia. I tell you this so you understand the long and seemingly random early pages of my lawsuit. They are designed to prove jurisdiction over the case for a court based in Virginia, which the court has ruled it does have jurisdiction.

A few examples of lies, negligence, and breach of duty by Christos Fotiadis that I have smoking gun evidence of:

* ReGen could convert Lotus Notes applications and save enormous amounts of time and money versus manual conversion. I spoke with the architect and developer who oversaw 100% of the ReGen code, and who personally wrote 95% of the code) and he swore in an affidavit that the software could not do what Fotiadis was claiming it could do, that he had been telling Fotiadis this for years, and that Fotiadis just ignored his views. Ignoring the opinions of the person who developed the software regarding what the software is capable of is a central argument in my negligence and breach of duty claims.

* ReGen has not protected its Intellectual Property (IP). Fotiadis filed the patent on ReGen several years after the statute of limitations expired. He also failed to list the developer who architected and wrote the code as an inventor, despite many of the claims in the patent being the developer's ideas, not Fotiadis's. He continues to try to prosecute the ReGen patent nevertheless, and is thus committing patent fraud on the US Patent & Trademark Office. I have reported my concerns to the USPTO.

* Fotiadis failed to disclose countless material facts to me prior to my investing which are detailed in my litigation. He failed to disclose these material facts to the employees, board members, and other investors as well. All employees, board members, and vendors to ProtoGroup that I am aware of have ceased their relationships with ProtoGroup, and all of them are either owed money (unpaid invoices, unpaid salaries, unpaid commissions) and/or have potential fraud claims they could bring against ProtoGroup.

* Fotiadis proudly announced the expansion of the management team and the board of directors in August 2009 in a memo to the LLC members. ALL of these board members and employees resigned between November 2009 and January 2010 due to the lies and deceptions by Fotiadis that they subsequently uncovered. Mr. Fotiadis has failed to inform members of this material adverse development.

* A former board member reported Mr. Fotiadis to the Illinois Secretary of State, and they have opened an official criminal investigation into the actions of Mr. Fotiadis. I have been in contact with the investigator regarding the evidence in my litigation.

* Fotiadis hacked into the email system of another company that ProtoGroup's former COO was on the board of. He stole copies of emails by the former COO and has submitted them as evidence in my litigation. The former COO of ProtoGroup has filed an official complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) alleging wire fraud, a crime punishable by imprisonment as experienced by the guy that hacked into Sarah Palin's email a few years ago.

* ProtoGroup's former COO and Board Member, has already sued Fotiadis and ProtoGroup twice in Virginia courts and won both trials. As a result, both Fotiadis and ProtoGroup each have two outstanding judgments against them, one of which is for fraud. Any investor who innocently invests money in ProtoGroup could find that money quickly confiscated as payment of the judgment, so my main message to any prospective investor in ProtoGroup is "BUYER BEWARE".

* Fotiadis has made a number of statement under oath in my litigation that were conflicting with other statements made under oath elsewhere in my litigation or in the lawsuit brought against him by his former COO, all of which could be determined to be perjury when presented to the court during my trial.

* ProtoGroup did not license the interface that is used on it's only product - ReGen - and has unpaid bills to the developer that built the product. As a result, ProtoGroup does not have the rights to market and sell ReGen in it's current configuration, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in re-engineering development are likely necessary to bring ReGen to market. Add to that the fact that ProtoGroup does not have a working copy of the software (the 3rd party developer has control of the server components) and thus ProtoGroup does not have access to its only product.

If you would like to know more about my case, you can click the link attached and read my complaint, or you can email me any questions you may have.


AGAIN - IF MR. FOTIADIS APPROACHES YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW ABOUT AN INVESTMENT - PLEASE NOTIFY THE AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY.