Last month, news broke that the founder of San Diego-based The Patio Group, Gina Champion-Cain, was civilly charged by the United States Federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly operating a "multi-year, $300 million scheme that defrauded approximately 50 retail investors." The complaint alleges Champion-Cain's ANI Development raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors to make short-term, high-interest loans to parties seeking to acquire California liquor licenses, but the SEC states that the investment opportunities were a complete sham and investor funds were actually funneled to a company controlled by Champion-Cain. Now, the government has obtained a consented-to asset freeze against ANI Development LLC and its principal, and receiver Krista Freitag of E3 Advisors has been court-appointed to oversee and manage personal and business assets of Champion-Cain, including her many restaurants.
Despite its legal trouble, The Patio Group is moving forward with expanding its The Patio Marketplace, a fast-casual contemporary cafe & eatery with locations in La Jolla UTC's Aventine and Axiom buildings, as well as at the Intersect building and 400 Spectrum, both in Irvine, CA. The two new locations are planned to install within UC San Diego's Science Research Park in La Jolla, and on the base floor of Los Angeles' famous Fox Plaza, which many know as being portrayed as the fictional Nakatomi Plaza in the original Die Hard movie. There is no word yet on how the SEC complaint will effect The Patio Group's numerous culinary concepts, but it appears that it is business as usual for the expanding dining group.
For more information on The Patio Marketplace, visit thepatiomarketplace.com.
