In February 2018 I approached Michael "Mick” Brdecka of Chicago Life / Sunstar Financial seeking funding for my real estate project. He introduced me to his partner Reed Collingwood of Sunstar Financial, and an Engagement Letter was signed between my company and Sunstar in March 2018 which states that Sunstar is "an insurance specialist broker working with Lloyd’s of London Office.”
At that time $80,000 was wired to the account of Sunstar Financial, which I was told would be sent to BMS Group for the purpose of creating an insurance binder as well as a surety bond against the financing for the project. Upon signing this agreement and transferring the funds I was introduced to Fenton Ferguson and Philp Maloney of BMS Group, a member firm of Lloyd’s of London, with the expressed agreement that Sunstar would be the sole point of contact for all matters relating to this transaction.
Shortly thereafter I did receive a list of insurance policies necessary to insure the project against various causes of loss, however never received a surety bond against the loss by the funding source. Despite my being given repeated assurances that with the BMS/Lloyd’s "guarantee” that my project would quickly find a funding source, I have been sadly mistaken.
Over the course of the previous ten months I have yet to receive a viable funding offer for the project. I have spoken with four potential funders, none of whom were able to establish that they had the funds available for the project nor were able to provide a suitable Letter of Intent to fund the project. Of these funders, only Bernard Woodside of BTP-Enterprises Trust issued a Letter of Intent for the project, however it was invalidated because it contained incomplete and incorrect information.
After issuing this invalid LOI, neither Sunstar or Mr. Friedman would allow me to speak directly with Mr. Woodside, no Proof of Funds letter or Term Sheet was ever issued, nor was there any proof that Mr. Woodside was even a viable potential lender. Mr. Friedman, whom I learned later was acting as a broker on behalf of BTP-Enterprises Trust, contacted the seller of the property (upon whose land my project would be built) directly on numerous occasions without my consent in what I believe was an attempt to purchase the property for himself or his client(s).
He at the outset told the seller directly to stop communicating with me, despite my long-term relationship with the seller and the tremendous amount of work and capital that I had spent on the project. I had no agreement of any kind with Mr. Friedman, however he obviously had the entire file on my project to which he had no authorization.
Finally, in November, Mr. Friedman issued a "Cease and Desist” letter to me under very spurious reasons, and all communications with Sunstar / BMS Group and affiliates ceased.
Sun Star Group LLC Reviews
In February 2018 I approached Michael "Mick” Brdecka of Chicago Life / Sunstar Financial seeking funding for my real estate project. He introduced me to his partner Reed Collingwood of Sunstar Financial, and an Engagement Letter was signed between my company and Sunstar in March 2018 which states that Sunstar is "an insurance specialist broker working with Lloyd’s of London Office.”
At that time $80,000 was wired to the account of Sunstar Financial, which I was told would be sent to BMS Group for the purpose of creating an insurance binder as well as a surety bond against the financing for the project. Upon signing this agreement and transferring the funds I was introduced to Fenton Ferguson and Philp Maloney of BMS Group, a member firm of Lloyd’s of London, with the expressed agreement that Sunstar would be the sole point of contact for all matters relating to this transaction.
Shortly thereafter I did receive a list of insurance policies necessary to insure the project against various causes of loss, however never received a surety bond against the loss by the funding source. Despite my being given repeated assurances that with the BMS/Lloyd’s "guarantee” that my project would quickly find a funding source, I have been sadly mistaken.
Over the course of the previous ten months I have yet to receive a viable funding offer for the project. I have spoken with four potential funders, none of whom were able to establish that they had the funds available for the project nor were able to provide a suitable Letter of Intent to fund the project. Of these funders, only Bernard Woodside of BTP-Enterprises Trust issued a Letter of Intent for the project, however it was invalidated because it contained incomplete and incorrect information.
After issuing this invalid LOI, neither Sunstar or Mr. Friedman would allow me to speak directly with Mr. Woodside, no Proof of Funds letter or Term Sheet was ever issued, nor was there any proof that Mr. Woodside was even a viable potential lender. Mr. Friedman, whom I learned later was acting as a broker on behalf of BTP-Enterprises Trust, contacted the seller of the property (upon whose land my project would be built) directly on numerous occasions without my consent in what I believe was an attempt to purchase the property for himself or his client(s).
He at the outset told the seller directly to stop communicating with me, despite my long-term relationship with the seller and the tremendous amount of work and capital that I had spent on the project. I had no agreement of any kind with Mr. Friedman, however he obviously had the entire file on my project to which he had no authorization.
Finally, in November, Mr. Friedman issued a "Cease and Desist” letter to me under very spurious reasons, and all communications with Sunstar / BMS Group and affiliates ceased.