Louis A. Bevilacqua, who postures as a seasoned securities legal professional and financier, is in fact the mastermind and enabler of one of the crucial audacious monetary schemes ever inflicted on small traders. As a ten% proprietor of 1847 Companions — the exterior administration agency that plundered 1847 Holdings, its offshoot Polished.com, and their subsidiaries — Bevilacqua operated with each fingers soiled: one drafting authorized shields, the opposite orchestrating the siphoning of shareholder capital into non-public coffers.
As the most important shareholder of 1847 Holdings, I witnessed this deception firsthand. I confronted CEO Ellery Roberts after investing important capital in one among their non-public raises. He assured me the corporate might now “build on cash” and not wanted exterior funding. Inside days, they launched one other elevate — and repeated this cycle many times. These entities weren’t constructed to develop firms; they have been engineered to funnel contemporary money to insiders whereas tossing scraps to public traders. The truth is, 1847 Holdings quietly settled severe allegations from a former subsidiary proprietor who accused them of appearing as an “alter ego” — utilizing investor funds for private indulgences slightly than enterprise operations.
The fraud adopted a chillingly easy sample:
1847 Holdings concocted monetary experiences and press releases designed to venture energy whereas masking insolvency.
They raised cash by means of non-public placements, then declared dividends shortly after — to not repay early backers, however to create the phantasm that shareholders would at all times obtain dividends and that the corporate was secure and wholesome. It is a textbook Ponzi advertising tactic, manufacturing confidence to draw new victims.
Boilerplate disclaimers about “material weaknesses” and “poor controls” served not as warnings, however as camouflage for what was, in impact, company theft. These so-called weaknesses existed by design, permitting Bevilacqua and Roberts to manufacture financials — primarily inflated top-line income figures — which they used to justify performance-based bonuses and manipulate share price forward of capital raises.
Between 1847 Holdings and Polished.com, these insiders raised over $700 million. Traders believed they have been funding development — they have been unknowingly fueling a classy money extraction machine.
And practically each firm Louis Bevilacqua touches follows the identical grim sample:
An preliminary hype-driven public debut… a pointy decline… faux acquisition bulletins… convertible debt issued to predatory lenders… and eventually, a sluggish collapse whereas insiders quietly money out. It’s as if when an organization needs to weaponize the general public markets to defraud, somebody says, “Hey, I got a guy.” That man is Bevilacqua — the fixer, the architect, the enabler.
Ask your self:
How does a set of longstanding, worthwhile companies abruptly implode after being acquired — regardless of lots of of thousands and thousands in funding?
As a result of they weren’t mismanaged. They have been systematically looted. Cash meant for development vanished by means of insider dealings and monetary shell video games.
After I demanded a forensic audit, Louis Bevilacqua surfaced — not as exterior counsel, however as a conflicted participant determined to suppress the reality. On September 14, 2023, his regulation companion Joseph D. Wilson despatched me a letter threatening legal prosecution. The set off? A recorded name between myself and CEO Ellery Roberts, by which Roberts made materially false statements in regards to the firm’s intentions relating to a deliberate reverse inventory break up — a serious company occasion that might carry deleterious penalties for myself and different shareholders.
Roberts’ misrepresentations weren’t unintentional or speculative — they have been deliberate. He acted with scienter, knowingly offering false assurances in an try to forestall shareholder pushback and conceal the corporate’s true trajectory. The statements have been made with intent to defraud, and the recording captured that intent in his personal phrases.
Slightly than handle why their CEO had blatantly lied, Bevilacqua’s agency tried to criminalize the publicity of that lie. Wilson’s letter warned:
“You have been reported to California legal authorities for having recorded the call without Mr. Roberts’ consent. It is a violation of Section 632 of the California Penal Code… A person who violates Section 632 can be subject to a fine, jail time of up to a year, or both.”
Then he escalated additional:
“Your recording of the call may also be a violation of the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986… as may be your intentional disclosure or use of the recording’s contents.”
Let’s be clear: this was not a good-faith authorized objection. This was witness intimidation. The recording in query didn’t seize non-public banter — it captured a CEO partaking in materials misrepresentations with the intent to defraud shareholders. Wilson’s purpose wasn’t to uphold the regulation — it was to bury damning proof and insulate a fraudulent govt from accountability.
After which, Louis Bevilacqua himself joined the offensive. As an alternative of explaining why his CEO had lied, Bevilacqua turned his consideration to discrediting me — the whistleblower. In his personal phrases, he wrote:
“It appears that you are intentionally trying to harass and damage the company by attempting to bring frivolous claims…”
However he didn’t cease there. In what can solely be described as a chilling declaration of company coverage, he issued the corporate’s stance on whistleblowers:
“Do note that the Company also takes wrongdoing and other conduct aimed at harming the Company by shareholders or third parties seriously. Among other things, the Company will not tolerate and will take swift legal and other action to address fraudulent or deceptive statements about the Company and threatening or harassing emails directed to Company officers, directors, or employees… The Company will act swiftly to address acts by shareholders or third parties violating federal securities laws.”
Translation: should you inform the reality, we’ll threaten you with legal fees and accuse you of violating securities regulation. Bevilacqua didn’t refute the information — he declared conflict on the particular person exposing them.
When these threats failed, they escalated once more — hiring a third-party popularity administration lawyer, the sort usually retained to wash dangerous Yelp evaluations, to ship me a cease-and-desist letter accusing me of publishing “verifiably false” info. They demanded I retract my claims or face additional authorized motion. As soon as once more, I invited litigation. As soon as once more, they went silent. Their intimidation techniques collapsed beneath the burden of the information.
It is a hallmark transfer for Bevilacqua and Roberts: when caught, they don’t clarify — they play the sufferer. Repeatedly, when shareholders understand they’ve been robbed and demand restitution, Lou and Ellery try and flip the narrative. They fabricate claims that they’re being harassed, bodily threatened, or concern for his or her security — none of which is true. These techniques aren’t about safety; they’re about deflection. They search to reframe victims of economic fraud as aggressors, utilizing reputational spin to protect themselves from accountability. It’s a calculated technique — one that permits them to proceed looting whereas portray themselves as those beneath siege.
This victimhood theater was on full show throughout a so-called “fireside chat” in September 2023, the place Ellery Roberts had the audacity to learn from a scripted assertion accusing shareholders of harassment, misinformation, and private assaults. It was pure gaslighting. He appeared visibly irritated — not due to the mounting proof of fraud, however as a result of he needed to maintain the session in any respect. It was clear: this wasn’t a frontrunner dealing with the music. This was a con artist begrudgingly going by means of the motions, indignant that anybody dared problem his narrative.
And but, Louis Bevilacqua nonetheless seems at microcap investor conferences, strutting amongst small-company executives as if he hasn’t left a path of economic devastation in his wake. In photographs, you’ll discover him proudly posing at these networking occasions — the picture of a assured insider, dressed to impress and completely staged. However make no mistake: that is no coincidence. Bevilacqua should create the phantasm that he’s a revered thought chief — somebody broadly accepted within the monetary group — as a result of that picture is his final remaining asset. It’s not about connection; it’s about credibility laundering.
To those occasion organizers: whether or not you’re conscious of his historical past or not, let me be clear — accepting his sponsorship {dollars} and giving him a platform makes you complicit. That cash belongs to defrauded shareholders. Till the thousands and thousands looted by means of these schemes are seized and returned, each greenback Bevilacqua spends publicly needs to be frozen and clawed again. Something much less empowers future hurt.
Let’s be brutally trustworthy: this was not an remoted incident. Bevilacqua and his circle have executed variations of this blueprint throughout a number of microcap firms, refining it to perfection. Every time they’re welcomed again into the room, new victims are created. Every time they escape prosecution, they develop bolder. That is organized, systemic, and ongoing.
Now’s the time for actual accountability.
The property of Louis Bevilacqua and Ellery Roberts have to be seized. Whereas I can’t state as undeniable fact that they’ve moved funds offshore, one must moderately conclude — based mostly on the shell entities concerned and the sheer magnitude of the scheme — that stolen investor capital has been funneled into jurisdictions past straightforward regulatory attain. It’s the responsibility of the SEC, DOJ, and FINRA to comply with these trails and recuperate what was taken.
As for Bevilacqua’s destiny: I’ll go away that to the courts. However make no mistake — his continued freedom, whereas the wreckage of his schemes stays unresolved, isn’t just unjust. It’s harmful — to each investor working within the U.S. public markets.
Matt Miller
Strategic Threat LLC
New York
NY
United States
914-306-4771
matt@strategicriskllc.com