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Case Intel

• The SEC filed fraud charges on September 23, 2025 against three executives who allegedly turned a distressed-retail revival venture into a multi-year scheme that misappropriated $16.1 million and paid existing investors with new investor money
• Between April 2020 and November 2022, the defendants raised $112 million from hundreds of investors by promising annualized returns up to 25% on investments in once-famous brands like Pier 1, RadioShack, and Dress Barn
• Defendants' answer to the complaint is expected in the coming weeks, as the case moves through the Southern District of Florida with potential civil penalties, disgorgement orders, and permanent bars from serving as corporate officers or directors

MIAMI, FL - The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused the co-founders of a Florida-based holding company of orchestrating a sprawling securities fraud that transformed nostalgic retail brands into vehicles for investor deception, according to a 31-page civil complaint filed in federal court late last month.

Taino Adrian Lopez, 49, and Alexander Farhang Mehr, 46—co-founders of Retail Ecommerce Ventures LLC (REV)—along with Tai’s cousin and the company's Chief Operating Officer Maya Rose Burkenroad, 38, are charged with defrauding approximately 660 investors nationwide through fraudulent offerings tied to eight portfolio companies bearing household names from retail's past.

REV's pitch was elegant in its simplicity: buy bankrupt retail brands cheap, strip away brick-and-mortar overhead, and convert them into lean e-commerce operations. In promotional videos circulated online, Lopez described the strategy as "one of the best strategies you can invest in."

The defendants acquired and managed eight recognizable retail names—Pier 1 Imports, RadioShack, Dress Barn, Modell's Sporting Goods, Stein Mart, Linens 'N Things, Franklin Mint, and a software company called Brahms—all operating out of Miami Beach headquarters.

Between 2020 and 2022, the trio sold unsecured promissory notes and equity stakes (membership units) to investors, promising extraordinary returns: annualized interest rates ranging from 10% to 25%, and monthly dividend payments as high as 2.083%. The purported purpose was straightforward: raise capital to acquire each distressed brand and fund its online relaunch.

A Facade of Profitability

According to the SEC's complaint, Lopez and Mehr maintained an aggressive marketing campaign built on fabricated success stories. During twice-weekly Zoom calls with investors and at in-person conferences in Puerto Rico, Virginia, and Las Vegas, the defendants painted a rosy picture of thriving operations.

In a February 2021 email to all investors, Lopez claimed Dress Barn and Stein Mart were "on fire" with "strong cash flow," and boasted that unlike "public companies operating at heavy losses," REV had "brands with a positive EBITDA" (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

Internal financial records tell a starkly different story. Dress Barn lost $13.7 million in 2020 and $10.7 million in 2021. Stein Mart bled $1.7 million and $5.7 million in the same years. According to consolidated income statements, REV and its portfolio companies collectively hemorrhaged between $3.8 million and $12 million monthly during the twelve months ending October 2022.

The defendants also repeatedly assured investors that REV had "never missed a single payment" to any investor—a claim the SEC alleges was demonstrably false by early 2022, when complaints about missing interest payments were already surfacing.