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• Pending Government Action:

  SEC Complaint
  

  The following describes a pending government action that has been formally brought by a government agency but has not yet been resolved. We are providing a summary of the governments allegations, which have not yet been proven.

  On 06/07/2021 the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thomas Nicholas Salzano, of Secaucus, New Jersey, with using a sham loan document containing a forged signature in a fraudulent attempt to entice a $150,000 investment in a real estate joint venture located in New Jersey.

  According to the SEC's complaint, in January 2019, Salzano, an executive advisor and portfolio manager at National Realty Investment Advisors, LLC, a New Jersey-based private real estate management firm, sent the loan document to an investor to obtain an investment in a joint venture opportunity offered by the firm. The complaint alleges that Salzano provided the investor a term sheet for a loan that purportedly was being used to finance the real estate project in which the investor would invest. As alleged, the term sheet falsely stated that a third-party lender had committed to provide a $25 million loan for the project, and that the term sheet contained the forged signature of the lender's chief executive officer. Further, the complaint alleges that Salzano knowingly provided the false term sheet to the investor in an attempt to secure the investment.

  The SEC's complaint, filed in federal court for the District of New Jersey, charges Salzano with violations of the antifraud provisions of Sections 17(a)(1) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933, and seeks injunctive relief, civil penalties, and an officer and director bar.

  In response to these allegations, the business provided the following statement:

  "NRIA understands that there is a government investigation underway, arising from an isolated event that took place in 2019.  It involves a communication between an independent contractor and a single investor.  The isolated event was resolved two years ago, with no loss of investor capital—as has been the case with every NRIA investor since our inception in 2006. 

   Specifically, the government’s allegations against the independent consultant, Nicholas Salzano are, in sum, that he prematurely claimed that a particular project had already obtained lender commitment intent and that he sent the investor a signed letter of intent to that effect.  In fact, the project did ultimately have a Letter of Intent (LOI) , in file.

   A few points of clarification worth noting are:

  •             The investor did not invest any money based on Mr. Salzano’s alleged actions.  She was a prior investor who, in keeping with NRIA’s perfect track record, subsequently recouped her entire investment. 

  •             As soon as management at NRIA was alerted to the situation, we took swift action to address the matter and ensured that the investor was not harmed. Mr. Salzano was removed from independent investor communications at that time.

  •             No NRIA investor has ever lost money since our inception.

  •             There is no allegation that calls into question the soundness of the underlying investment, or any of our past, current or pending investments.

  •             There is no allegation that any other potential investor has ever been misled, by Mr. Salzano or any other independent contractor, or employee; nor would we allow that to happen.

  •             Like most major investment funds, we have opened our books and records to many government agencies over the years, including the IRS and SEC.  We have historically come out with our record intact. 

   The allegations, if true, represent an unacceptable departure from our commitment to transparent investor, and lender, relations.  We are reviewing our due diligence procedures and will ensure that no NRIA representative, independent or otherwise, will ever prioritize salesmanship over transparency again. 

  Our company is complying with all government requests for documentation and will maintain its policy of complete transparency with our investors and financial institutions.  The independent contractor, whose alleged actions gave rise to the investigation, has been suspended pending the outcome of his matter."

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