DJ Envy & Cesar Pina Sued On Civil RICO Charge Stemming From Alleged Ponzi Scheme

DJ Envy, co-host of The Breakfast Club, has been hit with yet another lawsuit related to former business partner Cesar Pina. In court documents obtained by AllHipHop, Derik Deangelo, Chamblin Group Real Estate Ventures LLC
and Reispec Developments LLC are suing Envy, Pina and several co-defendants for allegedly using their real estate seminars (dubbed “Flipping New Jersey”) as “funnels to draw in victims” to scam money out of them.

Nine different complaints are listed in the lawsuit, including violation of New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, fraud, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, securities fraud, a civil RICO violation, joint and several liability and fraudulent transfer. The Plaintiffs are seeking a minimum of $2,000,000 in damages. They’re also asking for a jury trial.

“During these private consultations and meet and greets, members of the Pina network attempted to ‘size up’ the financial resources of each attendee and solicited individuals with sufficiently high net worth to “partner” with Pina, DJ Envy, and other members of the network in real estate ‘joint ventures,’” the docs read. “During these meetings, Pina also offered his personal ‘consulting services’ wherein he made himself available for one-on-one private meetings with guests at his office for flat rate fees ranging from $1,500 to $2,500 per meeting and more.”

They continue, “After the seminars, members of the Pina network would reach out directly to attendees who demonstrated an interest in “partnerships” to solicit them to invest in real estate ‘joint venture’ agreements. If persons contacted demonstrated further interest, they would be invited to Casey and Pina’s shared office in Totowa to discuss personalized ‘joint ventures.’ Interested persons were eventually presented with contracts titled ‘joint venture
agreements.’

“These real estate joint venture contracts were typically specific to one or more real properties which the Defendants jointly owned and controlled, or which investors were led to believe were jointly owned and managed by Defendants Cesar Pina and Raashaun Casey. The contracts required investors to make an upfront ‘capital contribution’ to buy into the ‘joint venture.’ The contracts represented that the investors’ funds would be used to renovate the subject properties to improve their resale value.”

The first alleged victim of DJ Envy and Pina’s business spoke up in April, accusing them of defrauding them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The docs go on, “In the ensuing months, tens if not hundreds of individuals came forward on social media alleging that they too had invested with the Defendants in joint venture property agreements and that the Defendants had failed to pay back any of their money. The majority of victims had ‘invested’ funds with the Defendants in large amounts ranging from $100,000 to $400,000. Some victims and celebrities had ‘invested’ larger amounts totaling high six figure sums or in some cases multi-million dollars.

“The largest financial victim reported to date appears to be a Miami-based musician who alleges that he lost 5 million dollars. Current estimates among members of the public are that victims of this fraud scheme were scammed out of funds totaling 50-100 million dollars or more. As of the date of this Complaint, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey has criminally charged Defendant Cesar Pina with wire fraud for the activities that are the subject of this lawsuit.”

Deangelo says he became acquainted with DJ Envy in 2018 when he followed his Flipping New Jersey page and listened to him on The Breakfast Club. He officially began investing in July 2022.

Charlamagne Tha God recently addressed DJ Envy’s future with The Breakfast Club—albeit somewhat cryptically.

“I think The Breakfast Club is bigger than any of us as individuals,” he said. “I’ve always felt like that. In my mind, what I’ve always wanted for The Breakfast Club was new talent constantly comes in and is a part of this, is under this umbrella of the club. So whether Angela Yee is there, or I’m there or Envy’s there, the platform can still continue.”

He added, “I’ve never felt like The Breakfast Club was just a show about three individuals. That’s always where my mind was, [and] you kind of see that. Like, if you plan to have the longevity you hope to have eventually things gotta change. I feel like regardless of what Envy’s situation is, I feel like, you know, I always felt like that was the plan. That should be the plan.”