In a shocking turn of events, an individual has accused another of fraudulent misrepresentation and deceit, claiming significant financial losses as a result. On December 12, 2024, Blaine Schanfeldt filed a complaint in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco against Dan Irish. The case alleges that Irish falsely presented himself as a licensed broker-dealer to gain access to Schanfeldt's investment account.
According to the court documents, Blaine Schanfeldt met Dan Irish in early 2020 through a sports club. By September or October of that year, Irish had convinced Schanfeldt that he was a licensed broker-dealer capable of making profitable trades on his behalf. Trusting these claims, Schanfeldt granted Irish access to his Fidelity Investment account, which initially held around $95,000. Over the next two years, Schanfeldt invested more than $200,000 into this account under the belief that Irish was managing it wisely.
However, by January 2023, the account's value had plummeted to just $38,000. When questioned about the drastic losses, Irish attributed them to market fluctuations. This prompted Schanfeldt to investigate further and discover that there was no record of Irish ever being registered as a broker-dealer. "Plaintiff was justified in relying on Defendant Daniel Irish’s misrepresentations due to the written and verbal messages stating he was a licensed broker-dealer," states the complaint.
The lawsuit accuses Dan Irish of fraudulent misrepresentation and deceit under several legal frameworks including violations of California Corporations Code §§25401 and 25230. It is alleged that Irish made false statements both verbally and on his business website "Irish Benedict Investment Banking," where he claimed to be a registered broker-dealer. The complaint argues that these were material misstatements intended to deceive Schanfeldt into allowing access to his investments.
Schanfeldt is seeking compensatory damages for the financial losses incurred due to what he describes as fraudulent conduct by Irish. The complaint also demands punitive damages for what it characterizes as intentional misrepresentation and deceitful behavior aimed at depriving him of property or legal rights. Furthermore, Schanfeldt seeks statutory damages along with general damages for emotional distress caused by this ordeal.
The legal proceedings are set before Judge Sahar Enayati under Case No.: CGC-24-620560 with Daniel Yockey representing Blaine Schanfeldt as his attorney.