Judge rejects Colorado’s case against investment broker for Indian restaurant

Saucy Bombay’s location at 2616 E. Colfax Ave. opened in 2018. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)

A Denver choose has thrown out a lawsuit that state regulators filed towards an funding dealer and signaled she is going to do the identical to their case towards an Indian restaurant.

In a setback for the company, Decide Sarah Wallace decided the Colorado Division of Securities can sue solely individuals and firms who dedicated funding fraud inside the previous 5 years, rejecting the division’s argument that it’s immune from statutes of limitations.

In mid-April, the Division of Securities sued the securities broker Michael Bissonnette in addition to Bombay Group, which operates Saucy Bombay on East Colfax Avenue. In separate lawsuits, the Division of Securities accused the defendants of deceptive buyers about their grandiose plans for a fast-casual chain after which misspending $380,000 in investor money.

“The buyers on this case actually believed in The Bombay Group and their restaurant Saucy Bombay,” Tung Chan, the state’s securities commissioner, mentioned then. “However as we allege, the buyers weren’t advised the reality concerning the investments and haven’t been paid again.”

Attorneys for Bissonnette and Bombay Group requested Wallace, who’s presiding over each instances, to dismiss them as a result of the alleged misdeeds occurred in 2016 and the Colorado Securities Act, the regulation they had been being sued below, has a statute of limitations of 5 years.

Assistant Lawyer Common Sarah Donahue disagreed, arguing on behalf of Chan that as a result of the regulation permits her to sue “at any time when it seems to the securities commissioner” that there’s proof of funding fraud, a statute of limitations can’t be imposed on Chan.

On June 27, Wallace disagreed.

“A discovering that the statute of limitations within the Colorado Securities Act which applies to all individuals doesn’t apply to the commissioner can be opposite to settled case regulation in Colorado,” the choose wrote, including that it could be “absurd” to exempt the Division of Securities.

With that, Wallace dismissed the case towards Bissonnette. She has not but dominated on Bombay Group’s related movement to dismiss, which was filed a number of weeks after Bissonnette’s, however that case includes the identical allegations from 2016, so it would presumably be dismissed.

“Coloradans misplaced tons of of hundreds of {dollars} due to Bisonnette’s lies and materials omissions,” Chan mentioned Tuesday. “We imagine the courtroom’s holding is flawed and dangerous to investor protections below the Colorado Securities Act. We’re contemplating our choices.”