[Editor’s note: the following has been updated to reflect information regarding the current ownership of RadioShack, which is not affiliated with the defendants or their company.]
The Securities and Exchange Payment (SEC) has actually filed a suit in a Florida federal court accusing Taino Lopez and Alexander Mehr, founders of Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) , with ripping off capitalists of $ 112 million by means of a Ponzi-style scheme, according to reporting in the Wall Road Journal and various other media outlets.
From 2020 to 2022, REV purchased the possessions of at least 8 insolvent or battling stores, consisting of RadioShack , Modell’s Sporting Goods , Pier 1 Imports and Stein Mart , converting several right into online-only operations.
According to the WSJ , the SEC’s issue, submitted Sept. 23, 2025, alleges that Lopez and Mehr made material misstatements to investors about the stores’ success and the success of their organization version. The SEC grievance asserts that none of business created any type of profits which REV covered commitments by using financings from outdoors lenders, merchant cash advances and funds from new and existing financiers.
Furthermore, the SEC implicated Lopez and Mehr of misappropriating $ 16 million in investor funds for their personal use. The problem looks for civil fines, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and a ban on the defendants, Lopez, Mehr and REV COO Maya Rose Burkenroad, acting as a policeman or director of any type of public company. According to the WSJ , the defendants can not instantly be grabbed comment.
In July 2021 REV bought UK brand name Ralph & & Russo , and in September 2022 Tuesday Early morning obtained a $ 32 million investment from REV and Ayon Funding Nonetheless, hints of REV’s economic problems have actually been visible considering that 2023, when protected creditors seized on its possessions, with a lot of those properties appointed to a new holding company, Omni Retail Enterprises
RadioShack’s current proprietor, Grupo Unicomer , a multinational retail and economic services company operating in 20 nations, has been a RadioShack franchisee considering that 1998 and obtained the brand name, IP and existing franchise business contracts for Central and South America and the Caribbean in 2015 In 2023, Unicomer acquired the IP possessions and domains of RadioShack in around 70 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Europe and China. Unicomer relaunched the brand in the U.S. market in 2024 with a restored ecommerce platform as well as markets and a B 2 B system. RadioShack’s existing proprietor has no company, legal, monetary or operational connections to REV or its execs.