A lender claims a jewelry business owner convinced him to lend tens of thousands of dollars because the jeweler supposedly had landed a contract to make Super Bowl rings.
Berco Industrial, Dana McGhee and Richard “Ed” Schuetz filed a lawsuit March 10 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Joseph Lordo.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs claim they lent Lordo thousands of dollars over the course of several months.
Berco lent Lordo $44,355 on Dec. 22, 2010, McGhee lent $10,000 on Oct. 1, 2010, and Schuetz lent him $50,000 on Feb. 1, 2011. The plaintiffs claim they were told the money would be used for Lordo’s jewelry business.
“In order to induce the plaintiff into making a loan, the defendant falsely and fraudulently represented to the plaintiff he had entered into a contract with the St. Louis Rams football team to provide Super Bowl rings to them and the St. Louis Rams football team had a contract with the defendants which they were obliged to purchase the Super Bowl rings from the defendant,” according to the complaint.
Since then, Lordo has defaulted on his costs, according to the complaint.
In addition to the money they claim they are owed, the plaintiffs seek punitive damages of $250,000, interest, attorney’s fees, costs and other relief the court deems just. They are being represented by Robert S. Forbes of Alton.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 14-L-381.