Welcome to the Bridge Premium Finance, LLC Fair Fund Administration Website

This website has been established to provide general information related to the administration of the Bridge Premium Finance, LLC (BFP) Fair Fund. The capitalized terms used on this website, and not defined herein, shall have the same meanings ascribed to them in the Distribution Plan.

This matter is pending before Senior U.S. District Judge John L Kane in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.  

From in or about 1996 through August 14, 2012, BPF raised at least $15.7 million from more than 120 investors in multiple states through an unregistered offering of promissory notes. During the relevant period, Defendants raised money from promissory note investors purportedly to provide capital for BPF’s insurance premium financing business. Defendants portrayed the promissory note investments as safe and conservative but offered rates of interest of up to 12 percent annually. BPF purportedly earned enough profits on its premium financing business to pay the rates of interest it promised to its promissory note investors.

Defendants Turnock and Sullivan repeatedly told investors that BPF’s premium loan business was performing well, and that it could use additional funds to make more insurance premium financing loans. They also assured investors that their funds were “100% Protected” because, among other things, BPF’s premium financing loans were 100% collateralized.

In reality, from at least 2002, BPF has operated as a Ponzi scheme. Since that time, BPF had not earned sufficient profits from its insurance premium financing business from which to pay interest and redemptions to its investors. Instead, BPF had paid quarterly interest payments and redemptions to existing investors with money raised from other investors in Ponzi-like fashion.

After more than a decade of Ponzi payments and operational losses, by May 2012, BPF owed investors more than $6.2 million, yet its insurance premium loan portfolio totaled less than $250,000, and it had total assets of less than $500,000.

As a result of the conduct alleged in the Amended Complaint, BPF and Michael Turnock engaged in a scheme to defraud BPF investors by, among other things, making misleading statements and omissions about the use of investor proceeds, BPF’s financial performance and condition, and the safety and security of the promissory note investments; by using investor proceeds to make Ponzi-like payments to other investors; and by providing fraudulent account statements to investors that reflected account balances that BPF could not pay. In or about February 2011, Sullivan joined the scheme to defraud and fully participated in it.

On May 7, 2015, a Fair Fund was created pursuant to Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Gilardi & Co. LLC was appointed to serve as the distribution agent of the Fair Fund in this matter, pursuant to the terms of a distribution plan to be approved by the Court.  The Distribution Plan provides that prior to deducting taxes, fees, and expenses of the tax administrator and fees and expenses of the distribution agent, $546,298 is available for distribution for the benefit of injured investors who purchased BPF promissory notes during the relevant period and suffered Harm pursuant to the Plan of Allocation.

On February 8, 2016, Senior U.S. District Judge John L Kane for the United States District Court for the District Colorado issued an Order approving the Distribution Plan in the matter of SEC v. Bridge Premium Finance, LLC (f/k/a Berjac of Colorado, LLC), Michael J. Turnock, and William P. Sullivan, II (“Defendants”).

The Distribution Agent shall oversee the administration of the procedures and distribution as provided in this Distribution Plan. The Distribution Agent shall make determinations under the criteria established in the Distribution Plan as to the eligibility of injured investors to recover monies and the amount of money to be distributed from the Distribution Fund to each injured investor.  To identify potential injured investors, the Commission obtained and analyzed records provided by various parties including (a) Bridge Premium Finance; (b) Michael J. Turnock; and (c) William P. Sullivan, II.

Investors who were able to withdraw money in amounts greater to or equal to their investment are not eligible for a pro rata share of the Distribution Fund as they were not harmed.  Defendants, relief defendant Jane K. Turnock and the minor children (at the time of their initial investment in BPF) of any Defendant or Jane K. Turnock will not be considered eligible investors entitled to a pro rata share of the distribution fund regardless of whether they lost money in the Ponzi scheme. Eligible third-party investors and eligible related-party investors will be treated equally in the determination of their pro rata share.

If you believe you are an injured investor and have not received a notice packet, please contact the Distrbution Agent at (888) 566-1481.

IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES