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Another fall from grace??? Black Diamond Fleet

Tank

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This doesn’t sound good. Sounds like Ponzi scheme to me. Skip and Chad always treated us very well. Hopefully they’re made right.

For those of you not familiar. Derek is the guy with the black diamond fleet always rolls HUGE to key west. I guess in other people’s money. 🤷🏻‍♂️


I don’t know what it is but it always seems like these guys that come and go that are bigger than life just seem to always have something shady going on.

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HubbaHubbaLife

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This doesn’t sound good. Sounds like Ponzi scheme to me. Skip and Chad always treated us very well. Hopefully they’re made right.

For those of you not familiar. Derek is the guy with the black diamond fleet always rolls HUGE to key west. I guess in other people’s money. 🤷🏻‍♂️


I don’t know what it is but it always seems like these guys that come and go that are bigger than life just seem to always have something shady going on.

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Agree.... didn't read article but will say that when my country ass moved to Newport Beach in 1990 I joined the newest fanciest health club in Irvine; Sports Club. Loaded with all the flashy types. I was a member for maybe 25 years and about every 2-4 years a real loud flashy new guy in town would join and post up at the bar.... they'd burn real bright for maybe a year or so and then be gone in a moment. Usually back to S Africa after taking some idiots "investment" money to open tanning salons or some such shit. I even saw some federal agents take one out of the executive locker room one day in cuffs. Its a thing with these flashy dudes.
 

monkeyswrench

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I see a trend though...
"....promised would yield quick returns."
This seems to be a huge red flag to most normal folks. It's like the Madoff Mantra. To me it sucks not only the people getting taken, but also it usually has an effect on the people they employ. Millions is a huge hit, and costs need to be cut to stay afloat.
 

traquer

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I see a trend though...
"....promised would yield quick returns."
This seems to be a huge red flag to most normal folks. It's like the Madoff Mantra. To me it sucks not only the people getting taken, but also it usually has an effect on the people they employ. Millions is a huge hit, and costs need to be cut to stay afloat.
Yes sir, cousin lost a few hundred grand like that..

The people susceptible to this are the entrepreneur types who've done these sort of partnerships before and were honest and paid their partners out as-agreed!! It's hard for them to fathom the fact that someone could blow up a relationship, lose the money and go to jail and basically ruin their life by being so stupid and scummy! In other words, I think only honest people would fall for something like this :(
 

Tank

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They have filthy money from Paragon Industries and probably had a giant life insurance policy on the dad who just passed. This is probably just a side hustle for them tbh 💀

Oh he’s into all types of big business. The pipe stuff for the oil industry, heard he was into weed growing among other very profitable businesses. Kinda why i was trippin a bit he wasn’t returning the money. I guess him and the bravers became very good friends. No bueno.

I do know that skip is a shrewd business man and isn’t one to fall for a scam easily. We’ll see how it works out I suppose.
 

TVMNick

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I'm sure you saw the "tentative" listing for all of the boats this morning on FB? Must be more to the story than meets the eye, can't imagine why he'd be offloading the entire fleet of boats at the same time.
 

JFMFG

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I'm sure you saw the "tentative" listing for all of the boats this morning on FB? Must be more to the story than meets the eye, can't imagine why he'd be offloading the entire fleet of boats at the same time.
Link? I don’t have fb.
 

CarolynandBob

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Have a guy like that in our park. Flashy and spending money like crazy. Come to find out he owes 3 mil + in back taxes. Yeah it is easier to spend a lot when you do pay taxes. Dumb ass will be doing time according to the charges and plea.
 
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whiteworks

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Colorful individuals like this tend to have a long list of previous litigation in their wake, my guess is if you dig around a bit you will find all kinds of dirt and this isn’t this guys first rodeo, but more so standard operating procedure. It’s neat and all to show up places with all that cool shit in tow, but you gotta have some serious issues to need to show off all your junk like that LOL
 

C-Ya

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Colorful individuals like this tend to have a long list of previous litigation in their wake, my guess is if you dig around a bit you will find all kinds of dirt and this isn’t this guys first rodeo, but more so standard operating procedure. It’s neat and all to show up places with all that cool shit in tow, but you gotta have some serious issues to need to show off all your junk like that LOL
Hey @regor ………. Could you dig up the dirt on this guy? Inquiring minds want to know.
 

OC Daytona

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Colorful individuals like this tend to have a long list of previous litigation in their wake, my guess is if you dig around a bit you will find all kinds of dirt and this isn’t this guys first rodeo, but more so standard operating procedure. It’s neat and all to show up places with all that cool shit in tow, but you gotta have some serious issues to need to show off all your junk like that LOL
For sure......I'm not impressed when you did it with other peoples hard earned $$$. Doing with "daddy's money" is only slightly better.

I'm just jealous I had to work for everything ;) I'd be a great trust fund kid. LAM. 😁
 

Orange Juice

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It's been said over and over. This is what happens, and “is what it is”, when we reach 3rd generational wealth.

“..it just disappeared in the blink of an eye.”

Life is good until it's not.

What happened to the rolled steel? I picture in my mind, rolls of steel sitting in a warehouse near the Florida coast, waiting for production, and a hurricane barreling through, and flooding the warehouse, and the rolls of steel, without insurance. 😉

The storm is over, and now everyone wants their money, pointing fingers. Its all good until its not. 😖
 

rrrr

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These type of stories are so common in Florida, I’ve lost count.
When a fraudster meets a greedy victim, the outcome is predictable.

In this instance, the Bravers were lured by the claims of 100% profit.

While I'm not Warren Buffet, I know that cold rolled steel coils are a low profit commodity. Unless the deal was represented as transformer steel or other specialized product, buying and selling coils will generate minimal profits.

Even if the product was a relatively expensive niche steel, the expectation it could be sold at a price that doubled the investor's money was naive at best, and more plausibly motivated by greed and stupidity. Don't forget that Wachob would have also wanted a substantial profit, meaning the transaction would have had to generate much more than the promised 100% return to account for the vig.

Of course I have no idea how the deal went down or what was promised by Wachob. Perhaps I'm being unfair to the Bravers, and I freely admit I'm just SGOTI voicing my opinion, which means it's worthless speculation.
 

caribbean20

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While I'm not Warren Buffet, I know that cold rolled steel coils are a low profit commodity. Unless the deal was represented as transformer steel or other specialized product, buying and selling coils will generate minimal profits.
Exactly what I was thinking. This is a low margin commodity for christ sakes. You do a hard money loan on that, when the high roller borrower can’t get a bank loan?? Something ain’t right in Denmark here.

and hardly would call this a “fall from grace,” and no disrespect meant to Tank, it was just a thread title. I’m just sayin a big showboating person like this who can’t pay his bills hardly holds a position of “grace.”

Of course I’m sure it’s a shock to everyone that something like this could happen in the boat arena. 😳
 

OC Daytona

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I mean guys you know the program is suspect when they are running 350 Verados on the helipad...
Right?!? Good eye...... should've been V10's or 7 Seas 627's. Are they still in BNIS?
 
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HubbaHubbaLife

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Agree.... didn't read article but will say that when my country ass moved to Newport Beach in 1990 I joined the newest fanciest health club in Irvine; Sports Club. Loaded with all the flashy types. I was a member for maybe 25 years and about every 2-4 years a real loud flashy new guy in town would join and post up at the bar.... they'd burn real bright for maybe a year or so and then be gone in a moment. Usually back to S Africa after taking some idiots "investment" money to open tanning salons or some such shit. I even saw some federal agents take one out of the executive locker room one day in cuffs. Its a thing with these flashy dudes.
Coolest thing about being over 60 is having seen it all.... these things actually become somewhat repetitive which just gets me laughing every time... never fails
 

Kenboat

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The only thing I like in the photos is the tender with a 60 hp, what the hell is that boat?
 

Tank

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Dayum. Plot thickens…from oso

“When the probate after Derek's father finally gets settled I hope Skip gets some money. The Trump Administration gave Derek Wachob and his partner

Gary Bacon Jr. a $18 million agriculture loan guarantee, but not to grow weed on an industrial scale, which they did. I guess the choppers and the smell

eventually got the neighbors pist off and they filed charges. It became a Tenth Circuit RICO Case. That'll take a while. Nucor Corp. was the steel sheet

company that sent Derek $32 million dollars of product that Skip 'invested in', between May and July of 2022. They finally filed charges the other day.

They haven't received a penny, but had done business with Derek's father for decades and though things would work out. Huge weed farm. Choppers.

Fast boats. Is the 1980s back? Will Derek and his RICO partner go to jail and try to get out Ben Kramer style by chopper?”
 

JFMFG

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Dayum. Plot thickens…from oso

“When the probate after Derek's father finally gets settled I hope Skip gets some money. The Trump Administration gave Derek Wachob and his partner

Gary Bacon Jr. a $18 million agriculture loan guarantee, but not to grow weed on an industrial scale, which they did. I guess the choppers and the smell

eventually got the neighbors pist off and they filed charges. It became a Tenth Circuit RICO Case. That'll take a while. Nucor Corp. was the steel sheet

company that sent Derek $32 million dollars of product that Skip 'invested in', between May and July of 2022. They finally filed charges the other day.

They haven't received a penny, but had done business with Derek's father for decades and though things would work out. Huge weed farm. Choppers.

Fast boats. Is the 1980s back? Will Derek and his RICO partner go to jail and try to get out Ben Kramer style by chopper?”
Holy shit. Team black diamond is now team black hole. I really admired that guys love for boats and boating. Not he’s just another asshole that fucks over long term friends to get what he wants temporarily.
 

RiverDave

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Dayum. Plot thickens…from oso

“When the probate after Derek's father finally gets settled I hope Skip gets some money. The Trump Administration gave Derek Wachob and his partner

Gary Bacon Jr. a $18 million agriculture loan guarantee, but not to grow weed on an industrial scale, which they did. I guess the choppers and the smell

eventually got the neighbors pist off and they filed charges. It became a Tenth Circuit RICO Case. That'll take a while. Nucor Corp. was the steel sheet

company that sent Derek $32 million dollars of product that Skip 'invested in', between May and July of 2022. They finally filed charges the other day.

They haven't received a penny, but had done business with Derek's father for decades and though things would work out. Huge weed farm. Choppers.

Fast boats. Is the 1980s back? Will Derek and his RICO partner go to jail and try to get out Ben Kramer style by chopper?”


That is fucking wild..
 
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