Fox News Channel and Some Bad “Reg D Advertising” Actors….

By Barry Minkow

I wasn’t planning to bring this up. It’s not something I wanted to spotlight, but staying silent risks making me the very cherry-picker of information I’ve criticized in the accounting fraud scandals tied to far too many Reg D multifamily real estate entities.

So, when Jacob Adelman, an award-winning Barron’s reporter who covered the NRIA (National Realty Investment Advisors) scandal—a $650 million Reg D real estate fraud where I was a whistleblower—sent me a 5:00 a.m. email on a Saturday, I knew it had to be important. And it was. Jacob shared news about the recent January 2025 indictment of a former VP of sales, Ivel Turner, in New Jersey.

While I was gathering evidence for a whistleblower report, Turner had been one of my main contacts at NRIA, assuming I was just another potential investor. We connected well, so I wasn’t surprised when, after leaving NRIA pre-implosion, he contacted me to pitch a 22% annual return if I invested $500,000 in a Reg D real estate deal with his new company, Oasis Realty Investment Group. I didn’t invest but kept the emails, immediately forwarding them to law enforcement in February 2022. Those emails turned out to help corroborate Turner’s involvement in this new financial crime. Three years later, Turner was indicted for misappropriating $2.3 million of investor funds.

This indictment brought back memories of warning emails I sent that were ignored. In the past, I’ve had the privilege of being a frequent guest on Fox News and even had one of their hosts graciously write a blurb for a book I released years ago. I hold deep respect and admiration for the network—except for one notable experience.?

Looking back at the $650 million NRIA fraud, one thing that stood out was its heavy use of paid TV ads on major networks, promising 18–21% targeted returns. No network aired these ads more frequently than Fox News Channel. To be fair, other networks also ran these ads repeatedly. Advertising departments aren’t expected to audit advertisers; they rely on representations made by the company. But crooks lie. Of the $650 million defrauded in the NRIA scheme, $90 million came from elderly investors.

Starting in 2020/2021, I began contacting Fox News Channel via email, carefully wording my requests to investigate NRIA. I emphasized, “Please don’t believe Barry, I don’t want a dime…” but urged them to examine the evidence of what appeared to be a financial fraud in progress under federal investigation. I stressed that by continuing to air NRIA’s ads, they risked enabling harm to more people. I reached out to their PR department, legal department, and former producers I knew. No one responded. In October 2022, federal agents raided NRIA’s headquarters, and as of January 2025, the investigation concluded with the Ivel Turner indictment.?

As for Fox News Channel?? Chalk it up to a learning experience and note to network, advertise everyone’s product or service freely but, and based on the historical evidence, if a company wants to tout double digitreturns to investors in a Reg D deal, it’s a hard no without independent proof of profitability.? Make sense?? I mean, if I am the chairman of the audit committee, it’s a no brainer.

Imagine my surprise, when I recently saw another Fox News Channel commercial where Yrefy, an Arizona based company that was offering double digit returns to investors in a Reg D promissory loan note offering.? The frequency of the these new ads is ever increasing. But it isn’t just the frequent Fox News Channel TV ads that Yrefy has in common with NRIA.?

On page 67 of Yrefy LLC’s PPM, the fully disclosed fraud is revealed. Similarly, NRIA’s PPM had a comparable disclosure about using new investor funds to pay off earlier investors. Yrefy states:

"Management believes that based on "forward-looking factors, with a capital raise of $10M (accomplished as of Q3, 2022), such proceeds will capitalize and sustain Yrefy SLP4, LLC sufficiently to allow the refinancing of private student loans, the purchase of previous SLPs, and the retirement of previous investors."

Hmmm, raise money and use some of the proceeds to pay investors—now that’s a red flag. There are other serious concerns with Yrefy, LLC. I respect Fox News as a great network and a product I personally use. They’ve conducted outstanding investigations that have helped countless people. That’s precisely why their hard-earned credibility shouldn’t be leveraged to promote a double-digit “fixed” return investment with striking similarities to a previous disaster. And if you’re wondering whether I once against reached out to the network and received no response—well, you can bet your Reg D double-digit return that I didn’t.

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