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Should I sue my friend to recover my investment? (alien.top)

submitted 2 years ago by Thirdfcuk@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space

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Hi, I’m a freelance software developer. My friend had an LLC and wanted me to join him for a project to revamp his online store.

I invested 5k and entered only a profit-sharing scheme. I worked on top of it, being in charge of the project. If successful, the profit shares would have been a great return. Big IF but I knew the risks.

However, soon after starting I noticed that my friend had exaggerated his financials and had no plan as to what he wanted to achieve. Also, I had to incur extra costs like shopify themes and other tools that he said he would reimburse me for but made a lot of excuses to not pay them back.

Fast forward to a couple weeks after we started, he’s shutting down his LLC. I told him we should re-do the contract since I signed with his LLC if the project should continue. He’s gaslighting me into doubting him and telling me to just trust him and not worry about it. Obviously I’m not stupid and I’m catching onto his conman traits such as talking big and always mentioning his big past successes and the high profile people he knows.

Basically he has no intentions to re-do the contract and firm on not returning my money. He constantly reminds me “if you quit the investment is lost” (actual clause in the contract). No clause about what happens if the LLC disappears. What are my rights? 5% of me says I’m misreading the situation but my gut instinct is so strong on this one. I think I would sue and just lose this friend.

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[–] I__Know__Things@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

If i were in your position, i would 1) not quit, just become generally unavailable except for when you actually have free time (an hour two a month) 2) i doubt you had a lawyer look at the original agreement, because that clause about you quitting and voiding the entire “investment “ doesn’t sound like it would be enforceable. 3) legals fees in the US make suing over this unlikely to bear any fruit.

My only reservation is that this all occurred within the period of a few weeks. Which is an amazingly short period of time to go from “this is worth making a profit share agreement” to “i closed the llc”. Which makes me think that maybe this isn’t the first time it’s happened and there may be other victims. I would do some research and if I find evidence of an ongoing scam I would file a police report And follow up with the local prosecutor’s office.