One person is sticking by Mr. Goodman: Cathy Cagle, a consultant who helps him book podcasts and do other work.
“I don’t believe that he ever intended to do anything wrong, nor did he feel that he was doing anything wrong,” she said. “We tend to take the high road on almost every subject if we can.”
Victims in the scheme will get some fraction of their money back once the now-bankrupt Woodbridge sells its assets. In the meantime, the Toshners, the couple in Wisconsin who heard Mr. Goodman on the radio, have sued him. Among other things, they allege that he encouraged them to sell their home to have more money to send to Woodbridge.
“It was super safe and going to return 6 percent,” said the couple’s lawyer, Michael Schaalman. His clients would have been skeptical of an investment promising double-digit returns, but 6 percent didn’t seem suspiciously sky-high, he said.
“These were not greedy people,” Mr. Schaalman said.
Mr. Goodman’s lawyer has not yet filed a response. But Mr. Schaalman said that after the Toshners inquired with Mr. Goodman directly, Mr. Goodman did acknowledge that he stood to make some money if they made an investment. The details, however, were not clear, Mr. Schaalman added.
Last year, as Woodbridge was unraveling but before the S.E.C. caught up with him personally, he talked about the company on the radio. Don McDonald, a co-host of “Talking Real Money” on KOMO in Seattle, had Mr. Goodman on his show for the first time in years and confronted him about Woodbridge.
“I feel very bad that this was what happened, that the S.E.C. went after them in what I consider a witch hunt, basically,” Mr. Goodman told him.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/your-money/money-answers-man-jordan-goodman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.