A group of Middle Tennessee conservatives is suing a California businessman for $19 million, claiming he tricked them into investing into a sham business idea for a television network devoted to the tea party movement, according to the Tennessean.
The plaintiffs — Howard Luartes, Reinhold Holtkamp, William Hemrick and Melvin W. Martin of Williamson County; James Hearn of Davidson County; and James Huffnagle of Dickson County — claim in a federal lawsuit that they gave Anthony Loiacono a combined $287,500 after he gave a presentation to them at the Old Natchez Country Club in Franklin.
Loiacono said his business idea, Tea Party HD, was projected to make $19 million within three years, according to the lawsuit.
“The alleged purpose of Tea Party HD was to be the ‘world’s first HD provider of news about the Tea Party,'” the lawsuit states. “In reality it was an investment scheme to defraud politically conservative-minded citizens who support the Tea Party mission.”