Investment Firm and CEO Fire Back at Brian Cunha - Allege Misrepresentations to Court

Investment Firm and CEO Fire Back at Brian Cunha - Allege Misrepresentations to Court

Early in May, attorney Brian Cunha filed a federal lawsuit against Winchester Capital Investment (WCI) and its Chairman and CEO, Ceasar N. Anquillare, alleging financial fraud and other violations. Cunha is a well-known personal injury lawyer in Southern New England who has spent millions in marketing promoting his legal practice.

Now, Anquillare and his firm are firing back at Cunha.

“We were shocked by this lawsuit filed by Attorney Cunha. We were astonished by the wholly wrong and misleading allegations, and this all during what we believed were good faith discussions about him exiting the partnership interest, without damaging the partnership,” said Ceasar Anquillare, CEO of WCI, in a statement to GoLocal.

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“According to the response filed with the U.S. Federal District Court in Providence, Cunha concealed from his complaint the fact that he had received 37 consecutive monthly payments amounting to $770,000 in dividends and repayment of capital from his partnership interest and that the value of the partnership could have been higher if not diminished by his demanded cash monthly drawings of $21,000,” according to Anquillare and WCI’s statement to GoLocal.

Moreover, the firm says that due to the friendship between Anquillare and Cunha, WCI charged no fees or costs to Cunha.

“We entered into a simple partnership arrangement and honored Brian’s requests. Following the decline in the stock market due to the Trump tariff announcements Brian demanded liquidation of the Partnership at a loss of in excess of $400,000 which is unacceptable to us because we believe in the future recovery of the U.S. market," said the firm. 

Anquillare added, "It is quite wrong of Cunha to file a misleading lawsuit to coerce liquidation at a loss. All of us are susceptible to market risk...these claims are false, and we are confident that we will be vindicated.”

According to WCI and Anquillare's court filing on Monday, they assert,  “Cunha seeks to claw back capital from a fully transparent and agreed-upon investment into which Cunha knowingly and voluntarily entered in December 2021. Cunha, an attorney, has already received over $770,000 from his investment and yet omits this material fact from his various filings. Moreover, as he well knows and again neglects to disclose to the Court, the balance of his principal remains intact in the investment account that he funded. Like any investment, the account balance is subject to the ebbs and flows of market conditions.”

Anquillare and his firm dispute nearly every claim that Cunha made in his lawsuit, other than the timeline of when they met and the fact that Cunha was using some portion of the proceeds of selling one of Newport’s most notable mansions, Beacon Rock.

Cunha and Anquillare were linked through a love of sailing. Anquillare is a member of the New York Yacht Club and was cited by a society magazine socializing in Newport as far back as 2009.

 

“There is No Probability of Success  — Plaintiff’s Fraud-Related Claims Are False and Misleading”

“Cunha has asserted a litany of meritless claims under federal, state and common law—the majority of which sound in fraud. Critical to any fraud or misrepresentation claim is the element of scienter, or ‘a mental state embracing intent to deceive, manipulate, or defraud'...if scienter is not established by direct evidence, it can also be proven by a showing of ‘extreme recklessness,’" according to the response filed by WCI and Anquillare in federal court. 

Further, Anquillare and WCI state in their filing, “Cunha cannot carry this high burden. There was no deception or concealment. Cunha set the material terms for the investment, including the monthly distributions. Beyond mere conclusory assertions, Cunha has pled no facts tending to show recklessness on the part of Mr. Anquillare or WCI. Cunha instead has asserted diffuse allegations about the ‘true nature of the investment vehicle, the lack of liquidity and the absence of control.’”

The response to Cunha’s claims repeatedly states that he has suffered no damages at the hands of Anquillare and WCI.

 

Wrong State

In addition, Anquillare and WCI assert that the lawsuit was filed in the wrong state.

"The record here demonstrates that neither Mr. Anquillare nor WCI is connected to the state of Rhode Island 'in any meaningful way,'" according to WCI and Anquillare's response in court. 

"Mr. Anquillare, a resident of Southport, Connecticut, has never owned property in the state of Rhode Island to which any prejudgment remedy might attach...other than a seasonal dock lease, which has since terminated in any event, Mr. Anquillare has no connection to Rhode Island on which Plaintiff can rely to establish personal jurisdiction," states the court filing.

"Similarly, Defendant WCI is organized under the laws of the State of Connecticut with a principal place of business in New Haven, Connecticut...WCI owns no properties in Rhode Island and is neither registered nor conducts any business in the state.”

Cunha’s suit seeks from the court an “Issuance of Prejudgment Remedy Attachment and Writ of Trustee Process.”

Anquillare and WCI argue against that and ask the court for a hearing.