Adam Lopez sued by three family members

Oct. 19--Three relatives of Springfield School Board vice president Adam Lopez filed lawsuits against him and his former employer, Country Financial, on Thursday.

A Springfield couple, Beverly and Robert Lenhart, allege that Lopez, their nephew, engaged in a scheme "to deceive and defraud" them of at least $800,000 in retirement savings. Richard Lenhart, Lopez's cousin, made similar accusations in a separate suit, alleging Lopez took up to $125,000 in savings meant for investment.

According to court documents, Lopez allegedly convinced the plaintiffs to sign checks over to him personally with the understanding Lopez would invest those funds in safer retirement accounts.

The money was never invested, however, with the suit alleging Lopez "intended to induce (them) to make withdrawals/distributions of all their retirement savings and write personal checks to him which he deposited into his own personal account and used for his own personal affairs."

Beverly and Robert have been clients of Country Financial since 2008 and Richard, their son, since 2009.

When Beverly retired in 2014 and Robert retired in 2015, they transferred the money in their employer-based retirement accounts to Country Financial accounts under Lopez's advisement, the lawsuit said.

Lopez then allegedly told them in April 2015 their new investments were too high risk and encouraged them to "roll over" their funds to lower risk investments. Lopez told the couple he could do this if they wrote him personal checks.

They did and now the money is apparently missing, the lawsuit claims.

Among the charges in the lawsuit: fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent inducement, consumer fraud, common-law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, financial exploitation of an elderly person, breach of contract and violation of Illinois Securities Law of 1953.

Lopez's attorney, Carl Draper, said he had not seen the latest filings but that Lopez was confident in his business record.

"Mr. Lopez certainly believes he has fully complied with his business obligations for all clients, and we will look into it and take appropriate action," Draper said.

Country Financial spokesman Chris Stroisch said the company cannot comment on pending litigation but that it "is working diligently to resolve any concerns customers may have about their Country Financial accounts and Mr. Lopez."

The suits add to Lopez's growing legal troubles. Last week, Springfield resident Ronald Standridge sued him for financial exploitation of the elderly, alleging Lopez took about $69,000 from him through an investment scheme.

Lopez was fired by Country Financial in early September in relation to a customer complaint. Additional clients have since made complaints against Lopez and an investigation was opened by the Springfield Police Department, which raided his home and Springfield office last month. The department confirmed Wednesday the investigation has been taken over by the FBI.

Earlier this week, Lopez filed a discrimination complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights against Country Financial, alleging that his termination was retaliation for complaints he made about racially insensitive comments directed at him by other Country Financial employees.

Contact Brenden Moore: 788-1526, [email protected], twitter.com/brendenmoore13.

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