Michael Geller is accusing his former accountant of embezzling. (Stock image)
A Denver real estate developer and investor alleges that his friend operated “a sophisticated, multi-level scheme” that robbed him of $1.4 million over nearly a decade.
Michael Geller, 78, owns Geller Financial Lending along with several development and management companies, according to a lawsuit he filed July 29. In the 2000s, mutual friends introduced him to Donald Prosser, who has been an accountant since 1977.
In 2010, as his business interests diversified and medical problems arose, Geller hired Prosser to handle his finances. When Geller Financial Lending was formed in 2020, Prosser was made a cosigner on its bank account and given a stack of checks, according to the lawsuit.
“Geller trusted Prosser as a friend and as a CPA,” last month’s lawsuit explains.
The developer now believes that trust was misplaced. In the late fall of 2023, Geller asked Prosser for financial information on all of Geller’s companies and projects. When that request was denied, he hired a financial specialist to investigate. When that specialist found signs of missing money, Geller hired a forensic accounting firm, his lawsuit says.
“Following several months of analysis, the investigation revealed a sophisticated, multi-level scheme that had been carefully orchestrated by Prosser,” Geller alleges.
Level 1: Prosser allegedly underreported the dividends that Geller and other shareholders in a company called Three Dawg Knight Investment LLC were to receive each quarter, and only made 12 payments to Geller over the course of 32 quarters from 2015 to 2023.
Level 2: Prosser allegedly paid himself and his friends from the Three Dawg dividends, and backfilled the Three Dawg account with Geller Financial Lending funds as needed.
Level 3: Prosser allegedly embezzled from GFL and Geller’s personal bank account.
Geller claims that of the $7.3 million that Three Dawg took in, only $5.9 was distributed to its members. Of the missing $1.4 million, Geller was supposed to get $1.1 million.
Through checks, ATM withdrawals and wire transfers, Prosser allegedly moved $1.4 million to himself, his current and former accounting firms, his lawyers and his friends. An additional $62,000 from Three Dawg’s bank account was spent on Celebrity Cruise trips and $4,400 was spent at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, among other vacations, Geller claims.
“I can’t talk about it,” Prosser responded when called by BusinessDen. “We tried to get it settled, so I was taken aback by that (lawsuit). I was told not to talk about it.”
Geller is suing his former friend for theft, unjust enrichment, concealment and negligence. He wants Judge Andrew Luxen in Denver to award him three times what was stolen.
According to Geller’s lawsuit, Prosser is a principal at Hanson & Co. CPAs in Glendale, which is also being sued by Geller. That company did not answer requests for comment on the case. Geller is no longer listed as a member of Hanson & Co. on the company’s website.
Michael Geller is accusing his former accountant of embezzling. (Stock image)
A Denver real estate developer and investor alleges that his friend operated “a sophisticated, multi-level scheme” that robbed him of $1.4 million over nearly a decade.
Michael Geller, 78, owns Geller Financial Lending along with several development and management companies, according to a lawsuit he filed July 29. In the 2000s, mutual friends introduced him to Donald Prosser, who has been an accountant since 1977.
In 2010, as his business interests diversified and medical problems arose, Geller hired Prosser to handle his finances. When Geller Financial Lending was formed in 2020, Prosser was made a cosigner on its bank account and given a stack of checks, according to the lawsuit.
“Geller trusted Prosser as a friend and as a CPA,” last month’s lawsuit explains.
The developer now believes that trust was misplaced. In the late fall of 2023, Geller asked Prosser for financial information on all of Geller’s companies and projects. When that request was denied, he hired a financial specialist to investigate. When that specialist found signs of missing money, Geller hired a forensic accounting firm, his lawsuit says.
“Following several months of analysis, the investigation revealed a sophisticated, multi-level scheme that had been carefully orchestrated by Prosser,” Geller alleges.
Level 1: Prosser allegedly underreported the dividends that Geller and other shareholders in a company called Three Dawg Knight Investment LLC were to receive each quarter, and only made 12 payments to Geller over the course of 32 quarters from 2015 to 2023.
Level 2: Prosser allegedly paid himself and his friends from the Three Dawg dividends, and backfilled the Three Dawg account with Geller Financial Lending funds as needed.
Level 3: Prosser allegedly embezzled from GFL and Geller’s personal bank account.
Geller claims that of the $7.3 million that Three Dawg took in, only $5.9 was distributed to its members. Of the missing $1.4 million, Geller was supposed to get $1.1 million.
Through checks, ATM withdrawals and wire transfers, Prosser allegedly moved $1.4 million to himself, his current and former accounting firms, his lawyers and his friends. An additional $62,000 from Three Dawg’s bank account was spent on Celebrity Cruise trips and $4,400 was spent at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, among other vacations, Geller claims.
“I can’t talk about it,” Prosser responded when called by BusinessDen. “We tried to get it settled, so I was taken aback by that (lawsuit). I was told not to talk about it.”
Geller is suing his former friend for theft, unjust enrichment, concealment and negligence. He wants Judge Andrew Luxen in Denver to award him three times what was stolen.
According to Geller’s lawsuit, Prosser is a principal at Hanson & Co. CPAs in Glendale, which is also being sued by Geller. That company did not answer requests for comment on the case. Geller is no longer listed as a member of Hanson & Co. on the company’s website.
