The Dealings with a shady Shafeer Meeran

I would like to tell my story of dealings with a man know as Shafeer Meeran or Sam Meeran to others.
I first met Shafeer through an ex convict named Rene Greg Walter back in December 2005. Rene had just got done doing 2 years in a Federal pen for fraud. Rene was look to start a concert promotion business called Paragon Entertainment. www.paragonentertainmentpartners.com
Which I guess has since gone under. Rene knowing that I was looking to start or buy a business asked me to meet with him and some businessmen in the Northern Ohio area. This meeting took place in a nice retreat style hotel named The Walden Estates.
The Walden meeting is the first time I met with Shafeer Meeran and his wife Sharon. Rene introduced him as a large retail clothing supplier in the Ohio area. That night was nothing more than drinking chatting and watching some music video of a DJ Concert in Europe, one which Rene wanted to reproduce in the States.
As the night ended I was walking out along side of Shafeer and Sharon, and Shafeer mentioned that I should come by and see his store one day, Got Graphix, he stated that there may be an opportunity for me if I were looking to buy a business.
A few weeks passed and as I realized that Rene was nothing more than a smoke and mirrors man, as nothing he was promising was coming true, I called Shafeer. He gave me directions to his store which I was surprised, was a retail store in a local mall called Got Graphix. Here I am picturing a large distribution company with some factories.
Anyway Shafeer shows me around his store which was a tee shirt shop that put photos on shirts, coffee mugs, mousepads and other items. Shafeer told me about the profit margins and the money to be made in this all cash business. I wasn't all that excited about the idea at first and had been looking at a window manufacturing and distribution company at the same time.
When plans for the window company fell through, I called Shafeer back asking more information about his store Got Graphix. He mentioned that he had two stores at the time one in Tower City Cleveland and the other in Chapel Hill Mall in Cuyahoga Falls. He said that he was selling them for 150,000 ea and would be willing to carry some money on them. We talked numbers and he had stated that he was doing about 15k per month in his Chapel Hill store, and that during the holidays you would make 30 to 40k per month for November and December. As anyone would I started to get a little more interested. After discussing things over with my wife we agreed to meet with him and his wife Sharon for dinner to discuss the business further. He had emailed over some initial information about what you would get with the business and in his emails kept referring to the business as a cash cow.
After that dinner my wife and I were pretty fired up, but we knew from our attempts with the window company that getting that much money raised would be a hopeless effort. I called Shafeer and told him that we were excited with the business but would have to decline as it wasn't in our budget.
About two weeks went by when Shafeer called me and said that he may have another solution and that he would like to discuss it further in person. We meet with Shafeer and Sharon again and he mentioned that rather than buy one of his existing stores that he would help me get started in my own store. The cost would be reduced to 75,000 and in that price would include, all equipment, fixtures, inventory and 10 days on hand training. He even said that he would be willing to carry a note.
It took us about two months and we came up with 20,000 down and were ready to get going on our business. Shafeer had taken us to several malls to look at space all of which was 1000 square feet or more. The malls for one reason or another were hard to get into, either they had someone who did a similar business or they rented out the space during our decision process. Either way it was getting closer to the holidays and we knew we needed to be in to make that 30 to 40k Shafeer had told us we would be making. It was about a month into the process when Shafeer had mentioned the there was space in a Mall that he had been in previously just during the holidays.
I agreed to drive up an look at it. It was all of 238 sqft in what was like a glass closet on the main drag of the mall. No doubt that the exposure was right but this business was all about custom stuff that needed to be made in the store and I wasn't sure how that would be accomplished in a small space. Shafeer assured me that it was no problem and the I would be making 8500 a month right out the gate. One thing never occurred to me until a few weeks later. The store sizes that he was showing me before which he was going to furnish with fixtures and inventory were 1,000 to 1500 in size now he is outfitting me with fixtures and inventory for a 238 sqft store, but there wasn't any reduction in price.
It was the middle of October and I wanted to get the store opened as soon as possible. Shafeer told me we would be set up to open in a few days but each day he was scheduled to come by with supplies early in the morning, he ended up coming by around 3 or 4 in the afternoon keeping me waiting around as i had the key. Then he would only be there to drop the stuff off and said he had to leave but would be back the next day early to get things finished. This went on for 5 days and I ended up being the one having to set the store up with the displays and fixtures. Me never having a retail store in my life, and the guy who has done this business for 15 to 20 years with all the experience was no where to be found. As I started to unpack the equipment I noticed that most of my equipment was used, for instance the computer had downloaded songs in it and email address in the outlook book. The heat press had a worn out pad cover and the engraver didn't have any of the manuals with it, I started to fear that this was not going to run as smoothly as I thought.
Finally my opening day was to arrive , it was Friday October 20th what is known as sweetest day here in the east, kind of like a Valentine rip off.
So Shafeer shows up with his airbrush set up around 2pm, My store had opened at 9am, and we began day one of my 10 day on hands training. The day went smooth Shafeer showing me how to work the register and talking to customers. At around 8pm an hour before the store was to close Shafeer was packing up to leave. He asked if I had any questions, which I said no, but I felt if I did after that night I would have plenty of time to get them answered in the following days to come.
As Shafeer left he mentioned that he was leaving on vacation an that if I had any questions I should call his store and talk to Jeremiah Sharon's son how works at that store.
So much for 10 days on hands training, that was the last day I saw Shafeer in my store. As I fumbled through the next few weeks trying to figure things out by trial and error or calling and speaking to Jeremiah or Shafeer to get clarification I realized I was left on my own.
After struggling to make my payments for 5 months and a November that produced 4800 in sales and December that produced 15,000 in sales I realized that this guy had lied and deceived me all along.
I had to close the store and I am now looking to take legal action against this shyster. I have since found others that have fallen to his same scheme of massive profits and little effort in the tee shirt making business. I have also learned that this guy has been all over the country selling this same flawed business model and only one that claims he is doing well but yet even he has his business for sale.
If any of you out there ever come in contact with Shafeer Sam Meeran take a good hard look at the numbers he is preaching and the equipment he is selling. Try getting references from him on other businesses that he has sold and a list of the equipment, inventory and fixtures that he is selling.
If on the other hand you have fallen victim to this scheme already here is a place to tell your story and maybe even be part of the legal case against this fraud.

Sincerely,
Got Screwed