Financial and emotional wreckage trailed behind Kenneth W. Germain from Boca Raton, Fla., to Littleton over a span of a quarter-century.
Germain’s “shady” dealings swiped away the life savings of dozens of investors, including a piano teacher and a 90-year-old man. His grandiose schemes inevitably led to foreclosures, bankruptcies and divorces.
But the pain he caused after a succession of failed businesses never seemed to crimp the lifestyle of the wheeler/dealer. He boasted an expensive art collection, drove a sparkling new Cadillac and lived in a $700,000 home in Littleton.
Then on June 29, one of the people whom the 68-year-old Germain had allegedly bilked came after him.
Colin Collea, 57, who lost more than $400,000 in investments with Germain, allegedly shot his longtime business associate repeatedly before shooting himself to death in Germain’s swanky rented Bear Creek Lake Park home.
“Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long,” said Rick Johnson, a former Denver district attorney’s office investigator of white-collar crime who is now in private practice.
The investigation of the shootings could take another several weeks, said Littleton police Cmdr. Kim Ferber. But so far, nothing has indicated anything different from a murder- suicide.
Germain wasn’t always a hated swindler.
He began his financial career in the 1960s on Wall Street, where he once managed a half- billion dollars in investments for corporations and private clients such as T. Boone Pickens and George Soros, according to his promotional materials. He was a respected financial analyst who appeared regularly on “Wall Street Week” and was featured in lengthy news stories. His promotional materials say he formed the successful Twenty-First Securities Corp. in New York.
But beginning in the 1980s and extending until this year, a string of lawsuits, failed businesses and bankruptcies came to define Germain as a businessman.
Johnson’s agency discovered 10 bankruptcy filings involving Germain businesses in Florida, including a 1998 case in which his business owed $2 million to 100 creditors including the IRS, and the states of Colorado and New York.
Germain formed a new company in Colorado called EQ Invest in 2004. He recruited investors to buy homes from him at inflated prices, said Bradley Jackson, one of the Colorado investors.
Jackson bought five homes under the condition that Germain would fix up the home, rent it out and later sell the home at a profit.
He told Jackson and other investors that he was independently wealthy, had never declared bankruptcy and didn’t even want a salary.
“He wasn’t very truthful. He had a checkered past,” said Jackson, who would lose about $75,000 in the deals.
Germain said he would make money only when the homes were sold.
“He was very smooth,” said Lisa Downing, a Denver musician, talent agent and piano teacher. “He could kick you in the leg and convince you it didn’t happen. He was like a hypnotist.”
A total of 64 investors bought 166 homes between 2004 and 2006. Downing bought nine and persuaded her friends to invest as well.
Germain was to find renters for the homes and pay all mortgage payments. He made only a few payments.
When investors discovered he had reneged on making the payments, they also discovered that Germain had not found renters for the homes and that many had broken windows and were strewn with feces. They learned belatedly that Germain had sold the homes at inflated prices — up to $90,000 more than they were worth.
“My opinion is he is a sociopath,” Downing said. “I lost about $50,000. At one point, I considered suicide.”
In 2007, a Denver grand jury indicted Germain on 62 counts of securities fraud under Colorado’s organized-crime act. But when Chief Deputy District Attorney Joe Morales replaced the prosecutors who originally handled the case, he determined there was insufficient evidence to go forward. Many investors were not happy with his decision, he said.
Germain subsequently obtained a court order sealing the case, and Morales said he is barred from commenting.
“It was astonishing that he got his get-out-of-jail-free card,” Downing said.
Several investors hired attorneys including Matthew Barringer, who filed lawsuits against Germain.
Germain played a cat-and- mouse game. Barringer said he hired two process-server companies to serve Germain.
“It was one of the most bizarre cases I’ve ever had,” Barringer said. “People got divorced over this. One client lost her house. She had to file bankruptcy.”
Jackson said he sued Germain but later dropped the complaint after concluding Germain didn’t have any money to go after.
At one point, one of Barringer’s process servers pinned the service to Germain’s door after the agent saw him inside the home refusing to answer the door. About a year ago, however, Collea testified in court that he was the one inside the home and not Germain.
Collea had invested more than $400,000 in a newer Germain business, American Home Funding.
“I think he was interested in hitting it big,” said Kurt Jarvie, who remained Collea’s close friend after Collea and Jarvie’s sister divorced.
Family members described Collea as an easygoing, friendly man who often greeted clients at American Home Funding’s polished new offices in Englewood.
Michael SaBell recalls Germain offering to rent his $700,000 home at 5931 S. Camargo Way in Littleton during a visit to Germain’s plush offices.
“It seemed to me he was a top executive,” SaBell said. “He had an impressive nameplate. He had all his ducks in a row.”
Germain paid two months’ rent last summer — more than $5,000. He paid every month on time.
Neighbor Mary Platt, 79, said Germain and his wife, Ellen, were so secretive, she thought they were in a witness-protection program. A few months ago, Germain pulled a new Cadillac into the three-car garage, she said.
But American Home Funding had stopped paying its brokers and in March filed for bankruptcy.
Germain repeatedly told Collea that he would be repaid his investment. Three weeks ago, Germain admitted that Collea would never get his money back.
Jarvie said he was stunned when he heard Collea, who didn’t have a criminal record and was a passive person, had killed Germain.
“He must have been really pissed off and in desperate circumstances,” he said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206,
