DST Report

From Versity to Crew

As of 2026-09-05

This page follows Versity Investments into Versity Invest / Crew: the revolving bridge, the second LLC, and the cases that followed. It is not legal advice. Pending BrokerCheck items are allegations. Settlements are not findings of liability.

The situation

Monthly distributions stopped on many of these DSTs around May 2024, including buildings that still had tenants. Users on the forum said occupied buildings in different cities stopped in the same weeks, sixteen at once.12 KHCA sued in New York that season. Later complaints allege that Blake Wettengel and Tanya Muro sent syndication proceeds and property-account cash to other real estate and to themselves.

Holders now sit in different recoveries.

DSTRecoverySourceOn this record
Vintage, The Walk, One on 4th, and HayworthBehind unpaid bridgedocumentedLeftover IB percentages live on those pages. The $56,157,281 table is alleged uses of syndication proceeds across the four — a different number.
Apex South CreekBehind leftover-equity notesdocumentedIBI Volcano / West 4, entered money judgment. Separate from the KHCA four.
4th & J721 / sale talkdocumentedA 721 UPREIT path and a direct sale at 80–90 cents, same webinar.
Wolf Run, Astoria, Oakbrook, Campus Walk, AW Newport, CP Cincy, Inspire on 22nd, and 345 FlatsDistributions frozenforumSame May 2024 weeks; 345 Flats June 2024.
ShadowglenCapital callforumA 14 Aug 2026 Russell email.
Buckingham, Element, and The NineSenior-lender firedocumentedForeclosure or receivership on the first mortgage.

Track Role

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Sequence of events

Filings are in the footnotes.

Before 2021

2021

  • May: Crayhill revolver. Borrower Versity EquityCo; Nelson, Wettengel, and Muro on the paper. Vintage, Walk, and Hayworth later close on this line.4
  • 28 October: 4th & J first sale. Related persons: all three. Still Versity Investments.5

2022

  • March: Wettengel and Muro form Versity Invest. Wettengel is still CEO of Versity I.6
  • 2 April: Versity I supplies ops, accounting, and payroll and licenses the Versity names. Nelson signs the license.7
  • 12 April: Vintage closes under that name. Same-day KHCA amendment adds Versity Invest as co-guarantor. Form D related persons: Wettengel and Muro only. Nelson is on the Emerson selling group line. The January PPM still names Versity Investments as sponsor and Nelson as its sole owner. To a buyer that spring this still read as Versity.8
  • OC 30-2025-01535878 alleges they formed Crew while still officers of Versity I. That is an allegation. The spring 2022 paper is on EDGAR either way.

2023

  • 20 October: Nelson sues in Orange County (30-2023-01356667). Allegations.9
  • 3 December: Term sheet — Crew was to buy Nelson’s interests in Versity Investments, NBPRE, and Book & Ladder for $30 million, close by December 2024.10
  • 7 December: Case dismissed without prejudice. That close did not happen as written.

2024

  • On or about 11 March: that LLC’s Delaware name becomes Crew Enterprises.
  • 30 April: Apex “yield enhancement” PR (4% → 6.5%).11
  • 6 May: Rebrand PR claims about $2 billion AUM / 35 properties; later their own site said about $500 million / 7.12
  • 17 May: KHCA files Index 651885/2024.13
  • Around those weeks: distributions stop across the book, including 4th & J, Oakbrook, and Astoria the same month; 345 Flats in June 2024.14
  • Nelson’s JAMS demand (Refs. 5200001507 / 5200001580) is on that cluster on this record; we do not have a demand date.

2025

  • 15 May: Crew stops asset-management for the Versity I portfolio (later award finding).
  • 30 June–1 July: KHCA-controlled initial beneficiaries sue Hayworth and Vintage in Delaware. Same-week leftover-IB captions on Walk and One on 4th are recited later; those pleadings are not in this archive. Allegations.15
  • 18–19 September: BCS1 files to remove the Walk signatory trustee and the Vintage signatory trustee.16
  • 26 November: JAMS Final Award: $14,550,000 plus $166,834 fees, jointly and severally against Crew, Wettengel, and Muro. Nelson 65% of Versity Investments with financial-control rights; Wettengel/Muro 35%; Book & Ladder 34/33/33. The unpaid $30 million purchase price was not awarded.17
  • 24 December: Versity I / Nelson / NBPRE complaint. Allegations.18

2026

  • 29 January: DST-plaintiff complaint. Seventeen DSTs, including 4th & J, in OC 30-2026-01543537. Vintage Horizon West is not on that caption. Allegations.19
  • 22 April: Orange County confirms the JAMS award.
  • 22 June: BCS1 second amended petitions on Walk and Vintage. Allegations. No opinion posted on either docket.20

Bridge lenders

Two lenders advanced funds so Crew could close DSTs before the equity sold. Bridge debt sits senior. Holders sit behind, each on a different stack.

KHCA — Vintage, Walk, One on 4th, Hayworth

KHCA financed Vintage, The Walk, One on 4th, and Hayworth. It alleges the sponsor sold those syndications and did not repay the line. The table puts alleged misappropriated proceeds at $56,157,281. Alleged uses: Apex South Creek, Dana Point land, Anaheim hotels, an acquisition fee to Versity, and a Capistrano house. 4th & J is on the repaid side of that facility. Contract and alter-ego are live against Crew, Versity Investments, Wettengel, Muro, and Nelson. Fraud was dismissed as duplicative of contract, not as a finding that nothing happened.21

IBI Volcano / West 4 — Apex

IBI Volcano and West 4 lent on leftover-equity notes behind Apex South Creek, separate from the KHCA revolver. A New York clerk entered a money judgment: $45,498,832.38 to Volcano, $4,494,349.18 to West 4, plus $535 costs. That is entered. Apex holders sit behind the first mortgage and that stack.22

From the thread

Holders on the BiggerPockets thread compared webinars and docket reads. Posts are in the footnotes. This site does not republish them.

Occupied DSTs in different cities stopped paying in the same weeks, often described as about 90% occupied, with a similar tax-and-insurance story.1 On 4th & J a holder asked why sixteen properties stopped at once when they had one DST. The reply, as reported, was “probably a master agreement issue.”2

Webinar recaps put a “partnership expense” line on books Nelson later got back: Wolf Run about $840,000, Astoria about $233,000.23 The January 2026 DST complaint alleges fabricated payables and partnership expenses.

A 31 May 2025 list matches the split the filings later confirm: 4th & J and about seventeen others back to Versity I; Walk, One on 4th, Hayworth, Vintage, and Apex staying with Crew.24

More than one poster said they had been in contact with the FBI. There is no public indictment and no statement from the Bureau.25

Posters treat the 2022 LLC as a takeover and the 2024 freeze as when it became visible. KHCA alleges new syndication proceeds did not repay the bridge.

Where to read

  1. Same weeks / occupancy, tax-and-insurance. Forum. ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. Sixteen at once. Forum. ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. Judgment on arbitration award, Brian Nelson v. Patrick Nelson, Orange County 30-2021-01197655 (24 Jun 2021). Recited in the later Versity I complaint. Pleading not pulled. ↩︎

  4. Recited in the VIP Bonds circular (21 Feb 2024). Senior secured revolving facility, 12.50%, 27 May 2021. Original borrower Versity EquityCo, wholly owned via EquityCo Parent by Versity Investments. Circular: Apr–Dec 2022 draws to buy Vintage, Walk, and Hayworth. ↩︎

  5. 4ANDJ Form D (filed 2 Nov 2021). Offering $49.6 million. ↩︎

  6. Certificate of formation 17 Mar 2022, file 6684437, Versity InvestCo, LLC. Certificate of amendment 23 Mar renames it Versity Invest. ↩︎

  7. BackOffice Services Agreement and IP license, both 2 Apr 2022. Ten days before Vintage close. ↩︎

  8. Vintage Form D (21 Apr 2022). KHCA first amendment the same day as close. Vintage PPM 11 Jan 2022. ↩︎

  9. Complaint is Exhibit C of the later Walk 1055 petition. Eighteen causes; named defendants include Wettengel, Muro, Versity Invest, Welker, and the four KHCA DSTs. ↩︎

  10. Attached to the later JAMS award and as Walk 1055 Exhibit D. ↩︎

  11. Crew PR (30 Apr 2024). ↩︎

  12. PR Newswire (6 May 2024). ↩︎

  13. Original complaint NYSCEF Doc 49, Index 651885/2024. ↩︎

  14. 16 Apr 2025 post. Forum. ↩︎

  15. Hayworth C.A. 2025-0748 (30 Jun); Vintage C.A. 2025-0757 (1 Jul). The later Walk 1055 petition recites The Walk IB, LLC v. The Walk, DST, C.A. 2025-0754-SEM, and One on 4th IB, LLC v. One on 4th, DST, C.A. 2025-0753-SEM. ↩︎

  16. Walk 18 Sep 2025; Vintage 19 Sep 2025. The pleadings in this archive are the 22 Jun 2026 second amended petitions. ↩︎

  17. Confirmed 22 Apr 2026 in OC 30-2025-01534910. ↩︎

  18. Alleges diverted property-account funds, withheld Entrata access, about $1.2 million of Factory Class B investor funds not remitted after an arbitrator order, Factory sale-proceeds embezzlement, and forged Nelson signatures. ↩︎

  19. Alleges Crew as de facto asset manager December 2023–15 May 2025, diverted Factory sale proceeds, fabricated payables and “partnership expenses,” and $2,125,465 of unauthorized Molly Barr sale-escrow deductions. Wolf Run Vintage (498 Beverly, Reno) is a different asset. ↩︎

  20. Walk second amended alleges 18.8628% and, with a McQuade affidavit, a majority to remove The Walk ST. BankPlus is the named first-mortgage lender in that petition’s recital of the sealed PPM. Vintage second amended alleges 1.4557% and, with a parallel McQuade affidavit, 53.23%. ↩︎

  21. Original complaint NYSCEF Doc 49: eight Core Assets, repaid on four. First amended complaint (Doc 119, 13 Aug 2024): the $56,157,281 table. KHCA had declined to finance Apex on 13 Sep 2022. 10 Apr 2026 (Bannon), KHCA v. Versity / Crew: contract and alter-ego live; fraud and conversion dismissed as duplicative of contract. KHCA appealed the dismissed counts. ↩︎

  22. PSA (exhibit) 1 Aug 2022, $100 million. Close 18 Nov 2022. Notes the same day: $25 million Volcano + $6 million West 4 + $11 million Comrit (later assigned to Volcano). Pledge of IB interests. Guarantor: Crew LLC. IBI Volcano / West 4 v. Crew, Index 652237/2025. Clerk money judgment 30 Sep 2025. First mortgage: Walker & Dunlop. ↩︎

  23. 30 Jul 2025. Forum. ↩︎

  24. 31 May 2025 list. Forum. ↩︎

  25. 25 May 2025, 30 Jun 2025, 15 Aug 2025. Multiple posters. No Bureau statement. ↩︎