Lovelace Investor Says She Was Cheated

One investor who gave money to Ariel Lovelace said she was cheated out of money.

Lovelace is the Fort Smith entrepreneur who said he planned to begin a series of investments in Costa Rica that could total $430 million.

Mary Sheele was hired to be an administrator with one of the firms Lovelace said he would found. Sheele said she gave Lovelace $7,000 for a trip to procure contracts in Central America. Sheele said she was supposed to be paid back right away, but she hasn’t seen her money.

The pair were interviewed together for a story that the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal published on June 23. The story described Lovelace as more ambitious than accomplished and laid out his development plans.

He supplied a photo of himself and Sergio Pacheco, son of the Costa Rican president, and calls to Costa Rican officials confirmed Lovelace had met with leaders there about his proposals. The Tico Times English-language newspaper in Costa Rica published a similar story in which Pacheco said a letter of intent he gave Lovelace was only a “show of good faith,” and that no agreement has been made.

Lovelace said Sheele is a disgruntled ex-employee and that she never gave him any money. He maintains that he has commitments for $25 million worth of funding but declined to disclose the names of any investors.

Ronald Scamardo, a detective with the Fort Smith Police Department, said although he has received complaints and inquiries about Lovelace no charges are being filed. He said Lovelace has not violated any state or federal laws.

Lovelace explained that he doesn’t have a business phone, nor is he a member of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce because he has a home office and doesn’t need local networking.

His credibility has been hurt, however, by several inconsistent claims he made to the Business Journal including several that were not published originally because they could not be verified.