Financier for Exotic Car Dealers Responds to Weekly Story About Complaint

UPDATE, AUG. 31, 3:56 P.M.: Through his attorney, David O. Braeger has taken issue with what’s reported in the original post below, stating that the basis for the report “is a FINRA complaint of which there has been no adverse determination of guilt or any violation of FINRA’s rules and regulations.”

In relation to the investors who allegedly had $30,000 stolen from them, “Mr. Braeger paid these people back their entire investment in full out of his own pocket even though he was under no obligation to do so,” according to his lawyer J.P. Fernandes of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The letter follows:

[pdf-2]The Weekly has asked for documentation from Braeger that shows he repaid the investors.

Seeking confirmation from FINRA, the Weekly was told officials had gone home for the day and we were asked to call back tomorrow.

ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 30, 7:51 A.M.: There is only one problem with the mastermind of a business model aimed at getting Orange Countians who make $200,000 a year into the Ferraris, Maseratis, Bentleys or Lamborghinis of their dreams.

His past.

David Oscar Braeger, who goes by “D.O. Braeger” and heads Dallas-based D.O.B. Holdings, recently announced via PRWeb his partnership with two dealers and their intention to be “the largest exotic used car operation in the country,” first from their current operations in Tempe, Arizona, and then locations in Dallas and Austin, Texas, as well as Orange County.

Billing himself as the “father of peer to business,” Braeger claims his new venture is being spun off his success in financing sub-prime dealers who may otherwise be deemed too risky for traditional banks, having once likened that model to crowdfunding.

According to Braeger’s latest release, “by helping high end dealers finance the automobiles as well as adding ancillary services, I will be getting the consumer that can’t buy the new, exotic car of their dreams, into that car at a comfortable payment. Consumers making around $200,000 per year, that have dreamed of driving high end vehicles such as Ferrari, Maserati, Bentley or Lamborghini will be in that vehicle.”

He claims the operation “will be able to hold a larger inventory of exotic vehicles, which is imperative in the space as finding the exotic vehicle of the consumer’s dream is challenging.”

Braeger’s fledgling exotic car operation is not to be confused with the Braeger auto dealerships of Wisconsin, although it was David Braeger’s grandfather who started that empire, according to his personal bio. The grandson entered that business through the financing end and later became an investment broker.


About that. From 2008-12, Braeger was with Irvine-based Newport Coast Securities. In 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a private corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization, filed a complaint against him, alleging that he misappropriated or stole $30,000 from a couple. The couple gave Braeger the money in 2009 to invest in Rubicon Capital Appreciation Fund, a fund managed by Braeger. But FINRA claimed Braeger never invested the money in the fund and told the couple that Rubicon was still an open fund when, in fact, it wasn’t. Here is the pending complaint:

[pdf-1]Rubicon closed in 2010. Noting a breach of securities rules and regulations, FINRA’s BrokerCheck report shows Braeger is no longer licensed within the industry.


Before touting what he calls—what was it again? Oh yes—”the largest exotic used car operation in the country”—PRWeb carried a different Braeger Auto Finance Group invitation to “individual accredited investors into the world of auto financing.”

Likening his model to crowdfunding, CEO Braeger claimed at the time, “We’re seeing strong interest in what we offer. We believe we are offering a safe, sustainable and simple source of meaningful investments over many alternative fixed income opportunities.”

That venture also produced an interesting Twitter exchange: