FBI probing Michigan firm

The FBI is investigating Edward May and his firm, E-M Management Investments LLC, which is at the center of a series of recently collapsed private partnerships. The investors in those partnerships stopped receiving monthly dividend checks within the past two to six months, according to sources familiar with the matter. The collapse of the partnerships could cost at least 1,500 investors millions of dollars. In an Oct. 15 letter to investors seeking information about Mr. May and his investments, the FBI alerted investors to the criminal investigation of Mr. May and his firm in Lake Orion, Mich. Michigan securities regulators from the Office of Financial and Insurance Services are also investigating Mr. May, whose recent attempt to launch a high-stakes Las Vegas golf tournament that flopped. Michigan regulators are also investigating his former business colleague, registered rep Frank Bluestein InvestmentNews, Oct. 15. Mr. Bluestein, whose practice was Maximum Financial Group of Waterford, Mich., both sold and invested in the partnerships, according to his attorney, and also lost money. Mr. Bluestein last month resigned from GunnAllen Financial Inc. of Tampa, Fla. Berton May, Edward May's son and one of his attorneys, declined to comment for this story. "It’s only an investigation. It’s not even an allegation,” and such investigations often take months, said Harold Gurewitz, another of Mr. May's lawyers. For the full report, see the upcoming Oct. 22 issue of InvestmentNews.