On 09/21/1999, from U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson of the United States District Court For The District Of New Jersey, the plaintiffs brought action against defendants alleging the defrauding of investors in a pyramid scheme. Upon defendants' motion for summary judgment, the trial court dismissed plaintiffs' claims. Plaintiffs filed motion to alter or amend pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e). Plaintiffs' motion was time barred since it was not filed within the 10-day period required under rule 59(e). However, since the character of plaintiffs' motion was a request to partially vacate the court's order, the court examined plaintiffs' motion under the parameters of Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). The function of plaintiffs' motion was a request for relief from what plaintiffs asserted was a clearly erroneous and unjust ruling by the court. However, the plaintiffs' novel theory of recovery against defendants lacked precedential support. Therefore, after converting plaintiffs' motion to a motion to vacate, the court denied plaintiff's motion, holding that nothing in its previous ruling was inconsistent with the facts that the court was required to accept as true and that evidence proved that this was not an extraordinary situation.

On 09/20/1999, the court issued an order reopening the Case 'solely for the purpose of litigating the remaining claims of the RECEIVER.' On 04/28/200, issued and order granting motion and entering final judgment as to all claims of plaintiff Matthew Hadley, Donna Hadley, Michael Lamore, Susan Lamore, Rosalyn Golaine, and Myron Schwartz. The decision was appealed before the Third District Court of Appeals. A settlement was finally reached and the case appears closed as of 8/23/2000. According to the Court of Appeals docket sheet this case was "Terminated Without Judicial Action" as of 09/27/2001, granting uncontested motion by Appellants to dismiss appeal.

According to the original complaint, this action was brought jointly by the court-appointed permanent equity receiver of Sigma, Inc. and affiliated entities owned or operated by Chuckles Kohli and N. S. Ramchandran (collectively referred to as the 'Sigma entities,' as more fully defined below), and by the class of persons who lost moneys as a result of a fraudulent 'Ponzi scheme' perpetrated by Kohli and Ramchandran. The 'Ponzi scheme' referred to Kohli and Ramchandran's improper use of investor funds; when some investors sought to withdraw their investments or purported profts, Kohli and Ramchandran used subsequent investments by others to pay them.