The search continues for a missing Mid-City Los Angeles mother who disappeared 17 days ago.
Heidi Planck, 39, was last seen on Oct. 17 after leaving her 10-year-old son’s football game. Her ex-husband, Beverly Hills celebrity hairdresser Jim Wayne, who was also at the game, said Planck seemed “antsy” and on edge, but he did not know why.
Wayne said the parents normally communicated daily, but he has not heard from Planck since he left the game at halftime.
Online records show Planck is employed as a controller with Camden Capital Partners LLC, an L.A.-area investment advisory firm. Jason Sugarman, a managing partner at Camden, has been the focus of a federal Securities and Exchange Commission investigation ongoing for several years.
According to a complaint filed by the SEC and obtained by KNX 1070, Sugarman and a business partner perpetrated a “massive fraud scheme,” allegedly misappropriating $43 million from investors, including an entity affiliated with the indigenous Oglala Sioux Nation.
The SEC’s case against Sugarman is still pending. His business partner, Jason Galanis, pleaded guilty to “multiple fraudulent schemes” last year and was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison.
Wayne told Fox News someone claiming to be an SEC official called him on Oct. 21, a day after he reported Planck missing, and questioned him about Sugarman.
“I don’t know how she got my name and I don’t know how she got my number, but she called me and started asking me questions about Sugarman,” Wayne said. “Something’s dirty there.”
Planck reportedly complained to friends and family prior to her disappearance that Sugarman had “her name on so much of [Camden’s] corporate paperwork.”
Wayne told Fox that law enforcement officers raided Planck’s apartment last week. He believes they were federal agents, though the FBI insists the Los Angeles Police Department is spearheading the investigation into his ex-wife’s disappearance.
The LAPD is not releasing further information regarding Planck at this time, though Wayne said all of Planck’s electronics were confiscated during the raid, as well as her son’s phone.
Planck’s dog was found wandering the 28th floor of a high-rise residential apartment building in downtown L.A. on the evening she was last seen. A couple who lived in the building reportedly cared for the dog for nearly a week after being unable to reach owners.
KCBS reported that managers of the apartment building, of which Planck was not known to be a resident, have not cooperated with investigators’ requests to search the property without a warrant.
KNX 1070 has reached out to Wayne and the SEC for further comment. We are awaiting responses and will update this story accordingly.
This is a developing story.
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