This Fund Manager Told Investors He Was Acquiring De Rosa Bikes. Now, He Faces Criminal Charges
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In early July, Samuel Mancini—a little-known Denver fund manager, and a USA Cycling collegiate committee member with ties to the bike industry—controlled $11 million in investor funds intended for the acquisition of three Italian bike brands: De Rosa bikes, helmet company Limar, and legacy apparel boutique De Marchi.
The three boutique brands represent a collective 178 years of Italian cycling history, yet were relatively cheap to acquire, valued between $1.2 million and $11.2 million. Mancini’s fund, Outdoor Capital Partners (OCP), was set up in 2019 for the explicit purpose of acquiring the brands and helping them sell products directly to U.S. consumers.
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But on July 20, Mancini was arrested for securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering—charges that carry maximum sentences of 10 to 20 years each. Additionally, the SEC filed a temporary restraining order and asset freeze to separate Mancini from investor assets at OCP.
He’s since retained Denver trial lawyer Laura Menninger, recently known for defending Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
According to the SEC and the FBI, Mancini never acquired the bike companies. Instead, he kept some of his investors’ money; gave some to his wife, Diana, who is also a defendant in the SEC lawsuit; and made “Ponzi-like” payments to other investors.
We don’t know much about the victims of Mancini’s fraud; according to court documents, some investors chipped in $100,000 while one investor dumped $5 million into the fund this March. In total, at least 40 people had money in OCP.
Outdoor Capital Partners’ influence spanned the Atlantic Ocean, employing American bike industry executives and bringing legacy Italian companies to the bargaining table. So, where did it all go wrong? Here, we break down what we know.
Who is Samuel Mancini?
Per his LinkedIn page and Outdoor Capital Partners bio, Mancini, 55, earned an MBA from the University of Denver in 2004 and purchased a group of Colorado grocery stores in 2006. Years later, the Denver Post reported in 2014 that Mancini had defaulted on loans, stiffed vendors, and left store shelves empty, forcing locals to drive to Wyoming for supplies.
He’s also an avid cyclist. Prior to his arrest, Mancini was a member of the USA Cycling Collegiate Committee, and a racer for Audi Denver in 2012 and 2014, according to Road-Results. In a 2019 application to join the Collegiate Committee, Mancini said he began racing bikes while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point and has competed on roads and dirt ever since.
Court documents state that investors contributed to his fund partially on the basis of his prestigious education, and the former mayor of Wellington, Colorado, told the Denver Post that Mancini led with his West Point alumni status when they first met.
His investors would eventually discover that Mancini was expelled from West Point for “unethical conduct,” according to the SEC. A USA Cycling representative said Mancini resigned from his position with the Collegiate Committee after the news of his arrest.
Based on his Twitter action, Mancini is pro-troops, pro-vax, anti-critical race theory, and a fan of West Point athletics. He follows the biggest names in American politics and pro cycling, and is followed mostly by paid digital marketing bots.
What is Outdoor Capital Partners?
Outdoor Capital Partners (OCP) is a Denver-based private equity fund incorporated August 28, 2019, with an office in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood.
Its stated goal was to acquire three Italian bike brands—De Rosa, Limar, and De Marchi—and revitalize them as direct-to-consumer juggernauts on a level with Canyon. In return, investors would get 70 to 75 percent of operating profits, an expected net return of 40 to 45 percent.
Mancini would need $20 million to acquire the brands, and told investors he was kicking in $5 million of his own money. Court documents indicate the deal valued De Rosa at $11.2 million, Limar at $3.7 million, and 70 percent of De Marchi at $1.2 million.
Within four days of incorporation, Andrew Herrick left a position on the board of Kitsbow, a cycling apparel brand, and came on as managing director. This role is just the latest in a series of high-profile roles in the bike industry, including CEO stints at Intense, a mountain bike manufacturer, and Crank Bros, a components company; a VP position at GT Bicycles around the millennium; and co-founding the tools and accessories brand Pedros in 1989.
Herrick was effectively identified in the criminal complaint as “co-conspirator,” but he has not been implicated in the fraud.
The fund also hired Michelle VanGilder, the former purchasing manager of Felt Bicycles, and Eric Horton, previously the creative director of Giro. VanGilder left OCP this June to work at Rossignol. Horton’s LinkedIn says he left OCP in July; he continues to run an automotive-inspired sock company.
Neither Mancini nor Herrick, Horton, or VanGilder responded to questions from Bicycling about their time at the fund. But, a clue: In late 2019, Instagram photos show Herrick and Horton in Italy meeting with Ugo De Rosa, the founder of De Rosa.
“Myself and my colleagues at our new venture have had the honor of getting to know one of the true artisans and legends of our industry,” Herrick wrote in the caption of an Instagram portrait of him and De Rosa. “Ugo De Rosa. Signor Chairman.”
Where did it go wrong?
In November 2019, when OCP publicly announced its intention to acquire De Rosa, the bike company was getting ready to announce its sponsorship of Cofidis, a UCI Pro Conti team that was ascending to the World Tour that year. Despite the fraud, the sponsorship went through: Cofidis rides De Rosa bikes today.
“The investment capital and management skills Outdoor Capital brings to De Rosa marks a new stage in the company’s development,” Ugo De Rosa told Capo Velo.
At the time Ugo De Rosa indicated to Capo Velo that all was well, saying “the investment capital and management skills Outdoor Capital brings to De Rosa marks a new stage in the company’s development.”
In a February 2021 interview with NFR Cycling, Horton said he was working directly for Limar helmets, which had adopted the consumer-direct sales model on which Mancini had sold investors. Limar also sponsored Astana - Premier Tech, a WorldTour cycling team. At surface level, all appeared well.
It was not. Apparently unbeknownst to Horton, who told Bicycle Retailer he was “devastated” by the allegations, his company owned no part of Limar.
According to the SEC, Mancini was also lying to investors from the start. Shortly after incorporating the fund, Mancini told investors he was closing to new entrants with more than $18 million from investors. In reality, Mancini had raised $3.1 million.
A 2020 end-of-year balance sheet was also false, showing investor assets totaling $13.6 million. By then, he had raised less than $5 million. From 2019 to 2021, the SEC alleges Mancini continually lied to investors, forging bank statements when pressed on the status of the acquisitions.
The deal to buy De Marchi fell through in mid to late 2020, with Mancini telling investors that De Marchi had tripled its price in exchange for 100 percent ownership, which Mancini said he wouldn’t do.
De Marchi CEO Mauro Coccia recalled it differently in a recent interview with Bicycle Retailer, saying that he never changed the terms—Mancini simply never sent the money.
In place of the De Marchi deal was an attempted acquisition of Gruppo SRL, the parent company of Columbus tubing and Cinelli bikes, for $4.2 million. Gruppo SRL was instead acquired by an Austin investment firm in July.
None of the initial acquisition targets replied to Bicycling questions on proposed sales and company valuations; a Gruppo SRL representative declined to comment.
What happens now?
Mancini was released on $100,000 bail. In addition to potential prison time, Mancini could be forced to pay back investors and banned from trading securities or running a publicly traded company.
Despite the failed acquisition, De Rosa is selling consumer-direct in the U.S. anyway via North American sporting goods distributor Logica Sport.
Outdoor Capital Partners, which is registered in Herrick’s name, became a delinquent corporation on January 1, 2021 for failing to file an annual report to the Colorado Secretary of State. Among other penalties, OCP’s name will be available for others to use by early 2022, if anyone were so inclined to name their Colorado company after a Ponzi scheme.
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