Jehovah's Witnesses Accounting & Banking Court Cases

Jehovah's Witness Ministers nationwide and of all racial groups and genders are applying for SBA-PPP loans, which are known to regularly be "forgiven", and thus do not have to be repaid. Recently, nearly every time that we do a search on a suspect "Jehovah's Witness", we are finding SBA-PPP loans. Since we have limited additional info, we can't mention names, YET, but consider the following:

WatchTower Attorney Philip Brumley, using the Patterson, NY address, received two PPP "payroll" loans totaling $3633 in 2021. SBA shows both loans in forgiven/repaid status.

Robert Rodish in Patterson, NY received a Paycheck Protection Loan of $19,145 through Itria Ventures LLC, which was approved in February, 2021. This loan has been disbursed by the lender and has not yet been fully repaid or forgiven. It is shown as "Charged Off" -- federalpay.org.

KERR HEATING & COOLING, INC., (Elder Nathan D. Kerr), a one-man HVAC operation in Mount Vernon, KY, applied for and received $12,600.00 in 2020, and $13,200.00 in 2021. Both amounts are listed as "forgiven". (Thank you, Satan!) Just in time for that 2020 new home purchase. Preferred HVAC contractor of the Deacons at FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF MOUNT VERNON, KENTUCKY.

A WEALTHY caucasian JW Male reported to be used occasionally as a "Substitute Circuit Overseer" by the WatchTower Society recently applied for and received a SBA-PPP Loan in excess of $20,000.00 while living temporarily in a state several hundred miles from his homestate.

A late 20s African-American JW Male "independent contractor" who lives in south Florida, and who recently claimed to be a current "Regular Pioneer" for 9 years, applied for and received TWO SBA-PPP Loans -- one for $20,XXX.XX in March 2021, and a second one in April 2021 at a different bank in the amount of $15,XXX.XX.

The above scenario reminds this Editor of the STUDENT LOAN SCAM worked by Jehovah's Witnessess nationwide during the late 1990s through early 2000s, which we have never previously addressed here. As is true of the above, noone but the scammers, their banks, their schools, and the government knew the full details of every individual case, but we overheard during field service one JW PIONEER SCAMMER explaining the SCAM to another JW PIONEER. Here is what we still recall from two decades ago:

JW Pioneer Scammer told JW Pioneer to go down to local "technology school" and sign up for the minimum number of classes/hours to qualify for a government guaranteed student loan. MAX OUT the loan amount. Such would include JW Pioneer's living expenses for the specified number of terms/semesters. JW Pioneer would then "pioneer" while attending only the required minimum number of classes. JW Scammer claimed she rarely went to class, and rarely did any of the work. JW Scammer claimed that JW Pioneer could later default on the loan with little expectation that the government would attempt to collect. In fact, this Editor knows that JW Pioneer Scammer dropped out of school as soon as the money ran out, and JW Scammer never ever was employed using any of the learned skills. Only a few years later, JW Scammer filed bankruptcy.

TRACY CAEKAERT and CAMELLIA MAPLEY vs. WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC., WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Before the Court is Plaintiffs Tracy Caekaert's and Camilla Mapley's Motion for Sanctions (Doc. 101), filed December 3, 2021. Defendant Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania ("WTPA") responded to the motion on December 28, 2021. (Doc. 106). Plaintiffs filed their reply on January 10, 2022. (Doc. 109). The Court heard oral argument on the motion on April 5, 2022. The motion is deemed ripe for adjudication.

On June 22, 2020, WTPA filed a motion to dismiss the present action arguing that this Court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant. (Doc. 13). To support the motion, WTPA attached an affidavit from WTPA's General Counsel, Philip Brumley. (Doc. 14-1). Mr. Brumley made several statements including "WTPA does not conduct business in Montana, and is not and never has been registered to carry on business in Montana" and "WTPA has no contact with congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses located in Montana." (Doc. 14-1 at 2). Plaintiffs responded and presented several documents which Plaintiffs argued dispute Brumley's statements. (Doc. 21). WTPA then filed a second affidavit from [Philip] Brumley in which Brumley stated that he has direct knowledge of the information in the affidavit and that the documents presented by Plaintiffs do not invalidate his earlier statements. (Doc. 26).

On August 18, 2020, the Court reserved ruling on WTPA's motion to provide parties an opportunity to conduct discovery regarding the personal jurisdiction issue. (Doc. 32).

On September 15, 2020, Joel Taylor, the Associate General Counsel for Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, moved for pro hac vice admission on behalf of Defendants. (Doc. 33). The motion was granted. (Doc. 34).

In the following months, Plaintiffs filed motions to compel discovery. (Docs. 56 & 58). The Court granted one motion (Doc. 56) and granted in part and denied in part the other motion (Doc. 58).

On August 27, 2021, Plaintiffs sent Defendants a letter requesting that WTPA withdraw its motion to dismiss. (Doc. 102-3). The letter was specifically addressed to Jon Wilson and Joel Taylor as counsel for Defendants. The letter stated, "[a]s jurisdictional discovery has progressed it has become increasingly apparent that WTPA was doing far more than it has represented." (Doc. 102-3 at 1). As a result, Plaintiffs asked "WTPA to withdraw its Motion to Dismiss so that [Plaintiffs] do not waste more time and resources on unwarranted motions practice." (Id.).

Plaintiffs' supplemental response brief to WTPA's motion to dismiss was due November 9, 2021. (Doc. 90 at 1). On November 5, 2021, WTPA withdrew its motion to dismiss. (Doc. 94).

Plaintiffs now move for sanctions against Philip Brumley and Joel Taylor, personally, for "perpetuat[ing] obviously false statements as the sole evidentiary basis for a dispositive motion." (Doc. 102 at 2). ...

Plaintiffs argue 28 U.S.C. 1927 sanctions are appropriate here because [Philip] Brumley and Taylor vexatiously and recklessly multiplied the proceedings by 17 months due to the use of Brumley's affidavit as support for WTPA's motion to dismiss. Specifically, Plaintiffs claim [Philip] Brumley's affidavit contains false and misleading statements that were then used as the sole evidentiary basis for WTPA's motion for dismissal of the case based on lack of personal jurisdiction. Brumley and Taylor are both in-house counsel for WTPA and were in a unique position to know the veracity, or lack thereof, of Brumley's statements. Plaintiffs assert Brumley and Taylor perpetuated those statements for 17 months, forcing Plaintiffs to litigate numerous motions to compel, all the while knowing the statements were misleading at best if not outrightly false. Either way, Plaintiffs claim [Philip] Brumley and Taylor acted in bad faith making their conduct sanctionable under 28 U.S.C. 1927.

WTPA responds that 28 U.S.C. 1927 sanctions are inappropriate as neither Brumley nor Taylor perpetuated any false statements and Brumley's affidavit statements are truthful and accurate.

As to Joel Taylor, the Court is not persuaded that Taylor engaged in any sanctionable conduct. ... the Court finds 28 U.S.C. 1927 sanctions against Taylor to be inappropriate and denies Plaintiffs' motion on this point.

Regarding [Philip] Brumley, the question of sanctions becomes much more complicated. Plaintiffs' complaint, filed April 24, 2020, alleges that Plaintiffs' sexual abuse took place in the 1970s and 1980s. (Doc. 1 at 7). Thus, the relevant timeframe for analyzing WTPA's conduct and relationship to various Jehovah's Witness congregations would be in the 1970s and 1980s. WTPA filed its motion to dismiss on June 22, 2020, with Brumley's affidavit attached. (Doc. 14-1). Brumley's affidavit contains several statements about the role of the WTPA and its relationship to the Jehovah's Witnesses in Montana. Brumley states:

1. I am General Counsel for defendant Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. ("WTPA").

2. In this role, I have direct knowledge of the information contained in this Affidavit.

3. WTPA is a non-profit religious membership corporation formed in 1881 under the non-profit corporation laws of the State of Pennsylvania.

5. WTPA has its own assets, liabilities, offices, board of directors, and officers, separate from every other entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.

6. WTPA is not the direct or indirect parent or subsidiary of any other corporation involved in this action.

7. WTPA does not have (and never has had) offices in Montana, does not own assets in Montana, and does not have employees in Montana.

8. WTPA does not conduct business in Montana, and is not and never has been registered to carry on business in Montana.

10. WTPA has no contact with congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses located in Montana.

11. WTPA does not establish or disseminate policy or procedure to congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Montana.

12. WTPA does not appoint or remove elders, ministerial servants or publishers in congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Montana.

13. WTPA exists to provide certain business needs of Jehovah's Witnesses including, among other things, holding copyright to books, magazines, songs, and videos. It also provides international humanitarian aid to communities after natural disasters.

14. The publications to which WTPA owns copyrights include The Watchtower and Awake! magazines, as well [sic.] books, tracts and brochures that are used to explain various aspects of the Bible.

15. WTPA does not author the substantive content or print hard copies of the books, magazines, brochures and tracts referred to above.

16. On the contrary, the copyrighted materials are published by co-defendant Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (hereinafter "WTNY"), a separate corporation.

17. WTNY was organized and exists under the laws of the State of New York as a not-for-profit religious corporation. Its headquarters are in Wallkill, New York.

(Id.). Again, this affidavit served as the sole evidentiary basis for WTPA's motion to dismiss.

Plaintiffs assert that many of these sworn statements are materially false and intentionally misleading. Plaintiffs further claim [Philip] Brumley submitted his affidavit, knowing the statements were at least misleading, with the hope that the Court would dismiss Plaintiffs' case before substantive discovery could begin. Examining the statements themselves, it is true that [Philip] Brumley framed the information in a confusing manner.

Plaintiffs' claims are principally concerned with conduct that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. Brumley's statements, however, often describe WTPA's role and activities within the Jehovah's Witnesses' organization in present terms. For example, [Philip] Brumley stated "WTPA has no contact with congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses located in Montana," and also that "WTPA does not establish or disseminate policy or procedure to congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Montana." (Doc. 14-1 at 2). These statements do nothing to describe WTPA's activities in the 1970s or 1980s. In contrast, some of Brumley's other statements demonstrate that, at least in regard to certain issues, Brumley had access to WTPA's activities in the past such as when he stated "WTPA does not have (and never has had) offices in Montana, does not own assets in Montana, and does not have employees in Montana" or "WTPA does not conduct business in Montana, and is not and never has been registered to carry on business in Montana." (Id.).

It is perplexing that [Philip] Brumley was capable of describing WTPA's past conduct on certain topics while on others, such as WTPA's contacts with Montana Jehovah's Witnesses, Brumley could only describe WTPA's present state of affairs. Indeed, it was this discrepancy in language the Court found confusing enough to allow jurisdictional discovery to proceed, especially when the Court compared Brumley's statements to exhibits Plaintiffs were able to produce in limited discovery. (Doc. 32 at 5) ("Together, these exhibits and Brumley's affidavits show WTPA's role in the events at issue is unclear. While Brumley's assertions may be true at present, Plaintiff's exhibits show WTPA may have played a greater role in the church's governance in the past -- which could include the congregation in Hardin, Montana.").

The language discrepancy is further exacerbated by the exhibits and documents Plaintiffs have presented in the months since WTPA filed its motion to dismiss. For example, Plaintiffs presented a 1970 letter from a former WTPA president in which WTPA appears to dismiss a member of a Jehovah's Witness congregation due to that member's actions. (Doc. 21-3). Another document presented by Plaintiffs is a 2002 letter from WTPA to an official at BBC-TV Panorama. (Doc. 21-4). In the letter, WTPA's Director of the Office of Public Information provides a detailed explanation for how the Jehovah's Witness organization responds to reports of child sexual abuse using the language of "[o]ur procedures" and "[o]ur policy." (Id. at 3). Additional letters from WTPA advise various Jehovah's Witness congregations on matters including handling child sexual abuse at the hands of church members including letters addressed "[t]o all bodies of elders." (Docs. 29-1, 29-2, 29-3, 29-4). Finally, Plaintiffs recently submitted the affidavit of WTNY's former Assistant Secretary-Treasurer, Don Adams from 1986. (Doc. 117-1). Adams describes the structure of the Jehovah's Witness organization including that of a Governing Body that directs all teaching and congregational activities of Jehovah's Witnesses globally. (Id. at 2-3). Adams further states "[t]he principal corporation used by the Governing Body is the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania ... Under the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, the Governing Body directs 95 branches through Branch Committees that report their progress to the Governing Body. ..." (Id. at 3-4).

Taken together, these documents demonstrate that in past decades WTPA played a more involved and pivotal role in the operation of Jehovah's Witness congregations. The documents also demonstrate that evidence of this influential role existed and that [Philip] Brumley, as General Counsel for WTPA, should have been able to access the information at the time he made his sworn statements. By seemingly failing to investigate and provide a more accurate description of WTPA's activities in past decades, [Philip] Brumley's actions demonstrate, at minimum, a reckless disregard for providing an accurate and truthful accounting of WTPA's role. After all, Brumley could accurately describe WTPA's past activities in Montana regarding whether or not WTPA operated offices in the state or was registered to do business in the state. Yet, Brumley chose to describe WTPA's contact and role in congregational affairs in Montana solely in present tense. This demonstrates to the Court a conscious decision to provide only a limited depiction of WTPA's corporate activities and a reckless disregard of documents and other evidence describing a different WTPA in the 1970s and 1980s -- the relevant timeframe for Plaintiffs' claims. [Philip] Brumley's conduct permitted WTPA to file its motion to dismiss that then multiplied the proceedings for 17 months through jurisdictional discovery and motions to compel.

Therefore, the Court finds [Philip] Brumley's conduct sanctionable under 28 U.S.C. 1927 and orders [Philip] Brumley to personally satisfy the excess costs, expenses, and attorney's fees incurred by Plaintiffs as a result of [Philip] Brumley's affidavit and WTPA's resulting motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs shall submit a financial affidavit to the Court describing those costs and expenses directly stemming from their efforts to respond to WTPA's motion to dismiss and their efforts to compel jurisdictional discovery. The Court shall then issue a supplemental order establishing the exact amount of fees and costs.

TRACY CAEKAERT and CAMELLIA MAPLEY vs. WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC., WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Before the Court is Plaintiffs Tracy Caekaert and Camillia Mapley's Affidavit/Declaration of Supporting Documents of Costs, Expenses, and Attorney Fees (Doc. 144) filed pursuant to the Court's grant of Plaintiff's Motion for Sanctions (Doc. 135, "Order"). Plaintiffs request $190,723.11 for costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees. Defendant Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania ("WTPA") objects to some of the hours Plaintiffs' attorneys expended as excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary. (Doc. 165). WTPA also asks the Court to stay the payment of sanctions pending appeal. (id.). Plaintiffs did not file a reply brief.

For the following reasons, the Court grants Plaintiffs' counsel $154,448.11 and denies WTPA's request to stay payment.

The five-generations WILLIAMS FAMILY probably is the most prominent African-American family of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Chicago area. Three generations or more of WILLIAMS work for the family business, FIDELITY BINDERY, or FIDELITY PRINT COMMUNICATIONS, AKA FIDELITY PRINT, AKA FIDELITY PRINTING, as it was renamed in 1998, after the following scandal became public knowledge.

UNITED STATES v. NORMAN RANDALL WILLIAMS AKA RANDY WILLIAMS, ANGELO CASSANO, AND CLARENCE CROSS. In March 2000, a federal grand jury returned a twenty-four count superceding indictment against "Randy" Williams, age 42, Angelo Cassano, Clarence Cross, age 32, and three other defendants, stemming from an alleged conspiracy to defraud Continental Casualty (CNA) Insurance Company, The indictment set forth that from August 1995 to July 1997, the defendants caused approximately $3.8 million in misappropriated funds to be paid to three fictitious entities. Norman R. Williams, Clarence Cross, and Angelo Cassano elected to stand trial, while their three co-defendants pled guilty, and cooperated with the prosecution. On May 10, 2001, following a three-week trial, the jury entered guilty verdicts against all three defendants on all counts. The defendants appealed their convictions. The USCA affirmed in 2004.

Julio Munoz, age 33, was originally named in the grand jury indictment, but pled guilty and testified at trial pursuant to a cooperation agreement with the government. Frank Amanti, age 38, also was an original defendant in this prosecution, but testified pursuant to a grant of immunity after pleading guilty to mail fraud and structuring financial transactions. William H. White, age 49, of Wood Dale, is believed to have been the third defendant who pled guilty. Curiously, all three were owners of Italian restaurants.

Sometime in the early 1980s, "Randy" Williams, became acquainted with Clarence Cross. Subsequently, they carried on a personal and professional relationship. At the time, Williams was working as a manager/supervisor for his father's printing business, Fidelity Bindery, as well as working as a sales rep for a trucking company. In 1993, Cross was a supervisor in the transportation department at CNA, at the same time Williams was moonlighting as a broker for a trucking company. Cross helped Williams secure some trucking work with CNA, shipping goods throughout the country. This marked the beginning of Williams' interaction with CNA.

In 1993, [Randy] Williams' father, Earl Williams, handed over the day-to-day operations of Fidelity Bindery to [Randy] Williams. This included keeping the books for Fidelity Bindery. Earl Williams testified that although he would visit the office periodically, it was Randy who ran the business.

In 1995, CNA transferred Cross to a supervisory role in the mail department. In conjunction with his new role, Cross suggested a relationship between Fidelity Bindery and CNA graphics might be mutually beneficial and desirable. Cross suggested CNA was eager to demonstrate minority participation in conjunction with their graphic arts department.

In mid-August 1995, Cross made two visits to Fidelity Bindery. During his first visit Cross inspected the operations and suggested that CNA might want to hire Fidelity Bindery to do some cutting, sorting, and mailing work for them. However, the next day Cross informed Williams that the contracts for the mail work had already been awarded, but he proposed an alternative arrangement.

Cross suggested CNA was still interested in having a minority-owned business involved in its printing and mailing activities. Therefore, he allegedly told [Randy] Williams that CNA would pay him for filling out some invoices for work performed by other contractors, while [Randy] Williams and Fidelity [Bindery] would do no work at all. In return for his meager efforts, he would be entitled to keep a full 30% of the funds from each check, while 70% was to be returned to Cross in cash. In any case, [Randy] Williams was unable to produce any invoices prepared or work actually performed on behalf of CNA.

From August 1995 until May of 1997, [Randy] Williams cashed approximately $1,300,000 in CNA checks. According to Williams' testimony, he deposited the first few checks, totaling approximately $270,000, that he received from Cross into Fidelity Bindery's bank account. However, in June of 1996 he opened another bank account in the name of Fidelity Graphics. Thereafter, the Fidelity Graphics account was used exclusively to cash CNA checks and funnel the proceeds to Cross and Williams. [Randy] Williams used the proceeds from the CNA checks to purchase jewelry, life insurance, real estate, an interest in a Chicago restaurant, and other personal investments. Williams did disclose the proceeds from the checks on his income tax returns for fiscal years 1995, 1996, and 1997; however, the income was offset with a number of fraudulent deductions for business expenses that were never incurred.

[FOOTNOTE 4] According to Williams' accountant, Williams lied about the nature of the CNA transactions as well as business expenses he claimed were incurred in producing the income.

After Cross was dismissed from his position at CNA in July of 1997, [Randy] Williams stopped receiving checks. Then, on August 7, 1997, an investigator for CNA paid Williams a visit. Williams claimed that the work he was performing for CNA was legitimate. He claimed to be processing mail, but he could not show the investigator any examples of work performed, nor was he able to produce any invoices generated. However, Williams did explain that he paid 65% of each check, in cash, to a CNA employee.

On March 16, 2000, [Norman R.] Williams was charged with mail fraud, ... conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, ... three counts of money laundering, ... and three counts of tax fraud, ... . [Norman Randall] Williams pled not guilty and was convicted on all counts. He was sentenced to fifty-seven months imprisonment and ordered to pay $1.312 million in restitution. ...

... The evidence presented against [Randy] Williams at trial was certainly sufficient for a jury to find that Williams knew, or should have known, that he was participating in an unlawful, criminal activity. The evidence established that over two-years time Williams' fictitious company, Fidelity Graphics, received $1.3 million in CNA checks for doing little or no work. The amount of money received for doing little or no work, viewed in isolation, could lead a jury to believe that Williams knew or should have known that he was engaged in a fraudulent and unlawful undertaking. ...

Furthermore, Fidelity Graphics only existed on paper and never serviced any clients or served any other purpose other than as a vehicle for laundering the monies derived from CNA checks. In addition, 65% of the funds derived from the CNA checks was immediately turned over to Cross in cash. Finally, [Randy] Williams used the proceeds from the CNA checks on personal items such as luxury goods and financial investments.

[Norman] Williams counters by claiming that he believed he was being compensated either for being a minority business owner and for producing invoices. However, trial evidence refutes both of these claims. When asked to do so, Williams could produce no invoices he prepared for CNA. Likewise, CNA had no record of, and could not locate, any invoices allegedly prepared by Williams or Fidelity Graphics. Also, although Fidelity Graphics held itself out to be a certified minority-owned corporation, it was in fact neither a corporation nor was it certified as minority owned. Therefore, even [Norman] Williams' defense is predicated on a fraud.

Although primarily circumstantial, the evidence presented at trial was more than sufficient to support a conclusion by the jury that beyond a reasonable doubt [Randy] Williams was, at a minimum, deliberately ignorant of the underlying fraud taking place at CNA. ...

THE FLORIDA BAR v. TAMARA J. VOLTAIRE, and MULTI ETHNIC BAIL BONDS & TAX SERVICES, INC. was a 2006-07 Florida Supreme Court case in which, in November 2006, Tamara Voltaire aka Tamara Jeune, was fined $2000.00 and permanently enjoined from engaging in the unlicensed practice of law. Typically, Tamara Voltaire showed her usual disregard for USA law by failing to attend two scheduled hearings.

The JEUNE - VOLTAIRE FAMILY appears to be a large extended family of African-Creole Jehovah's Witnesses who have immigrated from Haiti to Florida, New York City, etc. Tamara Jeune (DOB 1974) is/was married to Louis Allonce Voltaire, and both the couple and various children and other relatives have at times been involved in the family's multiple businesses. Voltaire and Jeune formally divorced on July 22, 2011, though they had been separated for years before that.

USA v. TAMARA JEUNE AKA TAMARA VOLTAIRE (2009). Since the early evening 2000s, Tamara Jeune has professionally prepared tax returns in South Florida. Her first tax-preparation business Accounting Advisors Group, operated out of Miami and Fort Pierce, Florida. In 2005, Accounting Advisors Group was behind the preparation of thirty falsified individual tax returns for the 2004 calendar year. On behalf of their unsuspecting clients, Jeune and her sister Dorothy Jeune prepared and submitted individual income-tax returns supported by W-2s with altered withholding amounts and by 1040s with falsified deductions for substantial expenses.They filed these documents to generate larger tax refunds.

In 2009, Tamara Jeune was indicted on thirty counts of willfully assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. She pled guilty that same year to one count of the indictment for her willful assistance in the preparation and submission of an individual income-tax return that included a W-2 with falsified wage-withholding amounts. The district court in that case sentenced Tamara Jeune to 18 months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release. It also imposed special conditions on Jeune's year of supervised release. Jeune had to obtain prior written approval from the court before entering any self-employment, and she could not operate, act as a consultant, or be employed in any tax-preparation-services business. After serving a reduced prison sentence of nine months, Jeune was released from custody, and her term of supervised release ran from February 10, 2010, until February 9, 2011.

In September 2007, Tamara Jeune incorporated Investment Equity Development, Inc. as a professional-tax-preparation business located in Miami, Florida. She listed herself as its registered agent and vice president and opened a SunTrust bank account under Investment Equity's name. She also listed on at least three individual income tax returns that her occupation was "office manager" and "bookkeeper", and that Investment Equity was her employer and tax preparer. Another tax preparation business occupied the same building, "Jacob G. Jeune, Professional Association", named after Tamara Jeune's son.

At some point, IED became inactive because of its failure to timely file the proper paperwork with the State of Florida. In May 2009, Tamara Jeune filed paperwork to reinstate IED, listing the same mailing address and keeping her original titles as registered agent and vice president. However, Jeune identified Nicole Jeune as the director of IED.

Notably, Tamara Jeune reinstated IED just one week before she was sentenced for her 2009 tax-fraud conviction. While Jeune was serving her sentence in prison, the oddities at IED continued. At the time, IED paid for a commercial-tax-preparation program provided by Drake Software. Drake Software tracks the electronic transmission of tax returns by business, tax preparer, and electronic filing identification number ("EFIN"), which is necessary for business providers to be able to electronically file tax returns with the IRS. During the nine months Jeune was incarcerated, Drake recorded at least 67 tax returns filed by someone from IED using the EFIN 654945, a number Draft Software (incorrectly) associated with belonging to Jeune.

Drake Software also logs the calls that tax professionals make to its customer-support line.While Jeune was incarcerated, Drake Software's call logs indicate that 22 calls were made on behalf of IED by someone identifying as "Tamara" with the EFIN 654945. Adding further to the mystery, the EFIN 654945 actually belonged to Tamara Jeune's ex-husband, Louis Voltaire.

After Tamara Jeune completed her prison sentence, by the terms of her supervised release, she could not work at IED or any tax-preparation business during her one year supervised-release period, which ended on February 9, 2011. As a recently convicted felon, she could not maintain or apply for an EFIN. That was so because an individual or person on behalf of a business must pass a criminal background check to obtain and maintain an EFIN and electronically file taxes with the IRS. In contrast, a preparer tax identification number ("PTIN"), which does not require a criminal background check, is used to identify individual professionals who prepare IRS tax returns or claims for refund. But EFIN holders are the only ones authorized to transmit tax returns through the IRS's electronic filing system. So after her release from prison, Jeune could serve in only a limited capacity with IED. According to her 2011 tax return, she returned to IED as an "office manager" earning an annual salary of $67,000.00.

In August 2011, the IRS began a civil audit of IED for its delinquent business and corporate tax filings. The investigation originated in New York because Tamara Jeune's uncle, Lionnel Meronne aka Lionel Meronnee, lived there and was listed as IED's president in its 2011 articles of incorporation. However, Lionnel Meronne informed the IRS that he did not prepare taxes, nor did he own any part of IED. Between 2009 and 2011, Tamara Jeune signed IED corporate and partnership income-tax returns. On corporate tax returns, she listed herself and her uncle as the "corporate representatives" of IED. On partnership income-tax returns, she listed herself as a "domestic partner" of IED.

During a later phone call with IRS, Tamara Jeune explained that she managed and ran IED's business, which prepared on average 200 tax returns per year. She stated that the business was a partnership in which she split ownership with her uncle Lionnel Meronne. She also falsely claimed that she already provided the delinquent employment and income-tax returns to the IRS, but the IRS had proof that she had not. Thereafter, the IRS uncovered tax returns indicating that Tamara Jeune's ex-husband Louis Voltaire worked as a tax preparer and had obtained an EFIN to electronically file taxes at IED. Explanations about Voltaire's and Jeune's roles at IED were inconsistent and contradictory. Voltaire stated that he did not prepare any tax returns. A few days later, during another phone call, Voltaire changed his mind, claiming that he misunderstood some questions and that he did in fact prepare tax returns at IED.

Later, Louis A. Voltaire could not answer basic questions, such as IED's physical address, the digits of the EFIN and PTIN assigned to his name, and the type of tax-preparation software he used. Voltaire and Jeune both continued to maintain that Voltaire prepared tax returns for the business. They even signed affidavits attesting that Voltaire prepared tax-returns, ran the day-to-day operations, and accessed IED's bank accounts. But, as the interview progressed, Voltaire could provide only surface-level responses to the IRS auditors' technical questions about IED's operation and tax-preparation procedures. Although Jeune attempted to jump in and answer on Voltaire's behalf, the auditors intervened and insisted that Voltaire answer. He could not. The strongest indication that Voltaire couldn't have professionally prepared tax returns for others was his admission to not reporting on his tax returns substantial cash payments he received from IED. The stories changed again, and Jeune finally admitted that she and her sister Dorothy Jeune had prepared and transmitted tax returns at IED, and Voltaire had not prepared any returns. Jeune also revealed that many of her family members worked for her at IED. She claimed her brother George Jeune prepared taxes, even though none of the documents indicated that he did.

After IRS informed Jeune and Voltaire about the consequences of committing perjury, Jeune prepared new affidavits for herself and Voltaire reflecting their true roles at IED, and they respectively signed them under penalty of perjury. Voltaire and Jeune stated in these affidavits that "MOST OF THE PAPERWORK DAY TO DAY ... IS HANDLED BY ... TAMARA JEUNE," in response to the question, "WHO RUNS BUSINESS DAY-TO-DAY?" They also both attested that Jeune had access to the business bank accounts from 2008 through the "PRESENT" as of the date of the affidavits (February 8, 2012). IRS also subpoenaed IED's bank records, obtained tax documents filed by employees, reviewed EFINs and PTINs associated with the business, and cross-checked Information Returns Processing ("IRP") System data, which is based on employers' reporting of taxpayer income and wages, against the IRS internal databases, which are based on individual employees' reported wages and earnings. Bank records revealed that Lionnel Meronne and Tamara Jeune, as president and vice president, were authorized signers on the SunTrust bank accounts. Later, when asked for payroll documents, Jeune listed nine- ten employees. That list included her brother George Jeune, her sister Dorothy Jeune, her mother Marie Jeune, and her uncle Lionnel Meronne.

The IRS discovered that about a third of the total IRS tax refund amount deposited in 2009 was never redistributed to IED's taxpayer clients that year, and two-thirds of the total IRS tax refund amount deposited in 2010 was never redistributed to taxpayer clients that year. Jeune could not provide IED's receipts, invoices, and proof of distributed IRS refunds. The EFIN holders at IED all were within Jeune's inner circle -- her ex-husband Louis Voltaire, her then-boyfriend Seymour Gordon, and her son Jacob George Jeune.

USA v. TAMARA JEUNE AKA TAMARA VOLTAIRE (2019). In July 2012, the IRS began a criminal investigation of IED. Tamara Jeune admitted to preparing fifty tax returns at IED while she was on supervised release for her 2009 tax-fraud conviction. Louis Voltaire also conceded that he had lied during the civil audit and admitted to not preparing tax returns at IED.

In August 2018, a grand jury charged Jeune with one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, four counts of filing false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims, and five counts of aiding or assisting in the filing of false tax returns. The charges stemmed from tax returns prepared and filed between January 19, 2011, and October 3, 2016. Jeune entered a plea of not guilty and stood trial. The government noted that Jeune could not obtain an EFIN because of her status as a convicted tax-fraud felon. So, the government asserted, Jeune ran both IED and "Jacob Jeune, P.A." , as her tax-preparation businesses, employed her inner circle of family and friends, acquired EFINs in some of their names, and continued to prepare and transmit falsified tax returns to the IRS using those EFINs. W-2s were falsified using the same fake businesses, tax deductions were inflated, and individual tax returns claimed substantial business expenses for vehicles and medical and dental expenses. Tax refunds were funneled into IED bank accounts that Jeune controlled, and sometimes only a portion or none of the refund went to the taxpayer. Although Jeune admitted that tax fraud occurred at IED, she insisted that other employees had filed the falsified tax returns and controlled the bank accounts with IRS refund money. After a five-day presentation of evidence and before jury deliberations, Jeune moved for acquittal, which the district court granted in part. It dismissed five of the ten charges listed in the indictment. The jury found Jeune guilty of the remaining five charges -- one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, one count of filing false tax returns, (Count 4); and three counts of assisting and advising in the preparation of false tax returns, (Counts 6, 8, and 10). Following sentencing and restitution hearings in 2019, the USDC sentenced Jeune to a total of 180 months imprisonment and ordered her to pay $398,021.00 in restitution to the IRS. After multiple appeals, Tamara Jeune's sentence has been REDUCED TWICE -- to 120 months. Paroled any day now.

JACK DONALD SUPINGER III v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE was a 2021 South Carolina federal tax court decision. Jack D. Supinger III received compensation in 2017 for which he owed federal income tax of $9,008.00. "In filing a 'zero-return', Mr. Supinger substantially understated his income tax and triggered imposition of the 20-percent ... accuracy-related penalty ... in the reduced amount [of $1,801.00]. Furthermore, Mr. Supinger's persisting in his frivolous position after the Commissioner made his concessions demonstrates bad faith and warrants imposition of a $5,000 penalty ... ." The court further reasoned, in part:

A small-time, devout financial manager is at the center of one of Germany's biggest business scandals: Klaus [Detlev] Schlienkamp used tricks and deception, falsifying invoices and orders to save Balsam AG from bankruptcy. The resulting loss was billions. Now [Klaus] Schlienkamp is spilling the beans.

As a devout Christian, Klaus Schlienkamp doesn't have to search far to find the appropriate Bible verse for every situation. "The love of money," the financial expert quotes the Apostle Paul, "is the root of all kinds of evil things." [Klaus] Schlienkamp, 43, has experienced firsthand how right the apostle is. From humble beginnings, the trained businessman and professed Jehovah's Witness worked his way up to become CFO of Balsam AG in Steinhagen, earning more than three million marks in his good years. And he loved luxury: horses, fast cars, and super-expensive trips. But in his greed for the filthy lucre, Schlienkamp not only transgressed the commandments of the Holy Scriptures, he also violated the paragraphs of the law: Now the devout financier has been in custody in Bielefeld for almost two years.

For years, the up-and-comer from the provinces had saved the Westphalian company Balsam AG from long-overdue bankruptcy. However, the means he used to do so aren't found in any business textbook. At first, it was small tricks, and ultimately falsified documents, with which Schlienkamp swindled ever larger sums to keep the company afloat. Eventually, he was juggling sums in the billions.

This Friday, the trial against Schlienkamp, his former boss Friedel Balsam, and five other defendants begins at the Bielefeld Regional Court. The prosecutor's charges include forgery, breach of trust, falsified accounting records, and fraud. According to the 852-page indictment, the managers are said to have defrauded banks of almost 1.8 billion marks in a total of 183 cases. The company generated a maximum of 300 million marks in revenue from the construction of special flooring and artificial turf for gymnasiums and sports fields.

While in prison, CFO Schlienkamp wrote a 230-page account of how the company managed to deceive more than 40 banks over many years, titled "The Billion Dollar Grave." For the Bible-believing defendant, the confession also represents an attempt to "come clean and start a new life, free from what shaped me in the past. "Without any personal consideration, the Balsam manager describes how he repeatedly faked new deals to swindle money. And how he ultimately even managed to win over renowned banks as shareholders in the bankrupt company. As with the retail group Co-op and the Konigstein-based construction entrepreneur Jurgen Schneider, all the banks' control mechanisms failed in the billion-dollar bankruptcy in Steinhagen. Schlienkamp repeatedly marvels at "how easy it was to get the money." Each bank apparently relied on the other.

This time it wasn't greedy managers lining their own pockets, nor was it a dazzling property developer trying to build one monument after another: the Balsam affair was caused by a medium-sized provincial business. In the mid-1980s, Friedel Balsam equipped the world's sports fields; he was the largest in his industry. Whether at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, the World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, or the baseball tournaments in Houston, USA, athletes always competed on surfaces developed and produced by Balsam.

It could have been a lucrative business venture. But the down-to-earth entrepreneur was committed to growth at any cost. In ten years, he acquired more than two dozen companies. Balsam ruthlessly underbid the competition in almost every tender, completely losing sight of his own costs. Despite full order books, Balsam (slogan: "We prepare the ground for sport") produced almost exclusively losses. By the mid-1980s, according to the CFO, "Balsam KG was practically on the verge of bankruptcy."

[Klaus] Schlienkamp started at Balsam in 1974 as a junior accountant earning 2,000 marks a month and quickly worked his way up. He was tasked with hiding the losses in the balance sheet. The company founder gave his budding accounting genius a largely free hand. "Nobody ever asked about the details," Schlienkamp recalls. "I was responsible for the miraculous increase in money."

The CFO was also supposed to correct the situation in June 1994, when the board met to discuss the consolidated financial statements for the previous fiscal year: The balance sheet was supposed to show a profit of around 38 million marks on sales of 300 million marks. In fact, Schlienkamp writes, "we had incurred an operating loss of 100 million marks."

But this time, the financier's patience was at an end. "What we're doing here is pure accounting fraud," he told his colleagues. "If this gets out, we'll all go to jail." But his colleagues dismissed the idea, telling him to calm down and that he would sort it out. A few days later, the billion-dollar fraud was exposed, and the ailing company collapsed. Balsam and several of his employees and business partners were arrested.

[Klaus] Schlienkamp's "miraculous increase in money" gained momentum when he met financier Dieter Klindworth in the early 1980s. The Wiesbaden-based entrepreneur, with his company Procedo, specialized in factoring the purchase and financing of third-party receivables -- and at the time, he seemed to be Schlienkamp's savior. The two men hit it off right away, and without any major formalities, they agreed to work together. From then on, Balsam forwarded every invoice immediately to Wiesbaden. A few days later, Procedo transferred the full order value, less a commission, to Steinhagen. After 90 to 120 days, once the customer had paid their invoice, Balsam would refund the money to Procedo.

Everything seemed to be going well, and Balsam was able to expand rapidly. Business was booming, especially abroad, and especially in the Arab world. Until then, Schlienkamp had been able to keep the company afloat with cosmetic adjustments to its balance sheet. But when Balsam received a contract in 1983 to equip a gymnasium in Saudi Arabia with a plastic floor for 1.8 million marks, the financier slipped into illegality, and shady dealings turned into criminal activities.

[Klaus] Schlienkamp was unable to provide the bank guarantee required by Procedo. "In order not to carelessly jeopardize jobs in Steinhagen," Schlienkamp confessed, he decided to simply forge the letter of credit. "The order is there, we just need a little help," the financier calmed his conscience and sent the copy of the forged telex from the Arab National Bank in Saudi Arabia to Procedo. Without further ado, he received the urgently needed money.

However, the seemingly lucrative contract was once again anything but profitable. In the end, liquidity problems were greater than ever. "Repayment of the receivables pre-financed by Procedo," the CFO recalls, "would have meant immediate closure for Balsam." So Schlienkamp plugged the hole with the money from the next contract. And so it continued -- from one funding gap to the next.

Because the provincial company was apparently doing so well worldwide, major banks in Steinhagen soon got in touch. Dresdner, Deutsche, and Commerzbank offered their services and were also willing to pre-finance Balsam's invoices. They had apparently failed to realize that Schlienkamp had already sold all of his receivables to Procedo. Since "we were always short of cash" and the banks offered far more favorable terms than Procedo, Schlienkamp didn't take long to agree. "Without really wanting it," the Balsam manager recalls, "suddenly, receivables were double-financed, and we simply had no means to repay the funds."

In late summer 1984, Balsam and his diligent fundraiser took stock for the first time and calculated an amount of four million marks, which had been financed through Procedo, but at the same time also had an impact on the banks. "We should file for bankruptcy," Schlienkamp claims to have advised his boss at the time. But he dismissed the idea and continued on his expansion course. Schlienkamp: "I was infected by his optimism."

In a small group, the management team then looked for new ways to generate cash more quickly. This led to the idea of not submitting invoices after the work was completed, but collecting the money as soon as the order was received. Schlienkamp warned: "This is fraud." But he let himself be persuaded. The possibility of essentially printing money seemed completely risk-free: "Neither the existence nor the amount of the submitted orders or invoices were verified by Procedo."

"What could be more natural than to write these documents whenever money was needed?" Schlienkamp said. "The initial concerns were quickly blown away," and Schlienkamp developed a "certain routine" in the shady dealings. That, the financier later summarized in his prison cell, was "the crucial point, overcoming the barrier from legality to fraud. Because that's what it was: fraud. We were selling something that didn't even exist yet."

Soon, money was tight again. Schlienkamp met with Balsam again. "This simply cannot continue; we cannot finance this rapid growth and simultaneously incur losses," Schlienkamp began the meeting. Schlienkamp describes what happened next as follows: Friedel Balsam thought about it, ... I paced up and down in his office, and a certain tense silence hung in the room. "Then we'll just have to increase the order values," he said suddenly, looking at me piercingly. Friedel Balsam knew how easy factoring financing was with Procedo, that everything was in our hands, and that we could, in principle, determine the amount of the invoices and thus of the check we received. "Just write higher invoices; I'll take full responsibility for them," he added, absolutely calmly. "If we increase the order values, then we're selling air to Procedo. This is fraud, and we're going to jail for it, is that clear to you?" I asked Friedel Balsam, surprising myself with the calmness with which I asked him this question. "It won't come to that, we'll manage, I have absolutely no doubt about that," he replied calmly.

Again, [Klaus] Schlienkamp allowed himself to be persuaded: "If I had said no now, I would have felt cowardly and uncooperative."

Soon, even the new fictitious deals, in which the actual contract values were often simply doubled, became routine. Schlienkamp: "It was the easy way: write an order confirmation, attach an invoice, and that's it. The check followed two days later." Within a year, the volume of receivables sold to Procedo rose from 12 to 50 million marks.

"Dieter Klindworth was the source of money that kept us alive," Schlienkamp summarizes. And the financier made a good profit from his largest client: Balsam had to pay around half a million euros a month in interest and fees. Schlienkamp tried to recoup the money by speculating on gigantic foreign exchange forward transactions. Gradually, Klindworth, who had developed a genuine friendship with company boss Balsam, was reaching his limits. Some banks even began to wonder about Balsam's large share of the Procedo business and reduced their credit lines.

[Klaus] Schlienkamp hoped to gain relief from a new shareholder who would inject fresh capital into Balsam's multi-billion dollar fortune. He had been in talks with the Frankfurt-based venture capital firm WFG, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, for some time. However, in order to retain control of the company even after WFG's entry, Balsam was to increase its share of the company's capital from 3 to 13 million marks. Since Balsam was also "up to his neck in debt" (Schlienkamp), a trick was finally found. A financier in Saudi Arabia provided Balsam with the money, Schlienkamp explained to the WFG. In reality, he obtained the money from Procedo and funneled it into Balsam's private account via several channels.

The involvement of the Deutsche Bank subsidiary served as an excellent reference for the ailing company. "Everything suddenly seemed transformed," Schlienkamp recalls. The major banks immediately increased their loans, and new banks offered their services. When Klindworth's Procedo found a new shareholder in the Allianz subsidiary AKV, all problems seemed to be solved. Klindworth "virtually challenged me to generate decent sales," writes Schlienkamp.

Suddenly, it was "so incredibly easy" to get money, and the real problems faded into the background. The managers indulged themselves in every luxury; no one cared about the costs anymore. Schlienkamp had only one hurdle left to overcome: He had to find an auditor to certify the balance sheet. Klindworth recommended his friend Rolf Muscat. To prevent Muscat from discovering the air deals, Schlienkamp hastily wrote dozens of fake invoices. The financier's constant retention of the business cards of his Middle Eastern counterparts paid off: each business card now represented an invoice.

However, the addresses were not sufficient for the multitude of fake transactions, so over time numerous ministries from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and other countries in the region had to serve as clients on paper. The discrepancy between actual sales and the business invoiced through Procedo grew ever larger. By March 31, 1987, the gap had already reached 800 million marks -- Schlenkamp had to come up with a new story for Procedo and the banks. Balsam, it was now said, acts as a general contractor to the municipalities and assumes complete financing of sports halls and arenas. Therefore, part of the money financed through Procedo represents only a transitory item from which the subcontractors are also paid.

Even today, Schlienkamp marvels at how easy it was to swindle the banks with the general contractor's tale, even though it could have been quickly verified. He vividly describes how, with scissors and glue, a genuine contract for 1.34 million French francs was turned into a contract for 11 million. "I made a copy of the original contract, cut out the 1 from the contract I had copied, and pasted it in front of the 1,340,000, so that it became 11,340,000. Done. That was it."

For years, no one seriously questioned the fictitious contracts. Ultimately, says Schlienkamp, who soothed his guilty conscience with "plenty of alcohol" and generous donations to [the] Jehovah's Witnesses, "we didn't even bother to change the recipients of the fictitious invoices; no one was looking anyway." Nevertheless, "the whole thing was terribly stressful; I couldn't sleep peacefully at night," Schlienkamp admits. Only the "fear of losing my well-paid job" drove him forward. Ultimately, he had only one goal: "Balsam must survive, no matter the cost."

At the end of the 1980s, financing through Procedo amounted to 1.6 billion marks with actual company sales of less than 300 million. The banks still did not become suspicious, but Schlienkamp calmed them down as a precaution with forged order confirmations from an auditing firm. During a visit to the USA, he secretly obtained an original letter from Arthur Andersen. He had 200 sheets of letterhead printed with the Andersen logo. From then on, the financier wrote his own order confirmations, signed by Gary Hoemann.

No one suspected anything. Yet, according to Schlienkamp, "the forged confirmations even contained three significant errors that should have been taken issue with." For example, the text of the alleged letters from America contained a ... letter that is not found on US typewriters and computers. To completely reassure the banks, Schlienkamp finally created a kind of bank statement that was supposed to show the incoming and outgoing payments from the alleged general contractor business. Schlienkamp: "I cut off the top of an original Barclays Bank letterhead, called in the employee from our in-house printing department, and asked him to print me about 200 copies."

This time, too, there were no questions: "It was as if it were the most normal thing in the world to have letterhead printed for one of Britain's largest banks by the global company Balsam." While the Balsam managers were juggling ever-increasing sums, a criminal complaint landed with Bielefeld's senior public prosecutor, Jost Schmiedeskamp, at the end of 1992. A former confidant of the company's CEO, with his knowledge, uncovered the machinations in Steinhagen. But Schmiedeskamp saw "no sufficient evidence of criminal activity."

Only the persistence of Bielefeld Chief Inspector Karl-Heinz Wallmeier, who, despite being obstructed by his superiors, continued to search for clues even while on vacation, ensured that the billion-dollar fraud was finally exposed in June 1994. Shortly thereafter, the bankruptcy trustee took over the bankrupt company. There wasn't much left for the creditors to gain. Schlienkamp: "It was all just a figment of the imagination. ... What we are doing here is pure accounting concealment. ... It was incredibly easy to get the money"

*** Other researchers alleged that Klaus Schlienkamp was a JW ELDER who had many friends in the German Branch, which he visited frequently, including making substantial donations there. It also is alleged that Balsam employed several other positioned JWs -- including in other European countries and USA.

White-collar crime: It was one of the biggest financial scandals in the Federal Republic of Germany. It involved billions of dollars and bogus contracts. But it also involved authorities who refused to investigate. 25 years later, Karl-Heinz Wallmeier recalls. He caught the main perpetrator, Klaus Schlienkamp, and experienced his own personal drama.

Halle/Steinhagen/Bielefeld. It's the night of March 28, 2000, somewhere between three and four o'clock. For ten days, the head of the Bielefeld police's economics department has been in the Philippine metropolis of Cebu, searching for the fugitive Balsam CFO Klaus Schlienkamp. A fax from the Caribbean [CUBA] had reported his death a year and a half earlier: "The whole body has been eaten by the fish." All nonsense, and amateurishly done to boot.

That's why his pursuer stays on his heels and has just one more problem: In Cebu, there's no registry office, nor do the streets have names. And Wallmeier doesn't know exactly where Schlienkamp is -- he only knows that he's here. But this time, the meticulous investigator is certain, this time he'll catch him. There's a German restaurant where the fugitive apparently frequents. There, he finally receives the crucial tip.

The Halle detective and two officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office, along with their Filipino colleagues, drive directly to the given address and ring the bell. After a short while, the fugitive opens the door. "Good day, Mr. Schlienkamp. My name is Wallmeier. Do you still remember me ..." Of course, the man in the bathrobe still recognizes his pursuer. Schlienkamp collapses on the stairs, white as chalk. He is arrested and returned to his old home a few days later. But from now on, he will be living in the Brackwede correctional facility. The man who faked his death and disappeared in the middle of a trial must begin his prison sentence.

Coming from humble beginnings, the trained businessman had worked his way up to become CFO of Balsam AG in Steinhagen and loved luxury. Fancy trips, expensive cars, fast horses. In good times, the Jehovah's [Witness] earned more than three million marks a year. In reality, he -- apparently together with company boss Friedel Balsam -- had falsified invoices and orders to save Balsam AG from long-overdue bankruptcy. The end result was billions in losses.

19 years later: Karl-Heinz Wallmeier sits in the editorial office of the HK, leafing through old newspapers and documents, mostly from 1994, when the economic scandal surrounding the Steinhagen-based sports flooring manufacturer Balsam became public. He reads the anonymous complaint that former Balsam employees had deposited in a locker at Bielefeld train station for the public prosecutor's office in September 1993. Then he begins to speak. Slowly and quietly.

He's now 70 and retired since April 2010. To this day, he still runs a private business investigation agency in Halle. Because he was hit by a car six years ago, he has an artificial knee joint, and the endurance runs he had previously completed every day are a thing of the past. His memory, however, is like a walking calendar. He has all the relevant dates in the Balsam case at his fingertips without a moment's hesitation, even the corresponding days of the week. And that's despite the fact that this month marks 25 years since the billion-dollar fraud became public. Karl-Heinz Wallmeier hasn't forgotten a single detail. "The film is still running," he says.

Back to the beginning: The anonymous complaint, filed with the Bielefeld public prosecutor's office on November 30, 1992, is 14 pages long. Police officers had taken the documents from a safe deposit box. A folder of receipts is enclosed. The introductory remarks read: "Like terrorist gangs from both the left and the right, the board of directors of Balsam AG, in my opinion, forms a criminal organization. (...). The fraud, fictitious, double, and triple deals involving the contracts sold to Procedo alone (...) probably amount to more than two billion marks. Other damages from tax evasion and cartel agreements also run into the millions. Even from physical attacks, one is no longer safe (...)."

The material includes addresses of relevant contacts, detailed descriptions of where further incriminating material could be found, and even the location of the most important computer. Senior Public Prosecutor Jost Schmiedeskamp is practically presented with the criminal activities of the Steinhagen sports flooring manufacturer on a silver platter -- but after an internal meeting between the public prosecutor's office and the tax administration in December of that year, he concludes: "The allegations are inconclusive and offer no evidence of a criminal offense."

"This ignorance provoked my opposition," Wallmeier says to this day. He continues to investigate on his own. Almost a year later, he's gotten to the point where he knows who is behind the anonymous complaint. "Shortly afterward, I had two personal conversations with the author and had the allegations explained to me personally," Wallmeier says. "I then forwarded the summaries to Schmiedeskamp. But still, nothing happened."

Wallmeier even investigated abroad. At the beginning of November 1993, he was in France and discovered that Balsam had exaggerated the construction project and, in some cases, fabricated it entirely. Schmiedeskamp took note of his report, but once again, nothing happened. Wallmeier continued his investigation.

It took another six months before the ZDF magazine "Frontal" reported on a massive financial scandal in the sports flooring industry on Tuesday, May 31, 1994, without mentioning Balsam's name. This caused hectic activity among newspapers in East Westphalia, which soon made the connection to Balsam. The following Monday morning, June 6, attorney Dr. Holger Rostek announced a confession by his client Klaus Schlienkamp for 5 p.m. When the confession arrived, the CFO and the other three Balsam board members, Friedel Balsam, Dietmar Ortlieb, and Horst Bert Schultes, were immediately arrested. The company headquarters were sealed. Senior Public Prosecutor Heinrich Rempe took over the proceedings. Schmiedeskamp was soon investigated on suspicion of obstruction of justice in office.

During the three-year trial, the four defendants, who will soon be released, are even allowed to pursue new activities. They are only required to attend the Bielefeld Regional Court on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On September 20, 1999, Ortlieb and Schultes are sentenced to fines. Company founder Friedel Balsam receives eight years. Klaus Schlienkamp receives ten years -- the verdict is handed down in his absence.

To recoup his money, Schlienkamp founded the investment company IM Consulting. His wife was appointed as the pro forma managing director. However, it was he who collected 1.8 million marks to speculate with. By October 1998, however, he had already gambled away almost all of the sum. Four weeks later, he drove his Rover 620 i to Cuxhaven, parked it at the jetty and disappeared from that point on.

Meanwhile, the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament has set up a committee of inquiry into the role of the public prosecutor's office and Justice Minister Rolf Krumsiek. The Cologne Public Prosecutor's Office is preparing a report on the case, which has long since escalated into a state affair. Karl-Heinz Wallmeier, however, receives neither praise nor a promotion; instead, the Balsam affair becomes a personal drama for him.

"During the investigation, I received bomb threats and anonymous phone calls saying my son would be kidnapped and killed," reports the chief investigator. Journalists were also subjected to pressure at the time, with break-ins and threats. They were supposed to deter them from further investigations. "But the petty war between the public prosecutor's office and the police also weighed on me. There were new rumors every day."

What made even bigger headlines, however, was Wallmeier's liaison -- with, of all people, the [JW] ex-wife of fraudster Klaus Schlienkamp. Did he use her in his ambition to obtain information? When he turned away from her, she attempted suicide, writing "Wallmeier Murderer" in her blood on the bathroom walls. The disappointed woman survived. Today, the detective admitted: "Yes, it's true, I took advantage of the situation. But contrary to other accounts, I was never really with her."

Wallmeier also faced pressure from other quarters. At the end of 2010, several criminal complaints were filed against him by private individuals. The accusation: Wallmeier allegedly worked as a private detective without a license and used data that came to his attention during his employment. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the chief inspector. "But nothing came of it," Wallmeier states today. "I didn't commit any crime."

One positive memory he has is that the manhunt has allowed him to see the world: "I've been to the Bahamas, Venezuela, the USA, the Philippines, and traveled across Europe. The only thing I've never found is the legendary Balsam yacht. Maybe it doesn't even exist."

In all this time, after all these years, his greatest triumph wasn't the moment when he caught Klaus Schlienkamp at the end of the marathon investigation, he says. "No, that was the call to prosecutor Rempe. He was still half asleep because of the hour and asked me: Did I understand correctly? You've got him?" He called a major press conference that very morning.

Today, Karl-Heinz Wallmeier is married for the second time and says he's done with the Balsam affair: "I'm not doing anything more in this case. That's in the past." However, uncovering the scandal will always be the case of his life.

RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov, reported on April 26, 2017, that Moscow's Ostankinsky District Court had sentenced a former division Vice President at Russia's Probusinessbank, named Nikolai Alekseev aka Nikolay Alekseyev aka Yaroslav Alekseev, to 4 years in prison for embezzling 2.44 billion rubles ($35-45 million). In followup articles, RAPSI reported that Nikolay Alekseyev aka Yaroslav Alekseev had PLEADED GUILTY. Alekseyev aka Alekseev was fined 1 million rubles ($18,000). The court also granted a lawsuit filed by Probusinessbank, the victim in the case, seeking to collect 2.44 billion rubles from the defendant.

According to investigators, from September 2014 to July 2015, Nikolay Alekseyev aka Yaroslav Alekseev, acting as head of Probusinessbank's corporate finance department, conspired with 15 accomplices, including Chairman of the Board of the Bank, Alexander Zheleznyak, and Bank President, Sergey Leontiev, to embezzle funds belonging to Probusinessbank. During 2014-15, the co-conspirators allegedly illegally embezzled and transferred abroad 2.44 billion rubles ($35-45 million), providing loans to five or more insolvent or fictitious companies.

In August 2015, the Russian Central Bank revoked the license of Probusinessbank, acting upon the results of an inspection revealing that "the bank's management carried out large scale operations having markings of assets stripping of the bank."

On October 27, 2015, the Moscow Commercial Court declared the bank bankrupt, appointing the state corporation Deposit Insurance Agency as the bankruptcy commissioner.

In January 2019, while traveling on a train using a Cypriot passport, Nikolay Alekseyev aka Yaroslav Alekseev was detained at the Polish border when his name was noticed to be on an Interpol watchlist. In September 2019, a Polish court declared that the extradition of Alekseev to Russia was legally unacceptable in the light of the norms of Polish and international law. That included the possibility of violating the rights and freedoms of the person being prosecuted. Physical violence and inhuman and degrading treatment are used against detainees. The female judge emphasized that it was particularly disadvantageous for Alexeyev that he was a Jehovah's Witness. In Russia, Jehovah's Witnesses are regularly reported to be persecuted, arrested, sentenced to long sentences, and treated worse than other prisoners.

UNITED STATES v. HIRAM MICHAEL MARTIN was a 2017-19 California federal criminal prosecution. (The New York Times, May 12, 1984, page 45, identifies attorney Hiram Martin, of Los Angeles, California, as allegedly one of Jehovah's Witnesses.) In April 2019, African-American Hiram Martin, a tax lawyer who represented retired NFL player Antrel Rolle was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining tax refunds for Rolle, stealing the refunds, and then covering up his scheme by filing false documents with the Internal Revenue Service. Hiram M. Martin, age 71, of Fair Oaks, California, pleaded guilty in January 2019 to one felony count of attempting to obstruct or impede the administration of internal revenue laws. Martin was sentenced to three years in prison, and ordered to pay $1,223,480.00 in restitution.

Hiram Martin admitted in his plea agreement that he submitted false tax returns for Rolle, who hired Martin when he was a 23-year-old NFL rookie. The tax returns claimed millions of dollars in bogus charitable donations and business expenses, but Martin never informed Rolle about the phony deductions. The IRS issued tax refunds of $322,008.00 for the 2005 tax year and $901,472.00 for the 2006 year as a result of Martin's deductions. Martin directed the IRS to deposit the refunds into Martin's bank account, or to mail the refunds to his mailing address. Martin then used the fraudulently obtained money for his own personal benefit, including an investment account under his control. When the IRS began auditing Rolle's tax returns for these years, in August 2009, Martin faxed two letters to the IRS that attempted to support the fraudulent donations. Martin then -- without Rolle's authorization -- filed petitions in Tax Court challenging the IRS after it rejected the deductions. Martin has admitted that he forged Rolle's signature on the Tax Court petitions. In May 2011, Martin -- without Rolle's knowledge or authorization -- agreed to a judgment that imposed a tax liability of nearly $2 million on Rolle. Martin also admitted that he provided Rolle with a fabricated set of tax returns for 2005 and 2006 that did not claim any refunds -- refunds that Martin never submitted to the IRS.

Martin also took steps to prevent the IRS from directly contacting Rolle by providing the IRS with his own personal and business addresses, and claiming they were Rolle's addresses. When a news article detailing Rolle's tax liabilities were published in January 2010, Martin attempted to prevent Rolle from contacting the IRS by telling him that the article was not true.

IN RE HIRAM MICHAEL MARTIN was a 6/24/1985 "Public Reproval" by The State Bar of California.

IN RE HIRAM MICHAEL MARTIN was a 7/01/2019 "Suspension" by The State Bar of California.

IN RE HIRAM MICHAEL MARTIN was a 1/10/2020 "Disbarment" by The State Bar of California.

CROWN v. BRUNO TSHIPAMBA was a 2019-20 British criminal court case which involved an African-British Jehovah's Witness ELDER named Bruno Tshipamba, of Addison Crescent, Old Trafford. Bruno Tshipamba, age 46, was convicted on January 22, 2020, at Minshull Street Crown Court, of dishonestly obtaining 21,881 pounds ($29,000.00) from Trafford Council, from January 2014 through June 2018.

Tshipamba was responsible for managing funds sent to him by Trafford Council to pay for his teenage son's care. However, Bruno Tshipamba used his fiduciary position to transfer some of those funds into his partner's bank account for their own personal use. Trafford Council is recovering all of the money it overpaid to Tshipamba. Council officers found out about the overpayments through carrying out an audit of the amounts it was paying to Tshipamba. That audit flagged some discrepancies and showed significant funds were routinely being transferred away from the account set up to receive council payment for his son's care.

Bruno Tshipamba is one of five Trustees of Manchester's Lingala Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. After pleading guilty at an earlier hearing, Tshipamba appeared in court again and was given a SUSPENDED nine-month custodial sentence. Tshipamba also has been ordered to undertake a 10 day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Judge Potter at Minshull Street Crown Court described Tshipamba's actions as being "thoroughly dishonest". A spokesperson for Trafford Council said: "Mr Tshipamba should be thoroughly ashamed of his actions. The money he fraudulently claimed from the Council could have gone on funding children with their support needs."

NEW SOUTH WALES v. MOHAMMED ZAHIDUL KABIR was a 2014-18 Australian criminal prosecution of a male Jehovah's Witness CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT who stole nearly $75,000.00 from his tax clients. Mohammed Kabir was a highly educated immigrant (MBA) from Bangladesh during the early 2000s. Kabir obtained another MBA and a Masters in Accounting eventually becoming a CPA, a Registered Tax Agent, and a tax firm franchisee.

A 2014 federal investigation revealed that between 2009 and 2014 that Mohammed Kabir had fraudulently used 16 of his clients' tax file numbers to lodge false tax returns resulting in the wrongful payment of tax refunds into his own bank accounts amounting to $22,475.18. Kabir also stole money from 22 other taxpayers by withdrawing their tax refunds amounting to $51,693.00 from their bank accounts without their knowledge. In 2018, Mohammed Z. Kabir, age 43, accepted a plea deal in which he had to make restitution and serve at least 3 of 5 years prison sentence.

Despite Mohammed Kabir's guilty plea, a local JW Elder, named Chow Meng P'ng, submitted a character reference to be used by Kabir's attorney during the sentencing hearing. That JW Elder referred to Kabir as a "reliable man within his Bible [study] group", and relating that he was "surprised" to hear about Kabir's "actions".

UNITED STATES v. KARREAM HASAN SHEARD A/K/A KENNETH DAVID HARVEY was a 2005-09 Georgia federal criminal prosecution of a 28 year-old former WATCHTOWER BETHELITE named Karream H. Sheard. Karream Sheard (multiple aliases, also aka David Lawrence) and his two half-siblings were reared by a devoted African-American Jehovah's Witness Mother in New Jersey. After graduating high school, Karream Sheard volunteered at WATCHTOWER WORLD HQ, in Brooklyn, and also served as a Ministerial Servant at a Kingdom Hall in the Bronx.

After exiting the WatchTower Cult around 1998, Sheard relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where his elder half-brother, William C. "Bill" Marshall Jr. (multiple aliases), got Sheard a job with him as a Car Salesman at an Atlanta area Chevrolet automobile dealership. Sheard publicly admits that he and his brother routinely used fake documents forged by another dealership employee in order to obtain financing for customers who did not qualify for financing. Sheard further publicly admits that he soon graduated to forging the fake financial documents himself -- first selling them to other car salesmen, and then later, to real estate mortgage brokers.

In 2002, Karream Sheard a/k/a Kenneth David Harvey and his brother William C. Marshall Jr. formed a supposed automobile leasing company named XQUISITE EMPIRE INC., which in reality was used to launder the ill gotten gains of criminals who did not pay taxes on their illegal income -- more specifically, to purchase luxury cars for members of the Black Mafia Family, a rap music connected drug trafficking organization that sold $270 million in drugs in major cities across the United States. Over time, the two brothers paid 50 straw buyers a "commission" to purchase 224 luxury automobiles, valued over $11 MILLION, in their own names, using their own credit histories. The autos were then turned over to the two brothers in exchange for the "commission" and the two brothers' promise to make all of the straw buyer's loan payments -- which never happened. When the defrauded lenders attempted to repossess those autos, the original purchasers had no idea where were those vehicles.

Gradually, the two brothers' responsibilities for the Black Mafia Family grew. William C. "Bill" Marshall Jr. became the drug cartel's Chief Financial Officer. Karream Sheard became the "fixer". Sheard forged documents to purchase cars, houses, and even large dollar amounts of jewelry for Black Mafia Family members. Sheard paid off employees inside several state motor vehicle agencies to obtain 250 driver's licenses, each with a fake name. When the DeKalb County, Georgia police impounded a cartel limousine with $2 million in cocaine and cash inside, Sheard manufactured notarized documents and retrieved the vehicle from the impound lot.

In 2005, the FBI and DEA ended the party by arresting many of the leaders of the Black Mafia Family -- including Marshall and Sheard. In 2006, William Marshall, age 39, and his brother "Kenneth David Harvey" were also indicted on charges relating to Xquisite Empire Inc. In 2009, Karream Sheard pleaded guilty to wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering, and was sentenced to 46 months (reduced later to 33 months) in federal prison, where he was visited every month by his JW Mother. Restitution of $2.4 MILLION also was ordered.

GEORGIA v.KARREAM HASAN SHEARD and GEORGIA v. KENNETH DAVID HARVEY, ETC. were MULTIPLE lesser arrests and/or convictions under multiple aliases in Georgia from 1998 to 2005 -- including providing false identity to police (2000).

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION v. KENNETH TAVES ET AL is a 1999-2000 California federal civil lawsuit in which the F.T.C. prosecuted an INTERNET PORNOGRAPHER for fraudulently charging the credit/debit cards of thousands of persons who had never ever visited one of his 14 PORN websites. At the time, this prosecution was lauded as both the LARGEST CASE EVER involving Pornography, and the LARGEST CASE EVER involving credit card related fraud.

The credit/debit card processing service company which acted as the intermediary between Taves, Taves' bank accounts, and the credit card companies, was a Los Angeles area company called AUTOMATED TRANSACTION SERVICES, INC., which was founded and operated by prominent Jehovah's Witness Elders David Goldfarb and Bill Parodi. David Goldfarb testified for the F.T.C. at the TAVES trial. Interestingly, at trial, Taves asserted that ATS and its two owners were co-conspirators in the credit card "thefts". David Goldfarb not only denied conspiring with Taves, but he denied ever suspecting that Taves was committing credit card fraud.

David Goldfarb testified that Automated Transaction Services processed credit/debit card and electronic check payments for Taves' multiple companies and multiple websites from January 1995 until Taves' operations were shut down in December 1998. David Goldfarb testified that he was personally in charge of handling the Taves account at ATS. Interestingly, in calendar year 1997, ATS deposited just under $5 MILLION into Taves' bank accounts. However, starting in 1998, those ATS deposits suddenly jumped to $4 MILLION and more PER MONTH (after Taves began to charge the cards of thousands of persons who had never visited his websites.) ATS earned upwards of $2.7 MILLION from Taves just in 1998, which Goldfarb testified was around 15% of ATS's total income in 1998.

Goldfarb also testified that Bill Parodi and he established a joint bank account in the Caymen Islands, at Taves' request. That joint account was used to receive payments from ATS owed to Taves, which were then transferred into Taves' own Caymen Island account. That joint account then received payments back from Taves' account which were owing to ATS for services performed for Taves' companies.

David Goldfarb also disclosed that Bill Parodi and he owned part of WORLD BANKCARD ASSOCIATES, INC. (the court record is unclear whether Goldfarb and Parodi EACH owned 15% of World Bankcard, or whether they owned 15% combined), which was another "fee-based support service" company which arranged for Taves and other similarly situated "merchants" who were having problems obtaining bank "merchant accounts" to obtain such from certain cooperating Banks willing to do business with them. (At that time, few Banks wanted to be known as doing business with pornographers. World Bankcard "helped" Taves open a "merchant account" at three different banks, and thereafter received a commission from every deposit made into Taves' accounts. See Newspaper article linked below.)

David Goldfarb also disclosed that ATS actually did business with around 200 INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY COMPANIES, each of which had multiple websites (actually, Goldfarb ballparked the figure at "a couple hundred'). How many internet pornography companies even existed in the Los Angeles area back in the 1990s before every home had a computer? Does anyone else suspect that ATS may have been the California PORN INDUSTRY's "go-to" company for credit card processing? Although Goldfarb and Parodi had only founded ATS sometime in 1994, Taves began doing business with ATS when he started his operations in January 1995. How many Americans had home computers in 1994, and how many retailers and other "merchants" were doing online business in 1994, and needed the services of a company like ATS? ATS referred to itself as a "pioneer" in the credit card service industry for a reason -- it was.

Despite David Goldfarb's "hmmmm" testimony, the USDC chose to ignore any possibility that Goldfarb, Parodi, and ATS had conspired with Taves. In fact, in its "opinion", the USDC repeatedly had to re-assert the court's continuing belief in Goldfarb's honesty and credibility. (Had the USDC somehow learned that David Goldfarb was a prominent Jehovah's Witness Leader?)

Goldfarb and Parodi later sold ATS in June 1999 -- probably after it became obvious that their business relationship with the PORN INDUSTRY was going to become public knowledge during the TAVES trial proceedings. ATS was "acquired" by Innuity, Inc. David Goldfarb was elected to Innuity's Board of Directors, and he continued to oversee operations at the former ATS, which underwent a name change, until July 2001. It is not known if Bill Parodi continued working at the former ATS after the acquisition. Innuity sold off the former ATS in 2004, and it is still doing business under a different name.

****************** *****************

CANADA v. DEBORAH DIECKMANN (2005-07) and ONTARIO v. DEBORAH DIECKMANN were related lengthy 2005-14 civil and criminal prosecutions. Additional criminal prosecutions of associated Defendants are summarized below. George Salmon (father) and Deborah Dieckmann (daughter of George Salmon) were tried, convicted, and imprisoned in 2014.

ONTARIO v. CAROLINE HARTMAN and ONTARIO v. THOMAS DAVIS. Co-conspirators of Deborah Dieckmann were her sister, Caroline Hartman (daughter of George Salmon), and Tom Davis. Both Hartman and Davis DIED before they could be criminally prosecuted. Tom Davis was the mastermind. Davis devised the plan and was the primary front man who brought in most of the clients. Caroline Hartman also recruited clients and performed other various operations in the scheme.

Between 2002 and 2006, the principal Defendants operated a lengthy and complicated FRAUDULENT SCHEME used to defraud the Canadian government of $5,777,648.01 in "source deductions" using a plethora of companies with ever-changing names and employees which provided bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, staffing, and other human resource services to client employers. Instead of remitting to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) the"source deductions" -- income tax deductions, employment insurance deductions, and Canada Pension Plan deductions -- the Defendants converted those source deductions to their own personal use.

Notably, a number of other family members, friends, and acquaintances who supposedly participated "unwittingly" in the FRAUDULENT SCHEME were not prosecuted. Most, if not all, of the defendants were reported to be "devoted and active Jehovah's Witnesses". TYPICALLY, both Jehovah's Witnesses family members and fellow congregants appeared in court and testified on behalf of the defendants that they were "honest", "trustworthy", "of good character", and were "well respected within the [JW] community." Typically, none of the Salmon Family had ever been previously convicted of a crime.

CANADA v. DEBORAH DIECKMANN (2005-07).The Canada Revenue Agency first brought a civil action against Deborah Dieckmann to recover part or all of the stolen source deductions. After a key witness disappeared shortly before the scheduled trial in 2007, the Canada DOJ settled with Dieckmann in an agreement which absolved her of any liability for source deductions not paid by her clients during the time period in question.

ONTARIO v. DEBORAH DIECKMANN. Despite the above civil judgment, the government pressed forward with the criminal prosecution. In December 2013, Deborah Dieckmann, age 48, was convicted of seven counts of fraud, in relation to $5,143,723.02 in stolen source deductions. In January 2014, Deborah Dieckmann was sentenced to 4 years incarceration on Count 1, and 4 years on Counts 2 to 7, to be served concurrently with Count 1. Deborah Dieckmann was ordered to pay a fine in lieu of forfeiture of proceeds of crime in the amount of $1,285,930.00 -- to be paid within one year after release from incarceration. If she defaults, Deborah Dieckmann shall be imprisoned for a term of 5 additional years.

Dieckmann was a critical player in the scheme because she managed the money throughout. A bookkeeper by training, Dieckmann was responsible for insuring the money flowed from the client companies into bank accounts that she and her co-defendants controlled. She liaised with the managers of those companies, and insured the employees and nominee directors were paid, so that their legitimate clients would remain unsuspecting. She personally had sole or joint signing authority on all of the bank accounts through which the monies flowed. Dieckmann also contracted with a legitimate payroll service provider that physically transferred the wages to the employees. Significantly, and contrary to usual industry practice, she instructed the legitimate payroll service provider to pay the employees but not remit the source deductions to the CRA. In that way she maintained control of the remittances, so that she and Davis could share the spoils. In order to perpetuate the fraud, Dieckmann engaged in several creative strategies. She created and was found in possession of hundreds of fraudulent documents, ranging from false T4s to "cut and paste" contracts. She arranged for the incorporation of many of the businesses used to further the fraud. When it became apparent to her that the CRA had become suspicious, she set up bank accounts in the Cayman Islands to protect the proceeds of the frauds from seizure by the CRA. She provided false information to her legal counsel in the related civil action that was used to create misleading affidavits, in order to absolve herself of liability.

CANADA v. GEORGE SALMON. The Family Patriarch, George Salmon, age 72, also engaged in the scheme, but his role was confined to multiple "machining" companies -- Ontario Limited o/a Tritech Precision Machining and CNC Machine Inc. -- he personally ran or with which he was associated. In collaboration with Tom Davis, George Salmon brought his employees into the fraudulent payroll scheme whereby source deductions amounting to $397,758.65 that should have gone to Revenue Canada were instead used to enrich the offenders. When the CRA tried to collect the outstanding funds, Salmon engaged in further deceptive conduct, including the use of nominee directors and the creation of false agreements that purported to suggest that he had factored his company's receivables to another company of which his daughter Deborah Dieckmann was President.

In December 2013, George Salmon was convicted on only one count of fraud relating to the scheme. In January 2014, Salmon was sentenced to 2 years less a day, and ordered to pay a fine of $397,758.65 -- to be paid within one year after release from incarceration. If he defaults, Salmon shall be imprisoned for a term of 3 additional years.

CANADA v. ROGER OKE was a 2009 Ontario criminal prosecution related to the above Salmon Family criminal prosecutions. In September 2009, Roger Oke, of Bolton, Ontario, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of failing to attend court. Roger Oke had been a director of Russell Staffing Inc., a front company in the scheme. Oke was given a suspended sentence and two years probation for the fraud charges, and sentenced to time served of nine days for the failure to attend court charge.

CANADA v. RUSSELL CONROY. Russell Conroy owned and operated Russell Staffing Inc. Conroy allowed Tom Davis to use RSI as a front company in the scheme. Defendant Russell Conroy pled guilty. Other details and sentence unknown.

ONTARIO v. JOHN UMENWOKE was a 2010-13 Toronto, Ontario, Canada criminal court case. John Umenwoke, age 63, a/k/a Solomon Idiaraba, is yet another Nigerian fraudster, who had the Canadian judge in this court case wrapped around his finger. Reared as a Jehovah's Witness in Nigeria, along with 15 siblings, Umenwoke claims to have fulltime pioneered from 1968 to 1971. Umenwoke claims that he fled to Canada in 2006 because he was being persecuted for his religious beliefs in Nigeria. Umenwoke claims that he graduated from the University of Nigeria with a B.S. in Computer Science, and was employed as a secondary school teacher. Several Nigerian friends and relatives (in both Canada and Nigeria) who served as character witnesses for Umenwoke never used the term "Jehovah's Witness", but instead referred to Umenwoke as a "preacher" and "evangelizer".

In April 2010, Umenwoke was arrested and charged with defrauding Liquid Capital Exchange Corporation of $75,650.60 USD, in 2009. LCEC is in the accounts receivables factoring business. They advance money to businesses based on a business's accounts receivables. The receivables are then paid directly to them, and when they are collected, LCEC remits the amount collected less their fees.

In this case, LCEC advanced $75,650.60 to Unified Solution Providers in April 2009, based on financial information purporting to come from its' owner, Solomon Idiaraba. Unified Solution Providers is actually a corporation established by John Umenwoke, and all of the stock is in the name of Umenwoke's girlfriend (last name "Mokgwathi"). "Solomon Idiaraba" was really John Umenwoke. The accounts receivable were fabricated, and LCEC lost every penny it advanced to USP.

The decision of this Canadian court is unbelievable! John Umenwoke, who receives a government disability pension, pled total poverty, so was NOT ordered to pay any restitution. Umenwoke claimed that he had sent all of the stolen money to his four children back in Nigeria to use for their college educations. Umenwoke received no jail time -- not even when he was initially arrested. Twelve months house arrest. Eight months curfew. 125 hours community service. One year probation with 50 additional hours of community service.

FYI, this court opinion also mentioned that John Umenwoke spent time attending and working at Norwood University in Michigan. Umenwoke also operated a Michigan corporation named Network Computer Reboot Incorporated.

CROWN v. GARY TURNER. In March 2012, a British Jehovah's Witness businessman, named Gary Turner, age 47, pleaded guilty to tax fraud committed over a 14 year period -- amounting to approximately $6,000,000.00 (USD), and was sentenced to five years in prison. Turner founded Turners Butchers in 1988. Turner's retail meat business was successful until 1996, when the mad cow scare and other factors caused Turner's retail business to go bust.Turner reinvented his business as an imported meat wholesaler. It is unclear whether Turner actually ever operated as an imported meat wholesaler, but Turner began filing fraudulent VAT returns with HM Revenue and Customs which claimed large sales and profits which entitled Turner to large VAT tax refunds. Turner reportedly used those fraudulent tax refunds to fund a luxurious lifestyle for himself, his wife, and their six children -- buying houses, luxury automobiles, and overseas vacations. Thus far, HMRC has been able to find and freeze only about 25% of the amount of the tax refunds.

******************

PAMELA LYNN BROOKS v. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE is a 2011-13 federal tax court case involving a California Jehovah's Witness named Pamela L. Brooks. Ever so amusingly, Pamela Brooks has been employed by the I.R.S. since 1987, and since 2003, Pam L. Brooks has been working as a "Tax Compliance Officer", whose duties are the examination of individual tax returns.

This tax case resulted from the I.R.S.'s determination that Brooks had underpaid her 2005, 2006, and 2007 federal taxes by $11,399.00 due to a variety of questioned "deductions". The questioned deductions included a claimed charitable contribution deduction of $3500.00 in 2005 for undocumented "cash" donations to Brooks local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, and included a claimed charitable contribution deduction of $5200.00 in 2006, which itself included undocumented "cash" donations in the amount of $2200.00 to Brooks' local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, plus another undocumented $3000.00 donation to "a tsunami relief fund through the Jehovah's Witnesses" -- although Brooks admitted that her mother physically made the donation. (The IRS was also seeking $5584.00 in "penalties" from their JW Employee.) Amusingly, not only is it Pamela Brooks' job at the IRS to review others' tax returns for the disallowance of these same undocumented charitable contributions, but the WatchTower Society has for decades warned its members every November-December regarding the IRS's requirements for claiming a tax deduction for donations made to it and its local Kingdom Halls.

This tax court's discussion of a questioned "deduction" which related to a home owned by Pamela Lynn Brooks also disclosed some "interesting" information. At some point, Brooks had purchased a home in Riverside, California for $168,000.00. In 2004, some fire caused some "smoke damage" to Brooks' home. Brooks filed claims with BOTH her insurance company and FEMA, and Brooks eventually collected an unspecified amount of money from each. However, during the insurance company's investigation of Brooks' claim, smoke-damaged asbestos was discovered in Brook's home. The insurance company determined that it would cost only $30,000.00 for both the expensive asbestos removal and treatment of whatever other smoke damage remained.

"Petitioner did not make any repairs to, or remove the asbestos from, the Riverside property. Instead, she attempted to sell the Riverside property. Her initial asking price for the Riverside property was $335,000. After she received an offer and while the property was in escrow, petitioner's real estate agent discovered that petitioner had failed to disclose the asbestos problem to the buyer. Petitioner consequently agreed with the buyer to reduce the price to $305,000, an amount equal to the asking price reduced by the cost of repairing the property, including the costs of repairing the smoke damage and removing the asbestos. In September 2004 she sold the Riverside property for $305,000."

This tax court decision also affirmed the IRS's disallowance of dependency exemption deductions for Brooks' grandson in 2006 and Brooks' son in 2007, due to both relatives' ineligibility. Amusingly, in 2007, Brooks also failed to catch her "mistake" of deducting $23,000.00 for state and local sales taxes, instead of the alleged correct amount of $2300.00. The federal tax court ended this lengthy and complex decision with this assessment:

"... Petitioner is an IRS employee with many years of service. Her occupation involves the examination of Federal income tax returns. Despite petitioner's expertise, she claimed excessive deductions and dependency exemptions and failed to maintain adequate records to substantiate her itemized deductions. ... ."

******************

A now-deceased Jehovah's Witness, who had for many years worked as an I.R.S. Auditor, once admitted having lived many of those same years in a state of spiritual depression because of their repeated professional encounters with fellow Jehovah's Witnesses -- particularly individuals who that JW discovered in the course of their work to be Elders and Ministerial Servants. In the early part of their career, that JW dealt psychologically with the "problem" by naively writing letters to the WatchTower Society outlining the widespread nature of the "problem", and encouraging the WatchTower Society to admonish its JW members to be honest when filing their tax returns. After years of seeing the "problem" increasing, rather than decreasing, this JW eventually started having doubts that the WatchTower religion was "the only true religion" given the state of "honesty" amongst the religion's very "leaders" observed over a wide geographic area. Finally, this JW came up with a solution. The JW went to their management and told them a watered-down version of what has been related above, and requested that in the future they be relieved from any case once that case was identified as a Jehovah's Witness. Their request was granted.

UNITED STATES v. KEVIN METCALF was a 1997-8 California federal criminal court case which involved a Jehovah's Witness Real Estate Appraiser named Kevin Metcalf. Metcalf and a co-conspirator (unidentified by source, but probably a fellow Jehovah's Witness) manufactured and attempted to sell counterfeit checks, which were copied from genuine checks issued to Metcalf by mortgage companies and other firms who had employed Metcalf to perform real estate appraisals.

This JW Duo also manufactured and attempted to pass counterfeit $20.00 bills. Kevin Metcalf was found guilty on one conspiracy count and four counts of counterfeiting, and was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Metcalf was also ordered to pay a $15,000.00 criminal fine and $2,068 in restitution to California Federal Bank.

In sentencing Metcalf, Judge Kram found that Metcalf obstructed justice by giving false testimony during his trial, and that he was the organizer of the conspiracy. Judge Kram rejected Metcalf's request for a reduced sentence based on his claims that the counterfeiting operation was "aberrant behavior" because he was a Jehovah's Witness who was active in charitable causes. Metcalf's co-conspirator pled guilty to unidentified charges - possibly an indicator that they assisted in Metcalf's prosecution.

MICHIGAN v. CHRISTIAN LONGO was a 2000 Michigan criminal court case which involved a Jehovah's Witness "Ministerial Servant" named Christian Longo. Christian Longo was reared as a Jehovah's Witness by parents who were prominent Jehovah's Witnesses in Indianapolis. Chris Longo's father was an Elder, and his elderette mother was a "Pioneer". In the mid 1990s, the WatchTower Society selected Christian Longo's parents to travel as special delegates to WatchTower Conventions to be held in several eastern European countries and the Baltic republics.

In September 2000, Christian Longo pled guilty to two counts of forgery and two counts of uttering and publishing in connection with a series of forgery and fraud crimes committed in Summer 2000. Similar to the modus operandi in the METCALF case above, Longo had manufactured, signed, and cashed checks which he duplicated from genuine checks issued to him by a construction contracting firm which had employed Longo to provide janitorial services. In actuality, Longo had faked and forged six checks amounting to approximately $30,000.00. By the summer of 2001, Christian Longo was again manufacturing and cashing fraudulent checks duplicated from employers' legitimate checks. Longo was never prosecuted for such, because by that time his criminal activities were swiftly escalating to theft of automobiles, boats, construction equipment, and the finale -- murder of his wife and three children (see OREGON v. LONGO). In 1992, an 18 year old Christian Longo had been convicted of misdemeanor embezzlement after he stole cash out of the cash register at a Michigan photographic equipment store where he was employed as a clerk.

FLORIDA v. MICHAEL CHRISTIAN CRABTREE was a July 2013 Florida arrest on two counts of "Fraud - Uttering A False Instrument" in Saint Augustine, Florida. Michael C. Crabtree, then age 50, of Deland, Florida, told arresting officers that he was a "Buyer" for OFF LEASE ONLY used auto sales, a large Florida used auto dealership with lots in Miami, Lake Worth, Palm Beach, and Orlando. Michael Crabtree's son, Ian Crabtree, is also an employee of OFF LEASE ONLY used auto sales. Tipster relates that they last knew Michael C. Crabtree, DOB 5/7/63, as an Elder at a southeastern Florida congregation -- along with his father, Richard "Dick" Crabtree". Tipster further relates that JWParents Richard Crabtree and Eunice Crabtree were the TWO BIGGEST PHARISEES who he knew amongst thousands of Jehovah's Witness Pharisees. $30,000.00 Bond. Outcome unknown. Arrestees are presumed innocent of all charges.

ALSO: See MICHAEL CHRISTIAN CRABTREE v. JANET M. CRABTREE, a divorce suit filed in Palm Beach County, Florida, in June 2014.

ALSO: See MOHAMED v. OFF LEASE ONLY INC., a settled 2017-18 Florida FEDERAL CLASS ACTION lawsuit in which Michael Crabtree and Ian Crabtree were designated as "Material Witnesses" (no pun intended), and were represented by one of the same attorneys representing the named defendant.

MICHIGAN v. JOHN DENNIS LAFOND and JONATHAN DENNIS LAFOND was a 2010 Michigan state criminal prosecution of a pair of Father-Son Jehovah's Witness Elders at the Greenville, Michigan Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, who also owned and operated a local used automobile dealership called LAFOND AUTO SALES, in addition to owning a real estate business and a mortgage brokerage business.

In October 2009, the Michigan Secretary of State received a complaint from a LaFond Auto Sales customer which claimed that they had purchased an automobile and an extended warranty from the LaFonds, but had not been able to get their car repaired. In January 2010, without even holding a hearing, the Michigan Secretary of State suspended the license of the dealership after an investigation which uncovered 34 instances, between February 2007 and November 2009, of warranties which had been sold to paying customers, but which had not been submitted to the warranty company. Amazingly, the Lafonds reportedly continued the scam even while the state investigation was ongoing. The LaFonds reportedly attempted to cover up some of their fraudulent sales by performing some repairs themselves.

The Michigan Secretary of State told reporters that this was not the first time that it had had problems with LaFond Auto Sales. Previously, the LaFonds had failed to make title and registration in the purchaser's name within 15 days of vehicle delivery, had failed to provide copies of a document at the time of signing, had improperly disclosed odometer readings, and had invalid uses of temporary registration.

In February 2010, John LaFond, age 66, and Jonathan LaFond, age 41, were arrested and charged with 11 felony counts of obtaining between $1000.00 and $20,000.00 under false pretenses with intent to defraud. Probably due to the bad publicity to the local Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, in less than two weeks in expedited proceedings, the LaFonds agreed with the local Prosecutor to plead "No Contest" to only three counts of obtaining $1000.00 or more under false pretenses with intent to defraud. In May 2010, the LaFonds were each sentenced to one year in jail, plus ordered to pay $48,326.00 in restitution. They also were placed on three years of probation, during which they must complete 300 hours of community service, and they cannot be employed in fiduciary positions.

OFFICE OF FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE REGULATION v. LAFOND AUTO SALES was the January 2011 revocation of the LaFonds' Installment Seller License.

NANCY LOZADA, ET AL v. DALE BAKER OLDSMOBILE, INC., d/b/a FRESH START AUTO CENTER, d/b/a DALE BAKER KIA, d/b/a DALE BAKER SUZUKI, and d/b/a NATIONAL FLEET LIQUIDATORS OF MICHIGAN INC, ET AL were three (3) Michigan federal United States District Court decisions, in March 2000, March 2001, and May 2001. This was a certified class-action lawsuit in which previous purchasers at DALE BAKER MOTOR MALL who had POOR CREDIT HISTORY alleged that DALE BAKER OLDSMOBILE, INC. failed to provide them with a copy of their retail installment contracts at the time of execution, allegedly in violation of the federal Truth in Lending Act, the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, the Michigan Motor Vehicle Installment Sales Contracts Act, the Michigan Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act, and the Michigan Vehicle Code. The plaintiffs sought damages under statutory remedies, as well as replevin and unjust enrichment theories.

The plaintiffs alleged that they were all customers of DALE BAKER OLDSMOBILE who had sought to purchase motor vehicles on credit. Because of their credit histories, the salesmen at DALE BAKER OLDSMOBILE first determined that plaintiffs would not be eligible for conventional auto financing. The salesmen then referred the plaintiffs to the DALE BAKER OLDSMOBILE special finance department, known as the Credit Resources Center, which was then managed by Daryl Moore. After selecting a vehicle, each plaintiff was introduced to the Assistant Special Finance Manager, Stormie Moore, to complete the necessary documentation to obtain credit to finance their vehicles in the sub-prime credit market. At that time, each plaintiff was presented with and signed a Retail Installment Contract which contained disclosures of the annual percentage rate, finance charge, amount financed, total sale price, and payment schedule. Those disclosures were contained under the heading "TRUTH IN LENDING DISCLOSURES" and placed immediately above the signature line. While plaintiffs were shown the retail installment contracts at the time they signed them and while those installment contracts contained disclosures, plaintiffs allegedly were not given a copy of the contracts or disclosures until some days after they signed their agreements.

The defendant admitted that between December 1998 and August 31, 1999, during the period of time Daryl and Stormie Moore were employed by Leroy Dale Baker, customers of the Special Finance Department did not receive, either at or before signing, a copy of the retail installment sales contract. The USDC found that 414 plaintiffs who had purchased their vehicles during that period were "proven class members" to whom defendant was liable under the recited statutes. However, the USDC also permitted any other aggrieved customer of the Special Finance Department between August 16, 1993 through December 1, 1998, to be added as plaintiffs.

Leroy Dale Baker was the founding incorporator of the Wyoming Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dale Baker's son and business partner, Barak Kerns Baker, aka "Barry" Baker is/was a member of the Cascade Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Leroy Dale Baker made his millions as the founder of Grand Rapids' "Dale Baker Automotive Group". A subsidiary, Circuit Leasing, Inc., once leased automobiles to the WatchTower Society for its 500 or more traveling "Overseers" assigned throughout the United States -- until Baker eventually sold out his auto business operations.

Barak K. Baker was the Manager of Circuit Leasing, Inc. (Thereafter, the WatchTower Society cut out the middleman and formed its own "Circuit Vehicles" auto leasing subsidiary, which allows this subsidiary company to purchase vehicles directly from auto manufacturers and lease such back to the main corporation.) "Barry" Baker is currently President of the BLOOD CONSERVATION SUPPORT FOUNDATION, whose large expenditures over the years seems to indicate a significant asset for the WatchTower Society's anti-blood transfusion agenda.

L. Dale Baker is also a founding Trustee of JAH-JIREH HOMES OF AMERICA, which is a Jehovah's Witness owned, operated, and occupied retirement community located near Allentown, Pennsylvania. Dale Baker is also the father-in-law of Judah B. Schroeder, who is a former WatchTower Society Attorney and the son of deceased WatchTower Governing Body member, Albert D. Schroeder.

KENTUCKY v. ERIC BRIAN MEUX was a July 2010-11 Kentucky criminal court case in which African-American Eric B. Meux, then age 48, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, pled "Guilty" to 7 counts of "Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument" (checks taken from two more individuals, forged, and cashed) and one count of "Possession of Marijuana", in exchange for a two year prison sentence PROBATED for three years.

Eric B. Meux allegedly is the son of the Presiding Overseer/COBE of the Hopkinsville Kentucky Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. (Be careful not to confuse the criminal records of Eric Meux with the lengthy criminal records of other Meux family members. ALSO, don't confuse this prominent Hopkinsville African-American Jeovah's Witness Family with the only 20 minutes away prominent Madisonville African-American Jeovah's Witness Family, which also is originally from Indiana, and has similar quality/quantity of "alleged" criminals.)

INDIANA v. ERIC BRIAN MEUX were two separate arrests for "Conversion" in January and July 1996. Outcomes unknown. The Meux Clan is originally from Indiana, and this case apparently occurred before the entire Clan relocated to "where the need was great".

ALABAMA v. CELEOUS WILSON was a 2003 Alabama court case. In 2003, an Anniston, Alabama Jehovah's Witness, named Celeous Wilson, 31, was sentenced to one year in the Calhoun County jail for "writing bad checks". By March 2004, Wilson was allowed to participate in the county's work release program. However, on March 11, Wilson did not return from a roofing job, and may not have even showed up at the jobsite that day. During the evening of Wilson's third day of freedom, Celeous Wilson checked himself into Regional Medical Center for a supposed "psychiatric" condition. Outcome unknown, but sounds as if 'ol Celeous may be saner than most.

MASSACHUSETTS v. WILLIAM COUTURE was a 1970 Massachusetts bank robbery court case. In May 1970, William Couture, 56, of Sharon, Massachusetts, but originally from Central Falls, Rhode Island, was shot four times during his apprehension by police after he and two accomplices held-up and robbed a Tewksbury bank. Taken to St. Johns Hospital, in Lowell, Bill Couture refused to consent to needed blood transfusions before, during, and after surgery to remove the four bullets -- due to his beliefs as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Couture was listed in critical condition. Outcome unknown.

MIGUEL ANGEL FAJARDO v. SUPER CERAMIC TILE IMPORTING LTD was a 2012 Ontario, Canada employment court case. Miguel A. Fajardo was hired by Vito Ciancio in January 2010. During his job interview, Miguel Fajardo identified himself as a Jehovah's Witness -- as supposed evidence that he would be more honest and harder working than other prospects.

Hired as a general employee to work in the store and the warehouse, Fajardo was soon assigned payroll duties. In September 2010, Ciancio directed Fajardo to not to take out source deductions and withholdings when computing the paycheck of a certain newly hired employee. Believing that not taking out all the deductions and withholdings was "illegal", Fajardo research the matter on the internet, and determined that source deductions and withholdings were to be made on every paycheck. Fajardo reminded Ciancio that he was a Jehovah's Witness, who could not do anything "dishonest", and he refused to obey his employer's direction regarding the new hire's paycheck. Ciancio told Fajardo that he could do as he had been told, or he could make out his own final paycheck. Fajardo believed that he had just been fired, and did not return. Later, at trial, Ciancio alleged that he was going to pay that specific new hire his gross earnings, and that he would have paid the proper source deductions and withholdings himself at time of monthly filings.

In this lawsuit, which was filed nearly two years after his termination, Miguel Angel Fajardo alleged "wrongful dismissal" due to his having refused to commit an illegal act. Fajardo also sought the payment of his last pay check of $733.73, plus accumulated vacation pay of $1092.50, which he had never received. Fajardo claimed damages for "religious harassment" in the workplace, in the form of alleged negative comments made by Ciancio concerning Fajardo's religious beliefs and practices as a member of the Jehovah Witnesses. For all of the above, Fajardo sought general, specific, and punitive damages.

In response, Ciancio denied Fajardo's claims, and further claimed that Fajardo had once even issued a paycheck to himself without taking out deductions. Ciancio also counterclaimed against Fajardo for a $10,000.00 LOAN, on which Fajardo had repaid a mere $250.00.

Under Canadian law, Fajardo was entitled to three weeks notice, thus entitled to 3 (x) $733.73, plus vacation pay of $1092.50. However, the court reduced the three weeks pay to only $1500.00, because, "The figure of $500 is a reduced one being used to take into account [Fajardo's] lack of forthrightness with the court concerning his Employment Insurance benefits and his part time business earnings following his dismissal. As well the plaintiff failed to mitigate his damages by only applying for 3 or 4 jobs and not even producing a resume for the court to demonstrate his search for replacement employment." The court did award Fajardo an additional $1000.00 as punitive damages due to Ciancio's using Fajardo's due earnings as an offset against the $9750.00 owed him on his personal loan to Fajardo.

Testimony regarding the $10,000.00 loan indicated that Ciancio and Fajardo had developed a warm personal friendship, and that Ciancio was concerned about Fajardo and his family's wellbeing. Fajardo eventually told Ciancio about his accumulated high interest credit card debt which he needed to pay off. Ciancio offered Fajardo a loan of $3000.00 to help him out. Fajardo declined that offer, but later requested a much larger loan of over $14,000.00, to be paid back within one year, at an interest rate of 5%. Ciancio did not agree to the over $14,000.00 loan amount, but did eventually present Fajardo with a check for $10,000.00. Fajardo made only two $250.00 repayments, and one of those checks bounced.

At trial, Fajardo claimed that he attempted to make more repayments, but that Ciancio told him that he could wait until Fajardo was on his feet again. Fajardo further claimed that the $10,000.00 loan was "interest free", and the court agreed given no written agreement between the parties. Fajardo was ordered to repay Ciancio $250.00 per month until the loan was discharged.

With regard to Fajardo's claim of "religious harassment", Fajardo alleged that Ciancio "made negative comments" to him on a regular basis about his Jehovah's Witnesses religion -- in particular about not celebrating birthdays and not believing in higher education for children.The court noted that it was Fajardo who introduced his religious beliefs into his workplace when, during his job interview, Fajardo had told Ciancio that he was a Jehovah's Witness who would be a good worker. One week later, Fajardo offered to bring Ciancio some WatchTower literature to explain why he did not allow his children to celebrate birthdays. (How did Ciancio know that Fajardo did not allow his children to celebrate birthdays?) Ciancio testified that he still had a Bible and several pieces of WatchTower literature given to him by Fajardo.

The court noted that "religious harassment" only occurred where the employer knew or ought to reasonably have known that the comments would be unwelcome. The court stated, "In the case at hand the court finds that as the plaintiff introduced his religion and discussion about it into the workplace from his job interview onwards, that the parties had a socially interactive dialogue going on about the plaintiff's religious practices, and that this did not constitute harassment." Additionally, "the plaintiff did not provide any psychological or physical evidence as to how the alleged religious harassment affected him [negatively]."

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!!!

********************* *********************

"SOVEREIGN CITIZEN" SCAMS and JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

********************* *********************

UNITED STATES v. ANGEL CRUZ is an ongoing 2008-17 Florida federal FRAUD prosecution. In 2008, Angel Cruz (a/ka Angel Cruz-Durand; a/k/a Angel Durand; a/k/a Angel Duran), then age 48 (PHOTO), was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Florida on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States of America and six counts of bank fraud. Angel Cruz quickly disappeared, and has yet to be apprehended by federal law enforcement. The Miami-Herald referred to Cruz as a "devout Jehovah's Witness". Cruz publicly claimed to be an immigrant from Cuba, but Cruz actually may be Puerto Rican, and Angel Cruz may be hiding in Puerto Rico.

UNITED STATES v. HARRY WILLIAM MARRERO was a related 2008-09 Florida federal prosecution. Bill Marrero, reportedly also a Jehovah's Witness Minister, was Angel Cruz's co-defendant. In exchange for his cooperation in the Angel Cruz prosecution, Bill Marrero pleaded guilty on reduced charges and was sentenced to 97 months in prison. Bill Marrero apparently died in prison of unknown causes even before he was eligible for early release. (Notably, few persons connected with TUC, including victims, would cooperate with law enforcement against Cruz.)

Around 2007, in an elaborate "sovereign citizen" scheme perpetrated on mainly Latino-Hispanic Floridians (some of whom were probably gullible fellow Jehovah's Witnesses of Cruz and Marrero), Angel Cruz initially set up a cooperative called The United Cities Group (TUC) through which private companies and individuals could supposedly share goods and services. Soon, however, Angel Cruz allegedly convinced members that as "sovereign citizens" that The United Cities Group could issue its own currency, form its own banking system, form its own police force, form its own judiciary, etc. In mid-2007, Angel Cruz started printing and attempting to spend SIX BILLION DOLLARS of TUC's own paper currency, which Cruz named "The United States Private Dollar". Angel Cruz's currency featured the slogan "IN JEHOVAH WE TRUST". Angel Cruz declared the Federal Reserve System to be "Satan's banking system". United Cities Group also began to issue its own checks and bank drafts drawn on its on non-existent bank -- "TUC Private Currency Office".

Angel Cruz and his co-conspirators in Orlando and Miami were able to convince an unknown number of private companies, individuals, and even an Orlando Not-For-Profit called "JC Consultores Laborales", to give TUC real money in exchange for Cruz's promise to pay their bills. Cruz then turned around and attempted to pay the business expenses (including employee salaries) and personal expenses (including mortgages) of his members with his own worthless currency, checks, and drafts. In August 2007, both the U.S. Treasury Department and the F.D.I.C. issued warnings to banks that valueless checks and drafts amounting to MILLIONS OF DOLLARS were being issued by "The United Cities Corp" of Miami, Florida, and drawn on "TUC Private Currency Office".

Puzzlingly, Angel Cruz and his co-conspirators somehow managed to continue to operate this scam for another year. In July 2008, Angel Cruz and approximately thirty of his followers attempted to "evict" legitimate employees from a Miami branch of the Bank of America. Ten of Cruz's followers wore fake badges, fake police uniforms, and even carried firearms. This pack of HISPANIC NUTS presented a "court order" issued by Angel Cruz's own "The United Cities Group Circuit Court". Cruz's own "court order" referenced a pending $15 Billion lawsuit against the Bank of America filed by Cruz in Miami-Dade County Court, in which Cruz alleged the Bank of America had wronged him because an Orlando branch of Bank of America refused to cash $14.3 million in TUC "bank drafts." Angel Cruz and TUC Vice-Chairman Gladstone Gardner (Jamaican immigrant -- unknown if also a Jehovah's Witness) were arrested on misdemeanor "trespass" charges. The Bank of America was forced to file a federal civil lawsuit against United Cities, and obtained a federal court order ordering the group to stop attempting to defraud Bank of America, or otherwise harassing Bank of America in any manner, plus was awarded $28,810.00. Shortly, thereafter, Angel Cruz and Bill Marrero were indicted, and Marrero was prosecuted and imprisoned.

According to a November 2008 MIAMI HERALD article, Angel Cruz was then also being investigated for an alleged mortgage scam, known as "Lifeline", which allegedly scammed Florida homeowners out of approximately $500,000.00.

Other previous business ventures connected to Angel Cruz include Global Private Housing and Financing and Global Private Bridge & Highway Administration Group.

FLORIDA v. JOHN PHILIP ELLIS SR., FLORIDA v. ROBERT KOCH, FLORIDA v. JEFFREY POLLARD, FLORIDA v. MARK KENNEDY, FLORIDA v. EDWARD G. RICCARDI, and FLORIDA v. SHARON ALFONSO were six related 1999-2002 Florida federal criminal court cases. John P. Ellis Sr. was the organizer of three companies called American Asset Protection, International Asset Protection Trust, and Capital Strategies, which had offices in Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and Okeechobee, Florida. John Ellis and his sales staff sold so-called "foreign" common-law trusts that they claimed did not require the need to file federal tax returns. Customers were told that if they bought a trust from Ellis that they and their ownership interest could remain secret and continue to control the property placed in the trust by their being named manager of the trust. John Ellis and some staffers reportedly claimed that they were "sovereign citizens", and many if not most of Ellis's customers were members of Florida's "sovereign citizen" community.

In October 1999, John Philip Ellis Sr., then age 49, was charged with conspiracy to obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue Service in the assessment and collection of taxes, obstruction of justice, and structuring financial transactions to avoid the bank reporting requirement. Robert Koch, Sharon Alfonso, Mark Kennedy, Jeffrey Pollard and Edward G. Riccardi were charged with conspiracy to obstruct and impede the IRS in the assessment and collection of taxes. It was alleged that between 1993 and 1999 that Ellis's companies sold more than 360 trusts to over 150 customers, costing $6000.00 to $23,000.00 each, which eventually caused the federal government loss of 5 million tax dollars.

Kennedy, Alfonso, and Riccardi eventually cut a plea deal to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy in exchange for their assistance in the prosecution of the other three defendants. Their sentences ranged from a year on house arrest to 21 months in prison.

John P. Ellis Sr. was convicted by a federal jury on the conspiracy and obstruction charges only, and was sentenced to 126 months in prison. Jeff Pollard, age 46, was convicted and received a prison term of 60 months. Bob Koch, age 51, also was convicted, and received a sentence of 58 months.

During the trial, when John Ellis Sr. took the witness stand to testify in his own defense, Ellis refused to "swear" to tell the truth. When Ellis began quoting Matthew 5:34-37, the judge cut off Ellis's explanation and removed the jury from the courtroom. After that session, "acquaintances" of John Ellis explained to reporters that John Philip Ellis Sr. was a Jehovah's Witness -- who supposedly are forbidden to swear oaths.

CROWN v. JEAN JAMIESON was a 1972 British criminal court prosecution of a 20 year-old female Jehovah's Witness Minister who was employed as a postal clerk by the Postal Service in Scotland. During four months in 1971, Jean Jamieson stole paperwork from a post office onto which she forged multiple signatures in order to fraudulently obtain a mere 96 pounds from the government pension system. In 1972, at a second post office, Jean Jamieson stole 27 pounds from a registered letter. Outcome unknown.