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TexasTowelie's JournalPella Man Sentenced to Prison for Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Scheme
DES MOINES, IA – On November 1, 2019, Mark Alan Blankespoor, of Pella, Iowa, was sentenced to 80 months in prison by United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger for wire fraud, announced United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum. Blankespoor was ordered by the Court to serve three years of supervised release to follow his prison term. Additionally, he must pay $8,464,103 in restitution to over 100 victims.
The defendant pleaded guilty to wire fraud in June of 2019. According to court documents, Blankespoor was a health coach and consultant in Pella. He represented to others he was involved in developing medically-oriented gyms and licensed the program to fitness clinics across the United States. For more than four years, Blankespoor represented to investors they had an opportunity to make money by investing in the medically-oriented gym concept. At least 100 investors provided Blankespoor with approximately $15 million in investment funds. Blankespoor admitted he used the investors’ money for unauthorized purposes that were not for the benefit of the affected investors. Blankespoor used the investor money, unbeknownst to them, for his personal expenses and paying other investors to further the scheme.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this matter. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdia/pr/pella-man-sentenced-prison-multi-million-dollar-fraud-scheme
Baton Rouge Man Pleads Guilty in Federal Court to Multi-Million Dollar Bank and Wire Fraud Schemes
United States Attorney Brandon J. Fremin announced today that Michael Allen Worley, age 57, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles to bank fraud and wire fraud. As a result of his conviction, Worley faces a significant term of imprisonment, a fine, and a period of supervised release.
According to admissions made as part of his guilty plea, Worley executed schemes to defraud both banks and private equity firms by submitting multiple false and fraudulent loan applications on behalf of himself and of businesses he owned or operated. Between 2014 and 2018, Worley obtained more than $18 million in new loans from federally-insured banks in Baton Rouge and around the country through materially false and fraudulent statements and representations. Through a similar scheme, Worley obtained at least an additional $11 million from private equity firms in Louisiana and Texas, also through materially false and fraudulent statements and representations. During the course of both his bank and wire fraud schemes, Worley inflated his assets, understated and omitted his liabilities, misrepresented his income, and often misrepresented other things including the intended use(s) of millions in loan proceeds. In some instances, Worley and the businesses he owned, operated, or controlled, defaulted on the loans, causing the financial institutions and private equity funds to suffer financial losses. Worley filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January of 2018.
U.S. Attorney Brandon J. Fremin stated, “This investigation and conviction demonstrates that those who seek to deceive and defraud banks and other lenders for their own personal benefit will be held accountable. Mr. Worley executed schemes to fraudulently induce banks and private lenders into giving him millions of dollars, and used unwitting associates of his to assist him. Individuals like Mr. Worley who obtain loans through fraudulent means can expect to be prosecuted, and victims of such schemes should know we will do everything within our power to make these lenders whole. I would like to recognize the efforts of our prosecutor and the FBI for their exemplary work on such an important matter.”
Bryan A. Vorndran, FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge stated, “Today’s guilty plea holds Michael Worley accountable for orchestrating a multi-year scheme to defraud private lenders and federally insured financial institutions of tens of millions of dollars. The FBI New Orleans Field Office is dedicated to investigating crimes of greed and deceit and bringing to justice those, such as Worley, who exploit the finances of their victims.”
Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdla/pr/baton-rouge-man-pleads-guilty-federal-court-multi-million-dollar-bank-and-wire-fraud
Eighth Reagor Dykes Defendant Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud Conspiracy
An eighth defendant in the Reagor Dykes Auto Group fraud case has pleaded guilty, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.
Brad William Fansler, 41, an RDAG Group Administrative Director, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud before Magistrate Jude Lee Ann Reno in Amarillo Monday morning.
In plea papers, Mr. Fansler admitted that the auto group routinely sold vehicles “out of trust” – meaning that they failed to repay lenders within seven days of selling the vehicle financed by that lender.
Just before the lender conducted audits, Mr. Fansler admitted, the auto group would create what they called “dummy shucks,” falsifying vehicles sales dates on official paperwork to make it appear as though the vehicle had sold within the prior seven days and was not yet out of trust.
Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/eighth-reagor-dykes-defendant-pleads-guilty-wire-fraud-conspiracy
More members of Congress speak out on Peru bond default
Another 11 members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week asking him to confront the Republic of Peru for defaulting on bonds it issued decades ago.
The new round of electeds hails from Texas. The letter is signed by U.S. Reps. Michael Cloud, Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez, Sheila Jackson Lee, Pete Olson, Chip Roy, Mac Thornberry, Filemón Vela, Randy Weber, Roger Williams and Ron Wright.
In the letter, they say Texas pension portfolios include nearly $84 million in Peruvian Agrarian Reform Bonds. Nationwide, there’s an estimated $2 billion worth of Agrarian Reform Bond investments.
The bonds were issued by Peru’s government between 1969 and 1982 as compensation for 23 million acres of land the country expropriated. In today’s dollars, that real estate would be worth more than $42 billion.
Read more: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/309384-more-members-of-congress-speak-out-on-peru-bond-default
Advocates say Florida lawmakers still fail to implement land conservation program
TALLAHASSEE – Environmentalists gathered Monday at the Florida Capitol to celebrate the fifth anniversary of voters overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure aimed at steering billions of dollars toward land and water preservation.
But the fight over money remains.
“The unrealized potential that’s left and is before the Legislature today is to fund Florida Forever,” said Will Abberger, with the Trust for Public Land and campaign manager of the Amendment 1 proposal in 2014.
Amendment 1 was supported by 75 percent of Florida voters in 2014. It set aside 33 percent of tax collections from real estate documentary stamps to the state’s Land Acquisition Trust Fund to spend on environmental programs.
State analysts projected the measure could set aside $23 billion over the 20-year life of the measure. Voters across the state — including many from Republican-heavy coastal counties — backed the environmental push.
Read more: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20191104/advocates-say-florida-lawmakers-still-fail-to-implement-land-conservation-program
Donald Trump may face fight over planned move from NYC to Florida
Donald Trump a Florida man? Not so fast.
Despite a stinging “good riddance” tweet from New York’s governor, the president’s home state may not let him go to Florida without a fight.
Trump’s plan to shift his permanent residence to Palm Beach will likely be heavily scrutinized by New York state officials, who are notorious for auditing wealthy residents seeking to flee to lower-tax states to make sure such moves are real and not just on paper. Those cases can go on for years.
“New York says just because you fill out a piece of paper, that doesn’t make you a Floridian,” said Mark Klein, a tax lawyer who has handled hundreds of tax-residency audits. “People have this misunderstanding that if you go to Florida and fill out an affidavit, you register to vote and you get a driver’s license, that is all it takes.”
Even though it appears Trump has a strong case — he’s only spent a few nights at his Trump Tower penthouse overlooking Fifth Avenue since he became president — tax experts say it’s not a matter of if he will be audited but when.
Read more: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/310230-donald-trump-may-face-fight-over-planned-move-from-nyc-to-florida
Miami-Dade Democratic Party touts $360K raised at annual Blue Gala
The Miami-Dade Democratic Party raised a record-setting $360,000 at its annual Blue Gala this past weekend, according to a press release.
“This year’s gala not only raised more funds than ever, but included more people than ever,” said Matt Haggman, who chaired the event. “That’s critically important.
“After all, it’s on us. But, to achieve success in the upcoming election, it will require all of us.”
More than 550 people attended the Saturday night event at the Miami Beach Convention Center. U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York served as the keynote speaker for the event.
Read more: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/310303-miami-dade-blue-gala
Florida Democrat blasts Trump official for 'heinous white supremacist ideology'
A senior Florida Democrat called a top Trump administration immigration official a white supremacist Wednesday and charged the administration with pursuing racist immigration policies.
“You and Mr. Trump don’t want anyone who looks or talks differently than Caucasian Americans to be allowed into this country,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said during a blistering exchange with Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that oversees immigration.
“You want to block all immigration and make life harder for immigrants, and you have demonstrated that you will pursue this heinous white supremacist ideology at all costs.”
Cuccinelli, former attorney general of Virginia and failed Virginia gubernatorial candidate, strongly objected to the characterization, calling it “false” and “defamatory.”
Read more: https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2019/10/30/fla-democrat-blasts-trump-official-for-heinous-white-supremacist-ideology/
Emails Show GEO Employee Threatening ICE Detainees Who Didn't Clean Their Jails
Immigration detainees are held on civil, not criminal, charges. Therefore, imprisoned immigrants have argued for years they cannot legally be forced to work like prisoners while held in civil detention. In December 2017, Raul Novoa — a Mexican man living in Los Angeles on a green card — sued the GEO Group, the private prison corporation based in Boca Raton. He alleges that detainees were forced to work for the company for as little as $1 per day and that the absurdly small wages were illegal for detainees who hadn't been convicted of crimes.
But the case has stretched on for years — and now some eye-opening court documents are trickling out into the public domain. For starters, five other immigrant detainees have submitted statements to the court saying that to afford necessities such as toothpaste, they were forced to work for GEO's borderline slave wages. Other exhibits have included internal GEO emails from jail staffers complaining that immigrants were not scrubbing the detention facilities well enough.
In one email from April 2017, James Janecka — the facility administrator at GEO's Adelanto ICE Processing Center outside Los Angeles — complained to his staff that he had toured a wing of the facility and didn't see any immigrants cleaning anything. He then said the detainees should have their TV, Xbox, and recreation time suspended if they didn't clean hard enough. He wrote:
We have a tour tomorrow and Friday. But, a high level of sanitation should be expected and maintained daily. The buildings should always be tour ready.
Make sure plenty of cleaning supplies are available to those who will be tasked with this project.
jaj
In May, Janecka complained again. Emails show his subordinates then forced immigrant detainees to wax floors, mop, sweep, and wipe down entire wings of the detention center.
Read more: https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/geo-group-forces-ice-detainees-to-work-for-1-a-day-according-to-emails-10367026
Trump to launch new black voter initiative from downtown Atlanta
President Donald Trump plans to use Atlanta as a launching pad for his new African American coalition with a Friday rally at the Georgia World Congress Center.
The president will kick off the Black Voices for Trump Coalition initiative at 3 p.m. Friday at the downtown Atlanta convention center after a high-dollar fundraiser in Buckhead to support U.S. Sen. David Perdue.
He’s expected to highlight recent statistics that show low unemployment rates for black workers as well as an opportunity zone program tucked into the Republicans’ 2017 tax-cut legislation that is designed to encourage investors to pump money into struggling areas.
Trump’s campaign picked Atlanta for his rollout because of its role as an epicenter of black life and the region’s fast-growing African American population, according to a senior White House official. Vice President Mike Pence is set to address the crowd, too.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/trump-launch-new-black-voter-initiative-from-downtown-atlanta/Jhf4iHS0I7rQaluNSbFTEO/#
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