Sean David Morton at sea

[notorial dissent]

My personal suspicion is that he's couch surfing with someone even dumber than he is. I really don't t think he's smart enough to get very far.

Someone dumber than he is?

OK, I'm struggling to grasp that concept.....

He has followers and true believers, so not really a difficult concept, and a whole collection of conspiraloons who are convinced it is all a plot. So yes.

[The Observer]

Yes, it wouldn't make sense if you had followers that were all smarter than you. How long would that scam last?

[Gannibal]

IIRC some of the victims identified at trial were still standing up for him.

He seemed pretty tight with another conspiracy theorist, Dannion Brinkley. I met him once, and he was so jovial and friendly I could see him letting a kindly fugitive sleep on the couch for a while, because he just couldn't say no....

Which is probably how SDM conned him into investing in the Mortons' fraudulent services in the first place.

[Gannibal]

Update: Kerry Cassidy, who's interviewed Morton a few times and is a clearinghouse for that community, tweeted an update a couple of days ago:

"UPDATE ON SEAN DAVID MORTON: A contact has heard from him and he is fine and working on things...."

https://twitter.com/projectcamelot/stat ... 9691128834

I'm sure "things" includes a new motion to the Supreme Court. I wonder if he's going to stroll into court to file it?

[Gregg]

I wouldn't doubt that he's been staying at Kerry Cassidy's house, in the bedroom and she's sleeping on the couch. She's not very bright and supports him despite being a fairly big victim in the physic hedge fund scam.

[TheNewSaint]

The Dinar Daily post did say that Sean's marriage to Melissa was on the outs. That would be, um, consistent with this story.

[Gregg]

She's still guilty, she's been right there with every scamming thing he's done for the better part of 10 years, at least.

[notorial dissent]

My personal opinion, FWIW, is that Sean and Melissa are both pretty much equally guilty, I think he was probably the "brains" if that can loosely be applied, but otherwise they were in it together, FOR THE MONEY. It really is that simple. They are both crooks. At this point I suspect he is going to get a whopping sentence, but I don't think hers is going to be much less, and it really shouldn't be.

This kind of stupidity and greed doesn't deserve any sympathy or consideration AT ALL.

[TheNewSaint]

My personal opinion, FWIW, is that Sean and Melissa are both pretty much equally guilty. At this point I suspect he is going to get a whopping sentence, but I don't think hers is going to be much less, and it really shouldn't be.

Well, they got almost exactly the same convictions:

Sean David Morton, 58, and his wife, Melissa Ann Morton, 50, each were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, two counts each of filing false claims against the United States, and various counts of passing false or fictitious financial instruments (specifically, 26 counts against Sean Morton, and 25 counts against Melissa Morton).

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/he ... nstruments

However, Melissa caught a mild case of sanity at some point. She had a defense lawyer during the trial while Sean went pro se, and hasn't missed any mandatory hearings that we know of. If she shows contrition, and distances herself from Sean and his ongoing idiocy, she might get a relative break in sentencing.

[notorial dissent]

Well, will be interesting to see what finally happens.

[Gregg]

My over/under spread is 60 months Missy, 120 months Sean.

That dear friends is the price of adding full crazy to just criminal, about 60 months.

[notorial dissent]

Probably not a bad guess. I'd expect they will both get about the same amount of time for the crimes to start and then he'll get the upper range for good measure and then time tacked on for having done a bunk.

[Gannibal]

The DOJ requested 70 months for SDM before his getaway, once you subtract the extra 17 months for "obstreperous conduct"; Melissa's PSM hasn't come out yet, but I'm not aware of any distinguishing factors that would get her a recommendation for less than 70. (There may be some, I just don't know.)

I think the sentencing guidelines would add 2-3 years for his failure to report. Popehat suggested this judge might be inclined to go higher than that, and the odds of an "upwards departure" likely go up the longer SDM's on the run.

Bet he tries to file something with the Supreme Court again, if for no other reason than the ability to pretend his disappearing act was a principled attempt to file for emergency relief. OTOH, CA9 dismissed his appeal as premature (can't appeal prior to imposition of sentence), so he may be off of the whole law thing now.

[Burnaby49]

Sean has found the solution to all of his legal problems. Since he's not happy with the corrupt decisions of the regular courts he's started his own, the morton court.

https://www.scribd.com/document/3444584 ... vid-Morton

He's already issued a decree that anyone who has ever wronged him owes him $2,048,000. The rules of the morton court are in the linked document along with a copy of the forged instrument that started the ball rolling on Sean starting his own court, the search warrant that resulted in the search of his home.

[notorial dissent]

Yup, sounds like he is going to be in for a really good time when they finally and inevitably get him to court for sentencing.

[Burnaby49]

Maybe he can wangle it so he appears in front of a judge of the morton court.

[Gannibal]

He plays golf with that judge, every time he plays golf.

[Gannibal]

Update on SDM, who's still a fugitive:

Kerry Cassidy interviewed him live yesterday. The stream was recorded and is published here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcFA1Mj ... e=youtu.be

He left some photos up on the wall behind him during the video chat. Might have exposed his host to some serious criminal liability.

[notorial dissent]

I can't believe that he is smart enough to stay hidden this long. I think it is more they aren't looking very hard, or more likely they know exactly where he is and are just waiting til it's convenient to pick him up.

[Gannibal]

Update:

The story so far is that SDM scarpered on the day of his sentencing; his wife Melissa was allowed to remain free (I think on recognizance) pending her own sentencing on the condition that she would have no contact with her fugitive husband.

Earlier this week, marshals followed Melissa to a motel in California a few hours from their home, where SDM was waiting for her. They arrested both, him for being a fugitive and her for violating the terms of her release. Both are currently in custody, being held without bail pending sentencing.

I know the Mortons were cat breeders and had quite a few pets at home. Anyone know what the procedure is in such cases? Presumably she'll be able to contact a friend to come take care of them, and hopefully she's left a key somewhere accessible?

https://ufowatchdog.blogspot.com/2017/0 ... o.html?m=1