Yet another Bill of Exchange criminal case

[Demosthenes]

http://www.cheatingfrenzy.com/wahler1.pdf

Will these morons who pass phony checks on non-existent Treasury accounts ever get a clue?

[The Operative]

Correct link:
http://www.cheatingfrenzy.com/wahler1.pdf

[Leftcoaster]

http://www.cheatingfrenzy.com/wahler1.pdf

Will these morons who pass phony checks on non-existent Treasury accounts ever get a clue?

I'll hazard a guess: No. No they won't.

They will pass them with a fox
They will pass them in a box
They will pass them here and there
They will pass them everywhere

Then they all go off to jail
and CKB yells "Epic Fail!"

[Judge Roy Bean]

Am I the only one wondering why it is taking this long to get around to prosecuting these cases?

Five years?

And we wonder why they're proliferating like flies?

You can put together these schemes and sell them (i.e., Freedom Club USA) for years, stash the money and not have to worry. When the time finally comes and the guys in dark suits with no sense of humor they're aware of start snooping around, you hop on over to your favorite offshore haven and live well.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Sad, but true - P. T. Barnum was correct, as was the originator (not me) of my personal quote below.

"There's a sucker born every minute."

Actually, Mr. Barnum never said that. The person who actually said it was David Hannum.

The Cardiff Giant was the most talked about exhibit in the nation. Barnum wanted the giant to display himself while the attraction was still a hot topic of the day. Rather than upping his offer, Barnum hired a crew of workers to carve a giant of his own. Within a short time, Barnum unveiled HIS giant and proclaimed that Hannum had sold Barnum the original giant and that Hannum was now displaying a fake! Thousands of people flocked to see Barnum's giant. Many newspapers carried the version that Barnum had given them; that is, Hannum's giant was a fake and Barnum's was authentic. It is at this point that Hannum -- NOT BARNUM -- was quoted as saying "There's a sucker born every minute." Hannum, still under the impression that HIS giant was authentic, was referring to the thousands of "fools" that paid money to see Barnum's fake and not his authentic one.

http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html

Upon further reading, Mr. Barnum would have made excellent Quatloos material if he were alive today.

Often referred to as the "Prince of Humbugs", Barnum saw nothing wrong in entertainers or vendors using hype (or "humbug", as he termed it) in their promotional material, just as long as the public was getting good value for its money. However, he was contemptuous of those who made money through fraudulent deceptions, especially the spiritualist mediums popular in his day, testifying against noted spirit photographer William H. Mumler in his trial for fraud. Prefiguring illusionists Harry Houdini and James Randi, Barnum publicly exposed "the tricks of the trade" used by mediums to deceive and cheat the bereaved. In The Humbugs of the World, he offered a $500 reward to any medium who could prove their claimed power to communicate with the dead without trickery.

[Doktor Avalanche]

And while Hannum said it, Barnum capitalized on it. Sounds like sour grapes on Hannum's part.

That's quite true.

In turn, Barnum's fellow circus owner and arch-rival Adam Forepaugh attributed the quote to Barnum in a newspaper interview in an attempt to discredit him. However, Barnum never denied making the quote. It is said that he thanked Forepaugh for the free publicity he had given him.

[grixit]

I read that Barnum bought a few dubious oil stocks in his time.

[Demosthenes]

This particular loser (Ed Wahler) 1) is a tax protester who has been sanctioned by the courts, and 2) has filed for personal bankruptcy in recent years.

His run in with the IRS:

http://www.cheatingfrenzy.com/wahler_civ17.pdf

Affirmed by the 4th Circuit here:

http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/022467.U.pdf

Lots of interesting bits about Robert Clarkson.

[fortinbras]

The 4th Circuit affirmance is published at 62 Fed.Appx 526.