TUC / United Cities Group sued by BofA in FL

[Judge Roy Bean]

The weird get weirder - this bunch tried to seize two BofA branches with the Notice of Demand and International Private Remedy scam (they believe the original group were tax protesters.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLi5Vefs198

And BofA has filed this:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/07/09/BofAvTUC.pdf

(54 pages but worth it!)

Any bets on when criminal charges get filed?

[LPC]

I find this to be pretty scary, and I think that these people should be facing a good portion of the rest of their lives in jail. The have, at the very least, attempted to defraud a national bank, presented fictitious instruments, and impersonated federal officers, and I suppose that the talk of "seizures" could be viewed as a kind of extortion. Could RICO also apply?

PACER shows that a TRO was issued today (7/9) with a hearing set for 7/22.

There are also 4 sealed documents shown on the docket.

[Famspear]

The Associated Press has picked it up:

July 9, 2008

Fla. judge blocks group's bank 'seizure' threat

By CURT ANDERSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer

MIAMI - A federal judge has blocked a group that promotes its own currency and independent banking system from attempting to carry out a threat to seize more than $15 billion from Bank of America branches using purported "armed private security officers."

The restraining order Tuesday from U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro came after Bank of America sued The United Cities Group Inc. to stop the "seizure," which was threatened on the group's Internet site and on a YouTube video it posted.

The YouTube video includes footage of the inside of several Miami-area bank branches that were apparently visited by group members last week.

"It will be an interesting, historic occurrence and no one can really say what will happen exactly," the group, known as TUC, said in a news release on its Internet site.

Ungaro said the threat should be taken seriously because the group could gain access to bank computer information and equipment for printing legitimate financial documents.

"Allowing an anti-government group access to such materials would cause a threat to the entire banking system," Ungaro said in a three-page order.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C., said in its lawsuit that bank executives were notified Monday by the Secret Service that TUC planned to carry out its plans the next day. The plan apparently arose from a dispute over TUC "drafts" that the group attempted to deposit with Bank of America but were returned unpaid.

Bank employees said members of the group appeared to impersonate federal agents by claiming during their branch visits to be "Treasury Officers" and displaying badges, according to the lawsuit. There is no evidence anyone did try to carry out the "seizure" threat.

[ . . . ]

TUC says its goal is to create a private currency and banking system outside the U.S. Federal Reserve and "not affiliated with any political office, religious order or selfish agenda." Court documents show that the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have issued several fraud and worthless instrument alerts regarding TUC.

A July 22 hearing was scheduled on whether to make the restraining order permanent.

from
http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stor ... 4D80.shtml

(bolding added)

[Famspear]

I would imagine that someone should sit down and have a long talk with the Sheriff of the county down there in Miami.

If what the Bank is alleging is true (and indeed even if it's not true), I think the Sheriff should sit down and have a talk with whichever deputies were involved or which were alleged to have been involved in this.

Were Sheriff's deputies actually fooled by this stuff?

[Judge Roy Bean]

[rant=ON]I really, really, really hate to say this, and the timing is seemingly self-serving on my part because of a series of my recent posts on such matters, but IMHO the blame for this kind of thing may rest in part with a judiciary who hasn't acted to demonstrate legal rigor against crackpots.

Don't get me wrong, a company that would rescue the likes of Countrywide deserves a special place in Hell, but why it has to resort to a civil action against these (as CKB would say 'a**clowns) to stop them is indicative of how easy it is for scam artists to play games with the judicial system. There will be various copycats until these people spend time behind bars.
[rant=OFF]

[grixit]

Forget the lawsuit, the Treasury Department and the FDIC ought to be getting involved.

[Quixote]

Seizure of bank property by private armed security personnel sounds like a bank robbery to me. George Clooney may have found his plot for Oceans 14.

[Demosthenes]

I'm swamped on something right now, but I have some really interesting stuff to post here shortly.

[grixit]

Whatever happens i hope they first put on some flashy clothes and jewelry, get into a sharp muscle car, and lead the cops on a high speed chase through lots of breathtaking scenery, while disco rhythms pulsate in the background. Unless it's at night, in which case instead of the scenery the whole event would be lit up in flashing neon.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Once again the cat with the giant green citrus helmet teases....

[TheSaint]

What scares me about this scam is that I can envision it working, if the perps weren't such world-class idiots about it.

Let's say, for example, they went after a lesser bank than BoA; put on a convincing act that they were federal officers; and didn't announce all their plans in advance like some retarded Scooby Doo villain. I can picture some Barney Fife bank manager being confused by the situation and initially complying with the "federal officials", which would give the fraudsters enough time to do all kinds of damage within the bank.

Or one of their "armed private security officers" refuses to leave without his $15,250,000,000 and kills somebody.

I share JRB's concern that a powerful entity like Bank of America apparently can't do any better than a temporary restraining order barring these people from walking into their bank with guns and seizing other people's assets. This is just plain bank robbery, and I wish they could deal with it as such.

And sheesh, those fraudulent deposits aren't even two weeks old. In Florida you can't even prosecute a bad check writer for 30 days.

[Nikki]

Give her a little time.

It's vacation time in Washington and it's probably a little difficult to get in touch with the appropriate people at the FBI, Secret Service, Comptroller of the Currrency, SEC, Banking Board, and so on.

By the time she gets back, she'll have indictments in hand for all of TUC group.

[Nikki]

What scares me about this scam is that I can envision it working, if the perps weren't such world-class idiots about it.

Let's say, for example, they went after a lesser bank than BoA; put on a convincing act that they were federal officers; and didn't announce all their plans in advance like some retarded Scooby Doo villain. I can picture some Barney Fife bank manager being confused by the situation and initially complying with the "federal officials", which would give the fraudsters enough time to do all kinds of damage within the bank.

Or one of their "armed private security officers" refuses to leave without his $15,250,000,000 and kills somebody.

I share JRB's concern that a powerful entity like Bank of America apparently can't do any better than a temporary restraining order barring these people from walking into their bank with guns and seizing other people's assets. This is just plain bank robbery, and I wish they could deal with it as such.

And sheesh, those fraudulent deposits aren't even two weeks old. In Florida you can't even prosecute a bad check writer for 30 days.

BoA can do a LOT better than a restraining order. They chose not to.

BoA has much deeper pockets than TUC group. BoA can afford a much bigger, better trained, better armed private security force than TUC group could ever dream of mustering.

BoA wisely chose to not invoke the Okay Corral scenario.

[LPC]

[rant=ON]I really, really, really hate to say this, and the timing is seemingly self-serving on my part because of a series of my recent posts on such matters, but IMHO the blame for this kind of thing may rest in part with a judiciary who hasn't acted to demonstrate legal rigor against crackpots.

Don't get me wrong, a company that would rescue the likes of Countrywide deserves a special place in Hell, but why it has to resort to a civil action against these (as CKB would say 'a**clowns) to stop them is indicative of how easy it is for scam artists to play games with the judicial system. There will be various copycats until these people spend time behind bars.
[rant=OFF]

I have similar feelings.

I'm afraid that treating these crackpots with the respect they don't deserve has emboldened them.

Even sanctions seem to have lost their sting.

The word "frivolous" has been used so often that it seems to have become meaningless to those that it was meant to shame. On LostHorizons.com, the local nitwits regularly complain that they don't understand why their crap is labeled "frivolous," demonstrating that they are completely oblivious to how completely ridiculous they are.

I'm still not sure that a cattle prod is the solution, but a judicious use of a 2x4 seems to be increasingly necessary.

The next time that one of these delusional morons in is court, I would like to see the judge explain to him that he is wrong, and explain why he is wrong, and give him an opportunity to withdraw his noxious pleading. If the moron refuses to retreat from his foolishness, he should be taken away in handcuffs and imprisoned until he publicly admits to being an idiot.

[Gregg]

BofA wisely chose to demonstrate that filing a purported document is a much different thing than having a valid one, I cannot fathom what makes these wackos think they can create "drafts" "bills of exchange" and other things and expect them to be honored, do they not understand that somewhere behind a check there is an account with money in it, or do they think that since they believe banking creates money from thin air (which it does not but the concept of wealth creation isn't something I want to try to explain here) that they can do the same? And now they're taking their writs and mumbles into county courthouses and having them recorded...isn't it somehow a felony on the state and federal level to attempt to record a fraudulent document?

I applaud the bank for their restraint, but I sincerely hope these clowns get the proverbial book thrown at them for charges I could go on listing all night. And finally, the Florida Secretary of State ought to be revoking the corporate charter, surely someone is going to try to claim in court he didn't do a thing himself, he was just carrying out directions of the corporation...

[grixit]

Don't rush Demo, when she takes her time it's always worth waiting. Maybe she'll have a story about how as a child, one of the leaders used to draw his own Monopoly money and try to use it in the game.

[webhick]

I'm still not sure that a cattle prod is the solution, but a judicious use of a 2x4 seems to be increasingly necessary.

With or without the nails still in it?

[Nikki]

I'm still not sure that a cattle prod is the solution, but a judicious use of a 2x4 seems to be increasingly necessary.

With or without the nails still in it?

With

Bent

Rusty

[Famspear]

I believe this is their web site:

http://theunitedcities.org/web/

And check out this "story" they put out on the web site:

Over 15 BILLION of Bank of America's Assets to be Seized within 72 Hours.

For Immediate Release

BANK OF AMERICA FORECLOSED ON BY PRIVATE GROUP

July 6, 2008

On Thursday, July 3, 2008, a seemingly small and unknown organization filed the beginnings of what appears to be some serious legal action against the banking industry and more specifically, Bank of America. The filing initiated by The United Cities Group, Inc. of Florida includes a serious list of allegations which translate to very grave banking violations at a time when America’s largest bank is struggling to maintain their stock value and have recently laid off thousands of employees.

Typically in a normal foreclosure action in Florida, the lender who claims a deficiency from the borrower files documents through an attorney supporting the claim and when sufficient steps in the process take place, the property is offered at auction and if no one bids on the property (which in recent months is the case in many foreclosure sales) the bank bids a mere $100 and is awarded clear title to the property. They then file these documents and enforce the eviction of tenants with the assistance of the local sheriff or police department. Here is where things get interesting.

In is this particular claim The United Cities Group, Inc. (aka TUC) is seeking acknowledgement for deposits totaling well over $250 million dollars made within two specific branches of Bank of America in Miami and Orlando Florida and have turned the tables on the large institution. Along with the filing they may actually take possession of and physically foreclose on the two branches arguing that they violated Uniform Commercial Code standards for which they are bonded. In simple terms, they are calling-in on their bond and have notified local police departments to assist and enforce the foreclosure action. Police departments reportedly have been very cooperative in complying with the order as confirmed by their office. One of TUC’s member companies is able to provide armed private security officers to supplement the local police departments in enforcing the foreclosure action effective this Tuesday, July 8, 2008.

It will be an interesting, historic occurrence and no one can really say what will happen exactly. Many press and news gathering agencies have been notified and are “eagerly counting the days” as stated by one video news reporter.

from
http://theunitedcities.org/web/index.ph ... 50:economy

[Judge Roy Bean]

Angel Cruz has been on the radar for nearly two years - why he isn't behind bars is yet another encouragement to nutballs everywhere.