TUC Still Passing Funny Money

[Judge Roy Bean]

If I recall correctly, one of their YouTube videos showed Cruz and one of the attorneys observing the printing or examining the finished sheets of cash.

I guess having it on YouTube makes it more real.

[fortinbras]

With reference to counterfeiting, there is an two old decision which I think is still a leading case:

In US v. Sprague (ED Wis 1882) 48 F. 828, the defendant was convicted of counterfeiting for churning out and passing (the legal catch-all term is "uttering") bonds which closely resembled the design, layout, artwork, etc., of US Treasury bonds, although the stuff he was uttering did not expressly claim to be government bonds and said, somewhat inconspicuously, they were bonds of a mining company.

With reference to TUC funny money, its design -- and especially its placement and choice of portraits -- so closely resembles genuine US currency that it might easily - especially right now when the Treasury has introduced currency with revised artwork - be mistaken for real money.

[wserra]

TUC has made Bank of America an offer (beware: 6mb file) to settle their "dispute". It consists of TUC's offer to do the following: (1) make BofA its "exclusive agent" for the "processing" of its "certified drafts on a worldwide basis". I'm sure that BofA will leap at the chance to be complicit in fraud and money laundering. (2) Keep $15.25 billion on deposit at BofA. They don't specify whether they'll deliver the money via the Reading, Shortline, Penn or B&O Railroads. (3) Give BofA a 1% commission on all of their "certified drafts". See above for likely BofA reaction. (4) Make BofA part of the solution to the world's "urgent financial crisis". Nice of them, right? (5) Give Bush $2B of their "portfolio". And (6) do something involving the heads of state of the U.S, Canada and Mexico that involves rescuing the world's finances. Read it yourselves.

It is not clear what will happen should BofA decline this generous offer. Perhaps they'll serve the "Summons and Complaint" attached to the "settlement offer", returnable in the "Supreme Court of the United Cities Group".

I'm not kidding you.

[Evil Squirrel Overlord]

Funny how I've never payed much attention to this Bank of America before. Wells Fargo and "us" Bank must keep them out of the Midwest.

I so hope BoA takes this offer because with the ultra powerful TUC with it's undisclosed and invisible branch locations in 28 states, it can hold them hostage by withholding gigazillions of TUC dollars from their recycle bins.

[webhick]

(1) make BofA its "exclusive agent" for the "processing" of its "certified drafts on a worldwide basis".

Just like TUC made BofA the exclusive target of a bank robbery and a frivolous lunacy lawsuit. Thanks for wasting my tax dollars on this, TUC, and more than likely driving up the interest rate on my BofA credit card. Is this how you plan on rescuing the financial market?

(2) Keep $15.25 billion on deposit at BofA.

Idiot bank robbers don't dictate how much a bank keeps on deposit. The idiots running the bank do...and I'm sure there's some federal regulations dictating minimum amounts required. And where will this magical $15.5 billion (with a "b") come from? Is TUC going to provide it or will BofA have to come up with it on their own?

(3) Give BofA a 1% commission on all of their "certified drafts".

So BofA has to pay them 1% for the "opportunity" to process their drafts for them, as well as keep their $15.5 billion on deposit for them - which probably requires additional manpower, storage, recordkeeping, etc. "Hi, I'd like to pay you 1% commission for the opportunity to spend money on you."

(4) Make BofA part of the solution to the world's "urgent financial crisis".

By putting them out of business much the way an MLM runs a person further into debt.

[TheSaint]

Of all the stupid things TUC has done, the one that gets me the most is that they honestly think they can bully Bank of America.

TUC has $15 billion in fake assets.

Bank of America has over $1.3 trillion in real assets.

BoA wouldn't kowtow to TUC even if their money wasn't fake.

Meanwhile, there's a nationwide lending crisis that's revealed an epidemic of greed, hubris, and incompetence at many American banks.

Considering all the dumb things I've seen small and mid-sized banks do, I bet TUC could have found a legitimate bank willing to go along with their scam -- or a bank weak enough to be bullied by their strong-arm tactics.

[.]

Considering all the dumb things I've seen small and mid-sized banks do, I bet TUC could have found a legitimate bank willing to go along with their scam -- or a bank weak enough to be bullied by their strong-arm tactics

Nah, dumb as most bankers are, none of them are stupid enough to go along with anything TUC might think up. Most of them understand the difference between stuff that might put you in prison and stuff that will put you in prison.

[Evil Squirrel Overlord]

Of all the stupid things TUC has done, the one that gets me the most is that they honestly think they can bully Bank of America.

TUC has $15 billion in fake assets.

Bank of America has over $1.3 trillion in real assets.

BoA wouldn't kowtow to TUC even if their money wasn't fake.

Meanwhile, there's a nationwide lending crisis that's revealed an epidemic of greed, hubris, and incompetence at many American banks.

Considering all the dumb things I've seen small and mid-sized banks do, I bet TUC could have found a legitimate bank willing to go along with their scam -- or a bank weak enough to be bullied by their strong-arm tactics.

I'm sure by now BOA has a number of lawyers and PI's digging up every scrap of evidence they can on these folks so when the hammer falls nobody connected with TUC will escape.

[Demosthenes]

I'm sure by now BOA has a number of lawyers and PI's digging up every scrap of evidence they can on these folks so when the hammer falls nobody connected with TUC will escape.

That's a good bet.

[Demosthenes]

Eyyyy....remembah, da Bank of America was originally da Bank of Italy an' founded by A.P. Gianini. Doze TUC people could end up supporting the Florida gator farm industry.....if youze catch my drift........ Capeesh?

San Francisco Italian isn't mafia. Gianini has a god-like reputation in the Bay Area. He loaned money instantly to anyone who wanted to rebuild after the 1906 earthquake, and funded the Disney movie "Snow White" after all. How cool is that?

[Leftcoaster]

Considering all the dumb things I've seen small and mid-sized banks do, I bet TUC could have found a legitimate bank willing to go along with their scam -- or a bank weak enough to be bullied by their strong-arm tactics

Nah, dumb as most bankers are, none of them are stupid enough to go along with anything TUC might think up. Most of them understand the difference between stuff that might put you in prison and stuff that will put you in prison.

There was a time when I would have believed that. But then things like this happen.

More to read here and here. The latter makes for one hell of a read.

[SteveSy]

Considering all the dumb things I've seen small and mid-sized banks do, I bet TUC could have found a legitimate bank willing to go along with their scam -- or a bank weak enough to be bullied by their strong-arm tactics

Nah, dumb as most bankers are, none of them are stupid enough to go along with anything TUC might think up. Most of them understand the difference between stuff that might put you in prison and stuff that will put you in prison.

There was a time when I would have believed that. But then things like this happen.

More to read here and here. The latter makes for one hell of a read.

I know you think I'm for all the criminals but in that last article the writer makes a whole lot of assumptions based on third hand information and a lot of unsubstantiated assertions of wrong doing. Nothing but "he is doing this or that" with nothing whatsoever to back it up, For instance...

and he regularly boasts about not paying income taxes. He is reportedly taking in a whole bunch of money and not paying the IRS a dime. Apparently he once bragged that he has never filed an income tax return in his life. He is using several social security numbers to conduct transactions and to avoid federal authorities. At one point he used the social security number of his newborn son Caullin to rent or buy a property in Maine. And, he has used the social security number of Irene Kapland to open bank accounts (without her knowledge, identity theft) and is using those accounts to receive wire transfers that are supposed to be "investments." He apparently just takes the money and spends it.

How does this guy know these things? Unless he has someone right next to this guy feeding him information all of that has to be "I heard form a guy that knows a guy that nows a guy that heard him say" kind of stuff. Maybe Spiller is doing things illegal, I have no idea, but this guys proof is weak at best, more like gossip. He even admits what he called their previous ponzi scheme paid all of the investors and even gave them more confidence to invest again. He doesn't even have proof or letters of anyone that has been screwed from what I see. Its like a conspiracy theory where someone links many bits of unrelated information together to conclude a giant conspiracy is taking place. Seems he spent a whole lot of time assembling gossip and only proved what was already known, that is he didn't use the correct form on a DHL envelope with diamonds in it correctly reporting the value, but did pay the tax anyway.

[notorial dissent]

BoA in it original incarnation was quite an operation, the Gianini’s were serious about what they did and tried to do as much good as they could for CA in general and themselves in particular, and the old man had a scary reputation for honesty, which is why the immigrant population, which originally funded it trusted him and trusted their money to his bank where they wouldn't have any of the others of the day. In later years after it started to grow and swallow up other banks whole it got scary in another direction, and had remained that way ever since. In my ten or so years of dealing with them, I have come to be aware of the fact that they seldom play nice, carry a really big stick, and generally get what they want. When they swallowed Nations Bank, I think it was, on the east coast they became a national and even scarier presence.

I am actually surprised by their restraint in this matter, must be former NB people calling the shots in this one. The end result will still be very unpleasant for all the TUCies involved though, BoA neither forgives nor forgets.

[Leftcoaster]

I know you think I'm for all the criminals but in that last article the writer makes a whole lot of assumptions based on third hand information and a lot of unsubstantiated assertions of wrong doing. Nothing but "he is doing this or that" with nothing whatsoever to back it up, For instance...

This was more about the connection Credit Union. Yes a great deal of what the author wrote would require verification, but the musings about the CU are interesting. If you through North York Credit Union into google, most of the hits are to Egold type websites. Why is that, I wonder?

How does this guy know these things? Unless he has someone right next to this guy feeding him information all of that has to be "I heard form a guy that knows a guy that nows a guy that heard him say" kind of stuff. Maybe Spiller is doing things illegal, I have no idea, but this guys proof is weak at best, more like gossip. He even admits what he called their previous ponzi scheme paid all of the investors and even gave them more confidence to invest again. He doesn't even have proof or letters of anyone that has been screwed from what I see. Its like a conspiracy theory where someone links many bits of unrelated information together to conclude a giant conspiracy is taking place. Seems he spent a whole lot of time assembling gossip and only proved what was already known, that is he didn't use the correct form on a DHL envelope with diamonds in it correctly reporting the value, but did pay the tax anyway.

Yes. Lots of circumstantial evidence, I agree. I was more interested in the CU example as being illustrative of a small-medium size financial institution being subverted.

[BBFlatt]

Actually the Giannini's BankAmerica was bought out by Nationsbank fka NCNB (North Carolina National Bank or Nobody Cares, Nobody Bothers, depending on who you ask) in 1997. The resulting combination considered operating under several names, but elected to use one trademarked by BankAmerica, and thus became known as Bank of America.

It, like one of its chief competitors, Wachovia is headquartered in Charlotte NC. I doubt any of the California people have much influence on its operation these days.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_america

[Demosthenes]

It, like one of its chief competitors, Wachovia is headquartered in Charlotte NC. I doubt any of the California people have much influence on its operation these days.

I was working in SF when the buyout took place. There was rumored to be a memo from the NC execs in charge of the transition that they didn't want to work with "anyone with a San Francisco accent." It was pretty shocking stuff for the SF business world.

[notorial dissent]

The only thing I can say on the subject, is that I thought they were bad enough to deal with before, and after the merger they were worse. In my mind, it was not a merger for the better.

[wserra]

Update on The United Cities civil side: nobody showed for them at the contempt hearing Tuesday. Marrero, of course, is in jail, and Cruz is a fugitive. The Court entered the following order:

Notice was provided to each of these parties [see DE 42], however United Cities, and Messrs. Gardner, Cruz and Marrero, failed to appear at the September 2, 2008 status conference. At the status conference, counsel for The Bank of America informed the Court that Mr. Marerro remains in custody in the Middle District of Florida on federal charges. Agents of the United States Secret Service appeared at the status conference, apparently hoping to find Mr. Cruz, and informed the Court that they had an arrest warrant for Mr. Cruz, but had been unable to locate him. As for Mr. Gardner, Plaintiff’s counsel provided the Court with a copy of an email Mr. Gardner sent her that morning, stating that he was having difficulty retaining counsel and requesting a 60-day continuance of the contempt hearing. Mr. Gardner has not filed a motion for continuance of the contempt hearing with this Court, and his email did not provide any information that would justify this Court postponing contempt proceedings for another two months. More to the point, Mr. Gardner did not appear at the September 2, 2008 status conference, which is a violation of Court order.

It is hereby ORDERED that The United Cities Group, Inc. and Gladstone Gardner,
Angel Cruz and William Marrero appear before this Court on Tuesday, September 23, 2008
at 1:30 p.m. at the United States District Court, David W. Dyer Federal Building and
Courthouse, 300 N.E. First Avenue, Courtroom VII, Miami, Florida, to show cause why
they should not be held in contempt of court for violation of Temporary Restraining Order
[DE 22], and the Preliminary Injunction [DE 28, 40]

I'd say these guys have had their fifteen minutes of fame, and now it's time for those dumb enough to have been part of it to pay.

[SteveSy]

I'd say these guys have had their fifteen minutes of fame, and now it's time for those dumb enough to have been part of it to pay.

I don't get it, how can someone be that dumb? I honestly can not understand how any of them thought they could do what they did and there wouldn't be severe repercussions for doing it. Even if they really thought what they were doing was legal under some secret code, what made them think B of A or the government would just let them do it, after all they're committing a massive fraud according to TUC. Why would the bank or the government all of a sudden follow the law as they saw it? It's as if they think they have discovered the super secret magic incantation or something. "Ah ha! We discovered the magic words, you are now under my control." I think its likely they're sharing some new drug causing severe psychosis that we haven't publicly heard of yet.

[Judge Roy Bean]

The longer this goes on the more it takes on the look and feel of a garden-variety mortgage elimination scam. Even while on the lam, Cruz's organization is still sending bogus "drafts" to Bank of America to allegedly pay off mortgages.

Of course, they're now including a document "PROCEDURE FOR PROCESSING TUC DRAFTS"

CONFIDENTIAL - FOR BANK OFFICERS ONLY!

(Bank name and address)

Re: Processing TUC Drafts
(Account holder name and address)
Draft amount $nnn,nnn.nn

Gentlemen,

You have received an Official Bank Draft guaranteed by certified funds drawn on The United Cities Private Bank (TUC Bank). Processing Drafts and Acceptances of an asset for recoupment should be a matter of standard operating procedure for you. However, in the abundance of caution, we offer the following:

Pursuant to $3-104(f) of the UCC a draft is the equivalent of a check for purposes of processing and may be securitized or monetized by direct deposit in a commercial checking, time, thrift or savings account pursuant to Title 12 of the United States code, Section 1813(L)(1) and when deposited it becomes the equivalent of money as outlined under Section 1813(L)(1).

Please credit your clients account and offset your records to reflect full settlement and closure of the account and provde a satisfaction of mortgage for their records.

TUC Bank will take no further action regarding this Draft and consider the matter closed.

I think the next page is the part they think is really uber-secret for those bank officers:

Please take notice that TUC Bank is currently allowing banks that are currently part of the Federal Reserve System (member banks) pursuant to the Jurisdiction of the UCC, to earn a One Percent (1%) transaction processing fee per transaction, on all TUC Bank certified drafts transacted on behalf of any TUC Bank account holder. This program is in place for any and all transactions submitted to the member banks by way of a TUC instrument. Should you elect to accept this offer, please contact TUC Bank for further instructions.

Such a deal - so good that they offer the same deal to the Treasury Department of the United States and the Federal Reserve!

All signed, of course, by none other than "Angel Cruz, UCC 1.308 as Authorized Representative"

B of A is getting more than a little annoyed but now the borrowers are getting computer-generated letters like this:

Dear Customer:

Your check in the amount of $256946.66 was returned to us by your financial institution for the following reason: other.

* Your loan remains due for the 04/01/08 installment.

* The amount due is $256946.66

You may be assessed a late charge if an installment is not received before the late charge assessment date. Depending on your loan product, interest may continue to accrue until replacement funds are received.

Please remit your replacement funds using the attached coupon to Bank of America (address). If you have any question regarding this notice, please contact us at 1.800.xxx.xxxx. We thank you in advance for addressing this matter promptly.

Note the date of the due installment (that's the actual text of one of the letters) - April - in other words, this borrower apparently turned to TUC to resolve a delinquency/default that was in the fifth month.

Of those I've seen, there are several in Florida and one in Texas.

The odd part of this is why only BofA?