Davidmstr8

Hello Once Again

I had not planned to post once Angie won her case, however due to the numerous comments here and other places about Lou's sentence I feel I must comment.

I was impressed by all the participants in Lou's court hearing. That had to be the single largest gathering of the most healthly people in Chattanooga. I knew that were healthy because the way everyone was stretching the truth, jumping to conclusions and piling crap everywhere. No one, no matter what they say has untangled this mess. The Trustee says he has accountants that can prove a ponzi scheme, thats not true the accountant's report shows missing bank statements, they don't have all the bank accounts used by the company and they can't decifer the IBFX accounts. Now don't get me wrong there was as much of this on Lou's part as the Prosecutor's. The case is too detailed for anyone to get it right. Everyone is drawing a conclusion from partial information and going with it, on both sides.

"I told you so just does not seem to cover it". How many times did I warn everyone the Trustee would be going after investors? There are 3 active adversary complaints against employees but there are 7 adversary complaints against investors, including Alan Valenzuela, who appears to be getting nailed by Gray and Cara. Gray stated he has sent out over 40 demand letters already. I am not always right, you just can't find anyone who can remember the last time I was wrong.

The good news is the IRS is still looking for Shawn and his Lotus, the IRS agent mentioned the car during his testimony. I wonder if they know Shawn ran off to Atlanta after he "Did the Right Thing" and ran his mouth to the press about stuff he knew nothing about. There is justice in this world after all. BTW, you may want to look for Shawn back in Chattanooga he has a new girlfriend (well she thinks he is her boyfriend, he still says he is single on his myspace page), a new Audi S4 and a new Corvette Z06. Pretty good for for a guy that couldn't make a decent video, wonder where the money came from?

Lou got 293 months and he got exactly what he deserved. Lou has run at least two other con games before, served time in prison and he even agreed to this, it was a plea bargain. He agreed to it because he knew without a plea bargain he could get 150 years like Madoff.

Lou has been compared to murders who get less time. This isn't even close to the truth. Some murders get executed, some get life, some get less time for a number of reasons, including a plea bargan to plead guilty to get less time. If Lou was in California he would have been put away for Life, the three strikes rule. Lou has diminished the lives of thousands of people because of his actions. He deserves to be punished, since this was his third time, a long sentence was justified.

I do not believe anyone will ever really know if Lou set out to cheat people or just run the business in the ground spending money on all these women. In any case Lou screwed up, not anyone else, not the employees, not the investors and not even the people that started all this bankruptcy mess. It was Lou, plain and simple, Lou spent the money or gave it away. Look at his bank records and you will see he spent millions out of his checking account. I have heard that Lane Bryant has seen a financial downturn since Lou went to jail, seems he shopped there alot. Either he was secretly a crossdresser or he took a lot of women shopping there.

Lou is still the con-man. In court Lou read a statement asking that everyone give up the fancy cars, houses and other extravagant gifts so that Gray can return more money to the investors. It was great to see Lou turning over a new leaf so to speak, if it wasn't so much bullshit. First Lou never bought anyone a house, they were leased and are long gone. The part about giving back expensive cars would have been more believable if Lou wasn't still hiding a Jaguar. So Lou wants you to give everything back and he wants to keep his stuff, really what is it going to take for you Lou lovers to buy a clue. Yes, Gray I expect you to make a call about the Jag next week, just do it before Thursday.

And so everyone is aware, with the plea agreement Lou is required to help the Trustee. He has already started helping by providing the Trustee a sworn statement giving a list of employees the Trustee can use in going after Steve Buckalew. Wonder who Lou will throw under the FBI Swat Van next, John, Lisa, Beverly, Karen, Angie Hodges?

If anyone stands up and supports Lou, you need counseling. He was a con-man, proven several times over. He used his personality to convince people to give him money and then he demeaned employees, lied to everyone, and preyed on women who were too insecure to know better. Basically, he used the vast majority of people he met. I have heard many complaints about the people that filed the bankruptcy, "If it weren't for them, this wouldn't have happened". Again this is Lou's doing not Connie's, Connie had questions, Lou was too scared to answer, Connie did what she that was right.

News Flash

Finally, about Gray, Cara and Gary, many times in my postings I lambasted all three of them, knowing full well they read this blog on almost a daily basis. Everyone should read Sun Tzu's, "The Art of War". It was required reading for all managers at one company I worked for. One quote is "If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him". We used the blog to accomplish this in rather an effective way. And yes all of you helped, thank you for your support.

Gray, Cara and Gary all seem to be good at their jobs. They have recovered millions of dollars with very little proof of anything illegal, up until Lou's confession, the results they were hired to do. Many do not like their tactics, but their actions were textbook actions when negotiaing deals. I know I have used many of the same tactics when negotiating with the government around the country and in most cases I used these tactics successfully as well.

As far as their payments, they deserve them. Is it unfair that lawyers are getting millions while the investors will get pennies on the dollar, yes. Is it the way all bankruptcies work, yes. Don't hate the player, hate the game. If you think there payments are excessive, go to college, take accounting, work as an accountant for 5 years and then apply, you too can make this kind of money. Don't blame people for picking a profession where they earn large sums of money for doing it. Doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, insurance salesmen make large salaries. Be careful, Con-Men make a lot of money as well, but they usually have to pay for it in the end.

For those Lou supporters still left, please tune into Wheel of Fortune and buy a clue, so the rest of us can stop hearing the whinning about Lou didn't do anything. Lou did it all, and everyone else is paying for it.

As I have always said in my postings, stand up for your rights and tell the truth and you will survive this whole mess.

Davidmstr8

There are rumors that Lou will appeal his sentence. Knock, Knock, whose there? Reality!!!

Lou made a plea bargain. Lou has 10 days to appeal the sentence. Lou shouldn't appeal, remember he is up for 255 years on all counts. If he were to win an appeal he would then be liable for all 255 years if found guilty. By the time Lou could appeal Gray will have more ammunition for Gary Humble to prove what Lou did cheat all those people out of their money and he will get more jail time.

This just shows Lou can’t stick to any agreement with anybody. Sort of what got him here in the first place.

Lou thought he was going to get 10 years from Gary Humble. But apparently Lou didn't read the paperwork. Lou stated that the numbers were not what he had agreed to. Gary Humble stood up and said he didn't remember making that agreement but if Lou had anything in writing, Gary would stand by a written agreement. Of course Lou didn’t have anything in writing, did he ever have anything in writing.

This boils down to the same thing, Lou doesn’t have a clue and never will. What is really funny is that Lou got 24 years because he didn't get it in writing. Lou goes down because somebody didn't stick to a verbal agreement, kind of ironic, huh.

Queen

If the lawyers make a million dollars from this and at the end there is less money going to the creditors than what was there back in July 2008 then why did they deserve a million dollars?

Davidmstr8

Queen, somebody has to be in charge of collecting the money and getting it back to the investors for the bankruptcy .

A good lawyer will charge between $250.00 to $400.00 an hour. Their fees are not excessive for attorneys.

If Gray and Cara were not doing it someone else would for the same costs.

The money being spent is going to be spent by someone. This is the way bankruptcies work, not good, not bad, just the way they work.

Queen

It is Judge Cook’s job to make sure they are not spending more on their own fees then they will be able to recover.

You make it sound like it is inevitable that lawyers would come in and milk the money until it’s gone but that is not true.

The lawyers have not recovered millions. $3 million came just from emptying bank accounts and selling assets which Steed has already been paid a percentage for collecting.

Creditors need to stand up and point that out to Judge Cook.

Davidmstr8

He does when he approves their fees. According to the documents when payment requests are submitted anyone can object, but it has to be a formal objection, not just a phone call or a note to the Trustee. As far as I know Angie was the only one to ever actually object to a payment.

It is inevitable they will get a lot of the money. They always do. How did I know they would be going after the investors, I studyed other cases similar to Lou's. One thing that also seems to be common is that the investors will only get back pennies on the dollar.

Steed has worked out settlements with several people and recovered some. True he seized accounts and that money kind of dropped in his lap. But he is still the one getting the money, he just may not have to work as hard for some of it as the rest.

No one can stand up and point anything out to Judge Cook since he issued the letter telling everyone to take their complaints to the Trustee.

Queen

What Judge Cook's letter said was decisions about how and when to disburse money to creditors was the Trustee’s decision, that the Trustee’s accounting records would soon be made public (which they were) and he wanted Larry Perry to stop sending him signed form letters from creditors requesting that they start being paid now in installments.

Creditors have every right to demand from Judge Cook that the Trustee start showing results larger than his expenses or cut this off while there is any money left.

Take the $3,073,391.49 that has been there since July 2008 from just emptying accounts and selling assets (that fell into their laps as you say) off of the table and you see their results – compare that to their expenses. Do the math yourself but either way we end up with only $2,686,184.32 left now, a year and a half gone by and no end in sight.