Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

AG'S OFFICE MINIMALLY HELPFUL TO FRAUD VICTIMS

 For more details, see the blog posts listed at the bottom of this page.
Posted on November 10, 2015.

Ladies & Gentlemen, ze AG gives you ze.... 

GREAT ESCAPE!




As you can see - the letter appears immediately below - it contains durned few details.





I bring the following line from that letter to your attention, "To date, the State has not collected any money on the judgments and it is possible that we may never be able to do so."

It is my personal judgement that such an outcome was obvious from the start. That would be just one reason the state should have sought judgments against Burn's co-conspirators. It also leads me to wonder why the State didn't seek a criminal indictment against Burns. After all, for all practical purposes, Burns escaped the judgment of the court and certainly can't be feeling terribly punished for his dirty work.

Dozens of people were plundered by Michael S. Burns (aka the Consignment Vampire) and Camelback Consign & Design. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen. 

The State did obtain judgments against the firm and Burns, but failed to preclude his ability to reopen and conduct the same sort of business he had before. The Superior Court in its wisdom declared that Michael S. Burns would henceforth be required to follow the laws he previously broke. No "or else" was defined.

So, since I did indeed have questions, I followed Ms. Miller's invitation to submit those questions to the Attorney General in an email dated August 17, 2015.  The text of that email follows:


Ms. Miller, 

I received your letter of July 28, 2015 regarding the - apparently final - status of the AG's efforts against Camelback Consign & Design and Mike Burns.

I do have a number of questions that I hope you can answer.

  1. The Superior Court record shows a scheduled Status Conference for 10/20/2015. Please clarify whether this will take place and what it pertains to.
  2. Are judgments granted against Camelback Consign & Design applicable to both managerial members of Camelback Consign & Design LLC, Mike Burns and Justin Burns, or only Mike Burns? I see that your letter references "defendants."
  3. How are judgments enforced or applied? For example, does the state publish a lien against the party or parties subject to the judgment?
  4. Could I get a copy of the pertinent court orders regarding restitution and civil penalties?
  5. Has the AG's office made any effort to locate items that were either sold and for which proper compensation - per the contract - was not provided? 
  6. Has the AG's office attempted to identify the whereabouts of items that were turned over to Camelback Consign & Design, but not reported sold? 
  7. Is the AG's office able to compel delivery of records and testimony regarding the whereabouts of such items? Is it able to compel payment from other sources of income that the party or parties subject to the judgments and civil penalties may have?
  8. Can the AG's office inform me what actually happened with monies not paid and items "converted?"
  9. When do the judgments and civil penalties obtained expire?
  10. How are they renewed?
  11. How frequently can I expect the AG's office to provide updated information regarding the status of collections and restitution from ​the party or parties subject to the judgments and civil penalties​? 
  12. Should the AG's office actually collect funds toward restitution, how are those funds distributed to the injured parties?
  13. Are records of this judgment or notice of any sort regarding the case and its resolution turned over to any other applicable authorities for review? In particular, I am thinking of the IRS. However, there may be other entities with an interest in the outcome of this matter of which I am unaware.

​Many thanks for your kind attention to these questions.​


On August 21, 2015, I received the following response.


Dear Mr. Michaels,

Ms. Miller forwarded me your email regarding Camelback Consign & Design.  At this time, the State has resolved its consumer fraud lawsuit against Camelback Consign & Design and Michael Burns by obtaining default judgments against both defendants.  The default judgments are attached to this email.  If you need additional case related documents, those can be obtained through the Superior Court.  At this time, there are no further proceedings in this matter. 

Once the State obtains a judgment, the State collects the money on its judgment through the means permitted under Arizona’s collection laws.  The State’s collections attorneys will handle all collections.  The State will continue renewing its judgments and will work in accordance with the legal process. 

In addition to obtaining a restitution award against Camelback Consign & Design and Michael Burns, the State successfully returned some items to consumers and worked with the landlord to keep the store open so that consumers could retrieve items. 

Unfortunately, the State does not have the resources to provide updates regarding its collections process.  When the State is able to collect enough funds to distribute restitution to consumers, the State will send out checks to eligible consumers.  The monies distributed will be divided on a pro rata basis. 

The State records its judgments, which are public and available to other law enforcement and government agencies.   

Sincerely,


Alyse Meislik
Assistant Attorney General
Consumer Protection & Advocacy Section
Tel:  (602) 542-7727
Fax: (602) 542-4377
alyse.meislik@azag.gov
Ms. Meislik failed to respond, at all, to questions 1-2, 6-10, and 13. The answer to question three was utterly obligue, and an excellent example of an answer as a non-answer: the State collects the money on its judgment through the means permitted under Arizona’s collection laws. (Isn't this why America watches The Good Wife? To understand what real-life attornies refuse to tell us?)
I remain perplexed. How exactly did the Consumer Protection & Advocacy Section of the Office of the Arizona Attorney General fulfill its mandate to protect the public against financial predators, in this case, so carefully documented in this blog?  

And how much are the citizens of Arizona paying for these and similar services rendered by the Office of the Attorney General? 
 Are we getting our money's worth? Are we well-served?
Does anyone in the state legislature care that our chief legal representative against financial fraud - the Office of the Arizona Attorney General - does little more than it absolutely must to fulfill its mandate?


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FYI

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anglen, Robert  (Arizona Republic & Call 12 for Action)
Date: Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 9:40 AM
Subject: Story on camelback consign
To: Glenn Michaels  


Story is in today's paper. Your blog is mentioned prominently in the story. Thanks for all of your help. Here is a link:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/consumer/call-12-for-action/2014/09/28/missing-painting-returned-owner/16373445/

URGENTLY SOUGHT: ITEMS STOLEN OR NOT PAID FOR #3 (10/05/14) 
URGENTLY SOUGHT: ITEMS STOLEN OR NOT PAID FOR #2 (10/05/14)
COURTNEY'S INCREDIBLE CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE STORY  (10/3/14)
ANONYMOUS COWARD DENOUNCES CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE (10/01/14)
MIKE BURNS & REGINA EMERY EVICTED FROM CONDO
VERA MANUZ Denies Aiding &  Abetting  Mike Burns
JUST IN CASE: FRESH SUITS FOR BURNS (8/31/14) 
AG FILES "CIVIL" SUIT AGAINST CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE (8/31/14)
CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE UPDATE UPDATED (8/31/14)
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Location: Phoenix, AZ, USA

Saturday, July 5, 2014

CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE: NEWS, NOTES & COMMENT

For more details, see the blog posts listed at the bottom of this page.

 July 5, 2014

FYI

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anglen, Robert  
Date: Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 9:40 AM
Subject: Story on camelback consign
To: Glenn Michaels  


Story is in today's paper. Your blog is mentioned prominently in the story. Thanks for all of your help. Here is a link:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/consumer/call-12-for-action/2014/09/28/missing-painting-returned-owner/16373445/

NEWS

 1. Received notification from Special Agent Ismael Fuentes of the Office of the Attorney General of Arizona that the investigation into Camelback Consign & Design, in which he had been involved (out of the Health Care Fraud & Abuse Section), was transferred to the Consumer Protection Section ("the appropriate section.") 

 2. According to Agent Fuentes, "The last I heard regarding this case was that interviews were being conducted."

 3. Supervisor of the Consumer Protection Section is Frank Curatola.

 4. To date, I have not been contacted for an interview. (Have you? If so, let me know.)  My complaint number is CIC 13-13018.

 5. Since November 25, 2013, this blog has accrued over 10,000 hits (aka page views). 


NOTES

1. Unconfirmed: I've been informed that another article about Camelback Consign & Design is being developed for a local publication. 

 2. Bill Roach, one of the landlords for 1030 E. Camelback, formerly Camelback Consign & Design, has made quasi-heroic efforts to assist some victims in the recovery of their missing items. At last report, at least one victim expects to recover a substantial portion of very valuable items consigned and sold by the Consignment Vampire thanks to the aid of Mr. Roach. 
3. For whatever it's worth, according to the AG's website (https://www.azag.gov/consumer/home)

Consumer fraud, as defined by Arizona law, is any deception, unfair act or practice, false statement, false pretense, false promise or misrepresentation made by a seller or advertiser of merchandise. In addition, concealment, suppression or failure to disclose a material fact may be consumer fraud if it is done with the intent that others rely on such concealment, suppression or nondisclosure. Merchandise may include any objects, wares, goods, commodities, intangibles, real estate or services... A private citizen can also bring an action for a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act within one year from the date the claim arises.

& COMMENT


What with the July 4th holiday, I've had occasion to ask myself whether I  live in the "good old" USA or in Scamalot? 

Scamalot is that virtual country whose borders are defined by the simple axiom: Because I can get away with it.  

Why would I ask myself such a question? Well, because...

1. Again and again, leading Arizonans have demonstrated or admitted their allegiance to "Because I can get away with it." One doesn't know whether to be amazed at the fact that, ultimately, they didn't get away with it or at the fact that they got away with it for so very long.
 Cases in point:
A. The Veterans Administration scandal. Alleged: Falsified documentation of appointment wait times associated with veteran deaths. Management practices that enabled discriminatory treatment of various employees and retribution against any that spoke up about such matters internally.
Former Phoenix VA Health Care System Director Sharon Helman vigorously denied the existence of the issues or knowledge thereof.
In fact, according to Paul Giblin of the Arizona Republic, 
"Since 2005, federal investigators have issued at least 21 reports detailing problems in the Department of Veterans Affairs health system.The list of people who received the reports reads like a political who's who: three Cabinet secretaries, a dozen prominent senators, a Democratic and a Republican presidential nominee, and Arizona's entire congressional delegation." 
See: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2014/06/29/va-alarms-failed-change/11701543/

My father died at home a week after being released from the Phoenix VA hospital on 7th Street and Indian School, in 2010. 
B. Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal admits posting various scathing (and, in some cases, patently untrue) comments under various pseudonyms over several years. For example, he wrote:
"We all need to stomp out balkanization. No spanish radio stations, no spanish billboards, no spanish tv stations, no spanish newspapers. This is America, speak English."
(Written as Falcon9 on http://www.espressopundit.com/2010/12/mission-accomplished.html?cid=6a00d83451db8169e20148c6b7b322970c#comment-6a00d83451db8169e20148c6b7b322970c -  Cited by Laurie Roberts on http://www.azcentral.com/story/laurie-roberts/2014/06/24/john-huppenthal-anonymous-blog-posts-latino-comments/11312133/) 
By the way, at present, around 30 percent of Arizona's population is Hispanic. Including my bi-lingual wife, a work-around-the-clock business owner, employer, college grad and former welfare recipient. 
 For good measure, Superintendent Huppenthal also blamed the only president of the United States ever elected to four terms of office for some of the worst events in the 20th century (when quite clearly the president's contemporaries did not!):
"We now know that FDR was almost completely responsible for the great depression."Worse yet, Roosevelt’s disastrous economic policies drug down the whole world and directly led to the rise of a no-name hack named Adolph Hitler who was going nowhere until Germany’s economy went into the tank."  
(Written as Falcon9 on http://blogforarizona.net/psycho-talk-gop-attacks-bo/  Cited by Laurie Roberts on http://www.azcentral.com/story/laurie-roberts/2014/06/19/john-huppenthal/10901575/0) 
The Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction needs a refresher in world history and American civics, not to mention intellectual honesty. I suggest he dip into the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt, No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  
C. On November 12, 2013, the Public Advocacy and Civil Rights Division of the Office of the Arizona Attorney General responded to my consumer complaint about a Camelback Consign & Design business by reporting: "We are in the process of contacting the company to request a response. When we receive the response, we will send a copy of it to you." 
Five months later, the Consumer Information and Complaints Manager for the AG's office responded to a follow up inquiry by writing: The Consumer Protection and Advocacy Section of our office has reviewed your complaint and is attempting to make contact with the business.  
As I read it, the Consumer Protection and Advocacy Section was in fact very busy not trying to make contact with the business in question: Camelback Consign & Design.
Bottom line: It does not take five months to obtain a response from a firm that has an email address, website, public phone number, is open from 10 AM to 6 PM daily and is located under six miles from the front door of the AG's offices at 1275 W. Washington Street.
The failure of this particular Section to acknowledge its unwillingness - or inability - to deliver on its promise was almost certainly abetted by the knowledge that it does not answer to citizens for what it does or does not do. In short, "I can get away with it."  
Not a single elected official I contacted with concerns about the performance of the AG's office in this instance was willing to respond. I presume that it is very unpleasant for elected officials to acknowledge their inability to make a difference (aka irrelevance) with regard to management of the AG's office. So they haven't.  
Today, eight months later, I have not received a copy of the promised response, despite the fact that the principal of Camelback Consign & Design was subpoenaed to testify by the AG's office, as reported in the Arizona Republic on June 8, 2014. I have received no formal notification of any type regarding the AG's investigation of Camelback Consign & Design.
2. Scamalot breeds predatory businesses like Camelback Consign & Scam. They flourish where there is little oversight and consequences, if any, are slight. Scamalot fosters institutional failure, as at the Veterans Administration. It damages the very fabric of the culture: faith in our institutions and trust in our neighbors.  All too often, I hear that smart, caring individuals are left poisoned with toxic "cynicism."
Think of Scamalot as a sort of petri dish. "I can get away with it" is the medium that nurtures the noxious behaviors in question. The end result, in the case of Camelback Consign & Scam was a "Little Shop of Horrors." The VA situation, on the other hand, can only be characterized as a Huge Shop of Horrors.
You can be certain that other versions of  Camelback Consign & Scam are, even as you read this, developing on Arizona soil. Like all living organisms, the most successful predators evolve to take maximum advantage of their (changing) circumstances. The fact that you haven't been harmed yet doesn't mean you - or those you care about - won't be harmed in the future.
 3. SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
Let's flush the "I can get away with it mentality" out of our local and national culture.  Here are a few of my suggestions about how that could be accomplished:
 A. Require that the Arizona Attorney General's office provide more information about what it is doing or not doing. Generally speaking, investigations needn't be shrouded in mystery. Those being investigated typically hear about sooner or later. The information and facts sought by investigators are tough to hide. By the time investigators begin their work, the "facts" are old news embedded in the amber of memory and the myriad forms of documentation that investigators have access to. Statistical reporting on the number of victims or complaints received regarding any one entity or issue could help clarify what the issues are that citizens want help dealing with. Victims need to be informed of the status of cases that the AG's office decides to pursue... not left in the dark.
B. Let's encourage our Chambers of Commerce, the BBB, and other business associations to demonstrate more pro-active support for honesty and integrity in business. Maybe we (they?) could help support the development of a new type of consultant - Business Integrity Counselors. It would be their job to help guide businesses big and small through the tricky currents of legal and ethical responsibility and ethical resolution, sparing consumers and the court system much unnecessary conflict and the associated costs.
C. How about we cut people and businesses a little slack when they come forward, more or less voluntarily, and acknowledge poor judgment and other errors?  I would welcome a process akin to the concept of the S. African Truth and Reconciliation Commission - applied to business and institutions. I suspect that each of us has made a mistake we deeply regret. In too many cases, the inability to safely and honorably acknowledge such errors leads to more of them and high emotional costs for all concerned. The ability to acknowledge errors might help reduce the number of lawsuits, lower incarceration rates, reduce calls for costly investigations and help generate a more honest, ethical culture. 

I don't know if the truth will set you free. But fuss loud enough with a big 'nough bunch a friends and I swear folks 'll do near anything to get you to shut up. Fast as they can. 

URGENTLY SOUGHT: ITEMS STOLEN OR NOT PAID FOR #3 (10/05/14) 
URGENTLY SOUGHT: ITEMS STOLEN OR NOT PAID FOR #2 (10/05/14)
COURTNEY'S INCREDIBLE CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE STORY  (10/3/14)
ANONYMOUS COWARD DENOUNCES CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE (10/01/14)
MIKE BURNS & REGINA EMERY EVICTED FROM CONDO
VERA MANUZ Denies Aiding &  Abetting  Mike Burns
JUST IN CASE: FRESH SUITS FOR BURNS (8/31/14) 
AG FILES "CIVIL" SUIT AGAINST CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE (8/31/14)
CONSIGNMENT VAMPIRE UPDATE UPDATED (8/31/14)

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