Former CEO of both public and private companies, venture capitalist, trust manager, public speaker, previous board chair of a small, accredited, matriculating college established by Governor Dan Evans of Washington State for advanced degrees. Syndicated radio show host. Author of newsletters, magazine articles, CD lecture series, and nine books. Numerous book awards.
Economic advisor to the prime ministers of several island nations. Worked with congressional officials, presidents, prime ministers, governors, and governors-general.
Numerous archeological field trips over 4 decades. Visits to over a hundred archeological sites investigating Olmecs, Mayas, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Toltecs, and the ancient high culture of Teotihuacan. An explorer and student of ancient history and spirituality that loves learning, cultures, social interaction, furry and feathered animals, and marine biology.
History
Entrepreneurship has been a lifetime endeavor. As an adult it began in the 1960’s with a US typewriter dealership. Over the next several years, the business expanded into copiers, calculators, and government service contracts with 23 offices in 10 US states. We developed and operated coin and dollar bill actuated plain paper copiers for libraries and universities in multiple states.
Moving to Vancouver Island, Canada, we bought a waterfront home and an island on the Inside Passage. We bought and resold Shearwater Island three times over the next few years. From the Canadian Bankruptcy court we purchased Bones Bay, a fish cannery on West Cracroft island, which included docks, buildings, and a hydro-electric dam.
Two years later we traded an airplane, an island, and cash for a house, hangars, land, and a part interest in a paved airport in Colorado. Now known as Meadow Lake Airport it has become a large facility. A jewelry store and gemstone business were acquired in Colorado. Previously we had exchanged a Washington home and acreage for a suitcase of gemstones prompting me to enroll in the gemologist program with GIA. (Gemological Institute of America.) A trade exchange business was purchased in Colorado about the same time, then merged into BXI, a California based Nasdaq public company. Some years later we would acquire control of this company.
An international barter company was formed. Over the next dozen years, it grew to over 200 offices throughout the US and other countries. Primarily through 78 separate mergers and acquisitions. The company was eventually taken public and traded on the Nasdaq stock market. During this period, (before the personal computer), we acquired the Travel Agent’s Hotel Guide and a licensed travel agency. It expanded into new markets. A working gold mine in Montana was acquired about the same time. Simultaneously, a national radio syndication business was formed, and a specialty music company was established. Both publicly traded companies. A 25-year-old book publishing company in New York was purchased out of bankruptcy, as was a 30-year-old gold and silver mint in Idaho. Land grants and mineral claims with geologist evaluations were acquired and consolidated into trading blocks.
A private shipping company was established in Singapore, at the request of the Singapore government who provided a number of economic inducements. Singapore sought access to our non-currency trading technology. Two freight broker polyglots, one from Greece, the other from Lebanon, joined the shipping company as minority partners to handle cargo sales and logistics. Within a year we had ten time-chartered ships (large freighters) handling European, Asian and African cargos.
Sometime later five licensed offshore trust firms were formed in different countries, along with two fully audited and licensed offshore banks, and the first online stock brokerage firm in the Caribbean. This was prior to US brokerage firms going online. A gold and silver digital currency was formed in Switzerland, operated from the Caribbean, using new internet banking software from Sweden. Two US corporate formation companies had been formed earlier in Reno, Nevada; a third, Laughlin Associates, was purchased from an estate sale. I was subsequently arrested and prosecuted by the federal government. (This story is titled Federal Prosecution.) A yacht charter business in Mexico has been the focus the past 15 years, along with a waterfront restaurant and sports bar.
Governmental Abuse
Corrupt US officials seized $22,800,000 in cash from a single bank account, plus millions more in cash, securities, gold, silver and other assets. I was placed under a continuing gag order to not allow me to make any public statements in my defense. Years of continual threats, allegations and harassment followed. Unable to come up with any charges that would hold up in trial, the lead revenue agent and a US prosecutor threatened me in two separate private meetings with my lawyer present, that they would indict six of my married children and my wife, (who was terminally ill with cancer), if I refused to sign a plea agreement. They emphasized that even though family members might eventually prevail in court, they would be arrested in handcuffs and held in jail until a probation hearing. They would be bankrupted with legal fees, and their lives smeared as a federal indictment would be on the record the rest of their lives. I was put under a 2nd gag order, sealing me from explaining any details of these threats to my family or anyone other than my wife and lawyer.
My lawyer received a certified letter releasing each of the children and my wife by name, when I signed their horribly unethical plea deal. The plea agreement alleged that a book I had written constituted a conspiracy to defraud the government, notwithstanding 23 written legal opinions to the contrary. I was eventually made to self-surrender to federal prison.
The senior federal court judge in Oregon claimed in open court that the plea agreement entered into the court record was a TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE. Although unaware as to why I signed the plea agreement he was very suspicious of the government’s dealings. Thirty months later, as the judge prepared to retire, he arranged my early release. He was able to get me a new passport and my pilot’s license reinstated. Soon thereafter he waived the 3-year federally mandated parole, and notified US Immigration that I was free to travel worldwide. No cash, bank holdings, gold, silver, stocks, land assets, documents, photos, logbooks, computers, etc., that were seized were ever returned.
The revenue agent responsible for false testimony against me was caught and convicted. Initially, caught in a lie in my probation hearing, the probation judge instructed him to vacate his courtroom. Agent Walker was eventually charged with conspiracy, fired by the IRS and sentenced to 40 months in prison. I was not informed of this development and unable to appeal..
