For the very first time, I have decided to break the perpetual gag order imposed by government on me. The order demands that I never disclose the nefarious threats made by Special Agent Walker and a federal prosecutor against six of my children by name, as explained below. I was forced to sign a false plea agreement to protect my children and their families.
Why am I breaking the gag order now? Because I recently discovered that the senior agent in charge of the seizures, investigation, and my prosecution, who falsified evidence and repeatedly lied in court, was arrested, prosecuted, and sent to prison. Special Agent Walker was sentenced to 40 months in prison for theft of taxpayer assets, and the same kind of nefarious actions he had taken against me and others. The revelation of this agent’s arrest and incarceration should negate enforcement of the perpetual gag order served on my legal counsel and myself.
Corrupt US officials seized $22,800,000 in cash from a single bank account, plus millions more in other bank and stock accounts, in addition to stock certificates, gold, silver, land, and other assets. They held this in evidence of a possible crime, which they were never able to prove. Once the prosecution was convinced all resources were frozen or seized and I would not be able to afford skilled defense counsel, I was charged with criminal conduct. Two former employees, one a son-in-law, were charged separately as co-conspirators. I never saw their charges. I assume they were less than the absurd laundry list of claims made against me.
Both the asset seizures and my prosecution were political directives from Washington DC. Everyone involved knew this. My lawyer made this point, and the prosecutor confirmed it in a meeting with my lawyer and me. High-ranking officials flew from Washington DC to observe every legal hearing where I was present.
After an extensive period of the government’s unsuccessful attempt at forcing a criminal plea, it turned out they had no substantial evidence to prove I had intentionally violated any criminal laws. They made lots of allegations, but they were unable to materialize any proof of criminal activity.
Whereas government agencies hated offshore structuring, it was not illegal and the majority of my offshore clients were law firms. Furthermore, they were aware that I had secured 23 written legal opinions for everything I was doing. And that I had been careful to stay within the four corners of the law as set forth within those legal opinions. All 23 legal opinions were submitted to the court and became part of the court record. In addition, my offshore facilities were fully licensed. Each was in compliance with their license, and the offshore banks had been regularly audited by a US auditing firm, contrary to the government’s claims. As a result, twelve of the thirteen charges initially brought against me and published in the media, were quietly dropped.
Frustrated, the prosecutor and senior investigative agent, Special Agent Walker, threatened to create new charges if I would not sign a plea agreement. I refused. The only charge against me that had not been dropped was conspiracy to defraud the government. That single remaining charge kept Aaron Young and Lee Morgan’s charges tied to me as I was considered in charge of their Nevada corporate structuring activities.
In a closed door meeting with my lawyer, the prosecutor claimed to have evidence against Aaron Young, from two witnesses plus evidentiary information from his seized computer, and materials found at his desk when his office was raided by agents. Whether true or not, I have no idea. The three of us were not allowed to meet and coordinate with one another. Our lawyers would meet but we were cautioned to not do so. Notwithstanding, the three of did meet in a restaurant twice, and I was able to see my son-in-law Lee in social situations, but we did not discuss the prosecution at those times for obvious reasons.
Each of us was being charged separately, or so I understood, so each of us had separate lawyers. We were courteous and polite with one another, but not very informative. Each of us were careful in sharing what we had been told about the other. We simply did not know what was true and I suspect that each of us had been told false stories about the others. It was obvious that we were all deeply confused. That was certainly true for me. I have since learned that government agents are permitted to lie to suspects in order to secure admissions of guilt. So everything Agent Walker and the prosecutor told me about Aaron Young was very likely not true. In retrospect it was probably lies to manipulate and intimidate and turn us against one another.
Both the prosecutor and Agent Walker told my counsel and me that they would establish in court that I was in charge of the office where Aaron Young and Lee Morgan were selling Nevada structuring products, and therefore I was responsible for the false claims about Nevada companies that the government could prove had been made by Aaron Young. I was considered the king pin of their operation, even though I did not work in their Portland office and had nothing to do with its lease, opening, etc. In fact, I had only visited there to congratulate the two of them for going independent. Lee Morgan and Aaron Young worked for me previous to going out on their own together. The prosecutor claimed I would be held guilty for Aaron’s false claims about tax shelters associated with the sales of Nevada companies.
Government agents and the prosecutor were clearly exasperated that they were unable to produce a “smoking gun” to convict me. They stated to my attorney, in front of me, that the government had spent millions in investigations both offshore and onshore, and their investment in time and energy demanded a conviction. My lawyer, a previous US District Attorney, acknowledged that this was exactly how the government assessed all investigations. If they made a major investment regarding an investigation, they must have something to show for it. So, they first performed asset seizures, followed by criminal prosecution. They were quick to point out that federal prosecutions nationwide had a 97.3% conviction rate the previous year. Their point was simply that no one can prevail against the government regardless of innocence. The government wins. Period. And as my lawyer pointed out, if they were to drop charges against me, they would lose immense face, as the entire matter was published widely in the media. In addition, those involved would lose current standing and their options for advancement. Someone could even lose their job for the miscalculation.
The agent in charge and the prosecutor became progressively desperate, making continued allegations of wrongdoing but had no substantial proof. My lawyer was excited that we finally seemed to have the upper hand, although he warned that anything can happen once we are in trial because the government virtually always wins, regardless of truth.
A second private session was set without Aaron, Lee, or their lawyers, present. Agent Walker was in company with the US prosecutor. They had secured a second gag order against me. They presented it to counsel at the start of the meeting. The substance of this second gag order stated that if I were to ever discuss any part of what they would then reveal with anyone other than my lawyer, I would automatically be re-arrested and held in prison for a mandatory 5 year prison sentence for violating the gag order, separate and distinct from the conspiracy charge still standing.
The first gag order would not allow me to defend myself in any public forum, inasmuch as they were aware I had media resources. I had to reply “No Comment” to requests made by reporters. The government sent out news releases presenting their charges against me, but nothing about those charges as they were being dropped. The second gag order was regarding what they were about to present in this pivotal meeting. To be clear, the first gag order has never been violated by me. The second gag order I shall now ignore.
At the time of this pivotal private session, my counsel and I were sequestered into a small room with Agent Walker, (the revenue agent who later ended up in prison), and the prosecutor who was assigned to try the case. Agent Walker was one of those men who strutted, almost comically, as he continually made certain others could see the gun and badge on his belt. He literally began yelling at me with such force, and threatened me with such ferocity that my counsel jumped up and began to shout back saying he was leaving to call a judge and stop this madness. The prosector convinced Walker to calm down and sit. Admittedly, I had insulted him regarding his absolute ignorance of how and why corporate structures existed. Everything Walker kept shouting he could prove as a crime was standard corporate structuring, well within federal law and within the laws of all 50 states, not to mention the laws of most countries in the world. He was absolutely ignorant of corporate law. Then the other shoe was dropped.
The prosecutor proceeded to threaten me saying that if I did not sign a plea agreement, admitting to a single charge of conspiracy, that they would have six of my adult children arrested and hauled away in handcuffs. Each would be held in different jails until a probation hearing was set for each separately. Each would be charged with a possible or potential crime such that everything in their lives would be subject to further investigation. And even though my children might eventually prevail in court, they would be bankrupted by legal fees, their lives would be turned upside down, and their individual reputations smeared as they would then have a record of federal arrest that would follow them the rest of their lives.
In any other context we would call this pure blackmail. As it turns out, government gets away with this type of coercion. If I was to break the perpetual gag order by telling anyone of the threats that had been made against family members, I would go straight to jail making defense of the conspiracy charge substantially more difficult to defend, and even if I prevailed in trial on the conspiracy charge, I would still serve 5 years in prison for defying a court-issued gag order.
The deal was easy to understand, either I sign, or the children would be arrested and go through the same kind of living hell I had been put through for the previous three years. It was obvious what I had to do, but I deferred until counseling with Maureen. Maureen was my wonderful wife and life partner for more than forty years. She was suffering with cancer but nothing to do with family ought be done without her involvement and consent. Maureen was an aggressive she-lion in these regards. I loved her intensely and still do. Her counsel was vital. My insistence that I must discuss this with my wife was literally more than Agent Walker could endure. He harangued me to the point of violence and barely controlled physical aggression that if she disclosed anything with anyone about the government’s intentions to arrest and intimidate family members, it would be the same as if I had done it. I left thoroughly shaken.
After a long cry, Maureen agreed that I should sign the plea agreement. Her words were that “I must fall upon my sword and take the hit for the family.” She consoled me by saying, “I was still her knight in shining armor,” a private phrase she had shared with me all our lives. The exact same words that would come through a psychic Lutheran minister to me two months after Maureen had passed. Shocking but remarkably comforting. The hard part was my family could not know. I was forced to keep my distance and allow them to reach their own conclusions without ever knowing any of the ugly machinations of corrupt government officials. Admittedly, I have been terrified to let this out. The last thing I want is to go through this ugliness again but having discovered that Agent Walker had been sent to prison has given me the courage to come forward.
The same day of the almost violent private meeting, my lawyer received a certified hand delivered letter agreeing to release each of the children by name along with the release of my wife, who had not been named in any criminal allegations. The judge knew Maureen was suffering with cancer and had been clear to the prosecutor to leave her alone. She had been subpoenaed to a court hearing which she was unable to attend. The prosecutor demanded she be dragged into court in chains. When my counsel argued that Maureen was unable to attend due to advanced cancer, the prosecutor demanded we get three opinions by other doctors or she should be arrested. The judge was not impressed and told him so. Neither my wife, nor my children had nothing to do with the sale of offshore corporate structures, but that was unimportant to the prosecutor or Agent Walker.
I was advised the next day that there were pending plea agreements with both Aaron Young and Lee Morgan. The government would not finalize their terms unless I signed a separate plea deal. I agreed to sign, but only if they would reduce the sentences for them. We negotiated a reduction to roughly half the time each was already prepared to do in their respective plea deals. Two days later, in a group meeting with Aaron Young, Lee Morgan, and our respective lawyers, Aaron and Lee were advised that I would sign a conspiracy confession. Their lawyers took credit for the reduction in time they ultimately agreed to but had nothing to do with it. I was prevented from sharing anything.
So it was, that I signed the blackmail-induced plea. It alleged that a book that I had written a few years earlier constituted a conspiracy to defraud the government in addition to my relationship with Aaron Young and Lee Morgan. None of it was true. None of it! Particularly in view of my having secured multiple written legal opinions which proved that even had I inadvertently broken some law, (Mea Culpa), my intention was to not do so as evidenced by securing carefully prepared written legal instruction in advance. The prosecutor was aware of this situation which made criminal conviction of me particularly difficult. He did not want to try a case against me but was prepared to do so against Aaron Young and Lee Morgan. Civil assessments could be made against me, but a criminal sentence would be hard for them to secure. Hence, all the hoopla about my ties to Aaron Young and what they claimed he had been doing and why I was responsible for his actions.
Aaron and Lee’s plea terms were reduced. They signed to stop the madness and to get the mess behind them. Aaron, Lee and I in prison. Aaron and I were able to stay together except for when I was placed into “diesel therapy” (legal torture for several months) for refusing to help government agents prosecute others. Agents wanted me to testify against people I did not know. And they actually told me they would tell me what to say. The level of government dishonesty is apparently pervasive. I would observe it again and again.
Lee was sent to Seattle, ostensibly to keep him away from Aaron. They considered them partners and said they should be separated. It was silly but it is what happened. I was not privy to their individual agreements. They spent considerably less time in prison than my plea agreement required. I was to be held in federal prison for five years followed by six months in a half-way house, then three years of probation. During the three year probation upon my release from prison, and the half-way house, I would not be allowed to travel outside the United States and not even out of the state without specific probation officer approval. I surrendered to federal prison after Maureen passed away, literally in my arms.
The senior federal court judge in Oregon hearing my case, claimed in open court that the plea agreement by the prosecutor was a “travesty of justice.” Judge Haggerty was certain I had been manipulated into signing a false statement, but he was not privy to why and how it had happened. Two years later, as Judge Haggerty prepared to retire, he arranged my early release to the half-way house. Three weeks later I was formerly released from the half-way house, much to the chagrin of that facility. The judge then intervened to get me a new passport and my pilot’s license reinstated. Neither were easy to do given a federal conviction, but he got them done and fairly quickly. Then he cancelled the required 3 year probation. Every personal item that had been seized of mine had been destroyed, nothing was ever returned, notwithstanding court instructions to the contrary.
Before probation was dropped, I began receiving mystery phone calls with “recommendations” from the Clerk of the Court. Obviously, this was highly unusual, and just as obviously the recommendations were coming from the judge. It was not appropriate for the judge and I to meet or even visit directly by phone. I have never met him outside of the court room. Nevertheless, I continued to receive the judge’s counsel multiple times regarding how to protect myself from government agents once he was no longer on the bench and could not protect me. His advice was clear. There are those in government still focused on me. Go low profile. Stay off any form of social media. Avoid Aaron and Lee and everyone from your past.
An interview was set up by the Director of Education for the Bureau of Prisons within Oregon. He had also had me to his home for dinner the day after I had been sent to the half-way house. That had been literally surreal. Coming out of prison, and still very much unbalanced and in shock, and there I was being served dinner by the director’s wife with his grown children invited over to meet me. It was also confusing for the agents running the half-way house to release me after my just having arrived. They gave me a lot of crap demanding to know who I had paid off. It was an official request, so I was released to go to dinner in Olympia.
Shortly after the dinner in Olympia, I was released again to do the NPR radio interview. It was supposed to be a simple local interview about teaching course study to prisoners. It ran a full hour and apparently ended up on national broadcast. Somehow the judge learned of it. Hence the “recommendations” I was told to become low profile, no more interviews, and to get off Facebook, a new concept that one of my daughters had set up for me. The judge, or more correctly, the Clerk of the Court, told me the judge strongly recommended I relocate to the Caribbean where the judge was aware I had many friends. As it turned out, the court had received video interviews of 52 people on island that I had once helped after a devastating Force 5 hurricane. I saw bits and pieces of it later. It was very touching and no doubt had been influential in the judge’s continuing assistance.
The judge was also aware I had a house in Mexico that the government had failed to seize. So, first I flew to the Caribbean for a week. Then I drove to Mexico to see the house that was still in my name. It was then being rented to a real estate firm.
For the next year or more I stayed in Oregon, not really taking the judge’s counsel all that seriously. I applied for social security, which was granted. Then it was seized by the IRS…another illegal act. I prevailed in a Social Security hearing, and the IRS never tried to grab the small monthly stipend again. Although frankly, I feared that they would. IRS assessments started arriving to the tune of $36 million dollars for civil damages. Then with interest and penalties the amount had risen to $47 million. All of it was complete fabrication from the beginning to the end. At one point I was told by an agent I had the dubious honor of owing the IRS more than any other taxpayer in the western US. At first I laughed it off. It was just so absurd. How could any of it be taken seriously? I suspected, and still do, that they were making sure their claims against me would exceed what they had initially seized. I never received an accounting. Then agents started showing up. Once again the harassment began.
By this time, I had published a new book, “It’s All Thought, the Science, Psychology and Spirituality of Happiness”. It was written at the insistence of the Education Director from the Bureau of Prisons. In fact, he subsequently produced a lecture series, using my recordings. It consisted of 9 CDs. My sister, Dr Sherry L Meinberg, would write a book for prison instructors to use in teaching the course study I had developed while in prison. The book and its teaching manual spread quickly throughout the federal prison system. It seemed I couldn’t easily stay low profile as the judge had counseled.
I decided to move to Mexico, take my house back from the renters. I had acquired a yacht on trade, after my release. I decided to take it to Mexico and put it into charter to make enough money to live. It took more than a year to get into condition sufficient to make the 2,000+ mile trip south. When it was ready, I sailed it with two friends from Portland, Oregon to Cabo San Lucas.
No cash, bank holdings, gold, silver, stocks, land assets, documents, photos, logbooks, computers, etc., seized were ever returned.
A Further Note
The revenue agent responsible for false testimony against me was caught lying the first time during my pre-release hearing after I was initially arrested and held in jail for 22 days. I was brought into court in chains having no idea what was going on. The issue was whether or not I was safe to be released under pre-trial probation. The IRS agent lied on the stand claiming that he was on a joint phone call with the head of security for the gated neighborhood where I lived, when he was speaking to me, prior to my arrest. Agent Walker weaved a tale that I had told the security guy I was taking off in my hidden airplane and would never return. This claim, made first in writing by Agent Walker, was the trigger for my immediate arrest warrant. It was a lie.
Unknown to me, my lawyer had spoken to this security person while I was held in jail. My lawyer confronted the IRS agent’s testimony in open court. He threatened to call in the security director in question. The probation judge in charge of this particular hearing turned to Agent Walker who was sitting on the stand and asked him directly if they should suspend the hearing and wait for the witness he had quoted. Walker broke. He was trapped in his lie. He dropped his head and shook no. The judge was enraged. He had agent Walker removed from his courtroom. This was the same agent to shout uncontrollably at me in the private meeting outlined above and who had filed false testimony against me in various court filings. Sometime later Agent Walker was arrested and charged with conspiracy. How Ironic. He was fired by the IRS and sent to prison to serve a 40 month sentence.