I wonder what Tabb's role was in all of this? Could he have been scammed and convinced by Flores that he was legit? Unlikely, but possible. Here are some excerpts from the July 26, 1999 Dow Jones wire:
The company, which owns two automobile dealerships, had said that it is the "majority stockholder" in New Technologies & Concepts Inc., a company which claims to have successfully tested a product that had eradicated HIV from patients.
Presuming that these were profitable auto dealerships, what possible motive would Tabb have in torpedoing the company with such a blatantly ridiculous claim? Either he was part of the scam or he was ignorant and was taken in by Flores. Or there is much more behind the scenes. It would be nice to know when and how Uniprime took a majority position in New Technology & Concepts, as I'm sure the SEC is doing.
Continuing from the PR, Uniprime has posted testimonials from patients claiming to have been cured by the product.
Which, the SEC implied, were completely made up(it is unclear whether Ben participated). In the clarifying PR released next (from one of your favorite PR companies):
Tabb said the company believes the treatment had "reversed" but not "cured" the HIV virus.
This is at best clumsy, given the PR wording
In fact, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT (100%) of the patients tested showed COMPLETE REVERSAL of the HIV virus with VIRTUALLY NO SIDE EFFECTS!
I suppose there is a fine line between "cured" and "100% complete reversal," though I am not seeing it right now.
Also from the PR:
He said he had wired $2,500 to Spain to pay for the reproduction of records of tests of the new treatment. He said when an expected 16-pound shipment of documents arrives at his company's office, he will allow them to be reviewed by "anybody."
Maybe someone should take him up on that offer to see the documents. The clarifying PR stated that The specific government agency that authenticated the identities of the patients, NOT WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY, was the Spanish court system, which had originally granted Mr. Flores the right to treat these patients.
So Trapp was expecting a 16-pound box from the Spanish courts. This is awfully specific information for someone who was just making things up as he went. It appears to me that he may have been set up.
The PR then says: Secondly, a misprint as to when the patients were diagnosed and treated stated that "The patients were originally diagnosed with AIDS in 1995 at the Hospital of Madrid and Mr. Flores was then given permission by the courts to treat them with Plasma Plus which is done, in most cases, over a 3-month period." In actuality, the patients were diagnosed and treated by Mr. Flores in 1990.
If Trapp had known that Flores was in jail then, I don't think he would have used a date that overlapped the jail term. Again, this supports the thesis that he was set up. This is not to excuse him or anything that happened, but just a curious observation about gullibility and how hard it is to pinpoint who is a bad guy, who is a good guy, and who is just stupid.
BTW, this also appeared in one of the PRs:
Mr. Flores is about to do final verification of his previous results with the help and agreement of the AIDS foundation in Nassau, The Bahamas. This will involve a laboratory study of anywhere from a minimum of fifteen to thirty days, followed by the providing of the actual patients by the AIDS foundation on a ten-day study basis, at the end of which time Mr. Flores believes he will successfully be able to demonstrate...
This implies, as I'm sure you are aware, that maybe, just maybe, Ben might be on his way to the Bahamas... perhaps on the TunaVision? |
