Well... Well... Well...
Here is perhaps the most exciting news of the SEE-BS Xecom sit-com.
So lets have the drums, the music and the Xecom sit-com theme song:
techstocks.com
Recently this reporter has come to the following piece of information
regarding our Evangelist/consultant/director Mr. Joseph Lanza of SEE-BS
sit-com Xecom.
FILED JAN 12, 1996
/original stamped/
Stephen R. Ludwig
U.S. District Court of Indiana
Northern District of Indiana
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
HAMMOND DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA )
)
)
)
)
V. ) Case No. 96CR-001 JM
)
) 26 U.S.C. 7201
) 26 U.S.C. 7206
) 18 U.S.C. 1343
) 18 U.S.C. 1341
) 18 U.S.C. 1956
JOSEPH LANZA ) 18 U.S.C. 1957
JAYNE LANZA ) 18 U.S.C. 371
THE GRAND JURY CHARGES:
(Wire Fraud)
Counts 1-9
INTRODUCTION
1. In 1987, the defendant, JOSEPH LANZA, incorporated a new business
called Sensi, Inc. in the State of Oregon. Sensi, Inc. was originally
set up to explore for, acquire and operate oil wells. In 1989, because
the primary focus of Sensi's operation was in the State of Indiana,
JOSEPH LANZA also incorporated Sensi in the State of Indiana.
2. Throughout 1987, JOSEPH LANZA, through Sensi, Inc., purchased the
rights to various oil well leases in the area of Peru, Indiana. None of
JOSEPH LANZA's own money was used to purchase the rights to the Peru,
Indiana, leases. Rather, money invested by several individuals was used
to purchase the rights to the leases. The leases were named after the
owner of the property where the oil wells were located. The first lease
acquired by Sensi, Inc. was known as the Gretzinger lease and was
purchased for $3,000.
3. After acquiring the Gretzinger lease, JOSEPH LANZA and Sensi, Inc.
obtained the rights to a number of other oil fields which included oil
wells known as South Marburger, Soames, Snowden-Barber, Kokomo Tube,
Enhanced Oil Recovery Fields, Smith, Orion, Rock Industries, Palmer,
Ebert, Cole, Burr, Barr, Wilkerson, Puterbaugh, Lawrence, and Mill. As
with the Gretzinger lease, JOSEPH LANZA used none of his own money to
purchase these additional leases.
4. In addition to the Gretzinger lease, these wells came to be known to
the investors as generically as the Peru Oil Fields.
5. Once the Peru Oil Fields were acquired, JOSEPH LANZA sold off
percentages of each well to interested investors. Many of the investors
who put their money into the Peru Oil Fields has previously invested
with JOSEPH LANZA in oil fields in the area of Berne, Indiana. Since
neither JOSEPH LANZA nor his wife invested any of their own money in the
oil wells, the investors' money was used to actually acquire the leases.
In the early stages, because the oil wells were in need of repair,
investors' money was the only source of funds for Sensi, Inc. After the
wells were developed, a small amount of oil was actually produced.
6. In exchange for investing their money, individual investors received
a "working interest" in the income and expenses of a specific oil well.
Once an investor was the ownerof a working interest in a well, he or she
was expected to reimburse Sensi, Inc. for his or her percentage of the
total drilling costs and operational expenses for that well.
7. In September, 1988, JOSEPH LANZA, incorporated Black Jade of
Indiana, Inc. The purpose of Black Jade was to provide corporate
protection from liabilities for individual investors in the Peru Oil
Fields. By incorporating the business activities, all income and
expenses could run through the corporation and then disbursed out to the
individual shareholders on a percentage basis. Black Jade was
thereafter listed as the holder of the lease rights to the Peru Oil
Fields.
8. Throughout the development of the Peru Oil Fields, JOSEPH LANZA was
able to maintain a 23 1/2% ownership interest in the wells controlled by
Black Jade in his wife's name. At 23 1/2% Jayne Lanza maintained the
largest ownership interest in Black Jade. This occurred even though
Jayne Lanza made no capital contributions to the company. In addition,
Jayne Lanza and was not required to pay her 23 1/2% of the costs
involved in operating the wells.
9. In April, 1990, JOSEPH LANZA incorporated Rich Valley Oil Company,
Inc. in the State of Indiana for the purpose of developing additional
oil leases known as the Cole Ebert and Lawrence lease, the Kunkel lease,
the Mylea Farms lease, and the Urbana lease. Jayne Lanza was the
President of Rich Valley Oil Company. The Urbana lease was touted by
JOSEPH LANZA and his wife as the "Rolls Royce" of oil wells.
10. Rich Valley Oil Company was set up similar to Black Jade of Indiana
in that the company owned the rights to oil leases and then sold working
percentages to various investors. JOSEPH LANZA, through Rich Valley Oil
Company, acquired the leases with the use of investors' money. None of
JOSEPH LANZA's own money was used to acquire these additional leases.
PURPOSE OF THE SCHEME
11. Beginning in or around Novenber 1986, and continuing through in or
around December, 1991, the exact dates being unknown to the Grand Jury,
in the Northern District of Indiana, the defendant,
JOSEPH LANZA,
knowingly devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to
defraud and to obtain money be means of false and fraudulent pretenses
and representations, from the following investors: Lee Asch, James
Atkinson, Dr. Donald Baltz, Harvey "Nick" Bunick, Gus Ebenstein, Alan
Goulter, Paul Gulick, Thomas Hageman, Steven Hix, Steve Hurwitz, Lloyd
and Barbara Hames, Judith Isaac, Thomas O'Halloran, James Richardson,
Philip Roberts, William Shmitz, Norman Stutzke, and John Thatcher.
THE SCHEME
12. It was part of the scheme that from the latter part of 1986 through
1991, JOSEPH LANZA sold working interests in various oil wells in
Indiana to 18 different investors. LANZA was able to convince the
investors to contribute approximately $4.8 million into the development
of the oil wells described above. Individual investors' contributions
ranged from a minimum of $9,000 to a maximum of $1,211,000.
13. It was further part of the scheme that JOSEPH LANZA failed to
disclose to the investors that a large portion of the money that the
investors were sending to LANZA was being used by he and his wife to
finance an extravagant personal lifestyle. JOSEPH LANZA and his wife
diverted approximately $1.6 million of investors' funds and purchased
personal items with the money. In addition, approximately $570,000 was
used by JOSEPH LANZA and his wife for travel and entertainment. None of
the approximate $2.2 million, which originally came from investors, was
used to explore for, acquire or operate wells. Instead, it was used for
the personal gratification of LANZA and his wife. In addition to the
$2.2 million that was spent on personal items and travel and
entertainment, another approximate $350,000 was used by JOSEPH LANZA to
write checks to cash.
14. It was further part of the scheme that when JOSEPH LANZA sold the
working interests in the oil wells to the investors, he falsely and
fraudulently told them that their money would be used solely for
expenses incurred in the acquisition, exploration, drilling and
operation of oil wells. JOSEPH LANZA did not disclose to the investors
that a large portion of the money that the investors sent him would be
used for his personal benefit. Had the investors known that a large
portion of the money being sent to JOSEPH LANZA was being spent on
personal items, they never would have invested in the oil wells. The
following are examples these false and fraudulent statements:
[Eight Detailed Examples]
15. It was further part of the scheme that in order to get the
investors to invest in the oil wells JOSEPH LANZA falsely and
fraudulently told investors that he and his wife had a significant
amount of their own money invested in the oil wells and that he and his
wife were covering a large portion of the expenses of perating the
wells. This was stated to the investors so as to give them a false
sense of security; many of the investors believed that if JOSEPH LANZA
and his wife were willing to invest their own money in the oil wells,
then it would likewise be a good investment for them. In reality,
JOSEPH LANZA and his wife had none of their own money in the oil wells
and did not contribute to the operating expenses of the wells. The
following are examples of JOSEPH LANZA's false and fraudulent statements
to investors relating to the amount of money that he andd his wife
supposedly were contributing to the operation of the oil wells:
[Nine Detailed Examples]
16. It was further part of the scheme that in order to get the
investors to originally send him, or to contribute to send him money,
JOSEPH LANZA wrote letters to the investors exaggerating the future
prospects of the oil wells and requesting additional funds. The purpose
of these letters was to lull the investors into a false sense of
security and to get them to continue to send money. For example:
[Nine Detailed Examples]
17. It was further part of the scheme that these lulling letters, as
well as other similar letters, were sent to the investors by JOSEPH
LANZA and Jayne Lanza to hold the investors at bay and to entice them to
invest additional funds in the oil wells so that JOSEPH LANZA and Jayne
Lanza could continue to spend a large portion of the funds for their own
personal benefit.
18. It was further part of the scheme that on or about March 14, 1991
JOSEPH LANZA sent to the investors a listing of the accounts payable for
Sensi Corporation. This was done in order to show to the investors the
severe financial condition confronting Sensi and to ask for additional
money to cover expenses. The accounts payable included tens of
thousands of dollars due to five credit card companies. These credit
card balances were incurred as a result of JOSEPH LANZA and his wife
using Sensi's credit cards to purchase personal items.In |
