Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scion who wrote (111285)	10/9/2010 10:49:37 AM
From: scion	Respond to of 122087

Boy, Do We Know Tzemach Ben David Netzer Korem Oct. 8 2010 - 8:03 pm blogs.forbes.com Among those named as defendants by the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday in a series of civil lawsuits alleging penny-stock swindling is actor Larry Wilcox, who played a cop on television. But we’re more interested in another defendant, a fellow with the lengthy name of Tzemach Ben David Netzer Korem. That’s an old photo of him to the right. He and Forbes go way back. Way back. You might even say we’re jailhouse buddies. Let us explain. In January 1991 Forbes was the very first to expose his greatest fraudulent creation, the Dominion of Melchizedek. Out of offices along sunny Lake Tahoe in California and then Nevada, he fashioned what he called an “ecclesiastical sovereignty” said to be based on a Pacific Ocean island that actually was part of Columbia. He invented a phony currency and managed to get it listed–with exchange rates that varied daily–on Bloomberg and in places like the International Herald Tribune. He issued corporate charters and passports, often to other con men. In those days he went by the made-up name of Branch Vinedresser–inspired, he told Forbes at the time, by the opening verses of the Bible’s John 15: “My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away …” The story’s headline: “Father of his country.” But who was he really? In October 1991 Forbes reported that he had gotten control of a penny-stock company called Currentsea, which then filed an 8-K with the SEC claiming to own 10% of the world’s oceans even thought its latest balance sheet listed $386 in cash. At one point Currentsea had a $500 million market cap. That story’s headline: “King of the seven seas?” But who was he really? The Forbes stories prompted the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada to start poking around. A month later, its investigators discovered the truth and arrested Vinedresser on charges of parole violations. The picture above is one of the mug shots taken when he was booked on a snowy day at the sheriff’s office in Incline Village, Nev. From a December 1991 Forbes story (illustrated by this very mug shot), here’s who he was really: For it turns out that Vinedresser, 38, has quite a record. His real name is Mark Logan Pedley, which he later changed legally to Mark Wellington. A southern California native and father of three, he is a genuine bicoastal fraudster. In 1983 Vinedresser and a former California deputy attorney general were convicted of mail and interstate fraud. The charge: selling land that they didn’t own in a Sacramenton suburb. Vinedresser siphoned off escrow funds to rent fancy cars and make other investments. He got three years. In 1986 a Boston federal court jury convicted Vinedresser and a local lawyer of running a Mexican peso conversion scheme during 1982 and 1983 that swindled investors out of an estimated $6 million. Sentence eight years and a $25,000 fine. He had been paroled in March 1990 after spending a total of six years behind bars. Within three months he had the Dominion of Melchizedek up and running. That headline: “Dream time’s up.” Why is he our jailhouse buddy? Authorities back then took the position that promoting a phony country was somewhat outside the terms of his parole. So as a result of our coverage–and of course, his own actions–Vinedresser went back to the slammer to serve out the remaining time on his sentences. At some point after his release he started using his current name, while continuing his activities with the Dominion. The SEC cases came after what was described as a sting operation run by the FBI. So there’s a fair chance that criminal charges could be brought. For Pedley/Wellington/Vinedresser/Korem, a future headline could be this: “Three strikes and he’s out.” blogs.forbes.com