John Stossel’s book “Give Me A Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, ans Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media”

“When I started doing consumer reporting, lawyers were my best source. Their mission, they explained, was to get was to protect consumers and get victims compensation. I thought, “Hey, they’re just like us consumer reporters– they want to punish bullies and rip-off artists. They can do it better than I can because they have power. My television reports just alert the public; lawyers can make the bad guys pay.” This partnership between reporters and trial lawyers is not a good thing, but it’s hard for us reporters to resist, because trial lawyers are a perfect source. They do most of the work for us. We don’t need to make phone calls to search for victims; the lawyers identify the most telegenic of them, the people whose stories make you cry, and then they’ll bring them right to our office. Then they identify the “bad guy” for us. We don’t need to do much original investigation since the lawyers use their subpoena power to turn over just about every record they’ve ever produced. The lawyers usually find some dirt (bet they’d find dirt on you if they got all your papers) and hand it to us. We double-check it, but we’re following the lawyers’ script. I felt so self-righteous doing those stories. The lawyers and I were the good guys fighting the bullies. Now I realize it’s the lawyers who are the bullies, and I was just a part of their hustle.” 

“We have lawyers running the system and the problem with that is the lawyers don’t have an obligation and a commitment to the truth”says Professor Langbein. “They have an obligation to win. So we’ve got a combat system rather than a truth system. All over American, every day, in our daily lives, in our personal lives, in our business affairs, we’re making decisions to investigate facts and decide what action to take….. but none of us do it the way it’s done in the law courts, and for good reason: What’s done in the law courts is absurd. It’s extortion and trickery.” Expensive distortion and trickery.

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My dad wanted to send this letter to the Editor to the Bend Bulletin OR to Andrew Moore at the Bend Bulletin (Reporter Assigned to this Case), but they only allow 200 words for a letter to the Editor and Andrew Moore has not been receptive at all to getting the other side of the story. 

Poor Andrew can’t be all to blame – after all he said it himself “This is obviously a very complex matter and I’m like a caveman at a physics convention”

THE OREGONIAN…has IGNORED THE INFORMATION on this SITE as well.  They spent a GOOD 13 SECONDS here.  I AM GLAD our NEWS REPORTERS are WORKING HARD to get you the INFORMATION YOU NEED TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS. 

I told my dad to post this letter on my website/blog where the TRUTH can be TOLD.  If you want the whole story in the Bend Bulletin – Contact Andrew Moore at 541-617-7820 or at amoore@bendbulletin.com to see IF YOUR VOICE can be heard.

To the Editor - 

 The failure late last year of Summit Accommodators, Inc., of which I was a principal, has been a humbling experience for me.  Never could I have dreamed that circumstances could intersect in such a way that would cause the organization to crumble overnight.  I’m truly sorry for the pain it has caused all of the exchangers.  I can only sincerely hope and pray that the assets we provided and any other monies available will result in the exchangers being made whole.

But this letter isn’t about me.  I’d like to write out about my former partners at Summit, Tim Larkin and Lane Lyons. 

The bankruptcy trustee and the media have thrown these two men into the Summit fire on equal basis with me.  It is in the best interest of the trustee, Kevin Padrick, to have as many “bad” guys as possible.  Don’t confuse “trustee” with the word “trust”.  He is a hired gun brought in by the creditors’ committee and is paying himself large “commissions”.  So far he gets an A+++ for making the situation seem the worst possible.  The more criminal he can make it sound, the more chance he has at getting settlements from banks, bonding companies, etc.  The more successful he is, the more he fills his pockets with those “commissions”.

The trustee’s insistence on throwing Larkin and Lyons under the Summit bus is just plain unfair.  Both of these men came to work long after the business practice of making business loans with a portion of Summit’s exchange money was part of the business. 

Tim Larkin came earlier in that timeline.  He inherited a business plan which included the business loan strategy.  He was a strong manager and leader.  He helped keep the company focused and made major contributions to streamlining operations along with much higher accountability.  He came to work every day and operated with a high sense of integrity.  I can’t imagine a business team not wanting Tim Larkin on the team.

Lane Lyons came much later in the game.  As an attorney he was invaluable in shoring up legal agreements for Summit.  He brought a much higher level of legal regimen for the organization.  He always operated with the best of intentions.  He doesn’t have a criminal bone in his body.  Once again, Lane’s sense of integrity is among the highest.

Neither of these men benefitted personally from company loans in a significant way.  In fact, Lyons owes the company a very small undeterminable amount.  Tim Larkin owes the company virtually nothing as he is on the hook for a $917,000 personal loan, money which was deposited into one of the entities that has been turned over to the bankruptcy estate.  That amount far exceeds any loans he made.  That property is in foreclosure now and Larkin will take the full credit hit.

These men are not responsible for the Summit debacle.  The impact of their hard work and foresight contributed to a huge reduction in outstanding loans over the last two years of Summit’s operations.  Two years before the bankruptcy, they both insisted on a moratorium of all loan activity.  They insisted on a new business plan which included an end to the practice of loaning a portion of the exchange funds.  That became the policy.  Tim Larkin heartily pursued liquidation of real estate, the majority of which was not his, for the total pay down of all amounts owed.

After bankruptcy was declared, no one worked harder than Larkin and Lyons in doing everything in their power to provide all required information.  Larkin’s very detailed spreadsheet of all related real estate was provided directly to Kevin Padrick so Obsidian Finance had little work to do.  Lyons spent countless hours working with exchangers to help finish their exchanges despite all the hurdles that the bankruptcy attorneys threw at him.  They both did everything and anything they could possibly do to help benefit the creditors.  They did this despite their roles being unfairly characterized by the trustee and the media.  That’s the kind of men they are.  That’s the kind of men they always will be, no matter what the trustee says, no matter what the paper says, no matter what people who like to gossip say.

Respectfully Yours,

Mark Neuman, Former Summit 1031 Principal