CA CA - John Beck, 73, Alameda, 9 Feb 2016 #1

[1&2&3]

Doing some math...transactions before Chapter 11 in Sept 2012...

660,000 property sold, money pocketed
300,000 property sold to daughter
Total $960,000

Less $40,000
10,000 paid on mortgage
30,000 paid to attorney

Total $920,000 minus unknown amount added to his 1.3 million pension

Where did this money go? I seriously doubt he added the whole amount to his pension. Can the government touch his pension?

http://alamedasun.com/news/john-beck-still-missing-his-case-unfolds

The way I read this $660,000 property sold was that $300,000 of this was a property sold to his daughter. It was not an additional $300,000 added to the $660,000.

 

[cujenn81]

Excellent post DS. I agree about the legal maneuvering/trench warfare being standard, although unethical IMO, procedure.

Beck's business partners were NOT on the up and up. I've just spent a couple of hours googling Doug Gravink and Gary Hewitt. It wasn't hard to dig up dirt. Whether that dirt was available on Google when Beck connected with them around 2005? is anybody's guess. But an educated attorney should never join forces and allow himself to be used by anyone without vetting them. I can't believe he's as misled as the people who bought his product. His family seems to think he was, and I can see why they feel that way. I agree with them that John was a pretty small fish in a large net, captured by two master fishermen. But he IS an attorney, after all, more savvy than average I would hope.

DG and GH have been doing business together since the early 1990's at least...LOTS AND LOTS of business, including telemarketing. Take a look at this corporation wiki for the two of them.
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Van-Nuys/family-products-llc/46338998.aspx

It shows the interconnection of all their companies. You can click on each one and it will show a different chart. Here is a screenshot of the chart for Family Products that also shows the companies the FTC went after along with Beck...Paul, Alexander, Family Products, Mentoring of America. It's a little hard to read, but Beck and Paul are at the top and you can find the rest.

Speaking of Mentoring of America, they got in trouble in Utah, but just got lightly slapped. There was the belief that their contributions to the Attorney General's campaign helped.

In fact, the company has been under three separate investigations that resulted in administrative citations and one enforcement action by the Utah Attorney General’s Office, between 2004 and 2007. Not for drugs, however, but for allegations the company fraudulently promised unrealistic guarantees to customers, sold them programs they couldn’t use and otherwise conducted deceptive trade practices. These investigations were brought by the Utah Division of Consumer Protection. The last time Mentoring of America was behind the 8-ball for alleged shady business practices, during winter 2007-08—five months before Beckstead took his life—MOA stood to potentially lose its license and have to eat $113,500 in fines and statutory penalties from the Division of Consumer Protection. In March 2008, however, the charges were dismissed, and MOA dodged a bullet and paid no fines.

MOA has managed to rack up quite a legal bill, having to defend itself against consumer complaints nearly every year since it opened its doors in 2002. Owned by Doug Gravink and Gary Hewitt, the company must be making some dough to pay those attorney bills. According to former employees, MOA, through the sale of programs teaching customers how to turn a profit from home tax-lien sales, made up to $1.2 million per week. And that’s only from MOA’s Utah County location and doesn’t include numbers for the company’s operations in Nevada and California.

And while this multimillion-dollar operation might not have been paying a lot in fines, the company was investing in political goodwill. In fact, on Jan. 16, 2008, almost a month after it received its most recent charges from the state, MOA contributed $20,000 to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff’s 2008 re-election campaign. Three months after the charges were dropped by the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, Shurtleff would bank another $10,000 from the company, according to MOA’s PAC report.

http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/called-into-question/Content?oid=2137457

Just to end on a lighter note, Hewitt applied for a patent for, among other things, a disposable kitty litter box! I guess they both learned how to cover their poop pretty well until 2008 when the FTC started digging it up.
http://patents.justia.com/patent/20040244708
http://patents.justia.com/inventor/gary-hewitt

I came across a page the other day that listed all of the businesses registered in Gravink's name. Many had similar sounding names and several had Hewitt listed as the Acting Agent. I'm really starting to think that this thing could be much larger than I ever imagined.

Monetary contributions made to a politician (attorney general), owning multiple businesses with similar sounding names, transferring money to an offshore bank account, investing in multiple businesses owned by others, a history of documented drug use within one of their businesses... I mean, could these guys be involved in a MONEY LAUNDERING scheme?

If they were, could John have been assisting the Feds by offering information that might help nail these guys? I know it's probably a long shot, but it's something that should be considered. Being ordered to pay a multimillion dollar judgment is one thing... but being charged with money laundering, conspiracy, and bank fraud is quite another.

 

[1&2&3]

Just thinking that if JB were a regular patient at a VA they may not be inclined to notify you (even if you ask) if he goes in for services. In any case while exploring the possibility of him showing up there I would want to talk to the patient advocates office..(they work the hardest), the hospital adm. office, intake services (for a new patient), and the ER all separately unless someone can assure you that one or the other offices has clear access to all possible records of him visiting there.
And check with them periodically because again, they may or may not notify you or he may get over-looked.

The folder he was seen carrying may hold personal documents that he anticipated needing such as a DD214 necessary to prove eligibility for VA Hospital services or Veterans Group Home.

With John having a wife and being an attorney, it would be my guess they have private insurance. Yes, John would be eligible for VA medical benefits, however, I think he would only use it in a dire situation.

The veterans I know, including my brother, choose the VA as a last resort only! The wait time is horrendous, services poor, and quality of the physician/specialist is questionable.

This is on the East coast, circumstances may be completely different in California.

My opinions only.

 

[Lilibet]

The way I read this $660,000 property sold was that $300,000 of this was a property sold to his daughter. It was not an additional $300,000 added to the $660,000.

I wondered that too and originally thought it was part of the $660,000 total property sold. It certainly could be. But the way it's worded made me decide that it was a separate transaction. And that could be MSM poor writing, or me misinterpreting. It seems ambiguous...perhaps because the reporter is quoting another reporter!

Before filing bankruptcy, Beck liquidated a number of vacant lots he owned, reaping $660,000. Beck owned 41 more vacant lots that are “worth little or nothing,” according to Matthews’ motion. Winegarner wrote that just before filing for Chapter 11, Beck “sold a property to his daughter for $300,000, paid $10,000 on his mortgage, paid $30,000 to his attorneys and added to his $1.3 million pension before filing for Chapter 11."

http://alamedasun.com/news/john-beck-still-missing-his-case-unfolds

 

[Lilibet]

Thanks Lilibet! Awesome research!
I read the full article http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/called-into-question/Content?oid=2137457
and I'm floored by it. Open drug use, telemarketers high while taking down customer info (ccs, etc.) Overdoses at work where police & EMTs rushed employees of Mentoring of America to local area hospitals. Crazy & sad.
Nothing positive or inspiring.

The large number of companies that Gravink & Hewitt had links to seem to me to be like feeders for the major telemarketing firms both Gravink & Hewitt operated. It kind of reminds me of Bernie Madoff who used other money managers with their own clients as feeders for his hedge fund.

BBM

Yes, Bernie Madoff has been on my mind too.

I came across a page the other day that listed all of the businesses registered in Gravink's name. Many had similar sounding names and several had Hewitt listed as the Acting Agent. I'm really starting to think that this thing could be much larger than I ever imagined.

Monetary contributions made to a politician (attorney general), owning multiple businesses with similar sounding names, transferring money to an offshore bank account, investing in multiple businesses owned by others, a history of documented drug use within one of their businesses... I mean, could these guys be involved in a MONEY LAUNDERING scheme?

If they were, could John have been assisting the Feds by offering information that might help nail these guys? I know it's probably a long shot, but it's something that should be considered. Being ordered to pay a multimillion dollar judgment is one thing... but being charged with money laundering, conspiracy, and bank fraud is quite another.

Would witness protection kick in if that were the case? Interesting thought.

 

[cujenn81]

BBM

Yes, Bernie Madoff has been on my mind too.



Would witness protection kick in if that were the case? Interesting thought.

I'm not entirely sure... but I think witness protection is mostly for those who testify against gang members, the mafia, or some other type of criminal organization.

But, IF the Feds suspect DG & GH are involved in money laundering/bank fraud, they may have pressed JB for information. If he knew something, DG & GH may have threatened to harm his family if he talked. Maybe he left to protect them?

That's a lot of maybes and highly unlikely, but ya never know... stranger things have happened.

 

[Lilibet]

I'm not entirely sure... but I think witness protection is mostly for those who testify against gang members, the mafia, or some other type of criminal organization.

But, IF the Feds suspect DG & GH are involved in money laundering/bank fraud, they may have pressed JB for information. If he knew something, DG & GH may have threatened to harm his family if he talked. Maybe he left to protect them?

That's a lot of maybes and highly unlikely, but ya never know... stranger things have happened.

Yes, leaving to protect his family seems more likely than witness protection. But then we come back to the photo of John at Lands End. That's a strange place to go if he was leaving, other than leaving life.

 

[Timekeeper65]

Yes, leaving to protect his family seems more likely than witness protection. But then we come back to the photo of John at Lands End. That's a strange place to go if he was leaving, other than leaving life.

Yes the pic. Even though it shows JB from behind, there is something about him walking alone, shoulders kinda drooped. I feel so much compassion for his family. Here it is 1 month later and nothing new for a while.

 

[krig101]

Yes, leaving to protect his family seems more likely than witness protection. But then we come back to the photo of John at Lands End. That's a strange place to go if he was leaving, other than leaving life.

Unless he was leaving the country and wanted to visit some places special to him one last time? I feel so awful for John's family. If he was planning on leaving this Earth he should have left a message somewhere rather than his family left not knowing. They deserve to know. This is what makes me think that he is alive somewhere. Hard to know what to think.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Tssiemer]

Does JB have ties to other countries?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AmandaSkis]

Does JB have ties to other countries?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One of his daughters is a US State Department diplomat in Cyprus.

http://kron4.com/2016/02/12/missing-alameda-man-last-seen-boarding-bart-train/

 

[Tssiemer]

One of his daughters is a US State Department diplomat in Cyprus.

http://kron4.com/2016/02/12/missing-alameda-man-last-seen-boarding-bart-train/

Interesting!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AmandaSkis]

Unless he was leaving the country and wanted to visit some places special to him one last time? I feel so awful for John's family. If he was planning on leaving this Earth he should have left a message somewhere rather than his family left not knowing. They deserve to know. This is what makes me think that he is alive somewhere. Hard to know what to think.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Or he visited these places quickly to be seen on purpose.

Riddle: What is a magician's biggest tool?

 

[nannymo]

I really feel he did not just leave. If you are planning on leaving, you might visit places and people you might want to see one more time. It you are leaving, you don't hang around. You catch a plane or train and you get out of Dodge so you aren't found. JMO

 

[nannymo]

It appears the findjohnbeck blog has been deleted!
http://findjohnbeck.blog.com/

 

[Lilibet]

It appears the findjohnbeck blog has been deleted!
http://findjohnbeck.blog.com/

According to the FB page all blog.com sites were down so they are going to set up a new one on another site in a few days. I got worried until they posted that when someone told them it was down.

https://www.facebook.com/findjohnbe...2750541891000/590845744414813/?type=3&theater

 

[Lilibet]

Or he visited these places quickly to be seen on purpose.

Riddle: What is a magician's biggest tool?

:seeya: *raising hand* Distraction! A magician makes you look elsewhere while he's doing the trick. Hmmmmm...I don't think we can count the Lands End Instagram photo, but the BART photo and the computer searches to Sutro Baths and Baker Beach, complete with street views could have been a distraction by John. By the time anyone was aware of these, he would have been long gone if that was his intent. I think he would have needed help though...someone to meet him in a car. And then he would have to stay out of sight. He's certainly done that, if he is somewhere alive.

 

[persimmon]

I can't find anything like that. Only what the family said. The two companies also bear his name. Even if he licensed it, he made money. He saw how it was used.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

It's out there...but not really within tos for me to link. Sorry. Yes, he made money but I don't know the details of the agreement. Giving the benefit of doubt because he had a clean slate until that situation.

 

[persimmon]

Hmmm...really a complex situation with so many variables and so much silence, almost suddenly. Would there be legal ramifications to "taking off" or was he free to disappear? If he voluntarily left, it would suggest he had managed to hide some cash. I suppose that would be illegal in light of the judgements against him.

I'm wondering if he has made contact? The silence seems to indicate a shift.

 

[Damarna]

It's out there...but not really within tos for me to link. Sorry. Yes, he made money but I don't know the details of the agreement. Giving the benefit of doubt because he had a clean slate until that situation.

I have to say right now for me the silence is deafening. FWIW the blog.com thing seems a bit odd. It says it was deleted by the user. I don't think that's the usual default if the entire system is down. But I'm no expert ant that's just my own speculation. I'm continuing to keep John in my prayers. No matter what he deserves peace, safety and to be with his family.

Hmmm...really a complex situation with so many variables and so much silence, almost suddenly. Would there be legal ramifications to "taking off" or was he free to disappear? If he voluntarily left, it would suggest he had managed to hide some cash. I suppose that would be illegal in light of the judgements against him.

I'm wondering if he has made contact? The silence seems to indicate a shift.