tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73333080799592273092024-03-05T06:46:08.248-08:00JamesMDwyerWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-52890899576152158622015-05-19T09:32:00.003-07:002020-12-22T07:17:38.843-08:00Jim Dwyer - Out and About <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Jim Dwyer - Out and About <br />
<br />
by Bill Kelly <br />
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As I was walking along the Ocean City boardwalk in my old neighborhood I ran into Jim Dwyer, the real estate developer who saved Ocean City’s iconic Flanders Hotel and whose many successful projects help fill the town’s tax coffers today. <br />
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Dwyer amazingly informs me that his legal appeal is still alive after over ten years and seven years and five months in prison following his conviction for bank fraud in November 2004. <br />
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Dwyer could have taken an 18 month plea and served as little as five to six months and been in and out in 2003, but has said from day one of his indictment that “I have never defrauded anyone in my life,” and that he could not plea to a crime he didn’t commit. Dwyer was in the real estate business for over 30 years and had a reputation for being “squeaky clean” in all of dealing his whole business life. <br />
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I attended Dwyer’s trail in the audience and listened intently, and was quite surprised to learn that none of the half-dozen bankers who testified against Dwyer ever met the man, except one, the loan predator who took advantage of the Flanders’s penthouse facilities gratis and arranged all of the other loans. <br />
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Dwyer said that even after being convicted and serving seven years and five months his legal appeal is still active, and said, “Thank God for our justice system. It’s still the best in the world. Due process is still alive.”<br />
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He said he has never lacked confidence in his faith and belief that things would work out in the long run. <br />
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One thing he mentioned is of his great desire to eventually personally thank all of the nearly 100 citizens who went to his trial to testify to his good character, how he helped them personally and for what he did for the community in general. The good character witnesses were only able to say that Dwyer was a good person. They were not allowed to speak to the jury of the many good deeds he performed for them personally and how he unselfishly helped some out financially without any expected return but their friendship. <br />
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I interviewed some of the good-character witnesses like Sister Ginger, who ran Hannah House a half-way house for women in the Philadelphia ghetto who wanted to tell the court how Dwyer paid and arranged for thousands of dollars in needed repairs to their building and did things no one else would have done. But she was not allowed by the court. <br />
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Dwyer is convinced that if the good-character witnesses were permitted to detail his good faith activities in support of them and the community, he never would have been convicted of bank fraud. It was only a few years later that predator bankers were the ones being convicted of fraud.<br />
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Being that prosecutors are not sworn under oath, they can say anything they want, even lies, but the good-character witnesses were unable to say the good things that Jim Dwyer did. <br />
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Dwyer’s lead attorney F. Emmet Fitzpatrick, Jr., the former Philadelphia D.A., and “one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the country” frequently dozed off as the trial proceeded, and was shortly thereafter diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His son, who lacked criminal defense experience, took over the defense without Dwyer’s official approval, failed to determine who forged Dwyer’s name on the legal document that was clearly not Dwyer’s signature, a probation report that could have been exculpatory evidence that proved Dwyer didn’t know his CFO had previously been convicted and served time for fraud, a prime example of the many ineffective counsel mistakes. . <br />
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It was Dwyer himself who found and turned over the different tax forms that his deceased Chief Financial Officer had filed without his knowledge, forms that were used to convict him. <br />
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When Dwyer got out of prison he visited Fitzpatrick in a Cape May nursing home and found him catatonic shortly before he passed away. “He didn’t know who I was,” said Dwyer, “I loved the guy. It wasn’t his fault I lost my case.” <br />
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Dwyer spent many years building a multi-million dollar international real estate firm and personal fortune, and for twenty years everything he touched turned to gold. All of his properties at the time of his “troubles” became very successful enterprises, all with his vision and plans. But he lost his fortune and family, and now says, “If you lose your money, you lose nothing; if you lose your health, you lose something; if you lose your faith you lose everything.” <br />
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He now says he’s starting over to “get back what he lost,” in order to provide for his family who were devastated by the ordeal. And he has kept his faith. <br />
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Dwyer said, “I can’t put my shoes on in the morning without my faith. It pushes me thru life like a motor. All things are passing. Patience obtains all things.” <br />
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As always, he says, "Keep smiling." <br />
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William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-82985597863182409722011-04-13T20:46:00.000-07:002011-04-13T21:05:25.098-07:00A Tale of Two SignaturesA TALE OF TWO SIGNATURES <br /><br />During the trail of James M. Dwyer, in Camden, NJ Federal Courthouse, Dwyer's signature was exhibited on the wall of the courtroom, blown up so everyone could see, and he acknowledged that it was his signature on both copies of the IRS forms submitted, which he couldn't explain and was used as evidence that led to his conviction, and sentencing to nine years in prison. <br /><br />But what was not shown on the wall, blown up for everyone to see, was the signature on the document that was presented to Dwyer while he was sworn in as a witness at his own trial, a document that when the chief prosecutor presented it to him and asked him if it was his signature, he said, no, and denied it was his signature or that he had ever seen that document before. <br /><br />Now here was evidence of someone having perpetuated a crime by forging the signature of the person under oath and being prosecuted for crimes that will result in his being sentenced to nine years in prison, based primarily on is signatures on IRS documents, yet there was no further interest in this document, this forged signature, this crime? <br /><br />It now seems that this document was a parole document related to the previous conviction of Michael McKeever, Dwyer's former Chief Financial Officer, who unknown to Dwyer, had previously been convicted and did time for financial irregularities and embezzlement when he was a senior financial officer at Revlon, a Fortune 500 company. <br /><br />But since McKeever had died of a heart attack while Dwyer was in the process of purchasing a Philadelphia skyscraper, and the financial problems with Dwyer's company only became apparent after McKeever's death, Dwyer was left holding the bag and had to be prosecuted because McKeever couldn't be. <br /><br />The prosecutors made the false contention that Dwyer used McKeever's death to hide his own crimes, but they had the evidence that Dwyer didn't know of McKeever's previous crimes in the false signature on the probation report that the prosecutor presented to Dwyer, and Dwyer acknowledged that it was not his signature. <br /><br />Why would Dwyer acknowledge that it was his signature on the two IRS documents used to prove he was guilty, while the government had in its possession a document that contained a false and forged signature, said to be that of defendant James M. Dwyer, and not even try to determine who signed the false signature? <br /><br />That's because they knew it was Michael McKeever's signing of Dwyer's name on his parole and probation papers, and provided clear evidence that Dwyer did not know that McKeever was a convict on parole for crimes that Dwyer was now himself being charged with. <br /><br />Because the prosecutors could no longer get McKeever, who was clearly the guilty party, but dead, and had to go after Dwyer, who was innocent, but still alive, led to the charade that they developed in court to convict an innocent man - James M. Dwyer. <br /><br />Who has now spent the last six years of his life in prison for crimes he did not commit.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-46998784117492976242009-12-11T00:49:00.000-08:002009-12-11T00:50:04.942-08:00The Flanders Ghost<div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx79KZXOGfZdrdI0dIbu6diyGaA_ZUwf_8EO29CP5Nj6IOyNBDWlRo4xjvIL4w1_L0LDzJsmsHLdMhb6s_yEVBa-96tTjZw2_2iSjVlgB2jQ2nvs9XSCBCPkzyZ_IHzszBE4w8oMy9w-Q/s1600-h/flande~1.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx79KZXOGfZdrdI0dIbu6diyGaA_ZUwf_8EO29CP5Nj6IOyNBDWlRo4xjvIL4w1_L0LDzJsmsHLdMhb6s_yEVBa-96tTjZw2_2iSjVlgB2jQ2nvs9XSCBCPkzyZ_IHzszBE4w8oMy9w-Q/s400/flande~1.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br /><br /><br />When Jim owned the Flanders he had the Plate Room remodeled and renamed the Board Room. <br /><br />Here's a photo of the Board Room with one of the Flander's Ghosts in the picture.<br /><br />While "Emily" is more famous, there's also a waiter in a bow tie seen in a mirror in a photo in the Board Room.<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-77986031451272954012009-12-03T18:01:00.000-08:002009-12-03T18:01:12.981-08:00Jim and friend at Flyers<div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFY_35SEECj63aNjPeHDILBaRI1LeF4IM2dydL5lFFBeDFmjHfNRTMyRt4L5yj2Avo8orFlaxpmMkKBwjCeNzbY_QrXVj_9XjNdQiDSz9JziX-9rhF0Erdo9GpcJq87ooDivIG4HlKqw/s1600-h/dwyerflyer.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFY_35SEECj63aNjPeHDILBaRI1LeF4IM2dydL5lFFBeDFmjHfNRTMyRt4L5yj2Avo8orFlaxpmMkKBwjCeNzbY_QrXVj_9XjNdQiDSz9JziX-9rhF0Erdo9GpcJq87ooDivIG4HlKqw/s400/dwyerflyer.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-30200119318208901382009-11-05T22:15:00.000-08:002009-11-05T22:19:08.034-08:00Preditory Loansharke Parke BankGolf Club Shuts Down <br /><br />http://www.nj.com/gloucester/index.ssf?/base/news-5/125662022652160.xml&coll=8<br /><br />Tuesday, October 27, 2009<br /><br />By Siobhan A. Counihan<br />scounihan@sjnewsco.com<br />The Gloucester County Times <br /><br />WOODBURY The Woodbury Country Club has been shuttered as it seeks to settle millions of dollars in debt through Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but it could be reopened next year by a group of members looking to purchase the property through a liquidation auction.<br />The historic golf club which had its liquor license suspended this summer, before celebrating its 112th anniversary experienced a brief reprieve from financial difficulties when it seemed like a prospective lender could provide a new opportunity for financing.<br /><br />"Nothing developed in that regard," said Ira Deiches, the attorney representing the club in federal bankruptcy court. "And the cash flow was simply not sufficient to keep even the current operation going forward. So the board exercised what I think was a reasonable management decision and decided to close the club."<br /><br />Deiches said that members had been invited to retrieve their clubs or other property from the Delaware Street clubhouse, "so there would not be difficulty for them when and if a trustee is selected to secure the building."<br /><br />"And we will be working with the bank to take the necessary steps to secure the premises and winterize the course and do what needs to be done," Deiches said.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Parke Bank, the primary creditor in the federal bankruptcy case, is not responsible for the club's closure, </span>Deiches said.<br /><br />"I think it's important to set something straight: The operation has been terminated," Deiches said.<span style="font-weight:bold;"> "There will be no more golf at the country club. The board voted to do that. That is n</span>ot the result of anything that Parke Bank did or did not do."<br /><br />Gerald O'Connor, a member and bond holder of the club, explained that the previous board of directors incurred a great deal of debt when they had the golf course's greens redone, relandscaped and rebuilt a number of years ago.<br /><br />"That was extremely expensive," O'Connor said. "That's what saddled the club with a couple million dollars in secure debt. The club had very little if any debt previous to that restructuring of the greens."<br /><br />He did not specify how much debt the country club is currently carrying.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The club's aging membership also lead to financial instability, as members dropped off and stopped paying dues.<br />"That was the major cause of the debt burden, which made the club untenable in this much slower economy," O'Connor said.<br /><br /><br />When the club's members voted in July to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, O'Connor said, they also authorized the board of directors to proceed with Chapter 7 bankruptcy if necessary.<br />They attempted to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy for several months, but club members were notified over the weekend that the club would be shuttered as they went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.<br />"We had an investor that seemed viable," O'Connor said, "but their funding did not come through in the way it needed to be. That's when the board decided this was not going to work. There was just too much unsecured debt to make this viable."<br />O'Connor, a financial advisor who's also worked as a banker, explained that Chapter 11 doesn't discharge debts but allows a company to reorganize itself. With Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the filer is liquidated.<br />"A judge is assigned to the bankruptcy, and that bankruptcy judge is the one who determines what can or cannot be done," O'Connor said.<br />Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the country club will likely be auctioned off to the highest bidder so that creditors can be paid back.<br />If that's the case, O'Connor said he foresees a group of members buying the property and reestablishing the country club sometime next year.<br />"There are a solid number of members who are in the financial position to do so and have the interest to do so," O'Connor said. "It's just a case of, unfortunately, until the court goes through their process, we have to sit on the sidelines and wait until we're in a legal position to come in and say, ÔHey, we'd be interested in buying the bank's debt and taking the country club back.'"<br />City Council President Barry Sloane said that would be the best solution possible.<br />"I think that anybody who lives around there or in the immediate neighborhood is going to want to maintain the country club," Sloane said. "I'm in the neighborhood, and I certainly value it as a centerpiece of this area of town. So it can be somehow maintained or resurrected, that would be really beneficial."<br />Sloane said it's "a shame that they've had to go this direction" and blame it on the stalled economy.<br />"I know it's been a part of the social fabric of Woodbury for years and years," Sloane said. "It's a shame to see a tradition like that go."William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-66071892533098132742009-07-26T07:24:00.000-07:002009-08-05T00:46:43.409-07:00John Forte - Fort Dix Prison BluesA rapper's rebirth<br /><br />I was having a beer one afternoon in Browns Mills, listening to some juke box tunes and talking with a guy who worked as a cook at the prison at Fort Dix. <br /><br />The cook said that Carly Simon and James Taylor were visiting a prisoner, a record producer he had never heard of but who must be important if celebrities were visiting him. <br /><br />When I got on the guest list to visit Jim Dwyer I asked Jim about Carly Simon and James Taylor dropping by, and he pointed out the guy they were vising, who was sitting across the visitor's room. <br /><br />Jim said his name, John Forte, and when I got home I looked him up on the internet and found he is really an interesting guy. Educated and talented, and got mixed up with some wrong dudes in the city. <br /><br />A few times, more than once, when I was visiting Jim, we'd sit next to John Forte and his visiting friend, and talk. <br /><br />Forte was lucky to have such powerful friends as Carly Simon, not only a recognized celebrity who people will listen to, but someone who did something to help Forte get out every day he was in prison. <br /><br />Jim had applied for a commutation of his sentence, something Forte did in 2006, two years earlier, and with tremendous backing on the outside, got a favorable review from the Pardon Attorney and a commutation of his sentence from President Bush shortly before he left office. <br /><br />Forte's commutation gave Jim hope that his petition would also be favorably reviewed, and many of Jim's friends wrote letters to the President and the Pardon Attorney asking that they give Jim some favorable consideration, but then Bush pardoned a guy, a bad real estate developer in New York who really shouldn't have been pardoned. With the press and public uproar over that pardon, which didn't go through the normal Pardon Attorney channels, it was quickly recinded, and only a few more were forthcoming. <br /><br />In one of our conversations at Fort Dix, I asked Forte what he could do about the unfair sentencing policies, guys like Jim who is really innocent, and other non-violent felons who should be considered for pardon or commutation of their sentences, and he said, "I can't do anything until I get out of here." <br /><br />Before he was freed, over the Christmas holidays 2008, Forte and his prison band put on a concert for the other prisoners in the visitor's room. <br /><br />Jim Dwyer sat down right in front center, and really enjoyed the show. <br /><br />And now John Forte is out, and performing live in public once again. <br /><br />He came to Philadelphia last week, did a few interviews and a show at WXPN's World Cafe Live, and played the X-Potential Fest in Camden, which is also sponsored by WXPN, a radio station Forte said he listened to frequently while at Fort Dix. <br /><br />Here's a story by Dan DeLuca and an interview John did when he was in Philly last week. <br /><br /><br />Out of prison, John Forté has Carly Simon, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, and former President Bush to thank.<br /><br />By Dan DeLuca<br />Inquirer Music Critic<br /><br />NEW YORK - John Forté, the rapper and singer-songwriter, was not just celebratingStyleFREE, his first new music in seven years, as he performed at a swank nightclub in Manhattan's Meatpacking District.<br /><br />Looking out through rimless glasses at a packed Bastille Day crowd in a basement boite, his words carried a bit more weight than the usual release-party patter.<br />"Nine years ago today, I was arrested, and this is a rebirth for me," said Forté, 34, after a set in which he was variously accompanied by guitarist Ben Taylor, rapper Talib Kweli, and guitarist-producer Joel "JK" Kipnis. "This is like an operating room right here, because I feel very much reborn."<br /><br />Forté's rebirth comes after serving more than half of a 14-year mandatory-minimum sentence for possession with intent to distribute about $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine. He was arrested July 14, 2000, by DEA agents at Newark Liberty International Airport.<br /><br />His reemergence - which continues with shows tomorrow at World Cafe Live and Friday at the XPoNential Music Festival in Camden - came through the efforts of two unlikely champions: singer Carly Simon, who is Taylor's mother, and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R., Utah).<br /><br />But if Hatch, who has called Forté "a genius," and Simon, who says that working for the reduction of the musician's sentence "became my calling," were the midwives at Forté's rebirth, the delivery-room doctor was even more improbable.<br /><br />In one of his final acts as president, George W. Bush on Nov. 24, 2008, commuted Forté's sentence. A little less than a month later, Forté walked out of the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix a free man.<br /><br />StyleFREE, a seven-song EP available on JohnForte.com, marks the return to recording for Forté, who made his name as a producer on the Fugees' mega-selling 1996 CD The Score. Forté, in an interview on the day of his celebration, said the new EP got its name from several things.<br /><br />"It's a play on words," he says, sitting for an interview at Pulse, the downtown Manhattan studio owned by Kipnis, where Forté created StyleFREE (Theory 7 ***) and I, John, his wide-ranging 2002 artistic breakthrough, recorded under house arrest.<br />"StyleFREE," he says, "refers back to the halcyon days [in the late 1980s] when teenagers from Brooklyn and the South Bronx and Harlem would converge in Greenwich Village and freestyle for hours."<br /><br />Raised in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn by his mother, Flo, who stood beaming behind him as he performed last week, Forté said he was "a little black boy who loved classical music." But along with his violin and Vivaldi'sFour Seasons, Forté - who won a scholarship to attend the elite Phillips Exeter Academy prep school in New Hampshire - loved hip-hop acts like the Ultramagnetic MCs. He was one of those kids in Washington Square Park.<br /><br />"I don't freestyle very much anymore," he says, sitting on a sofa in a sun-filled room, with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing playing soundlessly on a flat-screen TV. The dreadlocks he hasn't cut in 18 years are bundled atop his head, making him look like a pensive mullah.<br /><br />"But the style of the music is free." He breaks into a broad smile, and laughs. "And I, along with the music, am free."<br /><br />For a good part of his life, he wasn't. He spent seven years and eight months "away" - first in a federal prison in Texas, then in Loretto, in western Pennsylvania, and finally in Fort Dix. He was moved there in 2004, thanks to Hatch, not only a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee but also a songwriter. Simon, a Democratic fund-raiser, says she turned to Hatch in frustration after getting little assistance from the other side of the aisle.<br /><br />In a 2006 letter obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, Hatch did not deny that Forté was guilty of a crime, but argued that the artist should be freed in part because "he was no risk to society, because he was not a drug-user. And frankly, he's a genius." Hatch, who could not be reached for comment for this story, obtained privileges for Forté to have a guitar, which he taught himself to play in prison. Forté has called Hatch a "superhero of a mentor to me."<br /><br />In prison, Forté decided that when he got out, "my greatest promise to myself was to not take the present for granted. To not look too far ahead or too far behind, but to really appreciate and savor the moment. . . .<br /><br />"Twenty or 30 or 40 miraculous things happen to me in the course of a day. Just being able to get a sandwich, or see a child's face - these are the details I missed and I really yearned for."<br /><br />Today, Forté lives in Manhattan, writes a blog for Tina Brown's Web site, the Daily Beast, and is at work on a memoir for Simon & Schuster. And he leads songwriting workshops for children of inmates.<br /><br />With StyleFREE, he moves confidently between edgy paranoia ("Nervous") and open-hearted optimism ("Best That Love Could Be"), while displaying a melodic inventiveness and a slightly raspy soul voice. "He has a very unusual blend," says Kipnis, his production partner, "of being a lyricist with a depth that very few lyricists have, in addition to having an incredible melodic sense, and the production chops to really know how to put those components together."<br /><br />The EP's often-mellow sound will be a surprise to anyone who knows Forté primarily though his hip-hop-centric work with the Fugees, or his 1999 streetwise solo album, Poly Sci.<br /><br />While at Fort Dix, Forté devoured old-school media. Now, he's a Rip Van Winkle fully awake to the digital age - he's on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.<br /><br />But in prison, he was without an iPod, CD player, or computer, so he turned to publications like the New York Times and Foreign Policy, and listened to music on an AM/FM Walkman, usually tuning in to adult alternative station WXPN (88.5 FM).<br />"It inspired me," he says, "hearing new groups break on 'XPN, listening to people like Chan Marshall [who records as Cat Power], José González, and Regina Spektor and Sia, and just to be floored by what I considered a return to musicianship. It made me want to spend more time with my guitar."<br /><br />And Forté had plenty of time on his hands after the events of July 14, 2000.<br />Forté and his supporters have always insisted he was not what the government made him out to be. "John was not a dope dealer," Simon says.<br /><br />In a 2002 Rolling Stone jailhouse interview, Forté said he believed he was helping Jamaican drug-dealer Chris Thompson move large sums of cash, which turned out to be two suitcases filled with freezer packs of liquid cocaine. DEA agents, tipped by two drug couriers they captured in Texas, arrested Forté in Newark after he put the suitcases in the back of a taxi.<br /><br />A year earlier, Simon had taken Forté under her wing and put him up for six weeks at her Martha's Vineyard home. Her son, Ben, and Forté had become best buds after meeting in New York in the '90s. She considers him her "godson," and he calls her "Mama" and his "spiritual guru."<br /><br />"He was eager to make money," says Simon by phone from the Vineyard, "and acquiesced to people who were using him to be the fall guy."<br /><br />With the Fugees, Forté didn't get rich, but came into "more money than I'd ever seen," he says. After that run, he was dropped by Sony when Poly Sci underperformed.<br />"It was a combination of factors - not knowing where the next check was coming from, still desiring to have a career in the business," he says. In addition, "in the industry back in the day, the wrong people were always around."<br /><br />He doesn't claim to be innocent.<br /><br />"We committed crimes and were punished for our poor choices," he wrote for the Daily Beast in March, referring to himself and other inmates. Those working on his behalf argued more against what Simon calls "the underlying racism" of the federal sentencing laws that left the Texas judge no option but to sentence Forté to 14 years.<br /><br />With the help of Hatch and attorney Michael Nussbaum, Simon was able to see to it that Forté's portfolio wound up on Bush's desk.<br /><br />"I'm grateful," Forté says, when asked what he makes of being given his life back by President Bush - a president who, fellow rapper Kanye West famously contended, "doesn't like black people."<br /><br />"People ask me that all the time, like they're waiting for me to say something reckless and irresponsible," Forté says. He has no intention of doing so.<br />Forte says that in prison and out, he has never allowed himself to be consumed by anger at himself, or at anyone else.<br /><br />"There is an urge to get despondent," he says. "That's the human impulse. A lot of guys will say, 'I gave the feds five years,' or 'I gave the feds eight years.' I fought as hard as I could to not give anybody anything. . . .<br /><br />"Anger is counterproductive, and I'm all about productivity right now," says Forte, who has a full-length album, Water, Light, Sound, due early next year. "Not to say I'm denying the journey of emotion, the ups and downs. It's the vicissitudes of living. . . . I feel consumed with the alacrity to live."<br /><br />Now that he's free, he says, "I want to have the time of my life. I need to make a living, but I don't need to be the No. 1 man on any list. I want to be sincere about the craft and the art. It behooves me to love the music I release. Nothing I do will begin in a contrived place. I think the music is going to speak for itself."<br /><br />Forte’s Back On The Scene<br /> <br />Remember John Forte? Once a celebrated rapper/producer connected to the Fugees, Forte was arrested July 2000 for possession and intent to distribute about $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine. He was caught coming through Newark Liberty International Airport.<br /><br />With help in some of the unlikeliest of places (singer Carly Simon, Senator Orrin Hatch and former Prez George W. Bush), Forte didn’t have to serve his entire 14-year sentence.<br /><br />Now a man with a new lease on life and a new project to promote, StyleFREE, John sat down with the Philadelphia Inquirer over the weekend to talk freedom, CDs and life changes. Below are a few snippets…<br /><br />On freedom<br /><br />My greatest promise to myself was to not take the present for granted. To not look too far ahead or too far behind, but to really appreciate and savor the moment… Twenty or 30 or 40 miraculous things happen to me in the course of a day. Just being able to get a sandwich, or see a child’s face - these are the details I missed and I really yearned for.<br /><br />On success<br /><br />I want to have the time of my life. I need to make a living, but I don’t need to be the No. 1 man on any list. I want to be sincere about the craft and the art. It behooves me to love the music I release. Nothing I do will begin in a contrived place. I think the music is going to speak for itself.<br /><br />On anger<br /><br />There is an urge to get despondent. That’s the human impulse. A lot of guys will say, ‘I gave the feds five years,’ or ‘I gave the feds eight years.’ I fought as hard as I could to not give anybody anything… Anger is counterproductive, and I’m all about productivity right now. Not to say I’m denying the journey of emotion, the ups and downs. It’s the vicissitudes of living… I feel consumed with the alacrity to live.<br /><br />On StyleFREE<br /><br />StyleFREE refers back to the halcyon days [in the late 1980s] when teenagers from Brooklyn and the South Bronx and Harlem would converge in Greenwich Village and freestyle for hours… “I don’t freestyle very much anymore… But the style of the music is free. And I, along with the music, am free.<br />CartelsMusic<br /><br />Billboard: Did you listen to music while in prison?<br /><br />Forte: I ended up listening to (Philadelphia’s triple A station) WXPN in the south New Jersey area where I was for at least the last four years of my sentence. I got turned on to so much: Jose Gonzalez, Regina Spektor, Sia, Rachael Yamagata, Cat Power. I actually used those guys as barometers to my songwriting. The beauty of Cat Power is the divine imperfection in her voice. I don’t listen to her expecting any perfect notes and pitches, but I believe her, and that’s what motivates me.<br /><br />http://www.phrequency.com/blog/INTRVW_John_Forte.html<br /><br />MONDAY, JULY 20, 2009<br />INTRVW: John Forte<br /> <br />John Forte has seen his fair shares of ups and downs throughout his career. A musical prodigy and skilled violinist, Forte earned a full scholarship to New Hampshire's Phillips Exeter Academy before working with The Fugees on their Grammy-winning debut, The Score. He worked with Wyclef Jean onThe Carnival before going on to release his own debut, 1998's critically acclaimed Poly Sci. <br /><br />Then, in 2000, Forte was arrested in Newark International Airport with a suitcase containing $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine and was subsequently sentenced to the mandatory minimum after being convicted on drug trafficking charges. On November 24th, 2008, the musician received a commutation from President George W. Bush, and was released December 22nd of that year after having served over seven years in federal custody.<br /><br />Since his return, Forte has hit the studio hard, and in the past several months crafted a brilliant new EP titledStyleFREE. The singer has also had his writing featured on The Daily Beast and has been working with at risk youth through the In Arms Reach program in his native New York. With two shows coming up in the Philadelphia area, we spoke to Forte about his introduction to music, what he does to make his live show stand apart from studio recordings, and cleared up a few misconceptions regarding his release from custody along the way.<br /><br />P: First off, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to do this interview. What was it that pulled you into music?<br /><br />JF: I think that my introduction was when I was eight and I was introduced to violin, so I came into music pretty unconventionally. I mean, of course as a fan growing up in an area where radio was king, but I didn't have a personal involvement until I began playing in the school orchestra in the second grade.<br /><br />P: You later went on to work with The Fugees recording their debut album, The Score. How did that relationship come about?<br /><br />JF: It's a very small network of friends in the industry in New York and back in 1995 I was friends with their product manager who was a guy that worked over at Columbia named Jeff Borrows. Jeff Burrows invited me to see the then burgeoning group called The Fugees, two guys and a girl, and invited me to the supper club to come out and see them. It was love at first listen. I met Lauryn that night and we, shortly thereafter became friends. It was through Lauryn's encouragement that I came to the studio during the recording of The Score and played some tracks that I thought the guys might be interested in recording. As fate would have it, I also suggested certain rhymes and certain subjects over those beats, and that's what led to my artist inclusion onto that album, not only as a producer and a writer but also as a performer.<br /><br />P: To touch briefly on the incarceration issue-<br /><br />JF: (laughs) I like that, the incarceration issue. It sounds like a paper.<br /><br />P: I'm sorry, I don't mean to make the issue less personal but I know it can be a touchy subject for some people.<br /><br />JF: Well, number one I do respect that, but number two I also don't feel that I have the luxury to turn my back on where I spent the last seven years. I'm not embarrassed nor ashamed of it; I went through it and I was fortunate enough to come out of it, so it's something that I address and I feel needs to be addressed, especially given the state of the prison industrial complex.<br /><br />P: Ok, well to get right into things, as far as the pardon you received, a lot of hip hop fans were surprised by it. Were you aware that it was going to happen?<br /><br />JF: I have to just say, it's been wildly misreported that it is a pardon; it's a commutation and there is a difference. I still have the conviction on my record, it's just that I served my time by definition. My sentence was commuted but I was not pardoned. I can still, in fact, apply for a pardon, which is something that I would like to do, but I've not done that as of yet. In terms of it being a process, I filed for the commutation in 2006. So it was by some standards a relatively lengthy process. I knew that the process kicked off, although there was never any guarantee as to what the state of the process was.<br /><br />P: I see. Well, like you said, it has clearly been misreported. From a fan's perspective, because nobody knew the details, everybody was like "George Bush did what?"<br /><br />JF: You know, I actually went on a blog the other day, and I do that frequently just to check what's being said about me, and somebody had said that the only reasons why I was "pardoned" was because I was obviously an informant. I would have the world know that it's a very public thing, you just have to look for it. You can read anything about my case and you can read anything about my history. There's no sort of secret cabal determining my fate. We pushed hard for it and I had lots of support and we had to base it on the merits. It was a long, hard fight and it definitely wasn't as easy as some paint it to.<br /><br />P: Wow, well, thank you for clearing that up. There is definitely a ton of misinformation on the matter.<br /><br />JF: A ton of misinformation, but it is what it is. This is the information age and all of the information that's floating around out there can't be accurate.<br /><br />P: Where you able to listen to music while you were incarcerated?<br /><br />JF: I was. The facilities that I did time in had CD libraries. Those weren't all together extensive, but I had access to some new music. I got the bulk of my music from the local radio stations; the college radio stations and the public radio stations. I spent most of my time at Fort Dix, which is Southern New Jersey and they have a radio station called WXPN, and I listened to a lot of new music and it inspired me to morph the direction I currently find myself in. Life being as circular as it is, I actually have a show at the World Café Live in Philly this Monday, which is in the same building as XPN and I'll be at the XPN Music Festival this Friday so things are coming full circle.<br /><br />P: Getting back your music, the StyleFREE EP, just came out last Tuesday.<br /><br />JF: Yes it did, but it was released exclusively on johnforte.com last Tuesday. We have it coming to iTunes, and I think the official release date is the 28th, but in the mean time what I wanted to do was to give the fans the opportunity to go to johnforte.com and to get it in advance. The street date is iTunes on the 28th, and we have physical CDs coming out shortly thereafter.<br /><br />P: Speaking of iTunes and physical formats, what's your take on that? How do you prefer to get your music now?<br /><br />JF: I get my music through iTunes now. I would love to wax nostalgic and to hang out in CD stores and to listen, but people recommend things to me, I go online and hear 30 second snippets of it, and if I like it, I buy it. There is an obvious convenience to this digital age. I think that in place of CD stores or the record stores of old, we now have communities where we can have our CD stores and record stores wherever we go. Case in point, I went out to a restaurant the other day with an artist I'm working with, Bridget Kelly who is signed to Roc Nation, and we had sort of an iPod swapping session. Although we were there and talking, we were able to exchange what we were listening to while we were sitting there, like "ok, you listen to my iPod and check this song out, and I'll listen to what you want me to listen to" and if we liked it, we could go home and get it or some of us who have the technology could download it right then and there, but now we have these mobile communities of exchanging songs. It's pretty exciting.<br /><br />P: When were the songs from your EP written?<br /><br />JF: The vast majority of everything that's on the EP was written while I was away, and the inspiration just came from having the time to be introspective. Having the time to consider what I valued and what my priorities were and are, and wanting to remain true to them. The truest way for me to communicate has always been through song. There was no exception to that while I was away; it was probably truer than every, in fact.<br /><br />P: As far as the update to your direction goes, songs like “Play My Cards For Me” and “There We Are” for instance, are incredible but also incredibly different from some of your previous work. How would you explain the progression from the artist you were on Poly Sci to where you are now?<br /><br />JF: I think that, while I have firm roots in hip hop and "rap" if you will, it was with the encouragement of my dear friend, mentor and spiritual godmother Carly Simon I was able to find another voice during a particularly challenging time in my life and that's what ultimately led to me believing in that alternative more, which was finding my singing voice. From Poly Sci we had I, John, which was that first foray into music for the sake of music, rather than categorization. I didn't want to walk into the studio and say I, John Forte am a rapper or I am a singer or I'm a guitarist or a pianist or a violinist. I'm all of those things and I'm not ashamed of any of it, so I go where the inspiration goes. If it leads me to sing, or to have some sort of rock influence or country or gospel or hip hop, then I go with it because it feels right rather than doing it for any other reason.<br /><br />P: Although you aren't just a hip hop artist, considering your roots in hip hop, if you had to think of yourself in terms of that particular genre where would you fit in?<br /><br />JF: I think I'm playing my position as a lyricist and I think I identify with hip hop primarily because of the great lyricists that have come before me, and I'd like to think that in that tradition of not just putting words together because they rhyme, but because there's a greater significance and there's an attempt at transcending the moment in order to leave something out of prosperity's sake or for the sake of producing good art, that there is some substance to that. So, hip hop to me, in it's purest form is a lyrical substance combined with rhythm. So I'm doing that part; I'm playing my part. I think it's a very, very exciting time, especially with the technological advancements that we have, that artists are able to reach their fans in ways they never have before and fans are conversely able to communicate directly with the artists, so the chasm that used to exist between the artist and his or her fans has decreased, and I think that as a direct result thereof, the abundance of music will produce some really inspiring songs for the times. I'm just hoping that something that I put out will have a lasting impact.<br /><br />P: The reaction that I've heard to the EP, even only having been in the public's hands for a couple of days, has been phenomenal. Aside from praise for the single, "Play My Cards For Me", the thing that I keep hearing is that that it's short and people want more music. When can fans expect a full length album?<br /><br />JF: Well, I'm working on the full length now. I've been home for about seven months and we recorded about 60 songs, and that is six zero (laughs) There is a lot of material. The full length is going to come out in the first quarter of next year, so any time between January, February and March of 2010 expect to hear the full length which is right now called Water, Light, Sound. People ought to be aware that none of the songs from the EP are going to be on Water, Light, Sound and this is a seven song EP. Normally EPs are five songs, so if people want to get down with this, if they want to hold on to this, I highly recommend they get on the train right here, right now, because it's not stopping. When Water, Light, Sound comes out next year, it's going to be 12 songs of something brand new. I'm excited that people want more and I'm excited to give them more.<br /><br />P: 60 songs? Man, you must always be recording.<br /><br />JF: I am always recording; I am not stopping. This is a labor of love and I do not complain. I realize how blessed I am to make a living off of doing what I love, and I don't take that for granted. It was an important lesson that I had to learn and I'm fortunate enough to embrace that as a truth.<br /><br />P: With two local shows coming up, fans in Philly will get a chance to hear your music for the first time in a while. What can those who have not seen your live performance expect to see at a John Forte show?<br /><br />JF: They can expect to see me playing the guitar, they can expect to see me singing, they can expect to see me rapping, they can expect some intra-song banter, because I don't like to just go through the material, I like for it to be an experience, but what they will also experience, if in fact they have the CD to compare the live show with, is the live show is purposefully designed to be stripped down, so it's not going to sound as produced as the recoded material because I want people to be able to connect to the lyrics on a rather simple level. I want that connection to be as uninterrupted as possible, if you will. I think I'm most effectively able to do that by stripping down the music. So it's raw.<br /><br />P: Before we close this interview, is there anything you would like to leave the fans with?<br /><br />JF: Well, I would like to just thank the fans for being so supportive, so kind and so compassionate since my return to music, and just as a reminder to them, I want them to remember many of the young brothers and sisters who might not be visible to them on a daily basis, the young brothers and sisters doing time. I think it's important for us to remember.<br /><br />John Forte will be playing tonight (July 20th) at University City's World Café Live, located at 3025 Walnut St. Show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $15.<br /> <br />You can also catch Forte at WXPN's Xponential Music Festival 09' this Friday (July 24th). For more information and to order tickets, visit the festival's website.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-18747861683402025352009-07-26T06:48:00.000-07:002009-07-26T07:24:09.870-07:00Jury Question?JURY QUESTION? <br /><br />When the New Jersey State Police officer was found not guilty in the death of two teenage girls who died in a crash when he ran a stop sign in pursuit of a speeder, the jury made their decision after reviewing the testimony of the officer. <br /><br />They had asked the judge if they could review the testimony of the trooper when he described the moments leading up to the accident, but the judge made them review the trooper's entire testimony, which they did before exonerating him. <br /><br />This reminded me of the moment during Jim Dwyer's trial, when the jury was beginning their deliberations, and asked the judge if they could review the testimony of when Dwyer met Veto Pantelone, the lead banker who made most of the defaulted loans. <br /><br />Dwyer met Pantelone at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game, and the next day visited Dwyer at his office on the boardwalk in Ocean City. <br /><br />Dwyer was already a very successful real estate developer, owning the boardwalk office building motel, the historic Flanders hotel, which he developed into condos, Watsons and the Homestead hotels in Ocean City, the White Sands hotel in Bermuda and he was looking to buy another hotel in Bermuda, two skyscrapers in Philadelphia and the Prudential building in Linwood. <br /><br />Dwyer didn't seek Pantelone out to borrow money, the bankers came to Dwyer, offering to lend him some. Pantelone had just started a new bank, Park Bank, and the loans he made to Dwyer would be some of his first loans. <br /><br />Dwyer didn't even need Pantelone, but his chief financial officer, Mike McKeever, convinced him to keep and operate the Flander's banquet facilities and front desk, rather than sell them for others to operate. It would be a good cash flow and he would employee over a hundred people, with a top flight chef, a food and beverage manager and hotel manager at the Flanders. <br /><br />Also in on the deal, Frank Mahr was Dwyer's main mortgage man. Mahr had introduced Dwyer to Mike McKeever, who they had met at an AA meeting. Dwyer had been good friends with McKeever's brother Billy, and they would do hundreds of deals togther. <br /><br />During Dwyer's trial, the prosecution tried to present Dwyer, McKeever and Mahr as an "Irish Mafia" who ganged up on Pantelone, the rookie banker, but after McKeever died of a heart attack, and Mahr died of cancer, it was down to Jim Dwyer and Vito Pantelone as who would take the rap, and it wasn't going to be Pantelone. This was a year or two before bankers like Pantelone started getting a bad reputation, and it was Dwyer who was portrayed as the bank robber with a pen instead of a gun. <br /><br />After he died Dwyer learned that McKeever's father was a big banker in Philadelphia who was friends and business partners with Angelo Bruno, the former head of the Philadelphia mafia. While Dwyer knew Mike McKeever had once been CFO of a Fortune 500 company (Revlon), he didn't know he had done time for embezzelment. <br /><br />During his trial Dwyer the prosecutor showed Dwyer a document with his name written on it numerous time, but he said it wasn't his handwriting. <br /><br />Dwyer believes this document was a probation officer's report on McKeever, that would prove that he was not only unaware of McKeever's prior criminal past, but that the government most certainly knew about it and didn't tell him. <br /><br />When Frank Mahr died, the executor of the estate of the guy who introduced Dwyer to McKeever was none other than Vito Pantelone, the banker. <br /><br />So it wasn't the "Irish Mafia" who ganged up on Pantelone, it was McKeever, Mahr and Pantelone who ganged up on Dwyer, robbing him of his $200 million real estate empire, his family, and his life as a free man. <br /><br />In any case, when the jury adjured to consider Dwyer's fate, and determine if he intended to defraud Pantelone when he took out the loans, they asked the judge if they could review the testimony about the circumstances of how Dwyer met Pantelone, and the judge refused. <br /><br />Instead of allowing the jury to review the testimony, he instructed them to base their judgement on what they remembered of the testimony that was given weeks earlier. <br /><br />I believe that just as the jury decided in favor of the NJ State policeman after they reviewed his testimony, that Jim Dwyer would have been found innocent if the jury that decided his fate was permitted to review the details of how Dwyer met Pantelone. <br /><br />It isn't a crime to default on a loan. It was a only a crime if Dwyer took out the loan with the intention of defrauding Pantelone, which he never did. <br /><br />Why would a successful man who had built up $200 million in real estate assets intentionally commit a crime that would strip away his property, destroy his family and put him away in jail? <br /><br />Jim Dwyer was targeted by McKeever as a Mark, and with the assistance of Mahr and Pantelone, Dwyer was victimized, and then made out to be the bad guy. <br /><br />And if the jury had been given the opportunity to know what really happened, Jim Dwyer would never have gone to jail.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-14936414169431698362009-06-25T03:28:00.000-07:002009-06-25T03:33:45.188-07:00Pardon Me?Ex-VP Dick Cheney outraged President Bush didn't grant 'Scooter' Libby full pardon <br /><br />http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/02/16/2009-02-16_exvp_dick_cheney_outraged_president_bush.html<br /><br />WASHINGTON - In the waning days of the Bush administration, Vice President Dick Cheney launched a last-ditch campaign to persuade his boss to pardon Lewis (Scooter) Libby - and was furious when President George W. Bush wouldn't budge.<br /><br />Sources close to Cheney told the Daily News the former vice president repeatedly pressed Bush to pardon Libby, arguing his ex-chief of staff and longtime alter ego deserved a full exoneration - even though Bush had already kept Libby out of jail by commuting his 30-month prison sentence.<br /><br />"He tried to make it happen right up until the very end," one Cheney associate said.<br />In multiple conversations, both in person and over the telephone, Cheney tried to get Bush to change his mind. Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the federal probe of who leaked covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the press.<br /><br />Several sources confirmed Cheney refused to take no for an answer. "He went to the mat and came back and back and back at Bush," a Cheney defender said. "He was still trying the day before Obama was sworn in."<br /><br />After repeatedly telling Cheney his mind was made up, Bush became so exasperated with Cheney's persistence he told aides he didn't want to discuss the matter any further.<br />The unsuccessful full-court press left Cheney bitter. "He's furious with Bush," a Cheney source told The News. "He's really angry about it and decided he's going to say what he believes."<br /><br />He did just that the day after becoming a private citizen. In an interview with The Weekly Standard, Cheney heaped praise on Libby and denounced his conviction. "He was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, and I strongly believe that he deserved a presidential pardon," Cheney said. "Obviously, I disagree with President Bush's decision."<br /><br />The vehemence of Cheney's last-minute onslaught has struck some Bush loyalists as excessive. "At some point you have to accept the decision of the guy who appointed you," one of them said after learning the details. "I think Cheney was over the top."<br />A Cheney ally disagreed. "He had every right to push it as hard as he wanted," he argued. "Cheney places great store in loyalty and thinks Scooter got a raw deal."<br />In July 2007, at Cheney's urging, Bush commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence. But he also said, "I respect the jury's verdict" and noted that his decision "leaves in place a harsh punishment" for the man often described as "Cheney's Cheney." Libby was fined $250,000, and as a convicted felon, he has been disbarred from practicing law and cannot vote.<br /><br />Rob Saliterman, a spokesman for the former President, said Bush would have no comment. A Cheney spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.<br /><br />The latest Libby flap has injected fresh strains in a relationship that had become more businesslike than warm in recent years.<br /><br />Ten days before leaving office, Bush hailed Cheney as "a fabulous vice president."<br />About the same time, however, an official who has worked closely with both men mused that the relationship "isn't what it was" when Bush tapped Cheney as his running mate in 2000.<br /><br />"It's been a long, long time since I've heard the President say, 'Run that by the vice president's office.' You used to hear that all the time."<br /><br />http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/02/62953863/1<br /><br />The Daily News (of New York) -- Cheney pushed Bush to pardon Libby: "In the waning days of the Bush administration, Vice President Dick Cheney launched a last-ditch campaign to persuade his boss to pardon Lewis (Scooter) Libby - and was furious when President George W. Bush wouldn't budge. Sources close to Cheney told the Daily News the former vice president repeatedly pressed Bush to pardon Libby, arguing his ex-chief of staff and longtime alter ego deserved a full exoneration - even though Bush had already kept Libby out of jail by commuting his 30-month prison sentence. ... Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the federal probe of who leaked covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the press."<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/books/02kaku.html<br /><br />http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/i_lewis_libby_jr/index.html?inline=nyt-per<br /><br />"Renegade" was based on the author's day-to-day coverage of the 21 month camaign and a series of interviews with Mr. Obama, who, shortly after a speech about race in Philadelphia, suggested to Mr. Wolffe that he write a White-type book....Mr. Wolffe tells us that since becoming president Mr. Obama has shifted his reading "from nonfiction narratives to dry academic studies" on specific subjects, like the world finanial system or historical analysis of Afghanistan. <br /><br />He tells us that President George W. Bush told Mr. Obama, during an Inaguration Day limousine ride, that his final days in office were plagued by friends lobbying him for pardons, and that despite Vice President Dick Chaney's pressing for a full pardon for his former chief of staff I. Lewis Libby Jr., Mr. Bush felt, as Mr. Wolffe puts it, that "he had done more than enough for someone convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice after leaking the name of a CIA official." <br /><br />http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2009/01/bush-used-pardon-power-sparingly/<br /><br />Praise is due former President George W. Bush for commuting the prison sentences of the two former U.S. Border Patrol agents who had shot a Mexican drug smuggler in 2005. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean (in photo) should not have tried to cover up their actions, but many Americans have defended the agents for having just done their jobs in the shooting.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Bush also deserves credit for resisting the temptation to pre-emptively pardon former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or any other members of his administration relating to torture or other anti-terrorism measures. Nor did he pardon convicted Republican felons such as Ted Stevens or Randy “Duke” Cunningham. In the end, Bush granted 189 pardons and 11 commutations, fewer than half those of Presidents Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan.<br /><br />http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/28/nation/na-pardons28<br /><br />By Josh Meyer <br />January 28, 2009<br /><br />Reporting from Washington — President George W. Bush, on his last full day in office, formally struck down the petitions for clemency of some high-profile politicians and businessmen, including former lawmakers Randall "Duke" Cunningham, Edwin Edwards and Mario Biaggi and "junk bond" financier Michael Milken, the Justice Department said today.<br /><br />The chief of the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, Ronald Rodgers, confirmed the pardon rejections through a spokeswoman, in response to queries from The Times Washington Bureau.<br /><br />The Justice Department said Bush also denied petitions for clemency for two men who became highly polarizing symbols of their eras. One of them was John Walker Lindh, the young American serving 20 years in prison for aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan at a time when it was fighting U.S. military forces just after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.<br /><br />Bush also denied one of the longest-standing petitions for clemency, for Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the murder of two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His application had been under consideration since 1993, current and former Justice Department officials said.<br /><br />Such denials can be a serious setback for those intent on clemency. After a denial a petitioner must wait two years to reapply for a pardon and one year for a commutation of a prison sentence, although they can also circumvent the Justice Department and appeal directly to the White House whenever they want. In some cases, a presidential denial can be a setback in other ways as well, and make it harder politically for the next administration to approve it, according to several current and former administration officials involved in the pardon process.<br /><br />Bush, who has not spoken publicly about denying the pardons, did not make formal rulings on some other well-known figures, leaving their petitions alive. That long list includes former Illinois Gov. George Ryan; then-Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. Navy man convicted of spying for Israel; media mogul Conrad Black; and telecommunications executives Bernard Ebbers and John Rigas.<br /><br />Bush also denied clemency last Dec. 23 for Justin Volpe, the New York City police officer convicted of sodomizing Haiti immigrant Abner Louima with a broomstick, Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said today.<br /><br />WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush took the very rare step Wednesday of revoking a pardon he had granted only a day before, after learning in news reports of political contributions to Republicans by the man's father and other information.<br /><br />Bush pardoned 19 people on Tuesday, including Isaac Robert Toussie of Brooklyn, N.Y., who had been convicted of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and of mail fraud. On Wednesday, the White House issued an extraordinary statement saying the president was reversing his decision in Toussie's case.<br /><br />White House press secretary Dana Perino said the new decision was "based on information that has subsequently come to light," including on the extent and nature of Toussie's prior criminal offenses. She also said that neither the White House counsel's office nor the president had been aware of a political contribution by Toussie's father that "might create an appearance of impropriety."William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-83168432204761642052009-06-24T22:18:00.000-07:002009-06-24T22:32:23.108-07:00Sister Ginger to Pardon AttorneyRonald L Rogers, Pardon Attorney<br />Department of Justice Suite 11000 <br />1425 New York Ave.NW <br /> January 2009 <br /> Washington, DC 20530<br /> <br /> <br /> Dear Mr. Rogers,<br /><br /> I am writing in behalf of James Dwyer (Case #2008-12-0594) (Prison # 40678050) who has been in the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix or about 40 months and am asking that you pardon Jim from the rest of his time there.<br /> <br /> I have known Jim for over twenty-three years .I find the sentence he received to be extraordinary.<br /><br /> Is there any recourse for him? He is not a danger to himself or others. His generosity to so many of us carried little or no response from neither the jury nor the judge.<br /><br /> Someone who lived most of his young adult life and into his older years in the same business,he lived to help others as well as his family. <br /><br /> You probably saw in his portfolio the work in which he assisted several of us Sisters of St. Joseph as we renovated an old rectory in North Philadelphia. <br /><br /> As a board member, his experience and his genuinely fine character, along with a simplicity and humility that God had been so generous to him, he earned the respect of many, many of our people. <br /><br /> We remain today helping women back into society who have been part of the criminal justice system, so much of this is due to Jim Dwyer’s generosity and commitment. <br /> <br /> I believe there was a grave injustice in the sentencing of this man. What can we do to help him?<br /> <br /> I beg that you do all in your power to pardon Jim and to work toward a commutation of his sentence. <br /> <br /> Thank you for all you do in behalf of a weary world, so full of vengeance and violence.<br /><br /> Have a blessed year and may you be safe. <br /> <br /> <br /> Gratefully,<br /> <br /> (Sr)Virginia Jenkins, ssjWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-87607103195693505742009-06-24T22:16:00.000-07:002009-06-24T22:18:15.640-07:00President George W. BushPresident George W. Bush<br /><br />c/o Ronald L. Rogers, Pardon Attorney<br /><br />Dept. of Justice<br /><br />1425 New York Ave. NW<br /><br />Suite 11000<br /><br />Washington D.C. 20530 <br />Re: James M. Dwyer Case #2008-12-0594 <br /><br />Dear President Bush, <br /><br />My pleas to you today is on behalf of my friend, Jim Dwyer. I have know this good and honorable man for fifty years and truly believe that he would never do anything dishonest or unethical. His only crime was to put too much faith in the wrong people. <br /><br />Please find it in your heart to grant a full pardon or commutation of his sentence. This good man has suffered enough, not for his sins, but for the sins of others. <br /><br />My sincere best wishes to you, Barbara and your family as you leave office. <br /><br />Respectfully, <br />Signature <br />James T. Nutly Jr.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-65229769318499661762009-06-24T22:15:00.000-07:002009-06-24T22:16:13.477-07:00Dear Mr. PresidentGeorge W. Bush, President<br />United States of America <br />c/o Ronald L. Rogers, Pardon Attorney<br />Department of Justice<br />1425 New York Ave. N.W.<br />Suite 11000<br />Washington D.C. 20530<br /> <br />Re: James M. Dwyer Case No. 2008-12-0594<br /> <br />Dear Mr. President:<br /> <br />I write in support of the application of James M. Dwyer for commutation of his sentence or a pardon. In considering pardon applications, I hope you will have in mind the Hippocratic Oath sworn by physicians – “First, do no harm.”: I believe you will never be sorry if you decide to return Jim Dwyer to society. He served the county of Cape May in New Jersey, in particular, Ocean City well. He was active in community and religious circles. His generosity and social involvement received widespread publicity and were cited as mitigating considerations at his trial. I believe that if you return Jim to society – and to his family and friends – he will give back to the community. He has much to offer.<br /> <br />The principle reason you should pardon Jim Dwyer is compassion. This is the season and the time. I do not know a more devout Christian than Jim. I believe God will forgive Jim. I hope you will, too. But my reason for writing is to emphasize my opinion that your pardon for Jim will do no harm. I might even make you proud.<br /> <br />Sincerely,<br />Signature<br />Lewis S. Black, JrWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-23386636102865379502009-06-24T21:56:00.000-07:002009-06-24T22:05:12.840-07:00Dear Mr. PresidentGeorge W. Bush <br />President of the United States <br />C/O Ronald L. Rogers, Pardon Attorney <br />Department of Justice <br />1425 New York Avenue N.W. <br />Suite 11000 Washington, D.C. 20530 <br />Fax: (202) 616-6069 <br /><br />Re: Case #2008-12-0594 <br />James M. Dwyer Federal Prison # 40678050 <br /><br />William E. Kelly, Jr.<br />20 Columbine Ave.<br />Browns Mills, N.J. 08015 <br /><br />December 2008 <br /><br />Dear Mr. President, <br /><br />I have known James M. Dwyer for many years, and despite his current circumstances, I know him to be an honest, forthright and religious man who never intended to defraud or harm anyone. <br /><br />Having been associated with him in the past in business, community projects and church, I wholeheartedly support his legal appeals and petitions and would have no qualms about renewing our associations, engaging in business or working on projects together again. <br /><br />Besides honestly building up his business through hard work over the course of decades, he also served on hospital boards, was appointed to the South Jersey Transportation Authority by Governor Christie Whitman, and supported numerous church related projects and activities. <br /><br />Jim could have acknowledged wrongdoing, pleaded guilty and received a two or three year sentence that would have been served by now, but he believed the system would exonerate him and his reputation. It still can. <br /><br />I also entrust my faith in his ability to remunerate those to whom he is in debt, especially his family, friends and business associates, but his ability to make remunerations is dependent upon being free to work in society once again. <br /><br />All I ask is that James M. Dwyer’s petition for a pardon and commutation of his sentence be given serious consideration. <br /><br />Thank you, <br /><br />William KellyWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-46829766032127886442009-06-24T21:54:00.000-07:002009-06-24T21:55:56.348-07:00Hon. George W. BushHon. George W. Bush, President 500 Bay Ave. Ocean City, N.J.<br />United States of America December 26, 2008<br />c/o Ronald L. Rogers, Pardon Attorney <br />Department of Justice<br />1425 New York Ave. N.W. <br />Suite 11000 <br />Washington D.C. 20530 <br /><br />Re: James M. Dwyer – Case #2008-12-0594 <br /><br />Dear President Bush: <br /><br />I am writing this letter to request that you commute the prison sentence of James Michael Dwyer who is presently incarcerated at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution. <br /><br />I write as a friend and past public official in Ocean City, N.J. During the time I served as Mayor of Ocean City (1992-2006) Mr. Dwyer saved several historic buildings in our city and restored them to viable properties. He received a prestigious award from the Press of Atlantic City for his many charitable and civic contributions, and he was respected in our community for his good works. <br /><br />Jim Dwyer is a staunch Republican who once had breakfast with your father at a fund raiser. He supported many other Republican candidates in Ocean City, Cape May County, in the State of New Jersey, and in Congressional and Presidential campaigns. <br /><br />Jim Dwyer was convicted in a court of law, so I am not asking for a pardon. However, he was never accused of violence or causing personal harm to anyone. His sentence was extremely severe, and many people who are guilty of violent crimes have been treated less harshly. He is in his fourth year at Fort Dix, and his imprisonment has wrought havoc on his family. <br /><br />James M. Dwyer is a devout Christian, a good family man, a life-long Republican and a fine friend. I hope you can find it in your heart to commute his sentence and send him home to his family. Thank you for your consideration. <br /><br />Sincerely, <br />Signature <br />Henry S. NWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-53701977831544659332009-06-24T21:51:00.000-07:002009-06-25T03:28:20.063-07:00Dear Mr. PresidentPresident George W. Bush <br />c/o Ronald L. Rogers, Pardon Attorney <br />Dept. of Justice<br />1425 New York Ave. NW <br />Suite 11000 <br />Washington D.C. 20530 <br /><br />Re: James M. Dwyer Case #2008-12-0594 <br /><br />Dear President Bush, <br /><br />My pleas to you today is on behalf of my friend, Jim Dwyer. I have know this good and honorable man for fifty years and truly believe that he would never do anything dishonest or unethical. His only crime was to put too much faith in the wrong people. <br /><br />Please find it in your heart to grant a full pardon or commutation of his sentence. This good man has suffered enough, not for his sins, but for the sins of others. <br /><br />My sincere best wishes to you, Barbara and your family as you leave office. <br /><br />Respectfully, <br />Signature <br />James T. Nutly Jr.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-35675183622401841092009-06-24T21:48:00.000-07:002009-06-24T21:51:27.549-07:00Dear PresidentJanuary 13, 2009 <br /><br />George W. Bush, President of the United States <br />c/o Ronald L. Rogers, Pardon Attorney <br />Department of Justice<br />1425 New York Avenue, N.W. <br />Suite 11000 Washington, D.C. 20530 <br /><br />RE: James M. Dwyer Case # 2008-12-0594 <br /><br />Dear President Bush: <br /><br />Thank you for having given up eight years of your life to help all Americans and our country. Thank you for the actions you took and the attitude you showed the international community that dissuaded terrorist to dare attack American soil again. <br /><br />I am writing to ask for a very special favor. I have never, in 63 years, asked anybody for anything. During my college years from 1963 through 1967, I voluntarily joined the Army ROTC program at the height of the Vietnam War, because I felt it was ther igth thing to do for my country. <br /><br />During my two years of active duty, I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and ended up playing baseball for the Army for my first year, at a time when the Division was sent en masse to Vietnam. I volunteered to join them in Vietnam for my second year of service to my country. I knew in my heart this was the right thing to do. <br /><br />I am writing to you to ask for a pardon for James M. Dwyer for the same reason, in my heart he has been falsely imprisoned for the last 42 months, and for the first time in my life I am asking my country for a favor, please pardon Jimmy Dwyer and allow him to pick up the pieces of a broken life that always gravitated around family. Family is the most important thing in his life and they need him back home. <br /><br />Jim may be the kindest, most giving man I have ever known. He was my business mentor, and his most important business were determined after consultation with the Lord through prayer. He taught me in my professional life, not to let the rigors of the “deal”, ever take precedence over family and my faith. <br /><br />President Bush, I implore you to grant Mr. Dwyer the freedom that I fought for in the A Shau Valley, at Hamburger Hill, and throughout my twelve month tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam. <br /><br />Respectfully and thankfully, <br />Signature <br />Paul J. CallahanWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-12169631341830727762009-06-24T16:08:00.000-07:002009-06-24T16:10:33.061-07:00ChristieChristie <br /><br />http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gm5etrFKUvz03H6yqMzYwYPUkxvQD9918AD00<br /><br />By ANGELA DELLI SANTI<br /><br />TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The Republican candidate for governor in New Jersey will tell a congressional subcommittee about white-collar crime settlements he approved as a federal prosecutor, including a deal potentially worth $52 million to his one-time boss, former U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft.<br /><br />Chris Christie is to testify before the House panel in Washington on Thursday, one of seven witnesses being called in an ongoing investigation into deferred prosecution agreements.<br /><br />The deals allow companies accused of crimes to avoid trials by agreeing pay fines, change their practices and submit to federal oversight. Monitors are paid millions to oversee the deals.<br /><br />The number of agreements ballooned during George W. Bush's presidency, but fell back last year following increased scrutiny about whether the deferrals provide a break to corporate wrongdoers.<br /><br />Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee in May, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defended the use of deferrals in cases where taking a company to trial would unduly punish shareholders or employees. He said the deals are struck within Justice Department guidelines, and that he would investigate concerns over monitor selection and compensation.<br /><br />As New Jersey's top federal prosecutor, Christie approved seven such deals, but put deferred prosecutions on the national radar with the one involving Ashcroft.<br />Ashcroft's consulting firm stood to make $28 million to $52 million or more for 18 months of work monitoring a hip and knee replacement manufacturer accused of giving kickbacks to doctors. The contract, paid by the accused, Zimmer Holdings Inc., allowed Ashcroft's firm to bill monthly fees and expenses of $1.5 million to $2.9 million or more, including a base of $750,000, according to documents provided to congressional investigators.<br /><br />During a contentious Congressional hearing last year, Ashcroft denied there was anything improper about the deal. Christie also has denied any conflicts.<br />The day before the hearing, the Justice Department announced revised guidelines that require monitors to be chosen by a committee and approved by a senior official in Washington rather than by a U.S. attorney in the field.<br /><br />Another Christie deal led to additional reform.<br />The department announced last year that out-of-court settlement defendants could not be required to donate to a random charity, school or hospital. The guideline was in response to a requirement from Christie's office that Bristol-Myers Squibb endow a chair in business ethics at Seton Hall Law School, Christie's alma mater, as part of a 2006 agreement to avoid prosecution.<br /><br />Democrats have criticized deferred prosecutions for being secret and lacking accountability. Reps. Frank Pallone and Bill Pascrell of New Jersey and Steve Cohen of Tennessee introduced legislation in April that would require federal judges to approve monitoring contracts and disclose terms of the deals.<br /><br />The issue has spilled into the New Jersey governor's race, where Christie leads Gov. Jon S. Corzine in early polls. Democrats have tried to use the agreements to tarnish Christie's reputation as a corruption-buster.<br /><br /><br />http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/new_jersey/20090624_ap_christiesdeferredprosecutionsinnj.html<br /><br />New Jersey GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie approved seven deferred prosecution agreements while U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. Here is a synopsis of the deals, which critics have questioned and Christie will testify about Thursday in Washington:<br /><br />, John Ashcroft. Christie's former U.S. Justice Department boss made $28 million to $52 million or more in 18 months for monitoring Zimmer Holdings, one of five medical device manufacturers accused of giving kickbacks to surgeons for using their replacement hips and knees.<br />, David Kelley. A former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Kelley investigated a stock fraud case involving Christie's younger brother, Todd, but declined to prosecute him. Kelley was later picked to monitor Biomet Orthopedics Inc., another of the medical device makers.<br />, Bristol-Myers Squibb. A $300 million fraud settlement Christie negotiated with the New York company included a provision that Bristol-Myers endow a professorship at Seton Hall Law School, his alma mater. The U.S. Justice Department subsequently issued guidelines barring such requirements as part of out-of-court corporate crime settlements.<br />, David Samson. The former Republican attorney general and party fundraiser was a monitor of medical device maker Smith & Nephew Inc. His firm is now on Christie's payroll for legal work: the candidate's pre-election finance report last month listed expenditures of $9,439.40 in legal fees/rent and $18,439.40 still owed to Wolff & Samson of West Orange.<br />, Herbert Stern. Christie mentor got $10 million contract to monitor University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, accused of double-billing for services covered by Medicare. Christie close friend and fundraiser John Inglesino, a partner in Stern's law firm, was paid $325 per hour for his work as counsel on the monitorship. Stern, Inglesino, another partner and their wives later gave $23,800 in donations to Christie's campaign for governor. The donations were matched, 2-1, under New Jersey's campaign finance laws, bringing the total amount to $71,400.<br />, Debra Wong Yang. Like Kelley, Yang, a former U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, is a former Christie colleague. The Republican-connected prosecutor and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner, who had ties to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was chosen to monitor Deputy Orthopaedics Inc.<br />, John Carley. A former Cendant Corp. vice president and Federal Trade Commission lawyer under President Reagan, Carley was on Sen. John McCain's 2008 New York fundraising team. He oversaw a nonprosecution agreement involving Stryker Orthopedics.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-77478008870573820892008-12-01T11:03:00.000-08:002008-12-24T15:21:32.353-08:00Why Jim Dwyer is InnocentJames M. Dwyer (JMD) is innocent of the bank fraud for which he was convicted because he never intended to defraud anyone when he took out those loans, and intent is required for him to be guilty. <br /><br />Jim Dwyer is innocent because, over the course of four decades in the real estate business, he took out hundreds of mortgage loans and never defaulted on any of them. He was honestly successful, as anyone who has known him for any length of time will acknowldge. <br /><br />Why would he suddenly, after amassing $250 million in real estate assets, including four hotels in Ocean City, one in Bermuda and two skyscrapers in Philadelphia, why would he suddenly jeopardize his business, his family and his life? <br /><br />That's because he didn't. <br /><br />Prosecutors offered Jim a plea bargain to admit guilt and avoid trial and get a short, two or three year sentence, which he would have served by now. But he knew he was innocent and believed and put trust in the criminal justice system to exonerate him. <br /><br />Now we know what happened, and the prosecutors knew what happened, as it was quite clear that Jim Dwyer himself was the victim of his Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mike McKeever, who died of a heart attack during the course of the purchase of the Packer Building in Philadelphia. <br /><br />When Dwyer's outside accountant came in, they discovered that McKeever had utilized two sets of tax returns made up for Dwyer and his company, and they immediately reported this to authorities. Why would Jim Dwyer turn over the primary evidence that would be used against him if he was truely guilty? <br /><br />JMD swears he did not know of the two sets of tax returns even though his signature and the signature of his wife appear on both documents. While JMD doesn't know when or how he signed these papers, he did sign many documents in the course of many (hundreds if not thousands) of property settlements over the course of the years that McKeever worked for him. <br /><br />Jim met McKeever through Frank Mahr, at an AA meeting, and brought him into the company, first to do his tax returns, and then as CFO, a position McKeever also held previously at a Fortune 500 company (Revlon), though unknown to Mahr and Dwyer, McKeever had been previously convicted of embezzlement and had served time in prison for fraud. <br /><br />McKeever's family was from the same North Philly neigborhood as the Dwyers, and Jim was close to Mike McKeever's brother, but was unaware of McKeever's conviction and jail time. McKeever's father was a banker and college professor who was also an acquaintence of former Philly mob boss Angelo Bruno. Bruno's mob family was known to have been involved in bank fraud and similar mortgage scams. (See: Tom Cocco case) <br /><br />Although Dwyer could have gotten the mortgages offered to him with either set of tax returns, the two documents were the key to the "crime" in the minds of the jury and JMD's best friend, who thought the two tax returns were enough to prove guilt. It isn't. <br /><br />Jim Dwyer didn't even need those loans, as he didn't want to operate the hotels and banquet services and wanted to sell them, and had buyers lined up (Gillians for the banquet center), but McKeever convinced JMD to keep them, operate them himself, and create a cash flow that was easy to skim. He also used these properties to obtain the loans from Vito Pantelone and Parke Bank. <br /><br />Jim Dwyer never met any of the bankers who testified against him his trial, execpt Vito, who he met at a 76er basketball game. The very next day Vito was in McKeever's office talking about lending them money from his new bank, which were the very first loans ever made by Parke bank. <br /><br />Early during the course of the jury delibarations, they sent a question out to the judge, asking about these early meetings between Dwyer and Pantelone, requesting the transcripts of some testimony, which meant the jury was beginning to question these deals. Although not as prevelant at the time, today they would understand the preditor lending these banks undertake, the fees they make and how the borrow becomes the victim. But the judge refused their request and told them to rely on their memories of the testimony. <br /><br />How could Jim be convicted if he was innocent? Well, his defense attorneys, although well versed and competent, were also embroiled in some personal problems, with the lead attorney being sick for most of the trial. As it later came out, his wife was also bilking him for hundreds of thousands in dollars for a gambling habit, money that came from Dwyer's attorney fees. <br /><br />Besides the loans that Jim took out for his company that went into default, he was also convicted of bankruptcy fraud, which was a manufactured charge later added, that used an invitory of furniture Jim sold to his son as proof of fraud, when it proved nothing. The invitory was just an invitory, and the price was the price Jim sold it to his son for, the amoung the son received as an insurance for a ski accident. Michael Hoffman, who drew up the invitory, his girlfriend who typed it up, and the women who notorized it, were all due to be charged with other crimes when they agreed to testify against JMD in exchange for not being charged with the other crimes, unrelated to Dwyer's case. The prosecutors couldn't get an honest conviction, so they had to utilize every means at their disposal to get three people to perjur themselves to convict Dwyer. <br /><br />In his summary, the chief prosecutor said that "Jim Dwyer is not a good guy gone bad, but a bad guy discovered," but the only other example of JMD supplying bad information for a loan was for a home mortgate many years earlier, a loan that was paid off. So if Jim Dwyer was a bad guy discovered, where are the other crimes he committed over the course of his forty years in the real estate business? <br /><br />That's because there aren't any other crimes. <br /><br />And James M. Dwyer never intended to defraud anyone when he took out the loans from Parke bank, and therefore he is innocent. <br /><br />As Jim's lawyer said early on in the trial, "It's not a crime to default on a loan or go bankrupt," as if that was the case, the jails would be full today. <br /><br />When Jim Dwyer was convicted of bank fraud, he not only claimed he was innocent, but he said the system was set up wrong, and that the bankers had defrauded him, as he lost everything - his $250 million hotel and real estate empire, his friends and his family. <br /><br />Now we understand how this could have happened, and the true facts must be brought out, either in a court of appeals, or at a new trial or other legal procedure. <br /><br />In any case, James M. Dwyer is innocent and should not be in jail today. <br /><br />William Kelly <br />billkelly3@yahoo.comWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-19170239644847918302008-09-23T20:38:00.000-07:002008-12-17T18:45:33.796-08:00Honorable Jerome B. SimandleJAMES MICHAEL DWYER <br /><br />June 11, 2005 <br /><br />Honorable Jerome B. Simandle <br />Michael H. Cohen U.S. Courthouse <br />One John F. Gerry Plaza <br />4 & Cooper Streets <br />Camden, NJ 08101-0888 <br /><br />Dear Judge Simandle: <br /><br />I implore you to please read every word of this correspondence to you. Every single solitary word and fact is absolutely and unequivocally true. <br /><br />Yesterday an innocent man was sentenced to jail and his family devastated. <br /><br />Often I have said to myself, “that this must be a dream, when am I going to wake up from this nightmare?” Why would I, at this stage in my life, do something that contradicts the good value system that I have established since my childhood? I have never knowingly taken advantage of anyone in my life, nor have I ever defrauded anyone. <br /><br />It has been suggested by the government that I should repent, take responsibility and that it would be helpful to me. I am self-reproachful because I did not “watch the store” closer. I am humbled, regretful, contrite and mad as hell at myself for not knowing that I was being taken advantage of. I am a sadder and wiser man, but I can never say that ever defrauded anyone in my life. Everyone that knows me knows that I could not do these deceitful acts. I am certainly not unregretful or remorseless. I will spend the rest of my life trying to right any wrongs that were done during my watch. <br /><br /><strong>I do not lie and cheat. I also do not make up excuses. The following is the truthful and blunt explanation of why I find myself in this terrible predicament: My company hired an individual with a criminal background, unbeknownst to me or anybody in the company, who eventually progressed to be our CFO and COO. He previously held the same responsibilities and titles while employed with a very reputable company (Revlon Industries) with fifteen hundred employees. When employed with our company, without anyone’s knowledge, he created a sophisticated yet simple embezzlement and bank fraud scheme. His dishonest nature, coupled with accepted “look the other way,” undiscerning and sometime tutelage of unethical business practices, of a minority yet too large a segment of the lending industry, enabled him to accomplish his corrupt goals. Evidently, the knowledge of this propensity of some lenders was taken advantage of by our CFO.<br /><br />My predicament started when seventy-five percent of the company loans, of which I was indicted for, were all channeled through Parke Bank, while they functioned not only as a direct lender but also a loan broker.<br /><br />Parke Bank's first loans were my company's loans. Together with my CFO, the bank's president did all of the underwriting and packageing for our loans. </strong><br /><br />(Our CFO made up two sets of tax returns for a number of years. We had people knocking our doors down to lend us money at the time. At the beginning of this time we just completed a very successful project, the Flanders Condominium Hotel in Ocean City, New Jersey. The only reason I believe there were two sets of tax returns was so that our CFO could skim money.) Our CFO accomplished his fraudulent goals because I believe the bank's president, Vito Pantilione, was willfully blind and criminally negligent in his lack of due diligence procedures. All he had to do was to call our outside accountant, whom he was well aware of, and our CFO would have been in jail the next day. It has been said to me by other lending and real estate professionals that without the fees generated from our loans, the bank could not have survived (I read an article in the Philadelphia Business Journal that de novo banks like Parke Bank usually loose money in the first couple of years, in this article I see where Vito Pantilione was bragging that in the year 2000 Parke Bank of Swell, NJ enjoyed a healthy $440,000 profit. They would not have gotten that money without churning loans through my company.) <br /><br />I am not proud to say that I was an easy mark when it came to billing, accounting and banking matters. These matters were delegated and you could term me a hands-off in this area. We had hundreds of employees, I was hands-on when it came to sales and marketing, development, building product detailing, merchandising and rallying the troops by keeping everybody happy and in good spirits. I fully trusted everyone who worked for me until they betrayed that trust. I had unequivocal and complete faith in our CFO. His criminal undertakings were discovered after his death in November 2000. I became the unknowing dupe, the target of a bank fraud investigaiton and now convicted and sentenced. That's the basic premise of my predicament, in a nutshell. <br /><br />I had no direct contact with any of the nine lenders for the loans I was indicted for regarding the supplying of any financial information. I never met any of the lenders prior to the loans running into trouble, except Vito Pantilone and Eric Cummings. My CFO supplied all the financial information to the banks. I categorically deny ever scheming to defraud any bank. <br /><br />I have also been convicted of bankruptcy fraud. I categorically deny same. After trying hard to save my company, I reluctantly filed bankruptcy on December 6, 2001. In April of 2001, I had sold my furniture to my son for $95,000.00 He had just received a settlement from a skiing accident he had. We sold him our furniture, which we had the perfect right to do. This had absolutly nothing to do with my bankruptcy. I never contemplated bankruptcy at this time. I decided to file bankruptcy on December 5, the day before I filed because creditors were seizing money out of our bank accounts. With the money from the sale of the furniture, we paid bills. Once again this had nothing to do with bankruptcy. We were advised by different law firms that we could sell our furniture to our kids for a proper value. I discussed this information in a bankruptcy deposition. The basis for bankruptcy fraud would be if somebody understated the value of one's personality or one's asset in order for someone to take advantage of same. The furniture was sold for $95,000; it was actually overpriced, not under priced, which Michael Hoffman and others stated at the time. <br /><br />One can buy an awful lot of used furniture for $95,000. For example, there was at least twenty times more furniture in the banquet center and that furniture was sold for $47,000. HOw in the world I could have ever been accused of bankruptcy fraud is beyond me. And how in the world I could have ever been convicted of same is unbelievable. The jury was totally confused. <br /><br />I am accused of stating in the bankruptcy deposition of saying that I did not give the $95,000 price. I certainly gave the $95,000 sale price to Michael Hoffman. That is the price the furniture was sold for. It did not come out of the sky. There was a list made up and the $95,000 sale price was spread over different room locations and the price was subdivided for each room by Michael Hoffman. I did not come up with these individual prices, Michael Hoffman came up with the subdivided room prices. That is the basis for the bankruptcy fraud allegation, that I did not give the $95,000 figure. The furniture was sold for $95,000; it was a matter of fact, well before the deposition. If someone reads all my statements in my deposition concerning the furniture, one could never conclude that I had not given the $95,000 figure. <br /><br />If the sale price would have been $150,000 or $20,000 Michael Hoffman would have divided that price by the number of rooms as he did with the $95,000 figure. What motive or intention would I have to say that I did not give Michael Hoffman the $95,000 sale price? The only way that I could be guilty of bankruptcy fraud is if the furniture that I sold to my son was not worth $95,000, but more. That is what the government is claiming, that it is worth between $500,000 to $600,000, not $95,000. This is totally ludicrus. The government stated in a report that, "investigation has revealed that James Dwyer's personal property was valued at $500,000 to $600,000, not $95,000. By selling his personal property to his son, James Dwyer attempted to conceal his assets, so the bankruptcy Trustee could not liquidate them and pay off creditors." This is the crux of the bankruptcy fraud issue. <br /><br />How was it revealed that our personal property was valued at $500,000 to $600,000? I'll tell you how it was revealed. Michael Hoffman, who has a great hate for me, who has a motive to not be sued by the bankruptcy Trustee, fabricated this value. Micahel Hoffman worked for us as a decorator. He is not an appraiser, he is not a designer, but the government decided to take his word that hte furniture was worth $500,000 to $600,000. A professional appraiser has just now concluded an appraisal of the furniture that remained of the inventory of the furnture stil ocated in our former home at 8 Camlough Road, formally 331 Dennisville Road. <br /><br />As you know, the furniture inventory consisted of seventeen pages. The home furnishing were on the first six pages which had a total sale price of $66,900 out of the $95,000 sale price. the remaining eleven pages consisted of office furniture, a little bit of which was in my office at home and at various locations, at the Flanders, our penthouse furniture, some furniture loaned to the Banquet Center, and business offices throughout the Flanders. The sale price of the furniture on the last eleven pages was priced at $28,100. All of the office furniture that was located in our house, was at the Flanders when the receiver for the banquet center liquidated same. Also, when Parke Bank forclosed on our Flanders Penthouse the furniture remained with the penthouse. All of this furnture was owned by my son Brendan Dwyer, because of the sale. <br /><br />Very importantly, Mr. Ted Harski of T.B. Harski and Associates, the most respected and reputable furniture appraiser, who is used by all bankruptcy attorneys and trustees, just appraised the furniture that remained in our house which was sold to Brendan for $66,900 was valud by his firm at $43,740 based on an Orderly Liquidation Sale Value. this contradicts the FBI investigation done on December 2, 2003 stating that "investigation revealed that James Dwyer's property was valued at $500,000 - $600,000, not $95,000." Where did they get their value information? They got it from Michael Hoffman, a former furniture salesman who worked at Whale's Furniture, a decorator is the best qualification you could give him. He now claimed that he is a designer, which is absolutly incorrect. We used him as a decorator of our properties and new real estate properties.<br /><br />Mr. Harski's appraisal is the first and only appraisal and/or valuation of the disputed furniture. The only way that I could be guilty of bankruptcy fraud is if I sold the furniture to someone for less than its true value. The Trustee's attorney, Mr. Wysotski, stated same during the trial. It is absolutly ludricious that the FBI bought the lie that the furniture was worth between $500,000 - $600,000.<br /><br /><br />Michael Hoffman is a psychotic individual and a liar. He hates me with an unnatural psychotic passion. He worked for me and many of his superiors wanted to fire him during his tenure at my company because of aberrant conduct. I actually thought he was being picked on and I stupidly protected him, not knowing the whole situation. I found out after the fact of his aberrant nature, for example, writing a poison pen letter to another employee’s (food and beverage director) wife. I also found out he was stealing some art treasures from the Flanders. Many people can testify to same. He was using his personal credit card to buy items for our different projects. Initially I was not aware of same. He was informed by his superiors that if he continued to put things on his credit card the card would be cut up. A couple days after I declared bankruptcy, he came into my office in a rage and told me he was owed money on his credit card, which I had become aware of somewhat prior to this time. Prior to deciding to file bankruptcy, I felt bad about same, so I made arrangements to pay his credit card off (unaware of the fact that he was told not to put anything on his credit card) and made a $20,000 payment to him and a number of $4,000 weekly payments to him. Because of our financial problems, he was let go right before I filed bankruptcy. When he came into my office in a rage I told him his recourse was through the bankruptcy Trustee. As stated above, I became aware of his misuse of his credit card and aberrant conduct, etc. After filing bankruptcy the Trustee’s accountant came to visit me and my acting CEO at the time, Frank Gallo. He asked up about the $20,000 and $4,000 payments to Michael Hoffman, and we informed him about Mr. Hoffman. He told Mr. Gallo and me at the time that, “he is going to be sued.” <br /><br />Eventually Michael Hoffman made a deal with the bankruptcy’s Trustee’s attorney to come up with a story that I had Hoffman back date the date on the furniture list. Actually, this furniture inventory existed, at the very least, in May of 2000. Mr. Hoffman and his girlfriend at the time, Kerry Hartenstein, update the part of the inventory which was sold to my son with the break down of costs. Ms. Hartenstein, when she was at the trial, and when she was interviewed by the FBI, she stated to them that she did the inventory for Hoffman before she left my employ. Ms. Hartenstein, left my employ in March of 2001. She changed her testimony at the trial and said that she did the inventory in September/October of 2001 in order to accommodate this terrible miscarriage of justice. Ms. Hartenstein is a heroin user. She has five children that she is not allowed to see. She tested positive for heroin the last time she went to family court. She and her second husband were accused of embezzlement when they worked at a rooming house in Ocean City, New Jersey for which her husband went to jail. Her first husband, Mr. Mazzio, the father of her five children offered many times to come into court to talk about her nefarious background. When Ms. Hartenstein came into the court she lied every time she opened her mouth. Mr. Hoffman came into court and lied ever time he opened up his mouth. For example, he stated that he inventoried all the furniture in-place in September/October of 2001. This is physically impossible because the furniture on the list that was located at Fourteenth Street had been moved from the Fourteenth Street to our Flanders offices in June of 2001. (Your Honor, I saw Hoffman do a double take and lie right on the stand when he was questioned about this mater. He created a bald face lie and it came very easy to him). Once again, Mr. Hoffman has a psychotic hatred for me. If you interviewed any ten people that Mr. Hoffman worked with, they will all tell you about his very strange aberrant nature and his present hate for me. By the way, this hatred for me came after I had let him go. As an employer I was very kind to him, I also provided him with housing at our different properties, which was given freely and not part of his remuneration package. I am told that he has been going around from local bar to local bar and telling people that he put me in jail. I am also aware of the fact that he was thrown out of a bar by the proprietor because of his bad conduct. <br /><br />In discussing the bankruptcy charge, it is important that I speak about Deborah Constant. Constant was never a personal friend of mine, as she stated in court. Her son went to grade school with my son. The first time I met her was when she became employed at Ocean Abstract. She handled some of our real estate closings. At this time I learned about our children going to the same school. Mrs. Constant has proven to be a pathological liar. I lent her money many times upon her request and she always said she would pay me back, but never once did. On these occasions, I forgave same because I understood she was in a tough financial situation at the time. Eventually, she bought a furniture business from the Owner of Ocean Abstract. On a number of occasions, I lent her money for her payroll at the furniture store. Each time she would give me a check for the same amount I lent saying I could cash it in a week. Every single solitary check bounced. I just considered it a women’s having a tough time because she was the main financial support of her family. When she owned the furniture store she would take checks on deposit for furniture. She also had in her store a mutual friend, Roy Zehner, who had a separate furniture concession within the confines of the store with his wife. Constant called me on the phone and told me she just got out of the County jail. She wanted me to talk to Mr. Zehner to act as a go between. Of course I wanted to find out why she was in jail. She told me she took the checks for deposit for furniture and spent the money without giving the individuals the furniture. She also told me that she took Roy Zehner’s credit card and charged money on it with his okay. After talking to Roy I found out that he was the main impetus of having her incarcerated, along with the other individuals who were scammed. I found out from Mr. Zahner that she put much more money on his credit card than she stated and he was extremely upset with her. I basically acted as a final intermediary based on the assumption that if this person goes to jail that Mr. Zahner and the others would not get their money back. Anyway, still feeling sorry for this person I was very helpful in bringing this situation to a close and getting the people their money back and eventually, I believe, Constant getting her record expunged. Prior to this time, in April of 2001 Mrs. Constant notarized the sale of the furniture between my son and me. It was just an ordinary notarization, nothing unusual about it. <br /><br />The usual people we would use to notarize documents in our company did not have their license. I was told by my attorney that the sale of the furniture had to be notarized, just like the sale of a vehicle, store inventory, etc. After I helped straighten out the problem for Mrs. Constant, she called me in a panic. Your Honor, I stated to you in the trial that she was both “terrified and terrorized.” She told me that she was contacted about the notarization of the furniture sale. I told her to just tell the truth, she did absolutely nothing wrong. She said to me at the time that she was told by the government that things could be made very unpleasant for her concerning her embezzlement problem in the county. I told her to just tell the truth and that there was nothing to worry about. The last thing she said to me was that she contacted the attorney that represented her with the embezzlement problem and he told her that the only thing she notarizes is the signature, not the date. I told her that there was absolutely no question about the date and once again told her to tell the truth. I discussed this matter with my attorney because this was after my initial indictment and he said that we should have our investigator, a former FBI agent, Ken Blankenbuehler, contact her. Ken contacted her and she informed him that she never backdated any bill of sale and she would never consider doing same for anybody. Because of Mr. Hoffman lying about the date of the furniture inventory, Constant was coerced into saying that she back dated the inventory. <br /><br />I was set up by the assistant US Attorney and the attorney for the bankruptcy Trustee because the assistant US Attorney wanted something extra to add to the indictment – bankruptcy fraud. I believe the date of the deposition was sometime in November of 2003. I might add that many questions about the furniture inventory had been asked of me in many other bankruptcy depositions. I was told by my criminal attorney and my investigator that I should not go to the deposition. I told them that I had absolutely nothing to hide and I did nothing wrong. If you would read my full depositions, you will understand that the testimony, that the US Attorney used, was taken out of context. This whole matter was a concoction in order for the assistant US Attorney to add another count. It was concocted that I backdated the furniture inventory and also that I said in a deposition that I did not give the $95,000 sale price to Michael Hoffman. My question is, what was my motivation for same? I was indicted for bankruptcy fraud. Relative to same, how does backdating a furniture inventory have anything to do with bankruptcy fraud? Also, what motive would I have to say that I did not give the $95,000 sale price to Michael Hoffman? <br /><br />The US Attorney had an ax to grind and so did the attorney and accountant for the bankruptcy Trustee. Brian Thomas was appointed as my Bankruptcy Trustee, a good attorney and a fair and equitable Bankruptcy Trustee. Normally when a Trustee is appointed to a case, he appoints an attorney and an accountant who is located in the same geographical area whom he has had a relationship with. I’m told from very reliable sources that he as forced by the banks to appoint Ravin Greenberg as counsel and Allen Wieland as accountant, both North Jersey firms who are known to be extremely vicious because the banks “wanted my blood.” I believe that the conduct by both firms has been reprehensible during my bankruptcy. The first time that we found out that there were two sets of tax returns was after I filed bankruptcy. Frank Gallo brought it to my attention and then immediately to Allen Wieland. Soon thereafter I testified about same in subsequent deposition. I testified that I had no knowledge of same, etc. I understood that this was kept under-wraps until I testified in the deposition because after I testified I wanted to bring this fact to the attention of Vito Pantilioine of Parke Bank because I thought I owed it to him before it became general knowledge. When I called him after my deposition, he told me he was already aware of it. The Trustee’s attorney and accountant apparently told many bankers and it spread like a wild fire prior to my deposition. You could imagine I felt like a complete idiot when Vito told me that it was all over the industry. It is a matter of fact that Allen Wieland, after he was informed of the two tax returns, said to many people at business seminars and meetings that “Dwyer is going to go to jail.” This was right after he was informed about same. The Trustee’s attorney and accountant could never be termed objective. <br /><br />As you know, my indictment started out with one count. Prior to the expanded indictments, sometime, I believe, in July of 2003, my attorney at the time, Vince Giblin, succumbed to a large amount of pressure that was being put on him at the time if he did not agree to give the government additional time that they would move forward very quickly and ruthlessly with the original indictment. My point is that they threatened us to give them that extra time, and with this time they added on all the extra counts. Because of same, I believe that I did not receive the right to a speedy trial. <br /><br />Your Honor, you stated in your most recent opinion, under K. Sufficiency of the Evidence, a few things that I would like to discuss with you. I have already stated my position above on the bankruptcy issue. I would like to talk about three other things in particular! <br /> 1) Signing of the income taxes and loan documents. 2) Reviewing “true company income statements with hotel manager.” 3) That I “actively participated in meetings with Parke Bank representatives in which this false financially information was discussed.” <br /><br />1) As I stated, Mike McKeever created a very simple but ingenious plan, to have myself and Peggy sign one set of tax returns and then have us sign the other set of tax returns when we went to closing, which he had already presented to the banks unsigned. I unequivocally state that I never had any idea ever that there were two sets of tax returns. I trusted Mr. McKeever and never had any reason to believe that there was any scheme going on. I had a very large company to run. I was very involved in a number of areas, but all of the financial matters were fully delegated. I would just come in and sign papers that were put in front of me, at settlements, etc. The only financial papers I ever looked at were financial papers that were given to me by McKeever stating that our basic operations were grossing $15 million and netting $5 million. I’m a developer, builder, a sales man. I like to put things together and sell them. I made a huge mistake when I allowed Mr. McKeever, who was the former CEO and COO of Revlon with 1500 employees, talked me into keeping operations like the banquet center, our restaurants and the Homestead. I had made arrangements to sell all of these, including the seventy unit Homestead hotel/condominium units. I did all of the legal work for the condominium conversion of the Homestead Hotel. I wanted to sell all of the aforementioned properties, I had buyers lined up, but McKeever talked me into keeping them. Now I’m sure that the reason that he wanted to keep the operations was so that he could skim money from same. I was told by his former wife, who wanted to come to the trial and testify, that the minute he came to work for me he was scheming how to steal money from me. He did the same thing to her father when he was an employee of her father. She also informed me, like I found out from people in the area after McKeever’s death, that he was a pedophile, he raped his own son who is deaf and dumb. And this is somebody that I trusted. I was never given the opportunity during the trial to get my view point across to the jury about this income tax issue. I am sure that the jury was very confused. My attorney told me to “trust him” that I will have plenty of time to get my view point across in the redirect by the US attorney. I was not given a second to get anything out by the US Attorney. In retrospect, it was silly for my attorney to advise me of same. I wanted to get a number of issues like this out succinctly to the jury so they could understand my predicament. I trusted my accountant like everybody trusts their accountant. About a hundred people have come up to me since the trial started and said to me that they could see the same thing happening to them because they never read what their accountant prepares for them, they just sign it. Just the other day, I spoke with a very well known CPA who heads up a large accounting firm, who told me that he does seventy tax returns. He only knows of one person who actually sits down and reads through the tax return before they sign it. <br /><br />2) My former hotel manager, Dennis Curley testified at the trial. I pursued Mr. Curley because he had a very hospitable nature about himself. He seemed like the perfect hotel manager. My characterization of him was wrong. He was all talk and no action – glad handing everybody, but never getting anything done. I also found out that he was a liar. I found out that the owner of a laundry service that was greatly overcharging us was owned by a cousin of his. I had already told him prior to this to straighten out the bills. Normally I wouldn’t be involved in something like this, but somebody in the company told me about the astronomical bills we were getting. I was also told by many people that his cousin owned the laundry company at the time. I asked Curley if his cousin did own the company and he said no. I asked him if he told anybody in the company that his cousin owned the company, he told me no. I then went and asked about a dozen people if he stated to them that his cousin owned the laundry company (Mr. Curley had a strange nature about him; he used to go around telling people he was the co-owner of the Flanders Hotel.). In any event, he said that he never told anybody that his cousin owned the laundry company, which was a lie, and I thought at the time that if he was lying to me about same he was probably getting a kickback from his cousin, the owner. (I have sadly found out that there is too large a segment of people who are in the hotel management field that are of questionable nature. The rank and file employees, I have found to be wonderful.) Because of Mr. Curley’s lying and suspected stealing, I let him go. As I mentioned before I persuaded Mr. Curley to come to our company I gave him a contract. I had the right to fire him at will because of his lying and suspected stealing without any severance. When I told him I was letting him go, he literally got down on his hands and knees, cried and asked me to give him more severance pay than I was offering him for the sake of his family. Because of the fact that I was an easy mark and that I had pursued him, I would up giving him nine months severance pay. During this trial I had to check payroll records, we found out that he ended up taking twelve months severance pay, three more than he was due. I also found out that during the time he was getting a very substantial pay from us he was receiving Unemployment Benefits. I never, ever, ever, sat down with Mr. Curley and discussed any income figures with him. Any time that I ever sat down with him, it was either with Mr. McKeever, Mr. Maher, Mrs. Parks, and Mrs. George. We never discussed income figures. Mr. Curley is a liar. He also made up a story about the income documents that he “kept in his attic” to bring to the trial. He reluctantly said that Mr. Daily contacted him about the trial matter during his testimony. He did not want to give up Mr. Daily’s name and asked the US Attorney if it was all right. I believe these income papers, which I never saw before, came from Mr. Daily. All I can say again, is that Mr. Curley is a liar and hates me for firing him for cause. I also fired Mr. Daily because when things were getting a little tight at the end he went directly to the Condominium Owners of the Flanders and Watson’s Regency while he was employed with me and pitched them to take over the management of the condominiums for himself. At the time the condominium owners thought it was dastardly for him to do same and reported it back to me. <br /><br />3) The meeting that supposedly took place where I discussed all of my financial matters between myself, Mr. Maher, Mr. McKeever, Mr. Pantilione and Mr. Guerin from Parke bank never, ever took place. This can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt and I am sure Mr. Guerin will not jeopardize his life and career and state that it did take place. <br /><br />There were many people that came into the trial and lied, starting with Mr. Pantilione. He lied from the beginning of his testimony until the end. Pantilione is being sued by some banks for taking unauthorized fees. His contact at National Penn Bank was Joseph C. Walker. I never heard of the name of Dennis Moyer until my meeting with National Penn Bank at the Union League to tell them that McKeever was “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” Mr. Walker was the one that told me directly on the telephone that the deposit checks did not have to be deposited, they could be held by the title company. After getting off the phone with Mr. Walker, I spoke to McKeever and Frank Maher and told them the checks could be held but not cashed. Around this time I was told by Mr. Pantilione that Mr. Walker was somewhat of a negative character, both personally and professionally. I wondered at the time why he was dealing with him. Also after the contracts came into question, Mr. Pantilione told me that: “I don’t know how many times I signed presale contracts for developers,” i.e., phony deals. We put bona fide sales together. I now understand that its not unusual for developers and bankers to conspire and make up phony presale deals. I was never, ever involved with putting a phony presale contract together in my business career. The buyer was always going to have the ability to make money. He always bought in at a lower price, had the option to close on it, flip it, or we would put in a tenant in the property for the buyer. I can hardly believe that Mr. Walker continues to be the Executive Vice President at National Penn Bank. We just received a mailing from NPB addressed to Frank Maher stating that they are looking for more business and Joe Walker’s name was highlighted in the mailing piece. In the original court proceedings which ended with National Penn Bank releasing me of any liability and me releasing them of any liability, Walker committed perjury when he falsely stated that he met me for lunch and I told him that I purchased the Packard Building with monies from the Linwood Construction Loan. This was proven to be a lie when we provided the court with an audit of the Packard Building transaction. He also shook down somebody that you know who played basketball with your son for $150,000 in order for the individual to get loans. His name is Jay Phillips. I am aware of this because before I was indicted, Jay Phillips called me to find out if I gave Mr. Walker any money to get the loans I received. He had been in NPB offices and heard that my loan with them was in jeopardy. I had met Mr. Phillips at a property that he owned. I was invited by an acquaintance of his to have dinner there with some sports figures and then go on to a Seventy-Sixers basketball game. This is the first time I met Jay Phillips. All of the attendees had their own tickets to the Seventy-Sixers games. A couple of times I would see Jay Phillips at other Seventy-Sixers basketball games. After this time he pursued me because I believe he wanted to do some business with me. He seemed to be a nice guy, very charming, but I did not think he had a lot of real estate business acumen. When Phillips called me on the phone I told him I never gave anybody a dime in my life and I never took a dime from anybody in my life. I told him to go immediately to the FBI to report the matter. It is my understanding that this is exactly what he did. I later contacted Mr. Phillips to see if he would testify for me. I met with him at his Voorhees business offices and he told me about the mess that he was involved in; that he committed irregularities with his title company and that he was under investigation for same. At a much later time, I met again with Jay Phillips at his real estate offices at Pennsauken, he had his two daughters with him. I wanted to reiterate that he agreed and would testify for me in any of my court proceedings, he said that he would. He said to me at the time that the reason why he got in trouble was that his wife was an attorney and ratted on him to the FBI. I have also found out after this that Mr. Phillips was involved with the New Jersey Billboard scandal. As stated, I only had a casual relationship with Mr. Phillips. When this matter came up in court, I believe that the assistant US Attorney tried to imply that I was involved with this man and that I had some guilt by association. I am sure that the US attorney knew about my casual relationship and he was creating a smoke screen which he is a master of. I’m also willing to bet anything that Mr. Phillips was wired during my last meeting with him and that the US attorney was completely aware of same. <br /><br />I stated above that that there was no investigative objectivity by the bankruptcy Trustee’s attorney and accountant. I also know for a fact that there was absolutely no objectivity by the lead assistant US Attorney in my case. He interviewed many of my friends and business acquaintances. They contacted me and told me that the AUSA spoke very negatively about me in a subjective way and not at all objective. Many of them told me that he didn’t want to hear anything good about me. A number of people that testified at the trial told me that he was threatened them. In general, I think that the AUSA made up a script and coerced people into following it during the trial. He tried to do this with Mr. Joseph Bogle, a buyer at Linwood Business Center, but Mr. Bogle was not intimidated. He successfully intimidated Brian Broadley, Frank Walls and Paul Logan, all buyers at the Lindwood Business Center. He convinced them that they did something wrong, which they did not, and they went along with the script in order to protect themselves. The three of them did absolutely nothing wrong prior to the trail, but during the trial they perjured themselves. Other people came into the Court and lied because they had an ax to grind, i.e. Ron Denny, and Mike Hoffman. I don’t know what to think about Kerry Kelly Hartenstein. The last time I saw her prior to the trial she gave me a hug and a kiss and thanked me for helping her get another job. It has been suggested by a number of people that Mike Hoffman supplied her with drug money with the monies he got from kickbacks when he put furniture expenditures on his credit card. It is normal for independent decorators to get fifteen percent kickbacks, which is of course very legal. Of course the same would not apply for someone who worked directly for another as an employee, as Mr. Hoffman worked for me. Why did he insist on putting expenditures on his own personal credit card even after he was told by his superiors that if he continued to do so, his card would be cut up? <br /><br />Your Honor, you stated in your answer to my attorney’s Motion for an Order of my release pending appeal, that I had not furnished reliable personal financial information to the U.S. Probation office and that my personal financial dealings remained quite unclear. I fully, correctly and honestly furnished true and reliable information to the U.S. Probation office. In the Pre-sentence Report furnished by the Probation Office the officer stated that the financial profile that I provided “is misleading. Although Dwyer declared bankruptcy in December 2001, by his own admission, all of his assets were transferred (property) or sold (home furnishings) to his children, reportedly based on the advise of his accountant, once he learned that judgments would be filed against him due to his failing business dealings. Dwyer transferred virtually all of his holdings prior to declaring bankruptcy. According to defense counsel, the only property that was transferred at the time judgments were threatened, were the furnishings, which were transferred to Brendan for the sum of $95,000, and the motor vehicles, which had no equity at the time.” Also the Pre-sentence Report states, “The Probation Office recently re-interviewed Dwyer regarding his financial situation and his apparent ability to support his family with no known income other than his wife’s earnings and his son’s benefits. The defendant responded that he has used commissions from prior sales to support his family. He also averred that he has borrowed money from friends and family.” I must say that contrary to what the probation department states I believe their report is ambiguous. I never stated to anyone at anytime that my “real estate property assets were transferred to my children, once he learned that judgments would be filed against him…” I did state during the trial that by advice of counsel that I transferred my real estate assets to LLC’s. I was informed by counsel that I could sell shares of this LLC’s and also give investors a percentage of future projects. I was not able to sell the assets at that time because there were liens against them. None of these real estate assets were transferred to my children. When I was solvent, in accordance with an Estate Planning program orchestrated by our outsides accounting firm, I sold some of my assets to my children. They took out new mortgages and the old mortgages were paid off, etc. Bary Sharer is a CFO and accountant for my children. My children have been dragged into my bankruptcy proceedings because of alleged fraudulent transfers by the Trustee’s law firm Ravin and Greenberg. Mr. Sharer has stated that when the transfers were made I was definitely solvent. As you know, you can not have a fraudulent transfer if one is solvent. In conclusion, I was never misleading in my financial disclosures to the Pre-sentencing Officer. I was very forthright and truthful. The officer was confused and didn’t know the difference between the LLC transfers and the assets that were sold to my children properly. I can see where someone would get confused. <br /><br />I stated to the Probation Office that right after declaring bankruptcy, that I was able to help support my family through real estate broker commission income. I stated truthfully that the only definite monthly income we had was my wife’s salary and my son Josh’s SSI benefits. I have been working with my son Brendan who is the owner of the brokerage company and trying to help him generate real estate brokerage income. Brendan has been able to borrow some money from family and friends based on potential future brokerage income. Brendan is the owner of the brokerage company. I am actually teaching and advising him. Hopefully there will be some good future income for my family. Once again, everything that I disclosed to the Probation Office was truthful and not misleading. I can see where the probation officer could be confused, because the US Attorney and the attorneys for the Trustees have consistently tried to put things in a bad light. <br /><br />I stated before that many people came into my trial and lied and I named a few. I will name some others. Eric Cummings of Cambridge Capital lied from the beginning of his testimony to the end. He charged us hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and only gave us one loan of a million and a half dollars. Ron Denney lied. He is a disgruntled investor. He invested in many things with our company, prior to the Linwood Project. He invested in the White Sands Hotel. He bought a property on the Boardwalk from me and I bought it back from him. He invested money different times with me and he received a very high return. They were unsecured loans. At that time I secured his last loan with my house and building lots, which I was not obligated to do, he had already made the loan. He also bought other properties and had a long standing investment relationship with the company. He told us that he would buy a unit at Linwood. He also was going to buy another unit in partnership with Brian Broadley, who I introduced him to. He decided not to buy the original unit and did not give us a check, but he had signed the contract before deciding not to go through with the deal. Somehow Frank Maher sent this contract through to Vito Pantilione and he sent this through to National Penn Bank. Ron Denney is a liar. For example, he claims that he had no contact with Mike McKeever. He never wanted to talk to me, he always wanted to talk to McKeever who was the money man. <br /><br />Brian Broadley, Frank Walls and Paul Logan all lied when they said that they did not sign or have signed a real estate contract to purchase at Linwood Business Campus. Brian Broadley had somebody at his company sign the contract for him. Frank Walls did sign a contract and also said to Frank Maher to sign whatever he had to sign for him. Paul Logan certainly signed the contract and people in my company heard him tell Frank Maher that Frank cold sign whatever needed for him. A handwriting expert could prove that they all were fully involved with the contracts. The sad and ironic thing about these individuals is that none of them ever did anything wrong regarding the sales contracts. The thing that they did wrong was come into court and perjure themselves. I believe that they were threatened and coerced into believing that they did something wrong when they did not. They were bullied into following the party line. Every one of them was going to make money on their Linwood Real Estate Deals. They bought in at a low price and they all were going to make money one way other. It was fully disclosed that they had to put up a check and that the check was not going to be deposited but held by Ocean Abstract at the suggestion and direction of Joe Walker at National Penn Bank when I spike to Mr. Walker on the phone. The only buyer at Linwood that told the truth and absolute truth was Joe Bogle. He could not be threatened or coerced by anybody. <br /><br />Part of the script that the US Attorney authored was that witnesses were to term me as a “hands on” business individual when it came to financial matters. This was parroted by Jim Simpkins who was scared into doing it. Dennis Curley is a liar with an ax to grind and Kerrie Harnstein is a drug addict that would say anything. I very certainly was never hands on when it came to financial matters. <br /><br />I have become aware that many banks, like South Jersey Bank, orchestrate and make up false tax returns, W-2 forms, etc., etc., in order to garner loans for their clients. This is fact, not fiction. Many of the people that work for these institutions are wonderful people who have been taught by the institutions to do it this way. <br /><br />Georganne Parks, Frank Maher, Jodi George, Jack Geraghty and Joe Volpe, all witnesses at the trial, were all threatened. Georgeanne Parks was threatened that she would become a co-conspirator and “that you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law if you interfere with this case” by Tom DeLeonardo, AUSA. He threw a tantrum on a number of occasions, scaring Mrs. Parks during interviews (Mrs. Parks has told us that when she got to read the text of her grand jury testimony, that all of the bad things she said about Mike McKeever and all of the good things she said about me were systematically eradicated. In other words, this evidence was tampered with.) Frank Maher was threatened that he would become a co-conspirator and “never see his grandchildren again.” I believe that the abject pressure that was put on Frank helped to shorten his life (More than ten times in one of the AUSA attorney’s motions, he stated that I blamed Frank Maher for wrong doings. He stated the same at least ten times, I counted them. This is absolutely untrue. I never said anything negative about Frank Maher, I only stated that “he was a wonderful human being.” The AUSA deliberately distorted the record.) Jodi George was slyly pressured and threatened by the government, and they inferred that they would not go after her for what they said she wrongly notarized if she cooperated with them. She knew she did nothing wrong and stood firm. Jack Geraghty, after he basically testified in a positive way for me in the grand jury, said that the government inferred that he did not report income that was discussed in his interview. This is patently false: Joe Volpe’s name was given to the government as a witness for the defense at the last minute towards the end of the defense of the trial. The main reason why he came was to refute as to what Mr. Hoffman testified to and also Mr. Hoffman’s questionable character. Prior to him coming to the court, Mr. Volpe was contacted by his son’s attorney (his son had gotten into trouble with some drug charges and had had contact with the government), he was told point blank: that if he would say some negative things about me, that he could expect his son to receive good treatment. <br /><br />I believe that the Assistant US Attorney is a master of obfuscation and he was underestimated by my attorneys. For example, he brought up the judgment that was recorded on April 5, 2001, the day after I sold my furniture to my son. I had no idea that the judgment was filed on that day, none whatsoever. Also, the judgment has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with bankruptcy fraud. I could sell my furniture to anybody, before, after or on the same day of the judgment for fair value. This was shone to the jury as being something sinister. There is nothing sinister about it. It was strictly a coincidence that the judgment was filed the day after I sold the furniture to my son. This is neither a date that I would know nor any of my attorneys. During deliberations, the jury asked to see the judgment, which again had nothing to do with bankruptcy fraud. It was only a smokescreen that the jury bought into because of the AUSA’s obfuscation. <br /><br />My attorneys accused the Assistant US Attorney of manufacturing false evidence. We actually found four instances of same and my attorney made a formal complaint on two of the issues. It’s funny that this never got into the press. The Atlantic City Press was nothing more than an echo chamber for the US Attorney’s office. It seemed that they just took the US Attorney’s press releases and printed it exactly the same in the newspaper. In fact on one occasion, when the reporter for the AC Press was not in court one day, coincidently the next day information of that day’s trial appeared in the paper, all quoting the US Attorney. It is my understanding that this is not proper, that in fact the media is not supposed to receive the information until it becomes a matter of record the next day. Every single thing that appeared in the AC Press was very negative towards me. Nobody will ever convince me that the jury did not read the paper. I believe that everyone of the jury were within the circulation of the Atlantic City Press. If they read the Press, it would be impossible for them to not see the articles. Al lof the articles were in large bold type face. <br /><br />I don’t think of myself as being better than anyone, but I believe that the conduct of the jury could have been much better. At times, I actually saw half of the jury asleep. I can see why because it was a very complex and boring trial. Lender after lender, who I had never met during the loan process, was marched up the witness stand and went on ad nauseum. A couple things really upset me concerning the jury: a. They only deliberated (actual deliberation time) four and a half hours for a nine and a half week trial. b. This is what really made me loose respect for the jury. (They had made their decision and I told myself that this was something I had to deal with. Life is fleeting. I had or have now no animosity towards them.) After Thanksgiving, when the jury came back, on Monday, they reached a conviction judgment. You told them that they had to hang on a few days because they had to be involved with the sentencing process. You informed them that you were not allowed to tell them this before they reached their decision. They all reacted that they were very surprised. At least half of the jury asked for letters for them that they would be able to give to their employer. What I deduct out of this is that they went home for Thanksgiving, told their bosses they would be in the following Tuesday, that they would go in on Monday, reach a guilty verdict, and go back to work on Tuesday. Of course, it would be a violation if they did same. Why would anybody need a letter to their employer, when in fact they had already been involved in a nine and a half week trial if they had not already told their employer about the verdict and that they would be back on Tuesday? This is when I lost respect for the jury. <br /><br />My family is devastated. If there ever was a family that was inner dependent and loving, it’s my family. If there ever was a family that is interdependent on their father, it is my family. You know about Josh’s, Brendan’s, Megan’s and my wife’s maladies. They are all crushed. The system is very wrongfully breaking up my family. I never, ever, ever, defrauded anyone in my life. <br /><br />If I was the bad character that government accused me of and convicted me of, I would have money hidden away somewhere. I don’t have a dime. I borrowed my children’s funds that were rightfully theirs, in order to save my company. I had great faith and hope that I could save my company. I poured a lot of money into the company at the very end that I could have hidden away if I was an unsavory character. I have never taken what does not belong to me. <br /><br />The assistant US attorney said that I was a bad man. They said that I was a bad man found out, not a good man turned bad. I say that at least the one US Attorney is a bad man because he follows the philosophy that the end justifies the means. I think that he would have done anything to get me convicted. <br /><br />I don’t think that I was properly represented. I love my two attorneys. I feel like we have been through a war together, but I am not happy with the result and not perfectly happy with them. Emmett, Jr. was not able to represent me properly because he was suffering from cardiac problems. Right after my trial he had a pacemaker installed. His pulse before that was twenty-four. He was not able to function and did nothing for me during the trial. I love him, but facts are facts, and this is my life and my family’s life that is under consideration. Emmett III had all of the responsibilities thrust on his shoulders, which was impossible for him to do alone. We never really developed my defense properly, including the developing of defense witnesses. I guess Fitz is going to be upset with me. He did not show you proper respect during my trial. I was appalled and told him so a number of times. He would rail at you and then not have the courtesy to look you in the eye when you would answer him. I am sure that his lack of respect for you did not help me in the eyes of the jury. Fitz did not do this with any malice. I believe that he was trying to emulate his father. In his day, his father could charm you, tactfully put you in your place and defer to you all at the same time. I love the Fitzpatrick’s, father and son, but I don’t believe that I had proper representation. <br /><br />Your Honor, as you can see this letter has been written over a period of time. I started the day after my sentencing, June 11. I am concluding it this evening, July 17. As you know, I am to report tomorrow to begin serving a nine year prison sentence. I was not prepared to report to Fort Dix tomorrow. I certainly thought that the earliest that I would have to report was July 25. I hoped for an extension and I also hope and pray for an appeal bond. I would like to clarify what happened on the day of my sentencing. You said that I was to report six weeks from Monday. You then paused and asked if someone had a calendar, and I believe that the Probation Officer that was stationed at the end of the jury box gave you the date of July 18. I never considered any date other than July 25, because that was six weeks from Monday. The date selection was an innocent mistake. I was mentally prepared on the worst case basis to report on July 25. Everyone is distraught. We are trying to fix up a house we just rented. It’s a state of confusion. I thought I had the extra week to help my wife put things in order. <br /><br />There was an anecdotal incident during the trial that I will tell you. The head US Attorney stationed in the Camden office. An attractive, blond haired women whose name escapes me, sat behind my attorney during the direct examination of me. She was trying to systematically distract me during my testimony. She sat behind Fitz and would laser stare at me while moving her head from side to side. I was tempted to say to you that somebody was deliberately sitting behind my attorney and trying to distract me. Coincidently, just around that time we took a break. I told Fitz about the situation and he said that he was going to make a complaint about it to you. I told him I didn’t want to complain to you because I did not want the government to know that they were getting to me. Instead, the next time I went up to testify, I had a paperclip which I broke in half and formed a cross, a Cross of Jesus Christ. The annoyance went immediately away. It was a little miracle. This is an example of how my faith in God works for me. I know that I never, ever defrauded anyone in my life. I know that I will be exonerated. I know that I will win via appeal. I am not at all bitter, because bitterness is the cancer of the heart. I will never be broken. I will be inexhaustible in my pursuit of justice. I do nothing out of bitterness. I will do everything out of justice. <br /><br /><strong>I want to reiterate again that I never, ever defrauded anyone in my life. </strong><br /><br />Life is very fleeting, one has to react to its ebb and flow. The only way you can act properly is through Faith and Hope in God. <br /><br />Cordially, <br /><br />James M. Dwyer <br /><br />Cc: Alberto R. Gonzales, United States Attorney General. <br /> Christopher Christie, United States Attorney <br /> Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee <br /> Chris Mondies, Staff Writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer <br /> Charles Wood, Ocean City Sentinel <br /> Richard Harris, Esq. <br /> F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, III, Esq.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-44257400858589319562008-09-23T20:26:00.000-07:002008-09-23T20:29:52.322-07:00Packard BuildingPackard Building <br /><br />http://www.mpnrealty.com/press/2000.pdf<br /><br />Packard Building Sold<br />NATALIE KOSTELNI<br /><br />Developer Alex Schwartz<br />has finally sold the 330,000-<br />square-foot Packard Building<br />to Jim Dwyer, a New Jersey<br />developer, for $8 million.<br /><br />Schwartz had owned the<br />building at 15th and Chestnut<br />streets for a little more than a<br />year, buying it for $5 million.<br />While owning the property,<br />Schwartz had entertained<br />plans to convert it into apartments.<br />Dwyer has not finalized<br />any plans for what he<br />might do with the property<br />and couldn't be reached for<br />comment.<br /><br /><br />Dwyer is better known<br />for his hotel developments,<br />including The Flanders Hotel<br />in Ocean City, N.J. The historic<br />hotel was built in 1923<br />and was considered a landmark<br />in the Shore town. When<br />the Flanders was about to<br />be demolished a couple of<br />years ago, Dwyer invested $12<br />million into renovating the<br />property into a full-service<br />convention facility and hotel.<br /><br /><br />The Packard is a 25-story<br />building constructed in 1924<br />and was considered a couple<br />of years ago as a hotel site by<br />Affirmative Equities Inc., a<br />New York investment company.<br />The firm had plans to drop<br />$30 million renovating it, but<br />the project never made any<br />progress after preservationists<br />worried the historic building<br />would be detrimentally<br />altered. Affirmative Equities<br />was going to buy the building<br />from its owner, General<br />Electric Capital Corp., for $8<br />million, but never did. A brief<br />time later, Schwartz bought<br />the building.<br /><br /><br />Mallin Panchelli Wentworth<br />represented Schwartz in both<br />transactions. Dwyer was not<br />represented.<br /><br /><br />Earlier this past spring, the<br />property became part of a<br />lawsuit filed by Albert M.<br />“Moose” Greenfield's company<br />against Wolf Block Schorr<br />& Solis-Cohen. The suit<br />accused the big law firm<br />of deliberately thwarting<br />Greenfield's real estate company<br />from buying three<br />Philadelphia properties, one<br />of which was the Packard<br />Building. The suit alleges<br />Greenfield had retained the<br />firm to acquire the buildings.<br /><br /><br />In each case, Greenfield lost<br />out on buying the properties to<br />others who were either represented<br />by the law firm or had<br />relationships with the firm that<br />posed a conflict, the suit said.<br />The case is set to go to trial<br />next year.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-53871973068969573722008-09-23T20:20:00.000-07:002013-02-15T08:12:19.961-08:00Jim's Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Jim decided to testify on his own behalf at his trial because he wanted the judge and the jurors to hear his side of the story and understand what really happened. <br />
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But when he was finally on the stand, the prosecutors only allowed him to answer short specific questions, and his own attornies never bothered to draw out Jim's story in his own words.<br />
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After his conviction and sentencing, Jim finally tried to do this in his letter to the Judge, but that too, in my opinion, fails to show that Jim too was a victim of his CFO Mike McKeever, banker Vito Pantelone, and the stystem, which allowed him to become a victim of a scam artist and a shister. <br />
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When Jim was in the process of purchasing the Packard Building in Center City Philadelphia, it was a new crown in his string of jewels that included the Jewish Federation Building in Center City Philadelphia, the Flanders, Watsons and Homestead Hotels in Ocean City, the Linwood Business Center and White Sands hotel in Bermuda, as well as a dozen boardwalk and off boardwalk apartment/condos, valued in total over $250 million. <br />
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Jim Dwyer was on top of the world when he sat down for dinner at the Four Seasons restaurant in Philadelphia in the middle of the settlement to seal the deal on the Packard Building. There was a new hitch in the $8 million dollar deal when one of the banks that guaranteed a $1 million loan suddenly backed out and they had to come up with a quick million. Not a problem, said McKeever, the Chief Financial Officer, who suddenly keeled over and died of a heart attack. <br />
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While the meal was spoiled with McKeever's death, the deal went through, and Dwyer contacted his outside accountant in to go over all his finances in response to McKeever's death. <br />
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In a review of the company's finances, Dwyer and the accountant discovered that it wasn't as pretty a picture as McKeever had portrayed, and Dwyer had to flip the Packard Building in order to raise money to complete other deals - including the Lindwood Project and the Flander's Penthouses. <br />
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When the outside accountant became temporary CFO, they discovered that McKeever kept two sets of tax teturn reports for the company, each signed by Dwyer and his wife, one that was sent to the IRS and the other, apparenty presented to banks. <br />
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Dwyer and his accountant, upon discovery of these two tax returns, reported them to authorities, and turned them in. When Dwyer filed for bankruptcy, his finances were scruitinized to the penney, and the two tax forms used as the primary evidence against him in his indictment and conviction. <br />
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But it was never fully brought out to the judge and the jury that the most incriminating evidence of Dwyer's guilt was found and disclosed by Dwyer himself! <br />
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When investigators and prosecutors offered Dwyer a plea bargain, they said that if he pleaded guilty to a single count of bank fraud, he would get a year to three years in prison, but Dwyer believed he was innocent and fought the charges in court in order to clear, and keep his good name. He believed in the system and that the system would clear him, especially when they explained to him that he had to intend to defraud the banks when he took out the loans, something he knew he never intended to do. <br />
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When Dwyer decided to fight the charges, the prosecutors broke down the loans into nine separate counts rather than one, and also charged him with bankruptcy fraud, having convinced three witnesses to perjure themselves in exchange for not being charged with crimes unrelated to Dwyer's loans. <br />
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They also wired another businessmen who attempted to obtain loans from the same banks who asked Dwyer about paying special fees under the table in order to obtain the loans, to which Dwyer responded that he didn't make any such payments, wouldn't make any such payments and that he should go right to the FBI. But since that was exculpatory evidnce, rather than support for the prosecutor's assertion of Dwyer's corruption, it was never entered into evidence.<br />
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Additional evidence of Dwyers' innoncence was known to the prosecutors when they showed Dwyer a document with his name and signature on it, which he said, under oath, that it was not his signature. He had previously acknowledged that it was his signatures on the two tax forms, but he didn't recall ever signing them, and they were probably signed during the course of a settlement when many such records are signed. <br />
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The one document that contained a fabricated signature purported to be Dwyers, was never entered into evidence, but apparently was a parole record of Mike McKeever, whose previous conviction for fraud and embezzlement as CFO of a Fortune 500 company (Revlon) was kept from Dwyer, who never met McKeever's parole officer(s). Apparently McKeever forged Dwyer's signature on these parole records, and the parole officer (a women), who appeared at McKeever's job site on occassion, never bothered to tell Dwyer that he had a former convict in his employ who had previously embezzled millions of dollars and served time for it. <br />
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But the prosecutors knew that the record existed, and that it wasn't Dwyer's signature(s)on it, and that the parole officers, who weren't called to testify, never notified Dwyer that he had a master thief in his employee in the most critical position in the whole company. <br />
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That document alone is the proof Jim needed at his trial that clearly indicated he did not know that his Chief Financial Officer had been previously convicted of fraud and embezzlement, and the parole office knew and wrongfully failed to notify Dwyer that he had such a person in his employ. <br />
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But that fact was never brought to the attention of the judge or the jury. <br />
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If all the facts were known and brought out, Jim Dwyer would not be in prison today.</div>
William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-18850414501041748912008-09-23T20:18:00.000-07:002008-09-23T20:20:13.734-07:00White Sands Bermudahttp://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2003_3rd/Jul03_GrapeBay.html<br /><br /><br />Bermuda Resort Hotels Reopens the Former White Sands Hotel as the Grape Bay Beach Hotel <br /><br />. <br />BERMUDA (July 11, 2003) Bermuda Resort Hotels, Bermuda's newest hotel group, announces the opening of Bermuda's newest hotel experience, the Grape Bay Beach Hotel July 15, 2003. This intimate retreat, formerly the White Sands Hotel, has been reborn, sporting a new name, new facilities, including extensive renovations and an innovative new restaurant. <br /> <br />Grape Bay Beach Hotel boasts new ocean view deluxe and garden terrace rooms, a breathtaking lounge overlooking the South Shore, and Sapori Restaurant, operated by the Primavera Restaurant Group. Sapori's extensive menu will feature a deliciously eclectic mix of "global" cuisines including Italian, Thai and Japanese. <br />Bermuda Resort Hotels has also appointed a Bermudian, Marcus Jones, as General Manager. Jones has been promoted from his previous position of Manager of the Wharf Executive Suites Hotel. <br /> <br /> <br />Grape Bay Beach Hotel <br />(formerly the White Sands Hotel) <br /> 55 White Sands Road <br />Paget, Bermuda <br /><br />Perched majestically above the South Shore, this small hotel offers panoramic views of sea all within steps of the coral sand, Grape Bay beach. Perfectly placed to discover all the charms of Bermuda, the hotel is located in the central parish of Paget, only minutes away from the picturesque capital of Hamilton, challenging golf courses, tennis courts and all manner of water sports. <br />Bermuda Resort Hotels is Bermuda's newest hotel group that combines four distinctive properties, Harmony Club, Surf Side Beach Club, Grape Bay Beach Club and the Wharf Executive Suites. Now offering the island's first collection of boutique-styled properties, Bermuda Resort Hotels provides many choices for leisure and business travelers.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-28788657943734722008-09-23T20:16:00.000-07:002008-09-23T20:18:42.197-07:00Watsons Regency Ocean Cityhttp://www.watsonsreOur Accommodations<br />Our Accomodations <br />Suite Amenities<br />2008 Rates<br /><br /><br />View Floorplan »<br /><br />Guests of Watson's Regency Suites receive the highest level of service and care. We furnish each suite with a wide range of amenities including wireless internet access, in-room coffee, free parking*, and complimentary beach tags to start your vacation as soon as you arrive. Newspapers, vending machines, and ice are available onsite. <br /><br />Guest Services:<br /><br />24-Hour Front Desk <br />Elevator Service to all Floors <br />Daily Maid Service <br />Complimentary Ice <br />Wireless Internet Access <br />Fax/Photocopying Available <br />Handicap Accessible Rooms <br />Coin Operated Washer/Dryer on Site <br />Indoor Pool & Hot Tub Open Year-Round <br />Meeting Room Accommodating up to 30 People <br /> <br /><br />*Free parking for one car per suite. <br />gency.com/events.htmWilliam Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-48684023006061591862008-09-23T20:12:00.000-07:002008-09-23T20:15:15.783-07:00The Flanders Hotelhttp://www.theflandershotel.com/history.htm<br /><br /><br /> THE FLANDERS HOTEL <br />719 E. 11th Street Ocean City, NJ 08226 <br />609 399-1000 <br /> <br />HISTORY <br /><br />Read About Emily, Our Happy Resident Ghost<br /> <br />It was for the purpose of creating a first class boardwalk hotel that a group of Ocean City, New Jersey businessmen formed the Ocean Front Hotel Corporation in 1922. The first meeting, held at Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, included William Massey, Howard Stainton, Allen Corson, William Shriver, Randolph Fogg, Henry Cooper and other prominent citizens of the day. They decided to build an elegant seaside hotel that would compete in service and appointments with the best hotels in America, a project supported by a $100 a point stock investments by ordinary citizens of the community. <br /> <br />Designed by a renown local architect, Vivian Smith, an Ocean City native who achieved success in Philadephia before returning home to assist in the design of the Ocean City Music Pier, Smith also designed Ocean City Hall, Ocean City High School, Ventnor City Hall and a number of Atlantic City hotels. He also laid out the unique, planned rural town of Belcoville, near Mays Landing. <br />The Flanders Hotel is of Spanish Mission Revival style, similar to the Chatterbox, the Music Pier, Grace Kelly's family home at 26th and Wesley Avenue and the Golden Galleon shops on the boardwalk, which sets a classic tone for the town. Constructed of steel girders and concrete, the hotel was not quite complete when a Grand Opening dinner party was held on July 28, 1923. The over four hundred guests, dignitaries and prominent citizens enjoyed a cuisine that included Aiquilette of Striped Bass, Consome Yvette, Potatoes Hollandaise, peas, Supreme of Chicken Mousselene and an entree of saddle of Spring Lamb, with Mousse glace Flanders dessert. It was a feast the Flanders chef Richard Spurlock recreated for the hotel's 75th anniversary party. <br /><br /> <br /> <br />The Flanders<br />January 4, 1923<br /> The Flanders<br />April 10, 1923<br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br />The Flanders<br />April 21, 1923<br /> The Flanders<br />July 26, 1923<br /> <br /> <br />The Flanders Hotel is named after Flanders Field in Belgium, where poppies grow over the rows of gravestones of American soldiers who died during World War I, the cemetery made famous by the John McCrae poem: <br />"In Flanders Fields the poppies blow<br /> Between the crosses, row on row...<br />We are the Dead. Short days ago<br /> We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,<br />Loved and were loved,<br /> and now we lie in Flanders fields..." <br /> <br />The first national marbles tournament was held at the Flanders to publicize the opening of the hotel, which was originally managed by J.Howard Slocum. Having previously managed the Waldorf Astoria, the Princeton Inn and the Normande Hotel, Slocum established the precedence of fine cuisine, appointments and service that have been continued through the years. <br />The hotel miraculously survived the devastating fire of October 1927, when twelve city blocks were leveled, after which the boardwalk was rebuilt a block closer to the ocean, which made room for what became the salt water swimming pools. <br />The stock market crash of 1929 caused economic hardship for the corporation and in 1932, Elwood F. Kirkman assumed ownership of the hotel. Most of the original investors were paid dimes to the dollar, but even in hard times, Kirkman maintained the hotel with an atmosphere of hospitality and continuation of the first class standards. <br />Among the hotel's more prominent guests wereVice President Charles Curtis, the three Lit brothers of department store fame, cartoonist Al Capp, Grace Kelly and Jimmie Stewart, all of whom spent time in the Ocean Room, which traditionally was the center of activities. <br />After Kirkman died, his family sold off the property in parcels. Other plans devised to make the hotel into a retirement community, but the city wanted to maintain the hotel as one of the city's premier landmark attractions. James M. Dwyer purchased the Flanders in 1996, remodeled the rooms as condominium units and restored the hotel to much of its former grandeur. The Drifters and the Coasters performed at the hotel's grand reopening on Labor day 1997, a function that was attended by then New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Billy Kelly, Historical Author<br /> <br /><br /> <br />HOME | ACCOMMODATIONS | PENTHOUSES | AMENITIES | RATES | RESERVATIONS | HISTORY | DIRECTIONS | CONTACT<br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /> <br />View Our Video!<br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br />...the finest Grand Hotel in Southern New Jersey, completely renovated to modern luxury comfort and convenience standards. The Ocean City landmark is centrally located directly on the famous Ocean City boardwalk and features luxury multi-room suites and exquisite Penthouses with ocean front, ocean side, bay, and city views. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Come enjoy modern luxury accommodations and amenities in an environment of historic grandeur. Relax and meet your fellow guests in our beautifully restored lobby, in our wonderful restaurant and cafe, out by the pool, or in our invigorating fitness center. Celebrate special occasions at the on-site Flanders Banquet and Conference Center. All of our suites have fully equipped kitchens and are tastefully decorated, and our Penthouse suites offer oceanfront extravagance at its best. High speed internet access is available throughout the building. <br /> <br />The Flanders offers a gateway to fun, relaxation, and excitement for the entire family, and our professional staff is ready and eager to assure that your stay is both wonderful and memorable. Bring your family and we are sure you will return again and again to the magic and elegance of The Flanders Hotel. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br />What Our Guests Have Said...<br /> <br />The accommodations were lovely! <br />Perfect location. Great time. We would love to come back.<br />What a great place. Loved the decor. <br />We all can't wait to visit next summer!<br />We especially love the close proximity to the beach and boards.<br />I was glad I had the experience of such a lovely, classic hotel.<br /> <br />Copyright © 2003 The Flanders Hotel Rental Board. All Rights Reserved.William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-43619684641817471952008-09-23T20:09:00.000-07:002009-01-03T20:31:22.604-08:00Political ContributionsOver the years Jim Dwyer has given political contributions to the Republican Party, especially to those who he knew personally, writing on each check his only request for "Good Government."William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333308079959227309.post-85976455755212905072008-09-23T19:48:00.000-07:002008-09-23T19:56:14.589-07:00The Homestead Hotel<div class="vcard"><div class="org">The Homestead Hotel</div><div class="adr"><span class="street-address">805 E. 8th Street</span>, <span class="locality"><b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> <b style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">City</b></span>, <span class="region">NJ</span> <span class="postal-code">08226</span> </div><div class="tel">(609) 391-0200 </div><div><a class="email" href="http://homesteadhotel.info/contact">Contact Us </a></div></div><div id="subpage_nav"><div class="wrap"><ul><li id="home"><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/">Home<span></span></a> </li><li id="about"><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/about">About<span></span></a> </li><li id="rooms"><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/rooms">Rooms & Rates<span></span></a> </li><li id="amenities"><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/amenities">Hotel Amenities<span></span></a> </li><li id="specials"><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/specials">Specials<span></span></a> </li><li id="brochure"><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/brochure">Get a Brochure<span></span></a> </li><li id="reservations"><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/reservations">Reservations<span></span></a> </li></ul></div></div><div class="wrap"><div id="subpage_highlight"><h2>Regal Elegance in <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> <b style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">City</b>, NJ</h2><p>The Homestead Hotel is one of <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> <b style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">City</b>, New Jersey's oldest hotels. It first opened in 1929, just steps from the famous <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> <b style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">City</b>, NJ boardwalk. It is now available for summer vacation enjoyment, boasting newly renovated rooms and amenities plus more much more.</p></div><div id="subpage_content_top"></div><div id="subpage_content"><div id="main_col"><h2>About the Homestead Hotel</h2><p> </p><p>The devastating fire of 1927 destroyed large portions of the <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> <b style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">City</b> Boardwalk and left residents and visitors yearning for modern, fireproof hotels. Seeing this opportunity, the Hanscom brothers (bakers and restaurateurs by profession) began plans for a new hotel with contemporary amenities. While not rivaling the Flanders Hotel, <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> City's luxury accommodations, the Hotel Hanscom added much needed first-class guest rooms to the growing resort. </p><p>Now known as the Homestead Condotel, the hotel's early history is briefly stated on the building's plaque. It says, in part, "Formerly Hanscom Hotel, established in 1928 by the Hanscom Baking Company." However, the hotel opened Monday, July 22, 1929, according to the <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> <b style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">City</b> Daily. </p><p>"The owners, having many years experience of understanding and satisfying the wants of summer hotel guests, planned the hotel as ideal for the seashore," stated the newspaper. "The place they conceived had to be comfortable in size and arrangement, attractive in design, within and without, tasteful in furnishing and complete in service. It was to be neither ostentatious nor expensive; it must wholly satisfy those of moderate means, but not oppress with over-lavishness. All this they materialized in the form of the new Hanscom." </p><p>However, in 1968, Friendly Homes, Inc., a group of Methodist laymen and clergy, purchased the Hanscom, changed its name to the Homestead Hotel and turned it into a retirement home. Although the company was based in Philadelphia, Friendly Homes' president William G. Luft was also president of the <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> <b style="COLOR: white; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #880000">City</b> Tabernacle Association, the city's first religious institution. After some renovation, the establishment was ready for occupancy in late summer of that year. </p><p>It remained a retirement residence for many years until purchased by a local entrepreneur. "Renovated in 1997 by <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff66">James</b> M. <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a0ffff">Dwyer</b>, proprietor and <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #99ff99">real</b> <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff9999">estate</b> developer" (the plaque continues), the home again became a hotel. </p><p>The Homestead has been recently renovated into a condominium hotel (or "condotel"). </p><p>Now, the hotel may finally break free from its retirement home image and move forward to a new era. Bathers would love staying at the property, since the Homestead is less than a block from the beach and Boardwalk. <b style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff">Ocean</b> views range from excellent to mediocre depending on the location of the condo within the building itself. </p><div id="sidebar"><div id="reservations_blurb"><h4><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/reservations">Request a Reservation</a></h4><p>Get the reservation process started at the Homestead Hotel.</p><div><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/reservations"><img height="65" alt="Request a Reservation" src="http://homesteadhotel.info/images/reservation_blurb_button.png" width="259" /></a></div></div><!-- This has been surgicaly altered to be a "contact" instead of an "about" --><div id="history_blurb"><h4><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/contact">Contact the Homestead</a></h4><p>All the ways to reach us , map and directions to the Hotel and more.<br /><a href="http://homesteadhotel.info/contact">Contact the Homestead Hotel</a></p></div></div><p><img height="206" alt="Sketch of the Homestead Hotel in Ocean City, NJ" src="http://homesteadhotel.info/images/hotel_bw.gif" width="279" /></p><p> </p></div></div></div>William Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06891936236810260349noreply@blogger.com0