Affinity Fraud: How It Works

There's something about the two words 'TRUST ME' used by Jeff McVay, the City of Mesa's Director of Downtown Transformation, at a public meeting of the Planning & Zoning Board on September 25, 2019 for a Site Review in a zoning case that would allow "a university campus and a public plaza" in what is called Mesa City Center, better recognized for years as two parking lots adjacent to a Bureau of Land Management Conversion Grant Landscaping Project on Pepper Place. It's now a 360-Degree Dilemma *.

Here's a story, perhaps coincidental, where those two words "TRUST ME" are used - from a case last year in Kaysville, Utah (a predominantly LDS community 20 miles north of Salt Lake City) involving the U.S. Department of Justice in a fraud scheme using money given from friends and fellow church members, requiring the help of attorneys and bankers.    

Here in Downtown Mesa it is using taxpayer money that takes it to the next level . . . 

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Another Former LDS Stake President Indicted for Affinity Fraud

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Mark Pugsley 

"On Wednesday September 6, 2018 the US Department of Justice announced the indictment of Robert G. Mouritsen of Kaysville, Utah on three counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.
The DOJ alleged that Mouritsen used a “position of prominence” to induce friends and fellow church members to give him money to further a fraud scheme he called “The Project” which targeted his fellow church members and was ongoing at the time the Indictment was filed. . .
The “position of prominence” the DOJ is referring to is the fact that Mouritsen was a stake president of the Kaysville Utah Crestwood Stake of the Mormon Church from 1989 to 1997.
. . . Mouritsen told prospective investors that The Project “involved a series of complicated international transactions” that “involved governments in Asia and Europe and required the help of attorneys and bankers.”  He also purportedly told investors that this investment opportunity had to be kept “strictly confidential” so he could not disclose many of the details.  Right.
Secrecy, unusually high returns and urgency are all significant red flags that should have caused investors to forego this investment opportunity, but unfortunately some folks fell for it.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Reference: https://rqn.com/blog/utahsecuritiesfraudifraud
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Other Recent Posts

• In the Decade Since Madoff, Ponzi Schemers Try New Tactics
• Mark Pugsley and Aaron Hinton Prevail on Fraud Case in Third District Court
• Discussion of Investment Fraud in Utah on KSL’s Sunday Edition with Doug Wright
• My Interview with ‘Trib Talk’ on Why Utah is Home to So Many Ponzi Schemes
• Finally It’s Confirmed: Utah Has More Ponzi Schemes Per Capita Than Any State in the Country. By Far.

 

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POSSIBLY RELATED CONTENT ON THIS BLOG SITE

20 May 2018

More Transparency From The LDS Church & The City of Mesa?

Thanks to a series of media reports about a "Massive Mormon Temple Make-Over that could transform downtown",  the public is finding out more about the For-Profit real estate acquisition and expansion enterprises of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints here in Mesa and the entire Phx East Valley.
Shall we call it "Preaching The Gospel of Prosperity" ?
More than likely it's bigger than an information-iceberg to show the overlapping intersections of business and religion, finance, insurance, real estate and related industries.

The Shroud of Secrecy on this contentious subject is slowly getting pulled-back by lifting the Zion Curtain with the revelation of some of the names holding ownership titles to real estate here in downtown Mesa and the entire Phx East Valley. 
Your MesaZona blogger is pleased to see that some of the go-to mainstream media writers are slacking off less regurgitating Spoon-Fed news by getting-down to some of the real Nitty-Gritty.

It takes guts to break out-of-the-mold as being the 'mouth-pieces' for the Mormon Political Machine that's monopolized Mesa for far too long.
Here's some recent reporting with excerpts:
. . . “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in private investment down there,’’ Barney said. “I think this will be a catalyst for future investment.’ . . Although a formal plan has not been submitted, Property Reserve Inc., the LDS church’s property wing, submitted requests to demolish nine houses to the west of the temple on two streets named after Mormon pioneers – Udall and Lesueur.

Now, the still unannounced plan and the controversy over that request have some Mesa residents demanding a more complete overview and more transparency from both the church and the city .
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Blogger Note: A good example of the public demanding more transparency is the image above from a Mesa City Council meeting where two local politicos, members of the LDS Church, came out in public to pitch their schemes for personal gains by private investors. 
Mesa Mega-Millionaire and AZ State Senator Bob Worsley gambling what he says $20M on real estate speculation downtown on Main Street

Sitting behind Worley is former U.S. Congressman Matt Salmon, who resigned when he got hired by ASU as a high-paid lobbyist Vice-President of Government Affairs
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Barney and his late father, T. Dennis Barney, a well-respected Gilbert developer, have quietly played a pivotal role in setting the stage for the redevelopment by acting in concert with the LDS church and acquiring numerous properties west of the Temple and turning them over to the church.
. . . his father started buying the properties at the LDS churches’ request in 2000 and that the purchases probably included 40-50 houses and other buildings.