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Colorado land scam$221 million false claims slip by Oklahoma officials' turned backs, for one group!
Update: Since this article was originally written First State Bank Altus has been taken over. First State Bank it's holding company FSB Bancorp Altus, and venture investment LLC's are undergoing intensive investigation. The president of the bank and venture investment LLC's; and his partner have left the area.
Documents recently obtained from the Oklahoma Tax Commission reveals Altus Venture claimed investing $221 million in one business venture in order to qualify and received $66 million in tax credits. While only investing $32 million.
All evidence clearly points to that investment being Quartz Mountain Aerospace. Quartz Mountain recently went broke and closed after receiving only $32 million of the claimed $221 million. Estimating Quartz Mountain Aerospace expenditures during that period, based on the number and pay of employees, equipment cost, etc, is in line with the $32 million.
After reviewing the documents the Oklahoma Tax Commission was contacted and informed of the above and requested an investigation be conducted. The individual contacted at OTC handled the request in a very professional manner, and I feel comfortable that individual carried through as they should. It is at the policy level of OTC that past handling of questionable tax credit abuse issues justifies skepticism. I also informed the tax commission this same information suggest there are more violations and that I needed more information to make that determination. More on this later.
The tax commission was also made aware of other significant and related circumstances involving the group in question. Oklahoma Industrial Venture Capital Company LLC, along with Quartz Mountain Aerospace, Altus Venture and First State Bank Altus are four of the business entities owned by FSB Bancorp Altus, all controlled by the same small group of individuals.
More importantly, the entire group of entities is currently under investigation for a growing list of wide ranging accusations. There are at least 4 federal and one state agency, in addition to the Oklahoma Tax Commission actively involved in these investigations. Agencies that we know of include, the FTC, FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, US Dept of Labor and the State Banking Department. I can't speak to the IRS and FBI who do not reveal their activities.
As part of this the FDIC and Federal Reserve Board recently issued Cease and Desist orders for all business entities in the above mentioned group and the individuals involved, in an attempt to prevent further acts. In addition FDIC and Federal Reserve Board ordered a full scope audit for the entire group.
In addition to the government investigations mentioned above, the key members of the same group are facing various financial lawsuits including a $25 million land scam in a Denver federal court, and two other cases filed by two different banks in Oklahoma courts. There are several other limitation issues, both criminal and civil being discussed.
To this taxpayer who, for the last two years, has been begging for state officials to open their eyes and investigate, I can't imagine a more compelling situation demanding a full and open investigation. If wrong is found the state is entitled to recover over $120 million in badly need public funds from this one case. The laws states those who received the unearned $2 for $1 profit are responsible for repaying.
This is were things will get dicey. The same state officials who are responsible for investigating, bringing charges and recovering ill gotten money, were legally free to be those reaping these huge unearned profits.
These are the same state officials who have continually rebuff calls for an investigation by claiming they know of nothing illegal occuring. These are the same state officials who so aggressively refuse the public access to the identities of those involved. These are the same state officials who have twice claimed they thought they closed the loophole, for us to find later the loophole was actually widened. These are the same state officials who claim this program is good for the state, yet refuse to reveal how much the program is costing, where the money is going, what the money is used for and what the public has received in return.
Lastly, I have requested the tax commission provide additional information. Sufficient evidence is available to suggest there are wide spread tax credit abuses. Information requested is that which the tax commission has previously withheld from the public and would clear this up. The tax commission wrongly tries to claim the information requested is exempted from FOI. Yet the same information requested can be found on OpenBooks for all other programs. There we can find the names, dates and amounts paid to state employees, vendors and lottery winners.
Why are state officials claiming the FOI has multiple interpretations? That the public is entitled to see where some money goes, but the public loses that entitlement when certain unidentified people are the recipients of public funds?
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