I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Barrett Moore, the CEO of Sovereign Deed — a company that wants to develop private disaster relief services with financial assistance from the state and county governments– declared personal bankruptcy in 1998 and has been sued for illegal or deceptive business practices three times in the last three years.
Sovereign Deed’s plan is to develop 700 acres of property around the Pellston Regional Airport as a safe haven for subscribers in the event of a catastrophic attack on the U.S., according to Rick Johnson, the former speaker of the Michigan House and now a lobbyist for the firm.
The project has been well-received by state and local government, Johnson said.
“We are looking at the county, state or federal government to provide grants for infrastructure,” he explained. “Roads need to be improved, water needs to be brought in.”
Continued -Last week the Emmet County Planning Commission approved plans for 12 acres of new Sovereign Deed buildings at the airport. The commission reviewed the proposal in a Tuesday study session in advance of a Nov. 8 meeting
Moore has not disclosed publicly in connection with his Michigan activites that he filed for personal bankruptcy in Illinois in 1998. According to a petition filed in federal bankruptcy court in Chicago he stated that two of his companies, Knight International and Arbitage Imports, were insolvent and that he had debts totaling $2,749,355. His only assets were $4,897 in an IRA account, $500 in household goods and $350 in clothing. In February 1999 the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago discharged an undisclosed amount of debt Moore owed to 58 creditors, according to court records.
In 2000 Moore’s computer-based training services company called Trifus agreed to resell the programs of a Utah software firm, Learnframe. In a July 2006 lawsuit the company alleged that Moore recruited former employees to steal software codes and that he defaulted on a $1.2-million promissory note. In March 2007 a federal judge agreed to Moore’s request that the dispute be submitted to arbitration. Court records do not show any activity since then.
As Michigan Messenger reported last week, Moore was sued in 2005 by former colleagues at Triple Canopy, a controversial private security firm operating in Iraq that he founded in 2002. The complaint alleged that Moore raided company funds for his own personal use, in one instance purchasing and hiding $100,000 in gold coins. The suit also alleged that he seized control of Triple Canopy’s communications systems as a negotiating ploy for a better severance package, thereby endangering employees in Iraq. Moore rejected the claims. The dispute was settled out of court.
As the Messenger also reported last week, a lawsuit filed in 2006 by an Illinois supplier alleged that Sovereign Deed failed to pay for one million surgical masks. That is still pending. Moore denied any wrongdoing.
Some local supporters of Sovereign Deed were surprised to learn of Moore’s financial history.
Emmet County Chamber of Commerce executive Carlin Smith, who backs Sovereign Deed’s plans in Pellston, said he did not do a background check on Moore or his companies. “The Chamber has more of a PR role,” he said.
Emmet County Controller Lyn Johnson said he was aware of the allegations and was not concerned about them. He said that during a trip this spring he visited a Sovereign Deed facility in Chicago and was satisfied that the company was sound.
Michigan Messenger contacted three of the seven Emmet County commissioners–Jack Jones, Thomas Shier and Thomas Foltz — all of whom said they were unaware of Moore’s business and personal history. The commissioners are expected to vote on the Sovereign Deed project on Nov. 8.
“I personally would want to consider [the allegations] if [they] came from a credible source,” Shier said. Foltz and Jones expressed similar sentiments.
Three lawsuits and a bankruptcy is not a normal profile for someone seeking tax abatements, said Dale Oesterle, a professor and contract law expert at Ohio State University’s Moritz Law School.
“The problem with these kinds of tax abatements is that it takes awhile for them to pay off…you want the guy to stay in business,” he added, “Give them a dollar in tax abatements and you collect two or three in taxes. But that doesn’t work if they don’t stick around.”
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