JZK RSE International Scam, Lied to Feds for Tax Credit

This forum will list the news articles relative to the topic of RSE, directly or indirectly.
User avatar
David McCarthy
Site Admin
Posts: 2892
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:09 am
Location: New Zealand
Contact:

JZK RSE International Scam, Lied to Feds for Tax Credit

Unread post by David McCarthy »

SOUTH THURSTON JOURNAL
JZ Knight Pitched Pricy Investment Scam, Lied to Feds for Tax Credit - SOUTH THURSTON JOURNAL
http://souththurstonjournal.com/2016/03 ... -credit-2/

First in a Series on RSE International
June 14, 2014
by Melissa Genson

For decades, Thurston County’s JZ Knight has owned the “no-fault cult” Ramtha School of Enlightenment (RSE). She has boasted of her wealth, her extravagant lifestyle, her political connections, her influence over government authorities, and her celebrity followers like Salma Hayek, Shirley MacLaine, and Linda Evans.
Six minutes into this video clip from a 2008 CNN Larry King Live program, JZ Knight discusses her “best friend” Salma Hayek. Click here to see video clip of JZ Knight telling Larry King about her best friend Salma Hayek.
Here is the full interview from that segment:

JZ Knight has spent the last year and a half–and millions of dollars–suing people from around the globe over the release of secret RSE videos. These videos show Knight hurling profanities and hate against Catholics, Mexicans, Jews, gays, and more.
These videos also show Knight making fraudulent inducements to her followers, including her claim that mega-conglomerate 3M seeks advice and forecasts from her.

3M Management Responds to Knight’s False Claims
3M denies Knight’s claims.
Deceptive business practices are illegal in Washington State.
Officials from Washington State and Thurston County have shown little concern over JZ Knight’s various activities over the years, in spite of multiple reports of wrongdoing.
And after recently accepting her $65,000 donation, Thurston County Democratic Party Chair Roger Erskine stated:
JZ Knight is a very good strong Democrat and she totally supports our platform and our goals and I think that’s good enough.
So Where Does JZ Knight Get Her Money?
JZ Knight’s ex-followers offer a clue as to the money. Several have described decades of one JZ swindle after another, backed by celebrity endorsements.
They talk of losing their homes and their families, as a result of losing their life savings to Knight.
Knight’s infamous horse scam from the 1980s was featured on ABC’s 20/20 in 1988. Seven and a half minutes into the second half of this 20/20 segment (below), Knight explains her feelings about that particular grift: “If a person is ever sorry about what they ever did, then they will never learn, and they never progress and go forward.” She adds, “everyone is entitled to their own truth.”
ABC’s Judd Rose closed the segment by calling RSE a “no-fault cult.”

Apparently JZ Knight learned how to be a little more discreet with her future fraudulent investment offerings.
RSE International, Inc.
In 2007, JZ Knight and her “CPA” pitched a new idea to her followers.
She would sell her main business, the Ramtha School of Enlightenment (RSE), to her followers who could afford the minimum investment of $100,000. The business would be called RSE International, Inc.
Her most trusted followers would comprise the board–including her “CPA” Robert Hoffman and her (then) live-in lover James Flick, who is featured in this video:

Potential investors would first have to sign yet another of Knight’s secrecy contracts, then prove that they had the cash, just to see the written investment proposal.
Knight gave enticing inducements in her investment pitch. She described a flurry of upcoming projects, including vague references to four movie offers, a reality show, and a weekly talk show.
None of these projects came to pass.
In the midst of Knight’s vague claims about upcoming projects, she made one very specific pitch in her written investment proposal:
One movie, “Lifting the Veil” is being produced by the People of “The Secret.”
That was an extremely impressive claim in 2007.
In 2006, Oprah Winfrey overwhelmingly endorsed Rhonda Byrne’s film and book called The Secret, making Byrne an overnight phenomenon.
Oprah followed up with a series of programs on The Secret.
The same month that JZ Knight made her Lifting the Veil claim to potential RSE International investors, Oprah Winfrey raved about The Secret on Larry King Live.
As with JZ Knight’s fraudulent boasts about 3M, her pitch to her potential investors about Lifting the Veil was yet another lie.
Laura Reeve, representative of The Secret, states:
Neither the company that produced and owns The Secret (including any of its affiliated or successor entities), nor any of their respective principals (collectively, “The Secret”), have had any business dealings or agreements with JZ Knight, RSE International, or Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment. Nor did The Secret produce, agree to produce, or otherwise support a movie titled “Lifting the Veil.”
Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 21.20.010 states:
It is unlawful for any person, in connection with the offer, sale or purchase of any security, directly or indirectly:
(1) To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud;
(2) To make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they are made, not misleading; or
(3) To engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person.
JZ’s Knock-Out Pitch to Potential Investors – A Shell Game with a Phony Tax Credit
The cherry on top of JZ’s 2007 investment pitch for RSE International was a hefty tax credit that Knight claimed would provide 30% of the funding to rebuild and update the RSE facilities, as well as paying the remaining buyout from her.
In other words, the investors would own 100% of RSE by only pitching in 70%. The taxpayers would pony up the other 30%, free and clear.
A sweet deal, for sure. If it were real.

CDFI Tax Credit Application – RSE Intl = NO. JZK = YES
JZ’s tax credit pitch was for the U.S. Treasury’s CDFI New Markets Tax Credit Program. This program was established to stimulate investment in low-income communities.
In 2007, the credits were being used to help rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.
Not much of a close fit for a pricy New Age resort like RSE that caters to celebrities.
But Robert Hoffman–JZ’s “CPA” and corporate agent–gave it a good try anyway.
But with one teeny little change.
Hoffman and Knight didn’t apply for the tax credit under RSE International, Inc.
They applied under JZK Inc. — JZ’s privately owned corporation.
JZ Knight would have collected the largess from a tax credit that she probably couldn’t have legitimately qualified for in a million years.
JZ would have collected the benefits…and not her serially hoodwinked investors. This was, once again, just another horse scam of a different color.
And another apparent run-in with Washington’s securities law, as well as SEC Regulation D.


JZK’s Application for CDFI Tax Credit, Claiming To Be an SBA New Market Venture Capital Company
Might As Well Lie To The Feds, Too
On the application for the CDFI New Markets Tax Credit Program, JZK claimed to be a New Market Venture Capital Company, through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA.)
That’s a big deal. To this date, there aren’t very many of them in the whole country, that made the cut.
And according to SBA’s Mark Costello, JZK didn’t make the cut. Not in 2007. Not ever.
U.S. Code 18, Section 1001 states:
whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully -

Phony CPA Robert Hoffman Turned in Fraudulent Tax Credit Application
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry; shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years.
But JZ can’t take all the credit for this one. She had some help.
Her “CPA” Robert Hoffman filled it out for her.

JZK Lied to U.S. Treasury About Being SBA New Market Venture Capital Company
U.S. Code 18 Section 286 states:
Whoever enters into any agreement, combination, or conspiracy to defraud the United States, or any department or agency thereof, by obtaining or aiding to obtain the payment or allowance of any false, fictitious or fraudulent claim, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
This isn’t the only time that Robert Hoffman has helped someone associated with RSE.
He helped two of JZ’s followers with their own creative project in Vermont. Yet another film.
Twenty-eight million dollars later, Mac Parker and Lou Soteriou are now cooling their heels in federal prison.
It was the largest fraud in Vermont’s history.
In this video, Mac Parker explains the connection of their “film project” to the teachings of Ramtha School of Enlightenment.
Robert Hoffman showed up to testify at the sentencing of his RSE cohort, Lou Soteriou. Soteriou had been the mastermind behind the record breaking fraud.
Hoffman testified to his own role in the grift. When some of the scam victims had turned to Vermont’s authorities to help them get their money back, Hoffman had jumped in and offered a way around such unpleasantness–with his expertise as a “CPA.”
Hoffman repeatedly stated under oath that he was a CPA in both California and Washington State, and that he had been the CPA for the Ramtha School of Enlightenment. Here are the transcripts from Soteriou’s sentencing hearing – Hoffman’s testimony is on pages 120-125. Soteriou sentencing with Hoffman testimony 8-19-13
Lou Soteriou went to federal prison. Robert Hoffman went back to his life in California. Hoffman appeared to have cut ties with JZ Knight in 2008 and disappeared. Former RSE friends worried about him.
Apparently, their worry was for naught.
JZ’s “CPA” Today – in California and Washington

CA Accountancy Board Denies JZK’s Agent Robert Hoffman Was Ever a CPA in California
Robert Hoffman is currently the Chief Financial Officer of a large medical corporation in southern California. On his corporate webpage, he again claims to be a CPA–just as he did at his RSE friend’s sentencing. (If Hoffman removes his CPA claims from his webpage, screen shots of his claims are below.)
The State Accountancy Boards of California and Washington beg to differ with Robert Hoffman’s CPA claims.

WA Accountancy Board Denies that JZK Agent Robert Hoffman Was Ever a CPA in WA
Neither state has any record of Hoffman being a CPA at any time.
Perjury in a U.S. Federal Court can bring a fine and five years in prison.
And it appears that Robert Hoffman hasn’t strayed too far from JZ Knight, RSE, and Yelm.
In recent years, JZ Knight has apparently thought about reawakening RSE International.
In this video clip from a 2012 RSE event, JZ Knight leads her followers in the following toast:
“To RSE International –
It made you what you are, and let us pray it will make you into the future.”
Click here to see this video clip.
There is no documentation that JZ Knight ever transferred ownership of RSE from her own corporation to RSE International. RSE International was only in Washington State records for a year, with no activity shown.
There will be much more to my story of RSE International, the directors, and Robert Hoffman.


Melissa Genson, a resident of Washington State, is the regional editor for Watchdog Wire – Northwest. Contact her at Northwest@WatchdogWire.com.

JZ Knight Pitched Pricy Investment Scam, Lied to Feds for Tax Credit - SOUTH THURSTON JOURNAL
http://souththurstonjournal.com/2016/03 ... -credit-2/
Related:
(EMF) View forum - RSE International, Inc.
viewforum.php?f=35

Calling RSE a Cult. JZK loses defamation lawsuit
http://freepdfhosting.com/89344d0148.pdf
But he has nothing on at all, cried at last the whole people....
Post Reply

Return to “News Articles”