BJ you bring up some good points. Common sense is not a word I would use for Two Rivers Authority, the mayor, the city council of Hardin or for Becky Shay.
Shay was a Gazette reporter doing stories on the Hardin Jail for the last two years. Michael Hilton (MH) rides into town with his snake oil salesman self and makes her an offer she can't refuse to be their spokesperson just last Friday. From KULR8
"She is earning $60,000 dollars a year, received a signing bonus, a brand new company car and is getting help making the down payment on a new home. "Here I am feeling the best I've ever felt about myself," she said. "At a great point in my life." She said she vetted the company and was told things they will not tell the media. "I am absolutely positive I made a great career choice," she said." Gullible maybe? How exciting to be involved with this important foreigner who promises to save your city and bring economic prosperity???
Remember that this APF company materialized a matter of weeks after Hardin went national offering to take Gitmo detainees (yet the website says they have years of experience but their website is so new there's no archive of it). From MH's point of view, what a perfect scam. He is an accomplished liar, has scammed tons of people already. From a KULR8 article recently
"A California doctor who said he was conned by Hilton said he was stunned to learn Hilton was planning a major venture in Montana.
"I didn't even sleep last night because of the memories that it conjured up, he's the reason I had to go bankrupt. I lost my practice, I had some mental issues because of this. He was using up other people's money, mainly mine, and other people, like a Ponzi scheme."
So Hardin is desperate to pay off their defaulted bond and they have this 27 million dollar empty jail that no one wants to put inmates in. It smacks of poor planning and desperation on the city's part. Others scammed by MH said he is extremely charming and believable.
So you simply say you're a spinoff of a parent company you won't name and since it's a "mercenary group" everything is secretive and has to be hush-hush because the security of your business and employees could be at risk, but you'll reveal all very soon. So that explains the new website, the lack of gvt database hits. It gives the illusion of trust and of COURSE you'd want to help protect these undercover ops guys! You've been brought into the circle of trust, haven't you?
I doubt MH gave any proof he was able to financially back this except to show up with three fancy Mercedes SUVs (that could've been rented or leased - payments are owed on at least one). I'm guessing that is why the bank trustee has not signed the papers.
I'm fairly certain Shay doesn't know anything. She has said "My job is not to give you the answers you want, my job is to give the information I've been employed to release or not release." Her emotional breakdown I believe does not really have to do with fear of conspiracy theorists, it's that she realizes she did a stupid, stupid thing that has huge consequences and she's wishing she hadn't been so gullible - one can hope she realizes anyway.
From an article on MH's scam ability:
"Such schemes you cannot believe," said Joseph Carella, an Orange County, Calif. doctor and co-defendant with Hilton in a real estate fraud case that resulted in a civil judgment against Hilton and several others.
"The guy's brilliant. If he had been able to do honest work, he probably would have been a gazillionaire," Carella said.
Court documents show Hilton has outstanding judgments against him in three civil cases totaling more than $1.1 million.
As for Hilton's military expertise, including his claim to have advised forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, those interviewed knew of no such feats. Instead, Hilton was described alternately by those who know him as an arts dealer, cook, restaurant owner, land developer, loan broker and car salesman – always with a moneymaking scheme in the works."
...
Hilton has also
pledged to build a $17 million military and law enforcement training center. And he's
promised to dispatch
security to patrol Hardin's streets, build an
animal shelter and a
homeless shelter and offer
free health care to city resident's out of the jail's clinic.
Those additional promises were not included in the jail agreement, which remains in limbo because US Bank has so far declined to sign off on the contract. The bank is the trustee for the bonds used to fund the jail.
A US Bank spokeswoman declined to comment, but
Peterson was adamant the deal would be approved.
"It's a solid deal. That's all I'll say," he said.
But a representative of a corrections advocacy group that has been critical of Hardin's jail and has investigated Hilton's past said
city leaders dropped the ball.
"I'm amazed that city officials didn't do basic research that would have raised significant questions about American Private Police Force and Mr. Hilton's background," said Alex Friedmann, vice president of the Private Corrections Institute....
After his release, he got entangled in at least three civil lawsuits alleging fraud or misrepresentation. Those included luring investors to sink money into gold and silver collectible coins; posing as a fine arts dealer in Utah in order to convince a couple to give him a $100,000 silver statue; and, in the case involving co-defendant Carella, seeking investors for an assisted living complex in Southern California that was never built.
Carella said he was duped into becoming a partner in the development project and that Hilton used Carella's status as a physician to lure others into the scheme. He was described in court testimony as a "pawn" used by Hilton to lure investors."
http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_3358920a-ae49-11de-9484-001cc4c002e0.html
Red flags from the get go -
"New" company with no record of involvement with anyone else
All the stuff this guy promised to give Hardin.
No proof of any real $.
No accountability.
Secrecy.
Plagerism and misspellings on website.
The Washington DC address didn't exist - an application was filled out but never completed for a "virtual office" in DC (the kind you get when you want to sound more important than you are).
Oh, yeah, BTW, Hardin doesn't have any homeless people
