Ghosts of RV Past

In the famous Dickens novella "A Christmas Carol" Ebenezer Scrooge encountered the ghost of Christmas past as he was confronted with his evil deeds.  Well I thought this Christmas might be a good time to take a look at an old conference call featuring convicted dinar fraud Rudolph Coenen. 

In this interview from three years ago Rudy says that he trades the mark.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1-ryajHTxE (16-19 minutes in)  Problem is the mark was replaced by the euro as the official currency of Germany 15 years ago.  How did we miss that?  The guy sounded so convincing.  It seems that we were fixated on his apparent expertise and didn't bother to factcheck what he was saying.  Lesson learned.  When you hear a guru sharing their vast knowledge of all things financial with you in a conference call, blogtalk broadcast, video presentation, or YouTube video just remember that this guy Rudolph Coenen was indicted and convicted for defrauding dinar investors.  Among the lies he told were:

1. He served and was wounded in Desert Storm
2. He served as VP of foreign currencies at J. P. Morgan Chase
3. The currency reform plan of the CBI is a revaluation
4. He was establishing a hedge fund for dinar investors for post-RV investments

http://www.realscam.com/attachments/f12/1576d1348185792-bayshore-capital-investments-bh-group-bhgroup_indictment.pdf

I have to admit that I was fooled for awhile.  Not everybody was taken in by Rudy, however.  One of my readers who goes by DaveD called him a fraud long before the authorities took action.  In this thread he posted by the name of Stew and called the douchebag on his BS. 


While we're at it, we might as well go back and listen to some calls conducted by the alleged co-conspirators Brad Huebner and Charlie Emmenecker, who are once again awaiting trial on similar charges.

http://thebhgroup.org/dinar/weekly-call/archived-calls.html


$23.8 million in dinar sales would equal over 10,000 people if the average purchase was 2 million dinar.  That's a lot of people to defraud, don't you agree?  No doubt many of them bought after listening to Rudy on their calls.  (They've removed the Rudy calls from their archives for obvious reasons.) 

Once again we see the need to stick with verifiable facts rather than following gurus.  It's your money, folks.  Be careful with it.

Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year to one and all (except for the scammers).


   

BH Group Re-Indicted

From the Toledo Blade:



As federal prosecutors had promised, new indictments were handed up this week against three Toledo businessmen accused in a $23-million fraud scheme. 

Bradford L. Huebner, 66, of Ottawa Hills, Charles N. Emmenecker, 66, of Sylvania, and Michael L. Teadt, 67, of Maumee were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday in connection with the sale of Iraqi dinar currency and two allegedly nonexistent hedge funds.

All three are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, while Mr. Huebner, owner of BH Group in Toledo, also faces multiple counts of money laundering and structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements.

The trio were originally indicted on similar charges in 2012, but on Nov. 27 — just days before their trial in U.S. District Court was to begin — Judge Jack Zouhary “regretfully” dismissed the indictment, citing a technicality raised by defense attorneys.

Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a news release that investors lost some $23.8 million from dinar sales and more than $700,000 from the sale of nonexistent hedge fund seats and placements.

Beginning in 2010, the trio allegedly made false statements to investors about the U.S. Treasury Department’s holdings of dinar and involvement in the Iraqi dinar investment market.

“These defendants made false statements time and again to convince people to part with their savings and hard-earned cash,” he said. “The fact that they falsely claimed one member of the conspiracy was wounded while fighting in Iraq is particularly egregious.”

A fourth co-defendant, Rudolph Coenen, 47, of Jacksonville, Fla. pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and five counts of money laundering, but he has not yet been sentenced. Coenen owned Bayshore Capital Investments LLC in Jacksonville.

http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2013/12/20/3-local-men-reindicted-in-fraud-scheme.html

Let's Talk About Iraq

The vast majority of my posts have been about scammers, lies, and numbers regarding currency valuation.  But I think we need to remember that we're also talking about a country.  The IQD is the currency of Iraq, and it's often stated that a currency is only as good as the government behind it.  According to this chart there are only six countries with more corruption than Iraq.

http://www.transparency.org/files/content/pressrelease/CPI2013_map-and-country-results_english_embargoed.pdf


Currencies tend to reflect the confidence in the country behind them.  What is Iraq like today?  Is it blossoming into the quasi-paradise of its neighbors in Kuwait or United Arab Emirates?  It is becoming the land of bounty, the reborn Babylon of old?  Well according to this article, not even close. 

http://m.vice.com/read/the-new-slums-of-baghdad?utm_source=vicetwitterus


Since coalition forces left Iraq the country has slid into the cultural abyss. How anybody could take an honest look at today's Iraq and conclude that they're going to have one of the most valuable currencies in the world in the forseeable future is mind-boggling.  The gurus won't tell you this, but Iraq is a disaster.  Far from the emerging nirvana presented in your typical dinar conference call, this is a country that is struggling to avoid civil war and a total collapse into a failed state.  Sure, they have tons of oil.  But as the article points out the oil industry produces comparatively few jobs and does little to improve the quality of life for the typical Iraqi.  With widespread unemployment and poverty Iraq is fertile ground for anti-western sentiment and radical ideology. 

In another article newly published, the escalating violence is reported to be responsible for 2,720 deaths since April 24.  (Thanks to CFO for this link too.)

http://data.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/a-wave-of-violence-sweeps-iraq


Corruption, deplorable living conditions, widespread carnage from terrorist activity ..... barring a lop, is there really any reason to expect this country's currency to do anything other than languish around a tenth of a penny for the foreseeable future?