Who Is Jeff Berwick? Scam Artist or Businessman?
Image Source: YouTube Still
When Jeff Berwick, The Dollar Vigilante, entered Steemit, I had no idea who he was.
Quite honestly, I had never heard of him before. The only thing I knew was that many trustworthy Steemit users, like @piedpiper who had previously met him and pursued deals with him no longer wanted anything to do with him. And then there was George Donnelly who demanded to see Jeff’s documents concerning the Galt’s Gulch fiasco. He never received them.
Jeff Berwick’s Doom Porn Infomercial -style graphics and writing never appealed to me and I avoided reading his posts entirely. I never flagged his content because I never looked into it. But for fun, I decided to finally read one of his posts yesterday. I found it to be ridiculous on so many different levels. It seemed to be crafted in the midst of a hangover or while completely inebriated. These absurd aspects were well documented by @kyriacos in his response.
By this point the term, ‘scam artist’ had been applied to Jeff Berwick countless times among many Steemit users, but I had never really looked into the claims.
I give everyone a fair chance. I had never spoken to Jeff and so I couldn’t say for sure whether he was a conman or not. He seemed like an okay guy in interviews. So, today, I set about doing as much research as I could because I still didn’t know who Jeff Berwick really was. I will present you with facts and quotes from other people from many different sources. It is up to you to make a decision about The Dollar Vigilante for yourself. The reason I decided to do some digging is because I stumbled upon this video on YouTube last night. I learned that it was originally on Vimeo but Jeff had persuaded Vimeo to take it down. The video was uploaded to YouTube after it was removed from Vimeo and has now been mirrored across different accounts:
This video got me curious about Jeff’s passport company called TDV Global.
I went onto the website and then I began searching for any type of customer feedback. There are a lot of unhappy people who have paid Jeff’s company for foreign passports but who have not heard back from the staff at TDV Global. Here are some complaints from previous customers of TDV Global:
“Jeff Berwick is a scam artist. He calls himself an anarcho-capitalist, espousing the virtues of freedom and liberty. But all he really does is use his position among libertarian circles to defraud and scam his clients.
I signed up and paid for his Mexico Citizenship & Passport program for $30,000. I paid a total of $15,000 as a deposit. I also paid lots of money and spent a lot of time getting documents and signatures and sending it to his company. I also had to make two trips to Acapulco to "do paperwork" with the local government.
This was supposed to be a 3-month, one trip to Acapulco, passport deal. Looking back, I realize I am stupid for believing in such a scam. But this guy, Jeff Berwick, knew people that I respected...Doug Casey, for example. So I trusted him and worked with his "partner" Chris Martin. I even met Jeff Berwick in Acapulco. He seemed like a decent guy.
That is not the case. It has been two years since I signed up for this program. With no communication from Jeff Berwick or Chris Martin. I now understand that this program was never real to begin with. I just want to get my money back. Although knowing Jeff Berwick, I don't think I will get it back.
Well, this is one lesson that I learned the hard way. I'm sorry if my thoughts are not clear. A bit disappointed in myself for being stupid enough to go after pie-in-the-sky deals. I am a big fan of Doug Casey and his philosophy. I'm a subscriber at Casey Research.
I don't think Doug Casey knows what kind of person Jeff Berwick is. If Doug does, and continues to associate with Jeff, I would start to doubt Doug Casey's character also.
I just saw an "Anarchast" with Jeff and Doug. So I assume Doug does not know. But anyways, I will write to Casey Research and Doug personally to see if this is the kind of people Doug associates with. I haven't heard from Jeff Berwick or Chris Martin for almost a year. Writing emails is useless.
This is my lesson. Live and learn. To those who are reading this and have a desire to internationalize themselves...don't do business with TDV Immigration, TDV Passport, Jeff Berwick, Chris Martin, The Dollar Vigilante.
They will sweet talk you until you wire the money. Then they'll give you the runaround. Then they stop responding. And voila...you'll never hear from them again. I am angry, but this is some people's true nature. What can I do, but learn from this. Good luck to the free-spirited and freedom-loving adventurers out there.
SOURCE: Ripoff Report
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Jeff-Berwick/internet/Jeff-Berwick-The-Dollar-Vigilante-Anarchast-TDV-Passports-TDV-Global-TDV-Immigration-1249207
Here’s a second customer complaint also from Ripoff Report:
“Me, my wife, brother & his fiancee, and mother paid Jeff Berwicks - TDV Passports in full to go through what we thought was the legal process of becoming residents of Paraguay. We went to Paraguay and went through what we thought were the steps to do just that. After about six months two out of the five of us received resident status, or so we thought. The remaining three of us had difficulty getting Jeff or his agent, employee, partner or whatever he is (Chris Martin) to respond to us with a status report a year later.
Then after some research it appears from two news articles from local news sources in Paraguay that the people Jeff had us meet there were total frauds. They were apparently arrested for producing fraudulent documents related to resident cards and passports. To top it off, now their associates in Paraguay can not be contacted because their phone numbers have been disconnected.
Jeff had the gaul to ask me if I had his peoples contact information in Paraguay so I could contact them directly instead of going through Chris Martin. I told Jeff that the numbers I had for his people no longer worked and could he provide good contact information. Jeff never responded back with any numbers for anyone who could help.
I thought I knew Jeff well enough and could trust him. I even wrote a guest blog for his site and he stayed at my house one night because it was close to a conference he was to speak at the next day. I believe now that I was wrong about him. In fact, now I firmly believe he is a scam artist. Still perhaps he's a decent writer of some of the unpleasant truths of the world, that doesn't change the fact that he and his company will not provide what we paid for or return the money we paid them. I would strongly advise against using his service or you will very likely end up like we did - defrauded out of our money with no positive result...”
There are many more of the same kind of complaints even from other websites. From a website called OutScam we have a few more unhappy customers:
Jan. 2016
“I have made an application for TDV's Slovenian citizenship for my friend. More than estimated time passed but it wasn't done. Then switched to Mexican citizenship. Nothing happened. Later Chris Martin said company went bankrupt. Jeff Berwick and Chris Martin said that their company has been bankrupt so no fund available for refund. I found all they offered are illegal. I believe everybody who became victims of this scam must gather together submit complaints to authorities of relevant countries. People who are willing to join to make complaints officially should leave messages here then I will arrange actions against ridiculous scammers.”
-http://www.outscam.com/tdv-global-llc-d3
If the TDV Global company has gone bankrupt, why is the website still up? In my research about TDV Global, I couldn’t find one happy customer who has provided a review of the company. On their website there are no customer testimonials and on their Facebook page, there exists no reviews. The only reviews I could find were on the Ripoff Report and Outscam websites.
So, next, I began to dig into the Galt’s Gulch thing a bit and discovered that Jeff has quite a problem with alcohol, drugs and prostitutes. His drinking is confirmed both in the YouTube above and the video from the Galt’s Gulch Facebook page. I have shortened this clip because the original is very long:
I have also conducted an email interview with someone who claims that Jeff Berwick owes him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Image Source: YouTube Still
Instead of being an anarcho-capitalist, a more accurate description of him might be addicto-capitalist. It’s very clear that his addictions, not his intellect have been running his various shaky business ships for a while now. The evidence is massive and very damaging.
Supporting such a sketchy individual would be a really bad move and would further degrade the reputation of Steemit. I can almost see the headlines in VICE magazine, Steemit Pays Scam Artist Thousands For Posting Doom Porn On Its Platform.
Do your own research from here on and come to your own conclusions. There is much more than what I’ve disclosed and this website has a more exhaustive list of Jeff’s activities: http://www.galtsgulchchile.com/jeff-berwick-exposed/
I tried my best to find positive feedback from people but without much success. I don’t believe that Berwick is a really bad person but I think Berwick’s addictions come first and everything else, including other people’s money, is just part of a long, drunken haze.
Prove me wrong, I hope someone can prove me wrong by providing solid evidence that he is not a scam artist. I want to believe that people are good.
Consider a possible alternate scenario:
Berwick is well-traveled and made connections in many places. He realized many people want citizenship in multiple countries and as an entrepreneur, he wanted to find a way to capitalize on that demand.
In his travels, he started talking to people about ways to fast-track citizenship in that country. Some people he spoke to about this saw an opportunity to con people out of money. They told Berwick "You know I hold this government position. I have the connections to get people citizenship in four weeks. Simply pay (bribe) me $10,000 per person, and I'll expedite that citizenship process."
Berwick then turned that into a business. He decided he'd charge people $15,000, and send the $10,000 bribe to the individual. With the remaining $5,000, he'd have to pay some overhead and the rest would be profit.
Things didn't go as planned. It turned out people were conning him. Or perhaps, the people he was in contact with were being misled by someone else in the transaction chain. At the end of the day, he's the public face of the business, so he gets blamed for stealing people's money.
I think a situation like this one is far more likely than him straight-up lying to and conning people.
It'd be one thing if there was only one or two stories, but it seems like any undertaking he's ever been involved in has left people scammed and angry at him. Couple that with his writing, and I just can't accept that he is a victim in all of this.
The evidence speaks otherwise. If you were right why did jeff not fess up and why did he keep lying
Do you have personal experience working with him?
I actually never propositioned how his business was being run. Anything is possible including your theory. His website is still up and running even though he indicated in his video that the business is "a disaster". It's really hard to face up your own reality when you're in a cloud of drunken delusions. Being an addict is certainly a huge part of what's going on, I believe. As I mentioned, I was an addict about 8 years ago and it truly clouded my grasp on reality. I can think a lot more clearly now. When Jeff goes on detailing he had 5 drinks to calm his nerves down when talking to people, I know exactly what he means. Addicts are constantly aware of stopping drinking, how many drinks it takes to talk to people, etc. It's classic addict speak.
I don't have personal experience working with him. You might be onto something with the drinking, though. In this Anarchast episode he was drunk off his ass.
He commented on the video, basically saying it was a wake-up call for him to stop drinking.
He seems to be taking care of himself now. I am sad people were taken advantage of. The way I see it is if he was lied to by the government officials, it seems that would make anyone drink(lol) when it falls back on you in the public eye. I did hear him say he was paying the people back. Is there any videos on that?
He has not paid anyone back a penny
Well, I would never buy into the passport thing. Government is a scam so why get papers for another scam when you are involved in one scam would be logic. And, as I understand it, should be Jeff's logic also.
However, I have bought a TDV subscription for 3 months (which to be fair was pricy, but I saw it as an investment) but overall I have the feeling that I got my money's worth out of it. It was my introduction to the crypto-space and I do not feel scammed. In fact, it helped me open my eyes to the possibilities of crypto. Could I have gotten that info for free? Maybe. Could I have found better info? Maybe?
The newsletters were short but I looked forward to reading them, so TDV seems to be a legit business. More or less.
The other stuff seems pretty fishy though. Or incredibly naive. One of the two. I hope he stays away from that kind of mischief in the future. His conference also seems to be legit. I have no clue and I have not been there, but it seems to me that he got better compared to the past.
As a closing remark; I would be pissed if I had invested in the passport thing, but personally I do not have a problem with Jeff.
I admit I am biased here, because I do not want to dislike him.
All in all, I say I am going to do more background research in the future and be more careful with my money.
Jeff was in the wrong after further research.
@geneeverett - additional research after you wrote this article?
IF yes, can you update us?
Thanks
If he got into btc at $3 like he constantly says, why not pay back the people who say he took their money??
That seems reasonable. I've heard him say that he told his subscribers about it at $3, but he didn't take his own advice.
How does he finance a boat and the house in Mexico then?
Just TDV subscriptions?
That does seem like a plausible story
that's the simplest explanation as to what happened.
Really? I just made that up; it seemed like a conceivable scenario.
I do not know.
He is still responsible for the outcome. If he is taking that kind of risk he should have some kind of insurance against that risk, or clearly disclose the risk to the customers. In the video on this site, he says "I would never scam someone" even though the guy hasn't accused him of scamming. That is a classic sign of a guilty conscience. I've subscribed to Berwicks TDV for almost ten years, and almost bought one of those Paraguay passports from them. I'm very glad I didn't.
So do you think the TDV advice is helpful to you or not?
"Functioning communities require tolerance and compassion. Without these qualities, you will have war and loads of unhappy people."
These words look familiar? They should, you wrote them.
This has been all well documented and "exposed" numerous times.
Personally I don't like the fear-mongering sales pitches that Jeff writes. My thoughts are he is most likely to have been peddling shady shit in the past. Is this post really worth all of the effort this post took though?
As I said before, it's not really news.
Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
Maybe he's made mistakes.
Haven't we all?
Regardless of Berwick's fallacies this post accomplishes nothing other than more division. That's my opinion.
I respect your right for free speech but rather than writing this I think it would have better served the community if we reached out to Jeff and tried to help him with his struggles with addiction.
Just my two cents.
I'd have to agree with you here. It's definitely not an easy thing to do, and definitely not a short-cut method, but I'd rather use the path of compassion. Although, definitely much easier said than done lol.
Making mistakes and scamming people out of millions of dollars are very different things. At least when I was a drunk, I didn't steal people's money. People need to understand what they are dealing with and take appropriate precautions. Informing people about the TDV Global company is the issue here. At this point, that is the main thing. Now, if Jeff would just come forward and admit that his passport company is a total disaster (well, he did already in the video), and attempt to pay back his victims, then that would be a different thing. That would be an admirable step. Sure, we've all made mistakes, but one needs to take a radical self inventory and begin to live in a way that does not harm and scam others. It's fine to self-destruct, drink until the moon turns red and fuck tons of prostitutes, but don't fund your personal fuckfests and millionaire drunken lifestyle with the libertarian and anarcho-capitalist sheeple's hard-earned money and trust. That, my dear people is fucked up and we all know it.
And by the way, most sinners turned saints end up writing a book or coming forward in a tell-all confession and begin to repay all the people they ripped off. They don't continue conning people.
Governments and Banks SCAM people out of Millions of dollars. If you think Jeff Berwick is bad, here is a Perfect example of how the Banker Bastards are worse.... https://kmlaw.ca/cases/silver-price-manipulation-class-action/
These Banker Bastards are the TRUE Scam Artists plaguing Human Beings. If you got "Scammed" by Jeff Berwick, I am sorry for your loss. Just remember the Bastards who have SCAMMED unnamed thousands of people out of their hard earned money like the Banker Bastards listed above in the Silver Class Action Lawsuit are Crack Heads and Drunkards that will Never take responsibility for their Corporate Collective actions....that alone is a tell tale sign of a Raging Alcoholism.
Millions of dollars?
we are not a team. I left facebook because I didn't want to be associated with the superificial culture there. I didn't join here to be associated with scam artists, convicts and shady ex-cops.
Either this shithole gets cleaned or I am out like most people already are.
Not being a smart ass here but, in your mind what exactly are we?
9/10 alt coins are scams. I have been walking the crypto paths since 2012 and every other person was a scammer or a thief.
many posts in Steemit are about "crypto currency analysis" and many people are trying to get into the next big trade that will give them riches while fucking the rest up. that much was evident and still is even with many whales. the whole structure is based on a crypto ideology of "get rich quick" scheme.
Sure we are a young blockchain who needs some kickstart from the usual crypto folks in order to gain momentum. I accept the sacrifice hence the shit-tier people these celebrities brought along. they can create the illusion of traffic even if most are borderline retarded.
What I want to see though is not scam artists or the next alt-coin pump-and-dump. I wanna see people who write articles with depth, people who are innovators, people who read something before they vote. People with an opinion. I don't wannt see cry babies that blame the government and the corporations with every single step they take in here. I don't want to see the same whining and hypocrisy while at the same time most of them would gladly fuck somebody up in an exchange scheme over some shitcoin much like the FED does daily to them.
I want to see people that really embrace the idea of cryptocurrencies and they are ready to write their original ideas down. People who move beyond anarchy 101 or being sheeple of some crypto televangelists.
What do you think TDV was huh? an angel? he made some money and tried to cover his ass up by moving around. then he got into a scam scheme to earn money. he knew it from day one. he was gonna scam the goverment and his customers. things went to shit because he was balls deep already.
oh poor TDV. these people rarely change because all they are is easy money, no effort. they will chase the next scheme over and over again. they are a cancer to crypto currencies and the idea of liberty and anarchy.
thing is, statist-morons don't defer much from anarcho-morons. Both are sheeple from what I see repeating the same mantra their leaders dictate to them.
So yeah. Since I am here I am cleaning this place from all the shitheads whales, dolphins and anything in between. Oh, and the usual kiss ass lowlife scam of "yes master, let me deepthroat your toes"—politically correct sell-outs.
Oh man, that was just a great manifesto. Damn really good.
""yes master, let me deepthroat your toes"—politically correct sell-outs" This was well stated.
I joined Steemit for the same reasons. 3 months ago, has been invaded by Steemit anarcho etc and collusion around subjects dealing with Steemit. The new user do not want to be associated with this type of project. Since decrease in posts, new users and ... the steem. Currently, is not a project for the future, it needs a new breath
Glad you let that all out man. Sounds like it's been building a while.
Still though my question is left unanswered.
What do you think we are?
If not a team then what?
Individuals. Some constructive, some predatory, and some just here for the lolz.
so far mostly idiotic tinfoiled scammers
But you're still here. Has been sorted out and explained to your satisfaction? or you crossed your fingers and hoped the DV would go away and he didnt?
You know what's funny? Since last year, everything we said about him, especially his addictive personality and substance abuse turned out to be true...now he is cashing out on remorse.
pathetic.
and it looks like he might have $4M of backing to upvote his own posts. speculation. no way to prove of course but very disturbing if true
Interesting phrase. Cashing out on remorse
@stellabelle most of these videos and accusations have been online for sometime. As someone who always enjoyed TDV and Anarchast podcasts, I will say that I was alarmed at the accusations and reviews about TDV Global. The thing though is, anyone can smear anyone online. I'm not sure how believable it is that people could be ripped off/scammed by Jeff or his company for $15k + and only leave bad reviews, etc. Where are the lawsuits or even criminal charges from these people? That's what I think is lacking most. If you have complaints like this, I expect to see evidence. In your research on Jeff or TDV, did you find any substantial evidence to back up any of these claims? I mean it's not like he's hard to find. I can tell you right now, if someone ripped me off for thousands of dollars, I would be right down to Mexico every year at the hotel where his Anarculpoco conference is held yearly. I believe anyone has a right to post, and even a responsibility to post warnings of scams and scammers... but I think you should provide a little more evidence to back that claim up other than online reviews. Part of this just didn't make sense to me when I first heard of these rumors last year. I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone on Steemit brought this to light. I'm actually surprised it took this long.
Firsthand witness, right here. I spent 3 months as a volunteer at the Galt's Gulch Chile project. Before leaving Canada to go down there, I met with Jeff in Vancouver and told him my plan. Rather than honestly telling me that it was utter horseshit, he just wished me well and let me go down there and figure it all out myself. I was one of the few people involved that actually took the time to get in there and get intimately acquainted with the project - most of the investors just trusted Jeff blindly and lost over 10 million dollars because of it.
@piedpiper is "Gabriel Scheare", though actually isn't even "Gabriel" on his Canadian ID, even though he plays "Gabriel" in front of those in person here in Chile. Who knows what his fake drivers license from Mexico has on it. He received his fake drivers license from Berwick in exchange for the anarchapulco.com domain name. I'm the founding partner of Galt's Gulch Chile. "Gabriel" begged me to allow him to stay at GGC, when he was penniless in Chile in 2014. Berwick didn't "let him go down there", as "Gabriel" is stating. He was already here. "Gabriel" just finished Exosphere in Vina Del Mar and had nowhere to go, and no money to get there. He was cohorts and close friends with Berwick, and he got into GGC, without mention of his close ties to Berwick of course. In 2013, I let other destitute friends or readers of Berwick come and stay, or work, with GGC and such decisions turned out to be the wrong move for our project. "Gabriel" went on to eat all that he wanted from the GGC kitchen, joining us for dinners in town, using GGC's electricity, water, wifi, resources, gas, etc., and more, all without paying a dime for any of these things, and while we were all sleeping, we later learned, that "Gabriel" was accessing and stealing GGC's client contact information, to then later use to promote his own proposed project. "Gabriel" left his Canadian ID in the Jeep Rubicon one day. I found it when I was removing items from the backseat. I took a photo of it, which I will need to dig up shortly and share. I returned the ID to "Gabriel". He and Berwick like to parrot about GGC clients losing $10m USD, or me stealing $10m, $7m, $3m, etc. but it's all false. I have never stolen a dime from GGC, nor have I taken salaries due to me dating back to late 2012. I completed our first subdivisions at GGC in late September of 2014, about one month after the false storyline and smear campaign was launched by Berwick, and others, in late August of 2014. "Gabriel" knows that I was completing our subdivisions, because he was at GGC when we were doing so, but he publicly won't admit that…apparently because slandering me and GGC is a good PR tool for his endeavours. GGC received our recorded subdivision maps in early October of 2014, and I updated our clients on this, along with a list of the past crimes of Berwick against GGC. Two weeks after the announcement of our first subdivisions, Berwick's colleagues, Josh Kirley, and the GGC "rescue" team, contracted and entered the GGC property late at night while I was in town, where they went on to then steal/destroy computer files, accounting files, banking files, and much more. My completion of GGC's subdivisions two weeks prior didn't quite fit into their false narrative against me, so they had to take immediate action…and they did. They held possession of GGC for approximately six months, from late October of 2014, until I returned to protect GGC in late April of 2015. We later realised that the "rescue" team had actually stolen or destroyed nearly all that was of value at the GGC project, totalling into the millions of dollars. This is all well-documented and will be released, when not affecting our legal processes here. Berwick, and his longtime cohort, Chris Serin, have histories of carrying out, or attempting to carry out, hostile takeovers of companies or projects. This is outlined in Serin's history in the mining industry in one very ugly failed takeover attempt by him/them. Long before Berwick's assistance in smearing me in 2014, Serin and Berwick attempted a hostile takeover attempt of GGC's assets in mid-2013, amounting to estimated financial losses of $5-8m USD for GGC. I realised even more that GGC must completely cut ties with Berwick, as more and more information came to light about this in the latter months of 2013. I refused Berwick the ownership in GGC that he demanded, because he never paid his sizeable debts to me. GGC very well would have been completed long ago, had Berwick, Serin, and others, not carried out such extreme harm to GGC in 2013 and 2014. We will be releasing a long list of information that outlines all that I am saying about GGC to be true. I'll do so here in Steemit, and we will do so elsewhere also. I chose not to fight the cast of characters on the "rescue" team in the public forums. We are simply awaiting the completion of the legal processes in Chile, which we fully expect to win across the board. We will then complete GGC, without those whom have intentionally harmed it. Cheers.
Finally. The primary perpetrator comes out onto a platform where he can't delete comments that he doesn't like. Welcome to the blockchain, where everything is stored permanently for future reference and cannot be censored.
I've already spoken very openly here on Steemit about my name and how I adopted a new one when I left my childhood home as a teenager to go my own way... so that isn't news to anyone here that knows me and it certainly has nothing to do with your crimes that we've been discussing. I've also written quite a bit the three months I spent at Exosphere before completing my journey to GGC so again, have fun shooting blanks. Your tired old method of trying to confuse and exhaust people with endless walls of nonsensical text won't work here either since the people it would baffle don't care and the people that do care are sharp enough to cut through the bullshit.
So you're still calling yourself "The founding partner" eh? If you look up the word "partner," you'll notice that a partner is, by definition, one member of a partnership, which involves multiple people. The word "the" indicates a single specific item object of reference. In other words, one cannot possibly be "the founding partner." You could be "a founding partner," which requires you to acknowledge the other partners, or you could be "the founder," which would indicate the absence of any others. We already know which it is. You were a founding partner along with John Cobin and Jeff Berwick before proceeding to push them out of the project. Why does this matter? Well, the fact that you don't even use an honest or accurate title when presenting yourself to others would indicate that either you don't understand your role or you don't want others to understand it. The fact, as corroborated by everyone else involved, is that you were one of three founding partners and you served as the on-site project manager. As such, your rightful role should have been that of a servant to the investors that injected their capital, bought land, and made the whole damn project possible. Without them to risk their money on you, you would've just continued on as a bumbling nobody with a rotting dog in tow. When these investors became dissatisfied with your performance and wanted you to leave, you should have obeyed them and removed yourself from the premises to make way for a replacement, as they so desired and demanded. Of course, as we all know, you didn't do that. Instead, you acted as if you were the sole ruler and the investors were all just suckers giving you their money for free.
You also frequently refer to "GGC" as if its a collective, when it's really just you, and use the pronoun we, instead of I in reference to yourself as well. This is very revealing. It demonstrates that you see yourself and GGC as one and the same. For you, GGC is just a bigger-sounding name that lets you present yourself as a collective rather than an individual. This is also why you say "we" when the object of reference is just you, an individual. It's just another simple habit you've developed in order to deceitfully project authority and legitimacy where there is none. It's also a handy trick when it comes to money and possession of objects. Depending on the situation, you referred to the Jeep both as GGCs as well as your own. You also spent GGCs money as if it was your own and when a purchase looked strange, like all the imported Salmon for your dog for instance, you pretended you were just spending your own salary or something like that. I was just as bamboozled as anyone else for a while because at first, I had no good reason not to trust you at least that much.
I still have the conversation saved where I asked about volunteering at GGC and you agreed. No begging involved. If you had said you didn't have any use for me, I would have just went back to Canada after Exosphere.
As for the subdivisions, yes, I'm aware that some of the larger ones were approved in 2014. It's the multitude of smaller ones that that were impossible and made what could have been a viable project into a scam. A friend of mine even bought one with his mother and got screwed. Of course, I ended up feeling pretty shitty for having been the one that suggested GGC to them in the first place but at least I've been able to make it up to them. You have a long way to go before you can say the same.
I don't know about the domestic abuse story that you were referring to but I hope that you're not making it up. If she was being beaten by her husband and you protected her from that, then you deserve credit for that but it doesn't justify your stealing their money.
The more I learned about how shitty Berwick was, the more I wanted you to be different, Ken. I wanted there to be a good guy in the equation to throw my weight behind. When the first disgruntled former employees started contacting me, I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt and write them off as nutjobs. It got harder and harder to do that as more and more people came out of the woodwork and in a matter of weeks, it became impossible. All you had to do was walk away, leave the victims their land to bicker and squabble over, and move on to the next idea. That's what real entrepreneurs do. They don't need to scam anyone because they know they can produce value and earn an honest living no matter where they are. The path you and Berwick walk is that of men who don't believe they have any real value to offer so you need to trick people into giving up theirs instead. Berwick sings himself to sleep with songs about outlaws and anarchy while you prefer songs about legal loopholes, technicalities, and conspiracies against you by the very people that trusted you with their money in the first place. Granted, you're a bit more clever and devious than him but you're both walking the same path. You could make things right and redeem yourselves if you really wanted to - but as the years slip away and you both entrench yourselves deeper in your respective narratives, hope for a positive outcome seems all the more unreasonable. Either way, the Galt name is being redeemed with or without you. I've developed a community of enthusiastic and satisfied members here with Fort Galt while you've accumulated nothing but angry victims and bitter enemies. I fully expect you to continue making all sorts of semi-comprehensible noise as your fantasy land erodes and justice slowly catches up with you but rest assured that those of us that actually produce value and serve our investors are far too preoccupied to care.
"I don't know about the domestic abuse story that you were referring to but I hope that you're not making it up. If she was being beaten by her husband and you protected her from that, then you deserve credit for that but it doesn't justify your stealing their money."
Pied, I know about this situation and surprise, Johnson's lying about this, too. A witness told me that a couple was staying on the GGC property doing work for Johnson and that the woman was abused. This witness said that the employees reported this to Johnson who shrugged his shoulders and ignored it. They were appalled at his attitude. He didn't help the victim in any way.
This is Johnson's story about GGC which is totally false. We have addressed every lie that he spews on our webpage http://ggcrecovery .com
Johnson is the accused in three felony cases in Chile right now. The docket numbers for those cases are on our website in the time line section. All cases against him and his partners in crime, the Del Reals and Ramirez are on going. None have been dismissed. Quite the contrary.
Johnson is a liar, a thief and a manipulative sob. Don't fall for his lies. Please go to our website.
As much as you can blame scammers, there is some responsibility on anyone investing. I invest every day. I have been scammed and learned my lessons. Due diligence. Following people blindly is a very harsh mistake to learn from. However, I still say, where's the legal documents for these people who were ripped off. You DON"T LOSE THAT MUCH MONEY, without legal repercussions. At least it seems that you were a little smarter than some of the other investors if the allegations are true. Cheers!
Absolutely, everyone should minimize their risk by investigating their purchase carefully ahead of time and I'm sure the buyers in this case won't make the same mistake again. A costly lesson indeed.
Most investors have been there. Luckily for me, mine was only about $2k. That's pocket change to many. And I do have sympathy for anyone who's been ripped off. But I do usually play devil's advocate when claims are made and there's not hard proof. However, if Jeff truly is a scammer as many people claim, karma is a bitch. Truth always comes to light. Nice meeting you and you have been followed :)
Yes you do when the person is operating from foreign countries. Call Kevin Schmidt who I just got off the phone with to learn exactly what is going on. You can't just let people continue to be scammed. And on this platform? What a disgrace to see someone who has done so many horrible things to people be rewarded. Find out for yourself. Kevin's contact info is listed on this site: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/tdv-passports-failure-to-deliver-c707391.html#c1624651
I might do that. I find this type of stuff interesting as well, and I am very anti-scammer. However, just a verbal accusation is not enough to come here and promote those accusations. Did he provide you any proof? If you want your post to stick, or rather if they want their complaints to stick, and affect the general Steemit public's opinon of any scammer, you have to have substance. I could create 3 websites and make multiple posts that say @stellabelle has ripped me and my friends off repeatedly. She owes me money. Check out these websites for proof. I could even post numbers and say contact me and we can discuss it. That clearly does not make it true or factual. And this is not to slander you nor your point. You obviously seem to think he's dishonest and a scammer, and doesn't deserve the attention or rewards that he receives on here, and that's a noble and valid concern that most people on here would have. But I still think it's a very emotional response to hearing the accusations. When we hear about people who are dishonest, it's natural to not want them to be rewarded or to potentially hurt someone else. But do you see the danger in posting something like this and it has no backing of factual evidence? Hopefully, if you dig, and you are correct, some of the people making these claims can produce solid evidence of their complaints. But I wouldn't trust these people to tell the truth as much as I wouldn't trust Jeff Berwick. I don't know any of them. If he were scamming on such a large scale, there would more than likely be a huge paper trail. That's what is needed to validate these types of stories. And if it's true, then that is very sad and very unfortunate for people to lose such large amounts of money for attempting to better their lives. This could be such large sums of money that could have been years of savings, if they aren't already rich. I hope to see something of more substance. I am glad Kevin left his email and phone number. This could be interesting to dig into. And for me it would be very disappointing, because I am an anarchist, and while Jeff's delivery methods are questionable at times, I do find value in the basic theory of anarchy that he pushes. He's one of many that has helped push these ideals forward. So anyone that pushes the ideal and values of the non-aggression principle to turn around and harm someone else is probably the biggest let down if this were to be true.
It's only natural to want to hold up champions and cling to people that seem to represent our ideals. I liked a lot of what I heard on Anarchast too, before I got closer and peeked behind the curtain. Fortunately, even though men can be corrupted and killed, ideas and principles cannot. The trick is to just be your own hero and don't invest your identity in anyone else. That's a hallmark of true personal responsibility.
I don't know why I cannot reply to your post below @piedpiper. Believe me when I say I do not champion or cling to ANYONE, including Jeff Berwick, or any other anarchist. I do however love the ideas of anarchism and decentralization. But even those concepts do not rule my life. Nobody is perfect, so I don't see any reason to put anyone on a pedestal. And in reality anarchism is in line with what you said. I don't put faith in governments, or politicians, or political parties to take care of people, create jobs, or solve everyones problems. So when I say i'm disappointed if this were true about Jeff, it's because he claims to have similar values as me, and scamming people would not hold up to those values. However, like anyone else with any other idealogical view, there will be people who do not live up to what they preach. I'm not convinced that he has scammed anyone, because I see no legal action against him. I do see in the videos that he has had problems with his businesses and money. And he also has addressed his personal problems in other videos and posts. I think the key thing here is to try to separate bad business with intentional scamming. Maybe someone will shed some light on this. Maybe Jeff himself will address @stellabelle on her post of accusations. I'm sure he's had to defend himself on these issues elsewhere. The other thing to think about, is what about the financial incentive to call someone like Jeff out. I mean one of the easiest ways to see posts upvoted here is to call out a power user on Steemit. Hell, you could call out @stellabelle on here and your post would probably do well. I'm not saying that was her intent, just an observation. P.S. if anyone can tell me why I was not able to reply to @piedpiper below, I'd appreciate it. I can see the post but there is no reply button.
Hi @framelalife Yeah, unfortunately, there's a limit to how long a back and forth conversation can be carried out here. I hope they fix that in a future update.
When dealing with international scams, there are very few options available to people seeking refunds and restitution from scammers. It would require the police from both the victim's country and Mexico to cooperate in a joint effort, which only ever happens in major cases involving terrorists, drug smuggling rings, etc. I doubt something as small as Jeff's little racket would get such care or attention. Also, it's a shady business model to begin with, which require clients to either remain willfully ignorant of the laws that are being broken or disregard them intentionally. Most law enforcement officers would most likely think that you deserved to get scammed because you tried to subvert immigration laws. Ironically enough, this is likely the kind of situation that calls for some vigilante action from the victims themselves.
Isnt there a lawsuit in Chile about this whole mess?
Yes. The chilean authorities don't care about gringos scamming each other and the lawyers will just continue to milk it for as long as people keep paying them. The only real solution would involve a physical confrontation but those who would be justified in doing so are unwilling. I seriously doubt it will ever be resolved.
I don't know the specifics of the case but have been following the drama for a few years now. I think you are correct the authorities dont care and neither does the us government for that matter.
The reason I mention the us government is because the lady that Jeff berwick and company did business with in Paraguay was , well I dont know what was supposed to happen to her but the us government and paragugan authourites never put her in jail as far as I know.
You mean Bettina Müller? I'm not sure what became of her. She's pretty notorious though. A lot of people have been screwed by her over the years. A costly education, to be sure.
Yes thats who I mean.....I dont think much happened and may still be in business.....
@framelalife Something people do find loopholes where they ultimately can get away with scamming millions from people, trust me I know, I was, or rather my business/company was a victim of a fraudulent payroll company. They kept our tax withholding from employees, but the bastards never paid the IRS. The IRS of course still wanted their money from us, knowing that we did pay our Withholding Agent (payroll company), but they didn't care. And as for the fraudsters, the police wouldn't do anything, neither would the IRS, and in the end they just bankrupt with millions from so many businesses. Luckily for us it wasn't "out of business" type money, but for some it was. And that happened here in California, Riverside to be exact.
I take that back, he was convicted of fraud actually, but they only claim $200,000, when it was in the Millions. Better than nothing I guess.
http://www.pe.com/articles/payroll-757633-tax-irs.html
As for TDV, I always suspected something kinda of funny. I had heard whispers about Chile and figured it could be a bad business gone bad and they are just disgruntled, but now it seems this might be Modus Operandi. I now wonder if he truly made the millions he claims because I know if I had millions, and someone lost $200,000 because of Me, I would pay them their money from my Millions, but then that is just me.
I now follow @stellabelle and unfollowed TDV. I might follow TDV or up vote if there is a postive result or response to this, otherwise, I say we all should do the same.
full $teem ahead!
What do you make of Jeff's admission (from the YouTube video) that his passport company has been a "disaster"? Have you watched that video in its entirety? I'm currently conducting email interviews with his victims, so I may be providing new information. The complete absence of positive reviews is shocking to say the least. Have you been able to find one person who has successfully used TDV Global? If you have, please post your findings here.
I definitely found it alarming. Don't get me wrong. With negative reviews like that, I'd be weary of doing business with anyone, and online reviews do help in the decision making process. However, I also think that if there were that many people being ripped off by such a public figure, who appears easy to find, then why has there not been any legal action? For people who are Libertarian, Anarchist, or anti-government in general, I believe smear campaigns help steer followers away easily. I'm definitely not trying to defend him or anyone else who are scam artists. But I do hope that further digging either proves without a doubt that he is a scammer, or clears him from charges like that. I just find it difficult to believe that people could lose thousands of dollars and there not be a legal trail or much more public drama since he's very mobile and public in many of his events. I personally have not found any legal evidence. Maybe you will? The Galt's Gulch drama has been going on forever, and he did release his side of the story and many people besides Jeff seem to be going after Ken Johnson, who is the man making accusations in one of the videos in this post. You can see what he said here: https://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2015/12/07/whatever-happened-to-galts-gulch-chile.html . One thing I will say about the GG incident, is Jeff definitely spread the word on that and probably drew in a ton of customers. In some ways, even if accidentally he's at least responsible for exposing GG to new people who may have lost money. Nonetheless, just as Jeff provided some legal documentation about the charges against those in the GG scam, I would really like to see legal documentation from many of these people who are voicing claims. Good luck with your findings.
He was a co-founder. As such, the business was his responsibility. I'm in the same position with my business and if one of my partners went rouge and started abusing our investors, I would have to fix the problem even if it meant purging him from the equation. If I just walked away silently and let it all burn down, my name would be complete shit afterwards. Such irresponsibility and cowardice is unacceptable, especially when your investors are ruined because of it. He could've had Johnson physically removed and the investors could have then been able to come and claim the land, even though they would be getting more than they paid for. It could have been relatively simple but because zero balls or leadership were shown, it's still a complete effing disaster and I'm left down here in Chile working every day to slowly redeem the Galt name that was so badly dragged through the mud.
If he went rouge, that could be one hell of a Steemit makeup tutorial. /lol
Well good luck with that @piedpiper. Do you think it's salvageable? I only know what I've read. I still think the idea is a great idea. I'd definitely consider it if it weren't such a mess. Good luck! And in no way am I taking up for him. I don't know him other than his podcasts. And I won't pretend to know all the details. I still say if you or anyone else has claims like this, then provide legal documents. It's the only real way we can know. The legal documents he posted on TDV did not list him as a defendant, co-founder or not. I do agree that if you mislead people, even unknowingly, there is still some responsibility to clear that up. I'll definitely follow you in case you post more about these issues.
I haven't been there for two years now so I'm not up to date on all the current legal details. Last I heard, the majority of the company had been sold out to a Chilean businessman named Mario Del Real and Ken Johnson is still squatting on the property. I'm not optimistic at this point. After getting to know some of the PDI (like Chilean FBI), it has become clear to me that the authorities don't give two shits about foreigners screwing one another. They have more important local matters to allocate their tax dollars to. The obvious solution required the victims to roll up their sleeves and be prepared to use some well-justified force to remove the invader/occupier and take control of their community's land back. Rugged self-sufficiency isn't always rainbows and pussycats. Sometimes pioneers have to get a little dirty.
Exactly. The more I learn about this stuff, the scarier it is. I only wish it was as innocent as I first thought. This thing is really ugly.
Hi framelalife. Currently, there are upwards of 10 criminal lawsuits filed against the Chilean swindlers whom Berwick, and others, aligned with in early 2014, or earlier, to bring harm to the GGC project. I filed the first of these criminal actions in late 2014. Criminal actions were also filed against me, but they are being dismissed, and we are fully confident that they all will be dismissed. The legal process simply has to play out. As far as "victims" of GGC goes, the only victims created will be from the actions of Berwick, and the small group that worked with him, and the Chilean swindlers, to attempt their hostile, and criminal, takeover attempt of GGC. Their actions include forgeries, falsification of public deeds, falsification of contracts, obtaining signatures in fraudulent manners, theft of client funds, and much more. There are also civil legal actions filed in all directions, which we will sort out as well. I have offered most of my rightful ownership in GGC to the GGC clients, but this offer was opposed, and prevented from moving forward in mid-2014, by those who referenced themselves as the GGC "rescue" team. My offer still stands on this, because my sole purpose for creating GGC was to create a safe place for people to live with organic food, clean water and their own energies…not to be the largest shareholder or make the most money, as some in this world seem to only focus on. While talking about ownership in GGC, a significant false representation made to this day by Berwick, Josh Kirley and others involved with their takeover attempt is that there are 70+ "investors" of the GGC project. Their implication that all GGC clients are investors, or owners, of the project is false. I presume that they did this in order to attempt to make it appear that there was some sort of investment fraud with false representations, etc., so that they could rope in agencies in the US or something. Anyhow, it's just another lie in a long list of lies told by them publicly. They've told Berwick to basically shut up, because he doesn't know when to turn off the lies anymore, though that can also be said about the small remaining group aligned with him against GGC. It is my only goal to complete the GGC project, or to offer refunds when necessary, if we cannot complete what was discussed with clients. Just to clarify here, the contracts that GGC entered into with clients do not promise that we had approved subdivisions at the time of the promise agreements (prior to sales agreements). These contracts, in English, clearly state that GGC is working to obtain future parcels, though I don't have the exact wording as I type this. The zoning for our land is for 10-hectare parcels, which was never hidden from Berwick, our original investors, or others. There are hundreds upon hundreds of communications, documents, etc., outlining this. The options for smaller parcels vary here, which many people in the US don't quite understand, as I did not understand either being new to Chile. I won't get into those details, but it clearly shows that claims being made by those seeking to seize GGC's assets are not truthful, and the same goes for the false statements made by Berwick, and parroted by "Gabriel" and others. Some of the articles that people post here, and even the websites set up to attack me, have countless inaccuracies and lies. I don't go to those websites, because it would take so much energy and time to debunk all that they are saying. It can be, and should be done, but time is limited. I truly shouldn't even be on here replying to false accusations, but sometimes I drop a few truth bombs here and there. I do apologise if I get a bit emotional or may want to strike back at those who have publicised so many false things about me. I do know that such things are not productive for explaining the actual true history of GGC. Cheers.
@galtsgulch
thank you for doing this. i have been trying to expose him for a long time
I always kick myself for not doing so much sooner, but the process of digging through mountains of information, while also operating the GGC farm, fighting legal battles, dealing with other aspects of GGC, makes it quite difficult. I have been in communications, as have others, with federal agencies now investigating Berwick. I can't comment on that too much, but I may share some information on that soon. I appreciate the thanks. Stellabelle definitely deserves thanks for following through to find the truth about Berwick's conduct. Cheers.
You are being played. this galtsgulch is Kenneth Dale Johnson, the criminal behind GGC that stole $10.5 million. None of the criminal charges against this guy in Chile are being dismissed, quite the contrary. Go to http://ggcrecovery.com for the truth and evidence.
@stellabelle you may also find this site interesting: http://ggcrecovery.com/ . The site has a cast of characters involved: http://ggcrecovery.com/cast-of-characters/ and also shows who's behind the site: http://ggcrecovery.com/about-the-ggc-recovery-team/ . If you are looking to dig deeper, that may be a good starting place.
The site I always recommend is this one. It's run by Terrance Gillespie and he has compiled more data on the subject than anyone I've encountered. It's organized into several sequential parts that constitute a book he calls "The Creature from Galt's Gulch." Not even it is complete but it's the best one-stop shop for info, in my opinion. The blanks can be filled-in afterwards with a little more digging.
Not sure how Steemit functions, so not sure why I cannot reply to your comment above, but will do so here I guess. Requesting that someone who is telling a great deal of lies to provide proof of their actual identity does not by any account equate to "chickening out", as you so eloquently put it. I simply was vetting someone or something, which seems to be an outdated, or rather, ignored, process nowadays with blogs that simply regurgitate whatever it is that is being spewed by Berwick, "Terrence" or others, whom have an agenda to carry out, rather than simply speaking about truthful history of something, or their own actions…and confirming if this person actually is who they publicly represent themselves to be, so as to have a basis to decide if spending time to talk with them or not is something to consider. With "Terrence", it was not. If he were to supply me with proof of his identity, great. I'm happy to discuss any matters of GGC, but since he refuses to do so, the discussion ends there, because time does not allow for me to waste it on him, or his. I will drop a few truth bombs on a few of this lies and allow others to decide if "Terrence" can lie about a few things, why should they trust anything else that he is stating. That podcast, by the way, is/was operated by two associates of Berwick's, with a healthy list of lies emanating from them about TDV, GGC and other topics as well, with one of them being associated to you as well, if I'm not mistaken. It's a interesting little world in the blogosphere with those who incestuously taint it by regurgitating that they 'hate the state', providing false recommendations for people who don't even reveal who they actually are, and whom they've never actually met, and also attempting to profit from others demise, as if it is some sort of entertainment for them. It seems to be a bit rampant in the blogosphere for some reason. At least where you and yours seem to turn up. That is why I rarely venture into it, and can't justify setting aside the time to pay attention to people like "Terrence", yourself and others, who do such things.
The job of a guest on a show is to just show up and speak the truth, not "vet" other guests. Declining the invitation is fine but this excuse about needing to vet another guest on someone else's show is utter horseshit.
"Terrence Gillespie" being recommended by the alias "Gabriel Scheare." How cute. I offered to go on podcasts with "Terrence" in 2015, after my return to GGC, but due to the fact that I felt that he was yet another alias of those smearing me and GGC, I required that "Terrence" supply me with proof of his identity. I had zero interest in wasting my time with more false narratives from the "rescue" team or from their colleague, John Cobin, who created a fictitious real estate scheme on land bordering GGC to the south, which he now has numerous lawsuits pending against him for. "Terrence" refused to provide me proof of his identity, so I dismissed all communications from him from that point forward. The bits of "Terrence's" writing that I have seen are glaringly false. He is clearly seems to be associated with John Cobin. Cobin has long had an undying need to try and sink GGC. Why would yet another person want to do this? Because Cobin was the party who showed me GGC's first tract of land when it was on the market in 2012, but he then tried to sell the same land to another party while Cobin was operating under a Power of Attorney agreement from myself and Berwick. After having clear proof of Cobin's unethical actions, and double dealings, we parted ways. Cobin didn't like that.
Covering Cobin would take an entire other blog to outline all of his lies, possible crimes, numerous lawsuits against him, his lies about me, attacks on GGC and much more. Cobin demanded a $250,000 USD 'finders fee' and approximately 850 acres of land carved out of the GGC land purchase for him and his business partner. He's not a real estate agent or attorney in Chile, yet he wanted a 'finders fee' of what amounted to be over $500,000 USD, while the agent who actually handled the entire transaction was paid about $40,000. The purchase price of the land was slightly over $1,000,000 USD, so Cobin was demanding a 50% 'finders fee'. I'd bet that "Terrence" writes about this, yet somehow tries to paint Cobin as some kind of victim. Truly insane cast of dysfunctional characters…that is for certain.
I don't really care who "Terrence" is, or claims to be. All I care to know about him is that he tells a great deal of lies; therefore, I have zero interest in corresponding with him in any way. It would not surprise me if "Terrence" is the alias who wrote that I "rendered homeless" the GGC client who physically abused his fiancé on GGC property. If I had the time, I could debunk all that he accuses me of, with evidence, but I simply don't have the time. I may pull out a handful of his lies and post evidence as such, which, as one would think, should show critical thinkers that if he would lie about one thing, he will lie about anything to you. That most definitely is the case with "Terrence", whomever he may be.
Actually, it was being recommended by the alias, "piedpiper." I never met Terrence myself but he showed up for the interview that you chickened out of so go ahead and check it out to learn more about him.
Pied, Terence's website is good, but please direct people to our website where we have uploaded documents. http://ggcrecovery.com
Vice also did a story, so you could reach out to the author Follow Harry Cheadle on Twitter. http://www.vice.com/read/atlas-mugged-922-v21n10
Actually, I just got off the phone with one of Jeff's victims. It's all real. Call himself to find out his story: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/tdv-passports-failure-to-deliver-c707391.html#c1624651
So, you read this, and it's very clear if it's true that either they are very bad at business, or scammers. However, there is a company that you paid money to, and you say you did not receive the goods or service that was expected, do you A) complain about it on the internet and hopefully prevent others from losing money, or B) file a lawsuit to recoup your losses and hopefully prevent others from losing money. That's still just more internet posts. Where's your proof? Where's your documentation proving you purchased this and was owed a good or service. Where are your legal documents where you attempt to recoup your losses. You say in this post that he responded to the emails, screenshots? That's what I'm getting at. Other than accusations, where is the proof? Even if you do not want to expose your court documents, where are the legal names of lawsuits or anything you can show where you attempted to file a lawsuit or recoup your money in some manner. None of the posts from that link show any of that. Accusations do not automatically equal guilt and it's the burden of the accuser to produce something besides a verbal accusation. Other than that, it's hearsay.
Wow, I am surprised to see this. I have been following him for 4 years.
Up voted.
As I state in my post, do your own research, ask questions and learn as much as you can about someone, especially someone you're going to entrust money to. The Skype video pretty much exposes the reality of what's going on, the drinking, the problems, not responding to people when they ask for their money back. Everything is in that video. Also, I notice that Jeff cannot look the guy in the eyes. Eye contact tells a lot about a person's ability or lack thereof to tell the truth.
Hey, @stellabelle we talk about these things every day, come and join us on http://discord.steemspeak.com and voice up. Engage in the conversation and the debates we have ongoing 24/7.
I would love to have a phew words as well.
come on in @carlidos - join!
So many people seemed to trust him in here with so many followers.
He imported most of his cheerleaders via his email list, youtube, and facebook. That's why steemit turned into a libertarian circle-jerk overnight.
I read 2 articles from him in here. Saw his facebook page. I immediately smelled that he was a dodgy guy and started critisizing him. Check my earlier bashing of him. Time proves me I was right.
https://steemit.com/anarchy/@kyriacos/why-i-respect-the-dao-hacker-but-not-the-dollarvigilante
me too hanamana
Wow. I thought he was going to come through after confirming he would several times.
I am the founding partner of Galt's Gulch Chile, which has never been a scam, as the same tired old storyline outlines. If GGC was a scam, I would have bought a private island years ago when GGC had millions of dollars coming in for revenues. Our accounting files, bank files, hundreds of thousands of emails, maps, contracts, etc. all clearly outline that our revenues went to the project, until such time that Berwick's close colleague, Mario Del Real, and their cohorts, began stealing money from GGC, as well as from myself and from others via Del Real's scam project in Chile, near the Argentinian border. I've lost millions of dollars, my reputation, and numerous other similar projects that we were creating in 2014, from the actions of Berwick, Del Real, Lashlee, Josh Kirley and the self-proclaimed "rescuers" of GGC…who in reality were never anything more than a small group of corrupt people who intended to force a hostile takeover of GGC, after their smear campaign was launched. Thousands of pieces of evidence outline this folks. I sent George a great deal of information that clearly evidenced that Berwick's lies about GGC were indeed lies. I outlined a very long list of crimes committed by Berwick, and Berwick's close colleagues, convicted felon, EJ Lashlee, Mario Del Real, and others. George chose not to write about it, stating that he wanted "all" of GGC's information, which was a change from his initial agreement with me, to review and write about what I had to say about the accusations about me. That is, of course, his choice to request that, though I can not do that with all of the legal proceedings underway (and explained that to him as such) and it would take endless months for him, or readers, to go through the database of emails, maps, documents (most in Spanish), etc. I don't know what George's motivation is/was for stating that he was going to write about GGC, but I would like to believe it was altruistic in nature, because it really seems that true journalism is so very hard to find nowadays, with people who not only seek truth, but also are not afraid to endure unpopularity because of it. Cheers.
"I am the founding partner of Galt's Gulch Chile, which has never been a scam, as the same tired old storyline outlines. If GGC was a scam, I would have bought a private island years ago when GGC had millions of dollars coming in for revenues."
What revenues? You had either loans or contracts for a real estate project. GGC never had millions of revenue coming in.. Loans and payments for residential lots that were not even approved are not revenues. It was a your project, you were allegedly suppose to protect the capital invested in the project, it was far from revenues..
It is an affinity fraud. You scammed libertarians. You promised certain lot, "Founders Club" lot buyers that their purchase would be paid back in three years. Ditto with those who invest $250k in your "organic farm".. They would get paid back their investment in full plus profits from the "organic" farm.. (you would had been arrested by PDI or the Carabineros if you sold organic produced from a non certified organic farm)
https://dollarvigilante.com/storage/GGC%20Special%20Report%20-%20November%202013.pdf
Whether your intentions were good or malicious, your actions were criminal. You lost over $10 million in investors' money, not your money, not revenues, not Mario Del Real's money, Investors' money. You basically have a US $10 million plus loan that you need to repay, given you are the owner of Galt's Gulch Chile. (You should stop with the "Founding Partner" idiocy, it makes you look like a dolt, For property development companies, either you are a General Partner, Owner and CEO, or project manager)
The reason why Wendy McElroy and others went public in August 2014 with problems with GGC was because you were still hustling for new investors.
The horror stories from your mismanagement, hoarding all the money, refusing to show balance sheets, not telling investors in April 2014 you brought in the Del Real family as part of the board of trustees for GGC. You lost access to a Bank Account in Chile in January, used other people to either transferred or launder money. The imbroglio that GGC became didn't happened overnight.
You need to be in reality about your actions. There was no "millions in revenue" that went into Galt's Gulch Chile.. Even in your mind you had "millions of revenue" you had no accounting for it, no balance sheet to show to investors showing "millions in revenue" coming in, or how those "millions in revenue" was spent, like the couple of law firms you hired and fired in Chile..
This needs to be a blog posting. It really does. I'm following you now in hopes I can upvote it when it comes. If you want to hop in my latest blog to let me know you posted when you do I guarantee you will have my upvote.
I wish it would have been in many blogs long ago, but life at GGC has been difficult, at best, in repairing all that the GGC "rescue" team and Berwick stole or destroyed. I think within the next 2-3 weeks I can release a chronology of GGC, complete with evidence supporting all that is outlined. I don't know how to follow people, or find articles, or anything on here. I just learned of this article, so jumped into Steemit via the galtsgulch account that I set up in August, but never used. I'd most definitely would like everyone on here, and elsewhere to know about the history of GGC being released, so any pointers on doing so here would be appreciated. Cheers.
Just start by posting your events as they unfolded. Start at the beginning and try to simplify it. That's my advice. Provide hard evidence, not opinions. And try to leave your rage and anger out of it. By attacking people in here, you're getting no where fast.
To follow someone click on their name and a little popup box appears with the among other things the word "follow".
The best help can probably be found in www.steemit.chat this is a seperate chat website devoted to steemit. So use the same name, but a different password.
There are a ton of channels, but starting in "general" is a good place.
I also would like to review all relevant documents. However, I will be blunt with you: by attacking other people, even those who are trying to sort out fact from fiction, you're burying yourself. If you could please just create blog posts that document real solid facts, we would all benefit. I realize that you have been through a shitstorm, but you have to get a grip on how you're appearing to us all. None of us know you and we cannot tell what's going on. Just provide the facts, blog posts that detail what happened.
Yes, you are correct. I should simply provide documents, emails, etc. (once I figure this stuff out in the coming days) and eliminate attacking those who have slandered me for the past two years. I appreciate the feedback. I haven't been on here in a few days. I'll think about posting most all there is on GGC, and the cast of characters, and their actions, via emails, documents, electronic messages, etc. I'd like to do a Wikileaks sort of dump, just letting people sort through the actual history of GGC. That will show everyone that the stories out of Berwick's mouth are nothing but lies, and the stories against me are as well.
As the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. The fiction told about me is definitely out there, but the truth is even more whacky once you see the lengths Berwick, Kirley, and a few others, have gone to hide their identities and cover their tracks. I'm just here, at GGC, waiting for the storm to end.
Aw, doesn't Li'l Kenny Fraudster sounds so rational and upstanding? Not one week later he was back at it on another steemit blog trashing everybody having to do with Galt's Gulch Chile. He will never post any relevant evidence for his accusations because he doesn't have any. He's all character assassination, all the time. And all lies, all the time.
Post all the accounting records for the three fiscal years of Galt's Gulch Chile. Post the bank statements. Post all the legal documents that you're hiding. What are you afraid of, con man Kenneth Dale Johnson? Hmm? I thought you had nothing to hide.
@tuck-fheman You're back! I promise to do a sports car posting soon.
https://steemit.com/jeff-berwick/@georgedonnelly/jeff-berwick-breaks-deal-for-galt-s-gulch-chile-transparency-calls-me-little-maggot
He insulted me, to boot. Didn't send me a damned thing.
IDK if its always been the case, but IMO this whole tinfoil hat consiracy theory shemitiah thing seems more and more like thinly veiled anti-semitism every time
@tuck-fheman,
Your comic gave me a giggle. I hope you know I am a non-violent person and would never make any "guy disappear." In fact, I would probably allow someone to take me out before using deadly force. The only time I would certainly use deadly force would be in self-defense of my family, friends or the innocent.
Peace.
Hi there @barrycooper,
I'm a fan of your courage when I saw you first in this documentary "how to become a kingpin". Brillant piece Docu! However, you reply here saying; "You are a non-violent person, but would use deadly force in self-defense for friends or the innocent...." I really hope you choose your friends more wisely, or perhaps just defend the innocent friends. ;) Jeff doesn't seem to me to fall in to that category of innocents...
Thanks @alechahn. I'm glad you are a fan of my work. Although Jeff is my friend, my comment above was not in defense of him. It was in defense of me. The comic strip implies I am a person to call if another wants someone hurt. I'm nothing like that.
Hey Barry. As you've seen, from the long-winded (big surprise from me, I know) email that you received last year shows, Berwick has been involved in many things that have many victims. Has he repaid the large sums of money that he swindled from the victims of his Mexico passport scam? Clients state that he folded the company that his victims paid. Is that true?
=)
Where is George? I was beginning to think he got kidnapped, hit, something....
I did but nobody would pay the ransom so they released me. - George
George said he got bored with Steemit. I think he stopped doing his videos......
He just needed to take a break to do some more writing on his novels, which is his true passion. We'll do some more videos before long.
good one :)
"It's so legitimate it's impossible to not see how it's illegitimate" direct quote from that tdv vid.
Plus the ploys for sympathy; hospitalized guy, suicide attempt.
So people are hopeful they can get out of where they are, get ito another country of residence, be with loved ones, whatever...and they get ass fucked.
btw, I noticed that JB was complaining about how hard it was to get a citizenship in Venezuala. So where did all these other connections come from back then.
I know. People who are guilty usually bring up the exact thing they are trying to cover up in conversation. After watching the video several times, it is really painful to watch him lying...
Ready get some Slurpee's as well!
It sort of feels like the early days of Steemit all over again, doesn't it?
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall
:))
oh god, i love this.
Shemitah is total BS- https://steemit.com/conspiracy/@bitcoinmeister/debunking-shemitah-silliness-and-the-irony-behind-so-called-free-speech-conspiracy-sites-censoring-critics
Thank you for this. It has mystified me why @ned and @dantheman seemingly welcomed @dollarvigilante with open arms.
While I have misgivings about hit pieces citing individuals this case is a little different because first of all there's evidence of fraud here. Second of all Jeff Berwick is a celebrity in his own right with a hype machine behind him. A single instance of investigative journalism isn't going to destroy him. Hopefully @stellabelle has opened some eyes.
Heartfelt thanks for taking a stand. You are putting yourself up against many whales, perhaps the whale-y-est of whales by exposing some truth here.
I don't know the reasons the whales are continuing to support him. In the beginning of building a platform, the people running it are looking for numbers, celebrities and energy. He has all those things. He also has a very significant dark side, obviously. All the information I presented is freely available on the internet. I am in direct email contact with someone who is providing me with more information. What I find most disturbing is the fact that the whales who upvote his garbage don't bother to look into who he is or what he is doing. Just imagine if you were one of his victims and you saw that Jeff was promoting Steemit. Then, imagine what it would be like if you had been scammed out of $15,000 and you saw that Jeff was making huge amounts on this platform. Imagine what you would think of Steemit then...........
These are the bigger issues that I am really concerned with moving forward. I certainly don't want to be associated with a platform that supports and rewards those who have stolen money from others. That goes against my core structure. I am not alone. Thanks for your generous compliments.
This video is my source for citing @ned as a supporter. This and you can find he's upvoted TDV numerous times. @dantheman being present and not interjecting is kind of tacit approval. It's Brian Sovryn responding. His response is awesome.
Shuttle to 41 minutes for what I'm referencing if the video doesn't cue right.
BTW I recommend watching the whole thing too. It was a great interview. To be clear I'm not hating on Ned or Dan. I love the work they do. I'm skeptical of their support of TDV is all.
Ih Ned considers Jeff and Sterlin "intelligent" then we are doomed.
I wrote this about the TDV when I came to the platform
https://steemit.com/anarchy/@kyriacos/why-i-respect-the-dao-hacker-but-not-the-dollarvigilante
I wrote this about Sterlin and the TDV later on
https://steemit.com/anarchy/@kyriacos/a-little-something-for-the-dellusional-anarchists-of-steemit
Btw, Sterlin and TDV came together. They got shilled from the same whales. Why? They have "anarchism" glued in front of their agenda. They are both cheesy recycling the same political mantra over and over again with ZERO critical thinking.
It appears good to teenagers and those who haven't really studied the subject well but for the rest is just 2 people with their heads too far up their ass preaching like televangelists.
I don't see things changing anytime soon. We need some outside challenge to really shake things up. Neither Dan or Ned like "confrontentional" types since they are about the "positive thinking crap" , business like relationships and so on.
...and look where it got us. Scam atists, convicts, ex cops with shady background trending th front page. the few that are getting shilled over and over again are either pawns or just keep a savoir vivre.
Effort has little to do here in Steemit. Connections and superificiality are everything. I spend hours and hours creating my articles with infographics and all and get cents.
oh well. they made their money one way or another. the ideological crap is just the selling point to make them sleep better at night
Couldn't have said it better.
The one exception I take to your points above is I wouldn't include convicts as persona non grata out of hand. The justice system in America isn't suitably fair nor just enough for a ruling to ruin a person's reputation in my eyes. For some, yes, if the evidence is there that they caused real harm to others.
I'm assuming you're indicating Shrem as one of the convicts headlining this site. To the best of my knowledge he was brought in on some trumped up charges. At worst he was operating outside financial guidelines. Who here using Bitcoin hasn't skirted the law in some way?
In a nutshell when the law becomes onerous enough everybody sane becomes an outlaw.
No Shrem literally knew what was going on with silk road and was still facilitating for them. He believed he would be above the law and his reasoning wasn't unsound at the time, but someone had to be the test case. He was rightfully charged and convicted. But he has cleaned up his act and become a better man for it.
I've seen the video before. Ned clearly hasn't done his research. Ned is primarily a business guy. His dad, from what I understood is a banker. Ned comes from money, so his entire outlook is money-based. On the surface, TDV could seem like a successful man. But we know that is not the case, clearly. Dan probably supports TDV because they both dislike "the government". That kind of blind faith can mislead even the brightest of minds.
Completely right. It's sort of the M.O. of TDV. He can gain attention and approval through motivated reasoning.
All people are subject to forming their own information bubble of like-minded speak. When somebody speaks "their language" it might not matter to take the time to look beyond the emotional spark of agreement. Validation always feels good whether or not your reasoning is flawed.
exactly. And this is especially the case when one is experiencing a massive amount of suffering. Identifying a mutual target and then feeling a part of a movement, especially if it's fringe in nature, is the probable cause of such blatant and egregious support. The deeper harm will come later once the veil has been lifted and the damage is clear for everyone to see.
Dan on tdv again:
it's about time for some more drama ... I'm excited :)
the jeff I like the most is from his first few posts that got flagged, he writes with amazing comedy timing
The weird thing about all of this is that Jeff is a likable guy on camera. He's very easy to listen to. As I have said, I wish I didn't know all of this because I wanted to believe that he was only a very bad writer and nothing else. I think his lifestyle has caught up with him and he's in way over his head. Alcohol addiction can definitely spin one's life out of control. I should know, I used to be one 8 years ago........I am very well acquainted with the signs of an addict.
Jeff's 5th steemit post should have been him revealing all this crazy stuff about himself, like Eminem did in 9 mile
Yeah, he should commission a writer to create a screenplay about his life and try to sell it to Hollywood, but he might end up somewhere else along the way........
He may not be a bad guy as such. I know myself that addiction can make you behave in ways that you would not dream of normally and it can get out of hand fast.
That's not to excuse bad behaviour but I can empathise. Things can get out of hand fast. In my case it was mainly me that was affected but it is often not the case.
Agreed. I loved his Bernie satire.
Ahh craig we love you
Cheetah bots are still auto-flagging you? I thought you got that sorted?
Thought so too its okay I am just voting and commenting and powering up. Place is great but also demanding more and more proof about something is beyond me and seems as its going down hill with all the crazy stuff that has been happening. Don't mind it I already stated my case provided all the proof that I could. No need to keep asking for more. Once I buy more steem I will have enough to post what i want.