| DATE |
ACTIVITY |
COMMENT |
| 1996 |
Gary Sorenson visits Honduras
Merendon is formed |
|
1997
to
2000 |
Merendon has recognized a lucrative
opportunity exists in the refining of raw gold into finished gold, and
there is no refining facility of precious metals anywhere in Central
America.
Gary Sorenson and Milo Brost meet in
Calgary.
Milo has the ability to raise capital
and Sorenson requires capital to fund the acquisition of raw gold
feedstock for a gold refinery Merendon plans to build in Honduras.
A business relationship is created.
Gary Sorenson, Milo Brost and Owen
Hoffman form Syndicated Gold Depository (SGD), domiciled in the Bahamas.
The purpose of SGD is to raise capital
from lenders and loan those funds to Merendon.
Merendon agrees to pay SGD a certain
rate of interest on the loaned funds. SGD likewise promises a certain
rate of interest to its lenders.
SGD and Merendon enter into a Loan
Agreement.
Merendon agrees to use said funds to
ONLY purchase raw gold feedstock for the refinery, therefore loaned
funds will always be in 1 of 4 forms:
Cash, Raw Gold, Refined Gold, or gold
concentrate; THEREFORE very liquid.
Merendon will refine the feedstock
and sell the gold end product on the world market
Owen Hoffman (President) works onsite
at Merendon and audits the SGD fund daily.
SGD lenders can recall their funds
loaned to SGD on relatively short notice because loaned funds should
always be relatively liquid. |
This is a significant event. Gary
Sorenson is one of the founders of SGD. This MATERIAL fact is not made
known to SGD lenders and creates a non-arms length business relationship,
which is at the root of the FRAUD. As a result SGD has always acted
in the interest of Gary Sorenson. The puppet SGD presidents have compromised
themselves in the actions they have taken while performing their duties
as SGD president. |
| Capital
Alternatives/IFFL (run by Milo Brost) raises funds for SGD through National
Products. Milo Brost goes into partnership with Christopher Houston
& Steven Kendall. Chris Houston & Steve Kendall are to
complete paperwork and keep shell companies (National Products) in good
standing. Investors funds are generally made out to the National
Product and then their funds are funneled through to SGD and then Merendon
for their use. The investor is given a debenture or promissory
note in the National Product and will receive a modest rate of return
on their investment in the National Product. The investors funds
put on deposit with SGD through a managed account receive up to 3.5%
per month interest on loaned funds to SGD. Steve Kendall &
Chris Houston via their staff advise SGD of how much of a deposit of
funds are to be credited to each investors SGD account as funds flow.
They are also responsible for the upkeep and management of the international
umbrella that each investors SGD account is sitting under. The
international umbrella is set up for tax purposes to establish that
each investor only manages the funds at SGD and does not actually own
those funds, thereby not having to pay tax on accrued interest.
|
These events occurred over a number
of years and involved a rather intricate and complicated process to
unravel. For further clarification please see
Spread Sheet Merendon Debt .xls
(included in “Numbers” link from
Homepage |
| 2001 |
Merendon starts a new venture/operation
in Venezuela, while continuing with the refinery in Honduras.
Dec 31, 2001 - Owen Hoffman resigns
as President of SGD citing health issues.
In reality he and Gary were not getting
along. |
Suspect Owen was not happy with how
SGD funds were being used.
Owen objected to funds being
spent on building or running Venezuelan project.
It also coincidentally reflects the
time period in which margins in the refining industry dropped dramatically. |
| 2002 |
Larry Adair (Florida lawyer) becomes
new SGD President January 1st, 2002.
Larry Adair maintains SGD management
via his Florida law office. He attends Honduras/SGD in person quite
regularly (at least twice per month)
|
SGD Report Final for Casey.doc |
| 2003
|
Capital Alternatives has regulatory
issues in BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. They now form THE INSTITUTE
FOR FINANCIAL LEARNING (IFFL) and continue raising funds.
Due to Merendon’s ongoing cash needs
for business expansion and operations, Sorenson/Eiger now decides to
modify the SGD/Merendon Loan Agreement to include delineated reserves
as part of the SGD security and SGD cannot say no seeing as Sorenson
really controls SGD.
This change in the loan agreement allows
Merendon to use SGD funds for general business operations or purposes. |
In doing so SGD fails all it’s lenders,
as all the security is no longer liquid. SGD also fails to advise it’s
lenders of this material change.
This is further evidence Gary Sorenson
controls SGD. . (If investors only knew Sorenson controlled SGD they
would likely not have invested. Sorenson kept this little fact a secret) |
| 2004 |
Jan - Probably due
to the Pennsylvania Securities Commissions Cease and Decist Order, Larry
Adair resigns as SGD President and Graham Blaikie is appointed the new
SGD President. Larry Adair has obvious concerns about SGD getting a
Cease and Decist Order, as he is a licensed attorney he is potentially
going to have to account to the Florida Bar for his conduct.
Arbour Energy gets listed.
Strategic Metals starts to raise funds
through Capital Alternatives |
Graham Blaikie as
SGD President?
This is a conflict
as Graham Blaikie is also a Merendon employee. This is a sign Gary Sorenson
controls SGD.
It should be noted that prior to Edna
Forrest, Bradley Regier and Caol Weeks being registered as directors
of Strategic Metals, that honor belonged to Gary Sorenson and Milo Brost
among others.r |
| 2005 |
Jan – Gary Sorenson speaks
at the IFFL Structurist’s conference at the Radisson Hotel in Calgary
about how well things are going but he is visibly upset that two of
the SGD office admin staff from Honduras are in attendance for the conference.
Milo sends Dwayne Martyn to Europe
for 6 months chasing business deals, which are actually Nigerian money
scams.
Strategic Metals continues to raise
funds until August 05 when they receive a Cease and Desist notice. See
13209_Capital_Alternatives_-_NOH_-_2005-10-12_-__1962285.pdf
Sep – Milo & Elizabeth
attend an event celebrating a wedding anniversary of Gary & Thelma
Sorenson’s in Victoria. Milo has a heart attack and angioplasty
is performed. Casey Brost now assumes control from Milo Brost.
Oct-Nov Gary Sorenson wants
copies of all of the SGD statements as he is having an audit performed.
A computer program for the new international database of statements
is written; SGD statements are printed and sent Fedex from Calgary to
the SGD offices in Honduras.
Nov - Arbour Energy gets Cease Trade Order Nov 16, 05. See 13334_Arbour_Energy_-__ICTO_-_2005-11-16_-__2003909.pdf |
Why would Sorenson be upset by SGD
admin staff attending? Likley because staff would know what he was saying
were all lies?
Funds arrive at SGD/Merendon, or at
least it appears that investor redemptions are being met. Possibly this
was the $15 million SGD received that was later identified by the Alberta
Securities in the Strategic Metals investigation?
Another $29 million goes elsewhere
according to ASC?
This further shows Sorenson kept track
of SGD funds |
| 2006 |
Jan 08-14 – Structurist’s
conference at the Coast Plaza Hotel in Calgary (Round table format)
Both Gary and Ken Sorenson speak at this conference. Gary Sorenson
indicates that over 200 million has been raised.
Jun – Casey Brost establishes
with Kevin Benterud a company by the name of Fortris Business Systems
to operate from Belize and do all of the customer service work for SGD
and all other international entities. |
Due to the increasing scrutiny IFFL
is receiving from Canadian Regulatory and Tax authorities, concerns
about having records kept on Canadian soil become a real issue.
It is obviously important to move the
records to another jurisdiction. |
| |
|
|
| 2007 |
Jan - Nordic Merchant Credit
Union starts up. Those requesting redemptions must get a Nordic
bank account and funds are sent to each person’s account for them
to draw from. Nordic is also used as a “National Product”
to move funds through until April 2007 when the Portuguese Government
freezes Nordic from continuing business.
Apr – Nordic is frozen and
the “National Product” used to move funds revert back to MMNI.
Gary Sorenson/Merendon/Eiger is known to have 7 million tied up in Nordic.
Structurist’s conference. Milo
Brost announces that a new Limited Partnership program will be used
to convert all investors into an ownership position. Martin Werner
is announced as the new President of SGD and the name is changing to
Bahamas Resource Alliance/BRA.
Aug – Liquidity to investors
dries up and no funds are available for redemptions from this point
onwards.
Oct – Martin Werner as President
releases the SGD/BRA comprehensive notice, which is assuming liability
of all formerly managed international accounts. This includes
accounts from BaseMetals (SGD sister company) Tena, Alluvial, 360 Earth
Resources and Onyx bond funds.
Nov – Martin Werner establishes
office in Panama to convert all investors to the new ownership program.
|
IFFL creates the impression they actually
have their own bank. They charge their members $1000 to open up their
bank accounts at a bank they represent to have, whereas Nordic Merchant
Credit Union is just a Swedish company. Evidently, Sweden allows companies
to be formed that have the banking terms in the name.
Why is Nordic frozen?
IFFL answer is: Nordic Funds were frozen
because the Portuguese government was investigating the consultant IFFL
hired to set the Nordic bank account up in Portugal.
(Yet another shell game of “half-truths”.)
How did Gary have funds
in Nordic?
Sorenson had no funds deposited in
Nordic. SGD investors who put the funds there had intended the funds
to be for SGD, and Sorenson felt that SGD funds were his?? (Arrogance?)
Or just another demonstration that all financial trails end with Sorenson.
Werner did not oppose this; or was the $8.7 million part of the deal
Werner agreed to in the $40 million debt agreement? Either way what
about conflict of interest & fiduciary responsibility to the investors?
Why did liquidity dry
up?
Because IFFL ceased marketing and no
new investors were found? |
| 2008 |
Mar – CRA raid on many different
locations.
Jun – Nordic funds are released and
Gary Sorenson grabs the $8.7 million
WHAT A SWEET DEAL????
Sorenson grabs the unfrozen funds in
Nordic, wipes out the debt and gets an IOU for $40 million and then
tries to get the SGD lenders to convert into equity in a hole in Peru.
Sep – Kirk Mosdell, Glenn
Selig, David Saxe, Nigel Bribane Smith travel to Honduras to meet with
Martin Werner and Gary Sorenson to attempt to get LP process moving.
In theory Gary Sorenson agrees to help expedite the process. TransMotion
United is formed and work proceeds to commence LP process. Sorenson
claims that Merendon only received $100 million from SGD. |
These Nordic funds did not belong
to Sorenson. Why did Werner give them to him? Why were they not used
for redemptions? |
| 2009 |
Jan – Martin Werner agrees
to asset verification of geological reports on the Peruvian concessions
to be used to take the LP process into ownership. Travels to meet
with independent geologist who cannot sign off that the assets are proven
which would allow the LP process to proceed. Martin Werner and
Gary Sorenson will no longer communicate with TransMotion United.
Jan-Mar – Options are investigated
by TransMotion United as to how best recover investor’s funds.
Mar-Apr – Asset Recovery Group
is approached.
May
– present – Gary Sorenson/Merendon verbally acknowledge they
wish to reconcile with account holders but they need to be sure they
are paying valid debts. Problems have arisen in accounting as according
to Merendon
|
Conclusion: Conspiracy to Defraud,
Theft by Deception, RICO etc… |