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Co-Conspirators and/or Persons connected or involved Gary Allen Sorenson: ![]() DOB 09/06/1943 Canadian Passport # BC112241: Gary was one of the original shareholders
of SGD a Bahamian Company, along with Owen Hoffman and Milo Brost. He
claims that he transferred his shares in SGD to Graham Blaikie around
2003. G. Sorenson is the president/CEO and
majority shareholder of Merendon Mining Corporation (MMCL). MMCL was
formerly domiciled in Canada and is now domiciled in Belize. MMCL’s
home office is currently located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where G.
Sorenson and his current wife “Thelma” reside. G. Sorenson was/is the focal point, as
he is considered the “mastermind” in creating a method of financing
his gold refining operation and concession acquisitions. G. Sorenson
attended many Structurists’ conferences and IFFL conferences and,
while he was careful not to solicit funds, he often answered the question
of how SGD could afford to pay 3% per month on its loans and his first
answer was; there were huge margins in refining. To others he would
state, Merendon was paying SGD 5% per month for the funds and SGD was
retaining 2% for operations. He would also explain by way of illustrating
that he could take the money, invest it in a concession at a cost of
maybe $30 per delineated ounce of gold, develop the mine and sell the
gold at the going price. In three well-documented and somewhat
contradictory statements G. Sorenson said Merendon had received several
hundred millions in capital via SGD. In December 2004, on video
he stated that, “Merendon’s liability to SGD was $200,000,000 (Two
Hundred Million USD). In January 2006, at a meeting being held at the
Coast Plaza Hotel in Calgary Alberta, he stated that Merendon had received
$200,000,000 (Two Hundred Million USD) from SGD. In September 2008,
he stated to another group that he had only received $100,000,000 (One
Hundred Million Dollars). G. Sorenson was clear to state that this
was not all of the funds invested by the investors in the process, meaning
that funds received by SGD did not all end up with Merendon and not
all funds invested ended up in SGD. Gary promoted the SGD fund by having
tours of the refinery and his home in Honduras. (As is exampled in many
videos) G. Sorenson also owns another company called Grey Wolf Holdings, which claims on it’s now password protected website to hold in excess of 1.7 Billion USD in assets. (Website cloned for evidentiary purposes) Keynotes regarding G. Sorenson’s involvement
with SGD and the marketing include:
Today, Mr. Sorenson is believed to be residing somewhere in Alberta, Canada (Calgary area) Conception
Today Thelma is believed to be living in Boca Raton, Florida: 1098 Marble Way Boca Raton, FL 33432 Donna Mae Sorenson: G.
Sorenson’s ex-wife and mother of his two daughters Jamie and Laura,
33 and 32 years of age respectively. Director of Alberta LTD,, a company
that is owned by G. Sorenson’s two daughters. Jamie Andrea Sorenson:
YOB 1976: G. Sorenson’s eldest daughter, worked for Merendon in the
early years in Honduras. Does not appear to have had knowledge of any
wrong doings.
Eighth Wonder Entertainment, Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA - 3301 NW Boca Raton Blvd - Suite #200 -. Boca Raton FLORIDA 33431 Laura M. Sorenson: 201 East Angeleno Ave, #425 Burbank, CA 91502
Martin Werner: A sanctioned
Florida attorney currently residing in Panama. Martin’s trust account
was used to receive and disperse funds for SGD and collection from domestic
companies. Martin was the third and most recent president of SGD/BRA
(Bahamas Resource Alliance) but had limited powers as corporate approval
was required by the shareholder of note – Graham Blaikie – which
was also the president of Merendon Jewelry and liaison officer for Merendon
Mining Corp. MMCL financed the BRA office in the amount of $80,000 a
month of which Martin was receiving $36,000 a month of that money. Martin
takes orders from G. Sorenson and confides in him. He produced a “due
diligence report” regarding the Los Hornos project. Under Canadian
Law the “opinion” of a professional, which he states in his report,
can be construed as an inducement and will likely be found culpable. . Further, Martin entered into agreements
with MMCL to acquire certain properties in Ecuador and tentatively in
Peru in return for about $47 million PLUS the release of the $200,000,000
owed by MMCL to SGD. This was in direct conflict with security
agreements in place as no creditor was advised of this release and it
basically eliminated all of the security in place for the SGD creditors.
Martin also appeared to try to restructure the BRA situation by creating
Goldentrail Management Corporation to act as the General Partner for
a LP to be created to acquire the Peru assets (and later the Ecuador
assets), place them in the Limited Partnership and have each creditor
subscribe to LP units based on the number of Preferred Buyer (pb) units
they were assigned, based on the total amount owed from all loan statements.
This attempt failed when the geological reports for Peru did not measure
up to the 2.25 million ounces of gold he advised the investors they
were buying. At that point, Martin went silent but is believed
to still be in the pocket of G. Sorenson. Martin also wrote an opinion letter for the MIDAS program on its tax status and of which was challenged by the IRS and subsequent actions have been taken by the DOJ in the USA against Bill Camp (a CPA out of Washington, DC) Martin spent a lot of funds on prostitutes
prior to his marriage and even took ladies on trips to Honduras and
other junkets. ![]() Charles Blakey: A former
member of ASC, is G. Sorenson’s attorney in Canada. He was initially
engaged by IFFL to speak with Structurists about how to market the strategy
without being offside with the ASC. Subsequently, in 2005 Charles was
engaged by SGD to write one of the three “Proof of Life” reports
confirming the validity of SGD and its relationship with MMCL and the
assets securing the “loans”. Charles was located in Calgary but has
recently moved out to Vancouver Island but is still defending G. Sorenson
in Alberta Securities matters and will likely be involved in G. Sorenson’s
future legal entanglements going forward. In the March 11th communication sent out by Martin Werner, the pdf properties of the file note that the author is Charles Blakey. Martin wrote a comprehensive notice in the fall of 2007 advising of the purchase and consummation of the LP rollover and then in this letter he disavows. It seems apparent that Charles was unaware of the previous communication and Martin may not have remembered. It goes to show that Charles with G. Sorenson are likely acting in concert to advise and steer Martin Werner and not dealing at arm’s length. As in all attorney situations representing opposing parties it would seem that Charles Blakey is in conflict. Charles Blakey also provided a “due diligence report” on the Los Hornos project but was more selective in listing disclaimers and notices than the other two attorneys (Werner & Burgess).
Graham Blaikie: Was a director
of Merendon. In about 2003, Gary advised that shares of SGD owned by
Owen Hoffman, G. Sorenson and Milo Brost were transferred to Blaikie
as the new sole shareholder of SGD. It is unclear if he owned the shares
or was voting the proxy or was holding them in trust. Yet on numerous
occasions Blaikie has been introduced to witnesses as the President
of SGD and he is listed on numerous documents as a director of
MMCL. All of this certainly demonstrates an extraordinary conflict
of interest. Graham Blaikie was originally trained as a cook and is
now heading the Merendon jewelry division and was the authority that
Martin Werner had to get approval for regarding SGD matters. Graham
works directly under G. Sorenson’s supervision and as such is also
in conflict with fiduciary responsibilities of the management of SGD.
Graham is simply a front man for G. Sorenson and holds little or no
power in the Merendon organization.
Milowe Allen Brost: There
is too much to say about this man. In interviews of many individuals
regarding this man the summary of opinions were as follows: His gift
of gab is quite remarkable but is seen by most as a control freak and
is more interested in the hunt than the work. His tendency was to hunt
down opportunities and based his assessment and ego that he would make
it work but does not posses the leadership skills to put competent people
in charge or take advice from them. If someone disagrees with him they
are either ignored or he would implement coercive tactics in an attempt
to get the opposition to see to his way of thinking. Many people were
put in positions of risk as directors of companies but Milo ran the
operations from the background and most individuals involved were likely
puppets rather than perpetrators of the fraud. Milo had an unofficial partnership with
G. Sorenson to raise capital for Merendon through Syndicated Gold Depository
(SGD). Milo was an initial stockholder of SGD and appears to have
officially divested of that holding around 2003. It is likely
that Graham Blaikie may hold his shares in trust for him. He also
had an unofficial partnership with Chris Houston and Steve Kendall.
Milo was the marketing arm, Steve was the administrator and Chris was
the investment and structuring person. When it was determined
that Steve and Chris were not doing a proper job, their partnership
with Milo was terminated and Milo took over all functions. Milo owns and operates Perma Securities,
an international company that received funds invested from international
sources and redirected them to SGD or other places and also handled
some distributions and Structurists’ commissions. Milo was the
owner of Capital Alternatives Inc., later to be transitioned into The
Institute for Financial Learning (IFFL). This was the marketing
arm and contracted for all Structurists and Facilitators (Structurists
in training). IFFL ran all Structurists’ and Facilitator training
programs set all marketing policies and were the provider of all marketing
information and up-dates for all strategies and loans/investments. There
exist many detailed notes of many of these meetings in evidence.
Milo was also the architect for the strategies used in setting up the
various domestic and international structures and the movement of funds. Milo also owns, Merendon Mining (Nevada)
Inc. (MMNI), which was set up to receive funds from participants and
1) invest in US developmental mining ventures and 2) loan funds to SGD.
Ward Capstick, the President of MMNI, has produced documentation supporting
MMNI wiring of $ 112 million to SGD or Martin Werner’s trust account
for SGD and about $700,000 directly to Merendon Mining Corporation Ltd.
in Honduras. Owen Hoffman: Was an original
shareholder and first president of SGD. He had an office in the Merendon
Refinery and seemed at the time to be doing audit reports and inspections
of the security regarding the SGD fund. In a memo dated 12 September
2001, G. Sorenson began restricting Owen’s access to the facility
to perform his duties. There was a notation that G. Sorenson wanting
the SGD funding converted to preferred shares of Merendon to offset
the debt while Merendon was situated in Canada. This appears to have
been reversed later. Owen under the report “to obtain warrants”
by the CRA had taped conversations between himself, Milo, G. Sorenson,
Steve and Chris and had handed these over to the RCMP along with other
documents. Casey Allen Brost: Is Milo’s son. Casey differs from his father in the fact in documents reviewed, he appears much more detail oriented and suited better for the administration end of the business. When Milo suffered a heart attack in 2005, Casey was appointed as the interim CEO of the IFFL and this announcement was made in Niagara Falls at the Structurist conference. Casey took over the administration options and had first hand knowledge of all aspects of the operation.
Casey was initially responsible for the
operation of a fund called 360 Earth Financing Inc. which was organized
as a “venture capital” to raise funds under the illusion of investing
in new “Green” technologies. This was a Cyprus company with
a Honduras address. Casey personally was also responsible for
the preparation of the account manager binders for Steller Trust, which
included all the investments and forms. This marketing binder was provided
to investigators that includes a DVD of Merendon of which G. Sorenson
prepared and supplied, knowing full well that its purpose was to be
utilized in marketing of “360”. Casey later moved his operations
to Belize and oversaw the services necessary to transfer funds such
as Bridgewater, which was situated in Bermuda. Casey also did significant research on
where to incorporate companies and prepared organizational charts of
the operation links. If Casey can specifically testify that he took
directions from G. Sorenson on what redemptions were paid making G.
Sorenson fully aware and in control of the SGD operations. G. Sorenson
also requested a full reporting of all SGD accounts from Casey’s office
in October 2006 and did nothing to disavow the fund totals. He continued
to accept funds from investors even after the fact. Bradly
“Brad” Mitchell Brost – was responsible for setting up
the Business Expense Program (BEP) which was a program where they issued
debit cards to “managers” who were then able to take redemptions,
have a certain amount of funds put on their international debit cards
monthly and use these debit cards for spending. It was a way of
redeeming their investment without reporting the redemptions. Brad, in collaboration with Dale Joseph
orchestrated a sham financial institution they called Nordic Merchant
Credit Union (MNCU) as a cyber bank. It was incorporated in Sweden
and linked to a bank in Portugal. Investors set up accounts at
NMCU, wired fund into their account and subscribed for Term deposits.
NMCU was then supposed to forward funds to either Steller Trust or Evergreen
Management Services for re-allocation into one of three or four different
investment opportunities. The Spanish courts through the beneficiary bank
froze NMCU operations but later the funds were released to account holders.
It seems that Bradley Brost Skimmed a sizeable chunk for himself and
remaining money was forwarded to Martin Werner. It is alleged that approx.
$ 650,000 was clipped from the amount that was to go to Martin Werner/G.
Sorenson and that Werner took great offense to the allocation. Chris Houston: His primary function was to vet out opportunities and formulate domestic corporations for the collection of funds. He was, in the opinion of many interviewees, arrogant and incompetent in understanding the securities' jurisdictional rules. Chris was initially responsible for structuring the Canadian companies used for the initial entry point into the process. In addition, he founded International MoneyCents (IMC), which was the trustee for the 10% domestic set off invested with SGD. IMC was also was the international organization
that created all of the structures and investment opportunities such
as Consumer Debt Recovery Trust (CDRT), Secure Wealth Investing &
Tracking Fund (SWIFT), Tena Capital, the oil arbitrage, etc. IMC was the international administrative
arm of the process and they controlled all of the paperwork for the
moving of funds by each individual into SGD and the other investment
opportunities. All Structurists (they were called “cash flow
specialists”) had a contract with IMC to handle the administrative
paperwork for them. IMC administration and management appeared
to be handled through an international company called Heritage Financial
S.A, which has a Turks & Caicos address. Other Corporations in which
he was involved with included Grovenor Trust, and Stellar Trust. In one example given Houston set up two
companies (PI Ventures & Redpoint) that were promoted as RRSP (IRA)
eligible by having more than 51% ownership by a listed Canadian corporation
(Crown Industries). When Crown rescinded the agreement which in essence
made the investment ineligible the situation was never conveyed and
they continued to raise funds. These companies are now the main focus
of attack by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) implicating all investors
in an RRSP strip scheme. His actions or lack there of, caused considerable
harm to the investors from the sheer lack of proper disclosure. IMC also sponsored the various international
conferences such as in Costa Rica, a Caribbean cruise and a conference
in Jamaica in 2003. Houston also headed up the Consumer Debt
Recovery Trust (CDRT) that invested in bad debt, which was represented
by Titan Group out of Atlanta. When the product/entity met its demise
the remaining funds were to be transferred to SGD via TENA fund to put
equipment to work in Ecuador. However, the deal seems never to
have been consummated. Its evident that Houston and Steve Kendall decided
to keep the funds and offset the amount against the 10% account that
was never theirs but was held in trust to satisfy the domestic investments.
It appears that G. Sorenson must have offset the account in SGD and
the account was never established again even though Milo and G. Sorenson
would have been aware of the implications. After that settlement Houston
and Kendall resigned from their involvement and Casey Brost started
to head up the offshore administration. Steve Kendell: Corporations
that Kendell was directly involved with included Grovenor Trust, Stellar
Trust, & IMC (International Money Cents). He was the accountant
and reconciled all the accounting and funds transfers in the initial
stages of the SGD structure. He worked closely with Chris Houston and
was in charge of paying commissions, balancing accounts while both he
and Houston got a cut of the proceeds of funds raised in addition to
charging fees to establish and maintain offshore corporations. These offshore corporations were contracted
through Bob Bandfield initially and then the offshore corporation structures
were abandoned for managed accounts. He was a key part of the initial
team running IMC and back shop administration. He was also trustee with
(CDRT) and participated with Houston on the dissolution of that fund
and subsequent settlement they received. He was a very health conscious
individual but after leaving the IFFL / IMC arrangement he had a heart
attack. After his departure Brad Regier was retained to take on the
accounting duties. Bradley Dean Regier: Worked
as the accountant that was responsible for reconciling books that were
related to the balances of funds collected to where they were allocated.
Funds that were collected from domestic corporations were directed based
on where funds were needed. Not all funds were directed through SGD
as some funds were directed to True North or Asia and then an offsetting
reconciliation was done to set up the appropriate management accounts
and set up the outstanding balance with SGD. According to witnesses,
at no time did G. Sorenson ever refute this manner of accounting with
SGD and at no time were new SGD accounts or subsequent deposits ever
refuted by G. Sorenson. Regier has intimate knowledge of where funds
were directed and wiring instructions for all accounts. Brad handled
the accounting and wiring of funds at the directive of Milo and Casey
handled the administration. Brad served as an executive of Strategic
Metals and was fined by the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) but
like all directors of all companies he took orders from Milo, and because
of this all directors including Brad were held accountable for not obeying
the securities objectives as laid out in the offering memorandum. Brad
also served as a director with MMNI and did the accounting and books
for both companies. Brad has given a deposition to the RCMP
and the FBI in the USA. He is disillusioned with the way things have
happened and up until recently has been extremely loyal to Milo because
of his honor and their commonly shared religious affiliations. Milo
and Brad attended the same church and is where he met Milo. Ken Sorenson:(aka: Sorensen) noted on various websites that Ken and Terry are listed with a different spelling of the same last name. G. Sorenson’s brother and has an employment history in the transportation industry as an engineer. He is now employed as the operating officer of the Merendon Company and he spoke in the Bahamas conference on behalf of Merendon. In 2006, he was named the President of MMCL. His role has been to engineer the development of the mining operations and has been present at meetings in Honduras along with G. Sorenson, Werner, G. Blakie. Was the recipient of a $120,000.00 motor home from Gary for Christmas 2007 Ken Sorensen Dwayne Martin: Was
involved as a sales person or liaison officer with Capital Alternatives.
His main role was to send out offering memorandums and review the incoming
subscriptions for completeness and compliance. He raised concerns over
the leverage happening on the capital raised by the investors. Capital
Alternatives raised funds for Strategic Metals. He became disenchanted
with the situation of the leveraging and resigned. Martin spent approx. 6 months working
for Milo chasing down what is commonly referred to as “Nigerian”
scams in Europe, that he indicates Milo would not stop chasing. He finally
resigned. He has relayed that he also made arrangements on some valid
transactions where Milo put down an initial investment and then just
didn’t follow up on the terms and lost the deal. Terry Sorenson: (aka. Sorensen ex RCMP) On various websites and even in some ASC notations the brothers use different spellings of their last name. It appears that G. Sorenson uses Terry to oversee the security systems and perhaps get information through channels not available to the public. It was implied to various witnesses that all the security cameras were streaming video to him in Canada to oversee the operations. Now managing Greywolf Ranch in Honduras. Lives in Victoria with his family but travels regularly to Honduras to manage the horses shown on the Greywolf website. Documents
in evidence indicate that G. Sorenson authorized large monetary payments
to Terry. Rafael Leonardo Callejas:
is the past president of Honduras and sat from 1990 to 1994. It is understood
that the house that Elizabeth Brost currently resides in was previously
owned by Mr. Callejas and was the primary residence of Milo and Elizabeth
until the divorce. Milo supposedly made a deal with Mr. Callejas offering
an account in SGD in lieu of the house payment. After the divorce Milo
purchased a house in Honduras adjacent to G. Sorenson’s home in the
new-gated community. It seems that when Callejas requested a redemption
from SGD and was declined based on liquidity he approached G. Sorenson
directly and he made good on the loan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Elizabeth Brost: was Milo’s wife. It is indicated that they met at his church as well. She has a son from a previous marriage named Jonathon that Milo took on as his own. She seems very concerned about the influences of Milo and in recent years Jonathon has spent considerable time with Milo and even traveled with him on his escapades in collecting funds and searching out Nigerian money scams. She was involved early in the operation
as administration and then was parachuted in to straighten out the SGD
accounting department in Honduras. She worked intimately with the accounting
staff of SGD at the Merendon refinery office and still has relationships
with a number of the staff. She resides in Tegucigalpa in the house
that Milo and she bought from Callejas.
It appears that Dale Joseph purchased
his way into the company for 30% of the outstanding shares with funds,
which is assumed came from Bradley Brost on the clip of funds from NMCU,
but no corroborative evidence is currently in the file. Larry Adair: A Florida sanctioned attorney, (Bar # 00837300) Larry was the 2nd president of SGD and
his trust accounts were used to transfer funds from domestic to international
positions. He worked with G. Sorenson closely and has detailed
records of SGD up until his departure in 2005-06. It appears that he
reproduced these records and provided them. He is privy to intimate
details of the operation and can verify that he took directions from
and reported to GS on the details of the SGD accounts and operations. Wayne Bailey: Was
one of the earlier marketers hired by Milo. He also headed up the Asia
operations later and stationed in Hong Kong. He has intimate knowledge
of the international affairs of Milo and Hong Kong. He was involved
with the East Timor situation and Lynn Ogden. Wayne is currently back
in Canada in Vancouver or the Lower Mainland. AJ Stewart: (aka: Jim Lavendar) Was the first marketer hired by Milo and has intimate details on conversations held with Milo and G. Sorenson. AJ was a primary marketer and later was put in charge of sales training for the IFFL. AJ resides in Vancouver or the lower mainland. |