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| Real Damante; fake Basquiat |
A September 19, 2019 “Petition For Summons For Offender Under Supervision” filed by the United States Probation department's Las Vegas office against David Damante spurred a September 23, 2019 warrant that landed Damante in federal court last Thursday, October 3.
That initial hearing was the first step in revocation proceedings that should land Damante back in federal prison.
Damante's criminal history is as checkered as the tablecloth at your favorite Italian restaurant, and has been well-documented on this blog.
On February 19, 2014, David Damante was convicted of two counts of Wire Fraud and was sentenced to 41 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
On May 11, 2016, his supervision was revoked, and he was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, to be followed by 24 months of supervised release.
On August 10, 2018, his supervision was revoked for a second time, and he was sentenced to 12 months of supervised release.
He began supervised release for the third time in the District of Nevada on June 27, 2019.
According to the petition filed September 23, from the onset of this term of supervision, Damante has reported that he was employed full-time as an Associate Producer for Poor Winners.
Damante was asked to provide verification of his employment.
Damante provided verification of employment in the form of copies of checks dated July 5, 2019 and August 2, 2019, both in the amount of $1,026.00, paid to the order of David Damante from his employer, Brett F. Revell, DBA, Poor Winners. (For the uninitiated, Revell is like that infamous Playtex bra from the 70's: there's no visible means of support. The official status for both Nevada business entities related to for Poor Winners, a film ostensibly in production since 2015, have long since been revoked. In addition, another Nevada business formed by Revell in 2006 (EPLV-Event Planners of Las Vegas) was permanently revoked by Nevada in 2007.)
The Probation Office contacted Wells Fargo and was advised that the account from which the checks were drafted was a closed account. Damante provided false information to the Probation Office.
Eagle-eyed readers of this blog may recognize Revell's name from his direct involvement in another one of Damante's schemes: using his “ownership” of two purported Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings to fraudulently obtain nearly $500,000 from three victims between March and June of 2018
Revell's affidavit (chocked full of false statements, AKA lies), dated July 31, 2017, was used by Damante in a wide-ranging art fraud scheme that is currently under federal investigation.
In a September 27, 2017 affidavit, David Damante, also using the surname 'Diamante', asserted ownership of painting titled “Helicopter Cityscape”:
“the above referenced Basquiat was a gift from my father Angelo who left it to me prior to his passing in May 6, 2016.”
The painting, purportedly taken by Damante's associate Brett Revell in October 2016 to a Las Vegas gallery he dubbed “Art Encounters” (adding an unnecessary 's'), was picked up several months later by Damante.
In addition, the probation petition revealed Damante created a profile on sexyjobs.com seeking employment as an independent contractor, as reported on this blog. As recently as July 31, 2019, Damante updated his profile (#321790) on sexyjobs.com in which he is seeking employment as a “model, actor/actress, webcam performer, massage therapist” in the acting genres of “soft, hard” and modeling genres of “nude/erotic, fetish.”
He also listed his representation as “Independent/Not seeking representation.”
Damante did not disclose this job to the Probation Office.
Damante is operating businesses he failed to disclose to probation, and executed several financial agreements without the knowledge and/or approval of the Probation Office.
On July 16, 2019, Damante submitted an application to the World Pet Association to be a vendor at SuperZoo using the alias “David Diamante.”
On July 16, 2019, Damante also negotiated/consummated a financial contract with World Pet Association to rent a booth for the SuperZoo trade show to be held at the Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and arranged for payment in the amount of $3,300.00 to be made on behalf of Pawfect Protein Bitez. (The SuperZoo trade show booth was revealed in an August 21, 2019 post on this blog.)
On August 22, 2019, a Las Vegas probation officer attended SuperZoo, the National Show for Pet Retailers that was held at the Mandalay Bay from August 20, 2019 to August 22, 2019.
Unbeknownst to Damante, the officer met him, and his Senior Vice President, Robert Duran, at his Pawfect Protein Bitez booth. Damante and Duran were manning the booth. They stated that they were in the final stage of getting ready to sell their products, which were dog and horse treats, some of which would contain CBD.
Damante provided a business card which stated, “David D, Owner/Operator” and the telephone number 775-777-8222, which is the phone number he has provided to Probation to contact him.
After speaking with Damante, the probation officer spoke with an employee of SuperZoo and inquired about booth rental prices.
She stated that booth rentals are $34.00 per square foot, which the smallest booth being a 10 by 10 at a cost of $3,400.
It appeared that Damante’s booth was approximately a 10 by 10 space.
On August 28, 2019, Supervisory Probation Officer (SUSPO) Todd Fredlund conducted a home inspection at Damante’s residence based on the fact it was the first time at the residence during the term of his supervised release, and the fact that Damante was in violation of his release conditions by operating Pawfect Protein Bitez, LLC., and failing to disclose to Probation.
During the inspection, SUSPO Fredlund observed in plain view a FedEx package that was open with loose documents sitting on top of the shelf in the living room.
Damante provided verbal consent with permission for SUSPO Fredlund to look around and go through the documents contained with the FedEx package. Retrieved from the FedEx package was a Promissory Note that listed “Pawfect Protein Bitez LLC” as the Borrower with Lender being listed as an Angell C. Fernandez & Taylor J. Fernandez to borrow $2,500 from them on behalf of Pawfect Protein Bitez, LLC.
Let's pause for a moment.
Back on August 14, I sent an email to Sarah Melton, the Public Relations Director for the Dallas Mavericks, seeking comment on an assertion by PAWfect on its Instagram account that it was the “official and exclusive treat of the Dallas Mavericks”.
After repeated attempts at follow-up, Melton finally answered my query on August 26, stating “Sorry we decline to comment”.
And while Melton refused to comment, or even insert a comma after sorry, federal probation officials discovered the truth about Damante and the Mavs—and it was more galling than even I'd assumed.
Damante had negotiated a $355,454 sponsorship agreement between the Mavericks and PAWfect nearly two weeks before he was formally under federal supervision!
Yes, while he was still in federal custody!
Supervisory Probation Officer Todd Fredlund, during his August 28, 2019 search of Damante's residence, found a document titled “Sponsorship Agreement” issued by the Dallas Mavericks was in the FedEx package.
The document indicated the Sponsorship agreement was made and entered into as of June 14, 2019 and was between Pawfect Protein Bitez and Dallas Baseball Limited.
Pawfect was listed as a sponsor.
The agreement was for the Dallas Mavericks to sell the “sponsor” a “Sponsorship Package”.
Damante signed this financial agreement on June 14, 2019 as the CEO/Founder or PAWfect Protein Bitez.
The term of the sponsorship spanned the 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 20121-2022 seasons.
Damante's total investment ($355,454) was stated in the agreement as follows:
2019-2020-$115,000,
2020-2021-$118,450,
2021-2022-$122,004.
The document further stated installment billing available, showing the first payment billable due August 1, 2019 in the amount of $38,333.33; second one in the same amount due January 1, 2020.
On September 10, 2019, SUSPO Todd Fredlund and the undersigned officer made telephonic contact with Ryan Mackey, Senior Vice President for the Dallas Mavericks, and Sekou Lewis, General Counsel for the Dallas Mavericks.
They reported that on or about June 6, 2019, Damante initially communicated with Kelly O’Brien, a sales/marketing representative for the Dallas Mavericks via LinkedIn.
Mackey became involved shortly thereafter, and communications with Damante were by telephone or email.
Lewis pointed out that it appeared that Damante purposely misspelled his last name on the agreement as “Diamante” and even printed his name as such.
It is believed that misspelling was done intentionally to avoid a Google search as discovery of Damante’s status/conviction.
(Wonder where that search would have lead?)
Mackey stated that Damante was authorized in good faith of the partnership to use the Dallas Mavericks name at SuperZoo.
On September 23, 2019, Damante was questioned in the office by SUSPO Fredlund and the undersigned officer regarding this partnership.
Damante stated the contract was null and void.
However, Mackey and Lewis stated that the Dallas Mavericks do not have any new agreement in place with any other representative from Pawfect Protein Bitez.
It should be noted that Damante executed a Sponsorship Agreement with the Dallas Mavericks on June 14, 2019, just 13 days prior to commencing supervised release for the third time.
Also recovered from the FedEx package was a document titled, “Non-Disclosure Agreement” dated August 15, 2018 between Garland, Texas-based Cake Craft, “The client” and Pawfect Protein Bitez, “The Contractor”.
Damante signed the document on behalf of Pawfect, dated August 15, 2019. Damante acknowledged signing the document and when questioned about PAWfect, stated it is his “friend’s business”.
In gleaning over the document, it indicated that PAWfect was to develop something for the client but did not indicate what.
It appears PAWfect is allowing Cake Craft to view Patented Formula and Ingredients for the sole purpose of manufacturing between Cake Craft and Pawfect Protein Bitez.
I discovered that Cake Craft is a cake decorating manufacturer that supplies wholesalers with fondant and icing, a tasty new crime niche for Damante.
More on this story as it develops!
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