UPDATE December 16 @ 12:30pm:
Kelly Flees avoided prison, and was sentenced to one year probation, ordered to pay $30,654.42 in restitution. (File this one under Crime Pays.)
Documents filed yesterday in U. S. District Court in Grand Rapids, in advance of today's 11:00am sentencing of Kelly Flees Demoss reveal stunning information: confirmation of the involvement of Chris Paganes and Zia Shlaimoun in the scheme to defraud Blackburne & Brown Mortgage.
Although I'd long suspected those links, I never had documentary proof...until now.
In addition, the 56-page file, attached to a 6-page response by government prosecutors in reply to a court order regarding restitution, reveals some of the elements of a years-long arson investigation—including the intensive effort by Auto-Owners Insurance Company to recover at least some of the $800,000 expense related to the December 31, 2013 fire at Battle Creek's On Deck Sports Bar & Grill.
While I will publish a more detailed report on Tuesday, an element in the original indictment was the creation of leases for phantom tenants that Flees supplied to Blackburne to obtain a $494,000 mortgage for the On Deck building.
In yesterday's filing, those names were revealed: including a lease agreement with 'Viddy Me'.
Eagle-eyed readers may remember that same entity sponsored the 2011 grand opening of Buckhannon's Battle Creek chiropractic clinic.
Here's an email that confirms Zia Shlaimoun's direct link to the scam, sent from an @viddyme.com email address: the document was part of a complaint filed by the SEC against another fraudster!
In addition, the On Deck had a consulting agreement with JoRoc Management Group, a shell company formed in 2010 by Chris Paganes' father.
And it appears that Kelly, as the sole signatory on all legal formation and mortgage documents, was involved in this scheme up to her neck.
More on this later, after sentencing has been announced.
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