I live in Vancouver Washington. I developed a business concept in November 2019 and was approached by a person I had worked with to discuss a partnership using my business concept and sweat equity. I original discussed my concept with my current employer and approached them with the opportunity to partner including my friend Janaya in the operation because while she was on maternity leave they replaced her with a working manager who performed better and so upon her return she did have a job but it was on a sales level and not management.
A couple of days before moving forward with my current employer I was approached by Janaya to meet with Brett to discuss partnering because he would give us more of a split compared to what was or had been negotiated with the current employer.
I did not want to partner with Brett at all due to what happened with Core Brand Solutions and believed despite his explanation that he contributed to the demise of that business which also did not pay some of the employees and Brett was also provided with some work claims and lost by two employees one who is named Dillion.
Furthermore only went with Brett at the direction of my friend Janaya and did not realize they were having an affair until January during a visit to a networking group in Portland and also can be documented as they were approached by police in the parking lot of Capture Those Travelers that night.
Agian this is when I found out about the affair and that is what caused the demise of our freindship and or partnership. Brett incouraged me to not work or partner with Janaya as she grew more involved with Brett and Brett stated she was threatning his famliy life and therefor he was not sure he wanted to continue with Emerald Screens.
I assured him we could make it and without the distraction of Janaya and threat of his family life if he was in for the support and the split we could continue. He agreed. He brought the operating agreement to reflect that split. Again dated and signed by Brett on 4/10/18. I partnered with a friend of mine and one of our colleagues. We were going to split the business 40/40/20 split. 3 members.
The business colleague obtained the business license, and both him and I open a business account and started building the business. His contribution was financial and business advise and direction. He in return for those contributions would get 20%. He estimates that contribution is around $22,000.
We started producing and we took on employees in March 2018 and at that time he (20%) partner seduced my friend and (40 percent partner) which caused tension and hindered production so I explained to him that I would not work in these conditions and going forward if he wanted to support my concept I would not work with her (40 percent partner).
I explained that in the event he wanted to continue his affair he would need to employ her at his office. Because his business is owned by Off The Cuff Media he was unable to employee her because Jenny Belt his live in girlfriend is aware of a previous affair and would not allow her to be one of his employees.
She then was out of the picture and at that point I explained if he wanted to move forward we would do so under the same agreement meaning I contribute concept and he contributes financial support and business guidance and we would do so at a 50/50 split at my recommendation trying to be fair and not absorb her 40 percent making my share 60 and his 40.
During the next couple of months we continued to produce and deliver. We went from an office the size of a closet housing 4 people to a bigger office housing 8-10 people. During this time we continued to build, work 12 hour days operating to drive production and sales and growing.
Some of the things that occurred during this time are as follows. 3/26/18 Janaya exits and balance is $1159 in the bank. 4/10/18 Brett provides operating agreement 50/50/19 split. 3/18- 7/18 Working out of Regis office in Camas with 10 employees.
Brett charging payroll to Emerald Screens for Johnny Fontana, Jenny Souto, Matt Souto, Grayson IT Technical, Brittany Scott, Emma the art person, Charlie Ferguson HR Please note I was being charged for Jenny Souto even though he owed Jenny Souto and her boyfriend from a previous loan he had given Brett when he started Capture Those Travelers and convinced Jenny that the 15 percent he owed her and her boyfriend he would give to them thru shares in Emerald Screens. His shares.
He also states from time to time when I ask him about that money he used and promised he would pay them in equity of his business Capture Those Travelers and after that was not part of his plan used Emerald Screens to negotiate ownership and return. Fearghal and Brett, Myself and Jenny Souto and her boyfriend who happens to be a very honest hardworking person as they all are and invested in what he thought would be a legitimate investment and return and then found out how Brett operates.
Not sure of the outcome. 6/18 thru 8/18 Brett suggested (because he needed Johnny Fontana who was living in his office at 14300 SE 1st, Vancouver at Capture Those Travelers because Brett wanted to bring in Fearghal McCarthy who is a person who I had never met or agreed to partner with and believed he specialized in acquisitions and hostile takeovers.
I moved from my home in Salmon Creek and Move into a property where we worked in my basement. This freed up space for Johnny Fontana and Matt Souto who Brett wanted to test scripts and or other technical ideas and in order to work more closely brought Matt Souto and his son here to live for that purpose. Matt was also helping with art and videos for customers.
Up until then we were paying Max Weston for artwork working from his home as he was Janayas cousin and that was the case up until the split at the end of March 2018. Brett was also aware that Johhny Fontana need cable and internet due to processing payments via a virtual merchant and Matt Souto needing access to the internet.
The other utilities were the usual ie... water, garbage, electric and gas. Upon Brett who also promised Johnny Fontana equity in Capture Those Travlers was cut out of the business by Brett and sent home to Detroit with very little monies and infact asked Brett for plain fare and ended up getting help with plain fare from his brother.
Brett also wrote in the second operating agreement with regards to Johnny Fontana. The property in Salmon Creek was $2200 per month. The Regis office was also around $2200 and infact later learned that we were in fact in a lease until August and were responsible for the rents and the deposit was returned after that.
Please also note in order for me to move which was in April 2018 I needed a deposit for the new property and that came from the business with the intention of using the basement to operate rather than the high rents in the Regus office and so we did just that moved to the basement and at that point Brett called the Americas phone guys and they came out and wired the basement for phones and we had comcast business for internet.
The deposit for the new place was $5000 and the rent was $2450 plus utilities such as internet and cable, garbage, electric, gas ect. Again the plan of action was to save money and be able to provide living quarters for employees who needed it. Brett exchanged work instead of wages and that was done with the accounting of Jenny Belt.
One of the employees who Brett offered living arrangements was not permitted by several of the roommates. This was determined because the girlfriend of the employee had mental issues that were documented and because some of the roommates have children they determined they were not comfortable.
We also rented to Trista Hendrix and her children and Lela Brewster and Her Sister. All employees except for Lelas sister. 8 months this lease was in place in which employees rented all rooms except for one. Also note that the deposit was returned based on the property being returned in good shape. We did have a small deduction for garbage removal over the normal weekly amount upon move out however all of the people who lived at this property can attest to this live/work relationship.
Brett and Fearghal were aware of the lease and the cost and living arrangements. They also were aware and approved of the move out from Regis to the new location at 6404 Montana Lane where the business operated in the basement.
Please also note that the Company Picnic for both Capture those Travelers and Emerald Screens was held at the house where the company was moved in late July. 6604 Montana Lane. We had a company gathering where Brett gave Brittany a winning ticket to Las Vegas a trip that was related to business.
I also attended the trip as the host and what I thought was an co owner. That Trip took place in October. We also had Thad the manager and Olivia my daughter who was the HR/admin and also note monies were taken out of all of our checks for plain fare and hotel even though the trip was a business trip.
In August we moved the office from the basement to the location of 311 East Reserve Street where the rent was in the amount of $1200. The office was again wired by Americas Phone Guys at the direction of Brett and we were operating again. We were then faced with an L&I audit. Because Brett was not taxing spiffs as income and paying some people off the books and or trading living expenses he then came to me with an operating agreement dating back to 4/1 with the business ownership as Off The Cuff Media owing 51 percent ownership and my ownership would be 49 percent.
I questioned Brett in front of my office about this agreement and he explained that it was necessary to offset the liability of Off the Cuff Media and to explain the financial support and the fact that we were a new business ect and assured me that once we made it successfully thru the audit he would revert back to the original agreement dated 4/10/18 and please note the operating agreement 51/49 is dated 4/1/18.
Please note that the team of Brett, Jenny Belt, Fearghal McCarthy, Brittany Scott and Charlie Ferguson provided a binder of proof outlining the information they were looking for and worked with the gentleman from L&I I think his name was Bernie and they went thru everything behind closed doors with Jenny Belt and Fearghal McCarthy and we received a very low fine.
For preparation Jenny went thru the books and did whatever she did and they charged everyone's checks for spiffs that were not taxed and Martin and I believe Thad for cash they received and or spiffs that also was not taxed or reported. Martin worked for cash for months and has record of such.
All cash that was paid to Martin is on a sheet he has or had on his computer. I also noted this in an email accounting for the first 4 months of accounting in which Jenny Belt was not included during the time in which Janaya was part of our team. Again, my role is day to day operations such as oversight of production, sales, customer service, delivery ect.
I coordinated recruiting, hiring, training, daily meetings, and made all decisions for the operations for the entire first year. I drove sales and delivery. Delivering and installing 40 out of 45 accounts. I hired a lenox administrator in June due to Grayson Bretts IT person not being able to help us deliver the device and me knowing and recognizing that in order to deliver we needed to fill that spot and also had hired a person named Matthew Hughes to fill the spot of building devises, upload, maintenance ect.
I was the person with the business concept and accounts. Brett was the person who was contributing business guidance and financial support and that was his contribution for his share in the business. To Whom It May Concern, I live in Vancouver Washington.
I developed a business concept in November 2019 and was approached by a person I had worked with to discuss a partnership using my business concept and sweat equity. I original discussed my concept with my current employer and approached them with the opportunity to partner including my friend Janaya in the operation because while she was on maternity leave they replaced her with a working manager who performed better and so upon her return she did have a job but it was on a sales level and not management.
A couple of days before moving forward with my current employer I was approached by Janaya to meet with Brett to discuss partnering because he would give us more of a split compared to what was or had been negotiated with the current employer. I did not want to partner with Brett at all due to what happened with Core Brand Solutions and believed despite his explanation that he contributed to the demise of that business which also did not pay some of the employees and Brett was also provided with some work claims and lost by two employees one who is named Dillion.
Furthermore only went with Brett at the direction of my friend Janaya and did not realize they were having an affair until January during a visit to a networking group in Portland and also can be documented as they were approached by police in the parking lot of Capture Those Travelers that night. Again this is when I found out about the affair and that is what caused the demise of our freindship and or partnership.
Brett incouraged me to not work or partner with Janaya as she grew more involved with Brett and Brett stated she was threatning his famliy life and therefor he was not sure he wanted to continue with Emerald Screens. I assured him we could make it and without the distraction of Janaya and threat of his family life if he was in for the support and the split we could continue. He agreed.
He brought the operating agreement to reflect that split. Again dated and signed by Brett on 4/10/18. I partnered with a friend of mine and one of our colleagues. We were going to split the business 40/40/20 split. 3 members. The business colleague obtained the business license, and both him and I open a business account and started building the business.
His contribution was financial and business advise and direction. He in return for those contributions would get 20%. He estimates that contribution is around $22,000. We started producing and we took on employees in March 2018 and at that time he (20%) partner seduced my friend and (40 percent partner) which caused tension and hindered production so I explained to him that I would not work in these conditions and going forward if he wanted to support my concept I would not work with her (40 percent partner).
I explained that in the event he wanted to continue his affair he would need to employ her at his office. Because his business is owned by Off The Cuff Media he was unable to employee her because Jenny Belt his live in girlfriend is aware of a previous affair and would not allow her to be one of his employees.
She then was out of the picture and at that point I explained if he wanted to move forward we would do so under the same agreement meaning I contribute concept and he contributes financial support and business guidance and we would do so at a 50/50 split at my recommendation trying to be fair and not absorb her 40 percent making my share 60 and his 40.
During the next couple of months we continued to produce and deliver. We went from an office the size of a closet housing 4 people to a bigger office housing 8-10 people. During this time we continued to build, work 12 hour days operating to drive production and sales and growing. Some of the things that occurred during this time are as follows.
3/26/18 Janaya exits and balance is $1159 in the bank. 4/10/18 Brett provides operating agreement 50/50/19 split. 3/18- 7/18 Working out of Regis office in Camas with 10 employees. Brett charging payroll to Emerald Screens for Johnny Fontana, Jenny Souto, Matt Souto, Grayson IT Technical, Brittany Scott, Emma the art person, Charlie Ferguson HR Please note I was being charged for Jenny Souto even though he owed Jenny Souto and her boyfriend from a previous loan he had given Brett when he started Capture Those Travelers and convinced Jenny that the 15 percent he owed her and her boyfriend he would give to them thru shares in Emerald Screens. His shares.
He also states from time to time when I ask him about that money he used and promised he would pay them in equity of his business Capture Those Travelers and after that was not part of his plan used Emerald Screens to negotiate ownership and return. Fearghal and Brett, Myself and Jenny Souto and her boyfriend who happens to be a very honest hardworking person as they all are and invested in what he thought would be a legitimate investment and return and then found out how Brett operates.
Not sure of the outcome. 6/18 thru 8/18 Brett suggested (because he needed Johnny Fontana who was living in his office at 14300 SE 1st, Vancouver at Capture Those Travelers because Brett wanted to bring in Fearghal McCarthy who is a person who I had never met or agreed to partner with and believed he specialized in acquisitions and hostile takeovers.
I moved from my home in Salmon Creek and Move into a property where we worked in my basement. This freed up space for Johnny Fontana and Matt Souto who Brett wanted to test scripts and or other technical ideas and in order to work more closely brought Matt Souto and his son here to live for that purpose. Matt was also helping with art and videos for customers.
Up until then we were paying Max Weston for artwork working from his home as he was Janayas cousin and that was the case up until the split at the end of March 2018. Brett was also aware that Johhny Fontana need cable and internet due to processing payments via a virtual merchant and Matt Souto needing access to the internet.
The other utilities were the usual ie... water, garbage, electric and gas. Upon Brett who also promised Johnny Fontana equity in Capture Those Travlers was cut out of the business by Brett and sent home to Detroit with very little monies and infact asked Brett for plain fare and ended up getting help with plain fare from his brother. Brett also wrote in the second operating agreement with regards to Johnny Fontana. The property in Salmon Creek was $2200 per month.
The Regis office was also around $2200 and infact later learned that we were in fact in a lease until August and were responsible for the rents and the deposit was returned after that. Please also note in order for me to move which was in April 2018 I needed a deposit for the new property and that came from the business with the intention of using the basement to operate rather than the high rents in the Regus office and so we did just that moved to the basement and at that point Brett called the Americas phone guys and they came out and wired the basement for phones and we had comcast business for internet.
The deposit for the new place was $5000 and the rent was $2450 plus utilities such as internet and cable, garbage, electric, gas ect. Again the plan of action was to save money and be able to provide living quarters for employees who needed it. Brett exchanged work instead of wages and that was done with the accounting of Jenny Belt.
One of the employees who Brett offered living arrangements was not permitted by several of the roommates. This was determined because the girlfriend of the employee had mental issues that were documented and because some of the roommates have children they determined they were not comfortable.
We also rented to Trista Hendrix and her children and Lela Brewster and Her Sister. All employees except for Lelas sister. 8 months this lease was in place in which employees rented all rooms except for one. Also note that the deposit was returned based on the property being returned in good shape. We did have a small deduction for garbage removal over the normal weekly amount upon move out however all of the people who lived at this property can attest to this live/work relationship.
Brett and Fearghal were aware of the lease and the cost and living arrangements. They also were aware and approved of the move out from Regis to the new location at 6404 Montana Lane where the business operated in the basement. Please also note that the Company Picnic for both Capture those Travelers and Emerald Screens was held at the house where the company was moved in late July. 6604 Montana Lane. We had a company gathering where Brett gave Brittany a winning ticket to Las Vegas a trip that was related to business.
I also attended the trip as the host and what I thought was an co owner. That Trip took place in October. We also had Thad the manager and Olivia my daughter who was the HR/admin and also note monies were taken out of all of our checks for plain fare and hotel even though the trip was a business trip.
In August we moved the office from the basement to the location of 311 East Reserve Street where the rent was in the amount of $1200. The office was again wired by Americas Phone Guys at the direction of Brett and we were operating again. We were then faced with an L&I audit. Because Brett was not taxing spiffs as income and paying some people off the books and or trading living expenses he then came to me with an operating agreement dating back to 4/1 with the business ownership as Off The Cuff Media owing 51 percent ownership and my ownership would be 49 percent.
I questioned Brett in front of my office about this agreement and he explained that it was necessary to offset the liability of Off the Cuff Media and to explain the financial support and the fact that we were a new business ect and assured me that once we made it successfully thru the audit he would revert back to the original agreement dated 4/10/18 and please note the operating agreement 51/49 is dated 4/1/18.
Please note that the team of Brett, Jenny Belt, Fearghal McCarthy, Brittany Scott and Charlie Ferguson provided a binder of proof outlining the information they were looking for and worked with the gentleman from L&I I think his name was Bernie and they went thru everything behind closed doors with Jenny Belt and Fearghal McCarthy and we received a very low fine.
For preparation Jenny went thru the books and did whatever she did and they charged everyone's checks for spiffs that were not taxed and Martin and I believe Thad for cash they received and or spiffs that also was not taxed or reported. Martin worked for cash for months and has record of such. All cash that was paid to Martin is on a sheet he has or had on his computer.
I also noted this in an email accounting for the first 4 months of accounting in which Jenny Belt was not included during the time in which Janaya was part of our team. Again, my role is day to day operations such as oversight of production, sales, customer service, delivery ect. I coordinated recruiting, hiring, training, daily meetings, and made all decisions for the operations for the entire first year. I drove sales and delivery. Delivering and installing 40 out of 45 accounts.
I hired a lenox administrator in June due to Grayson Bretts IT person not being able to help us deliver the device and me knowing and recognizing that in order to deliver we needed to fill that spot and also had hired a person named Matthew Hughes to fill the spot of building devises, upload, maintenance ect. I was the person with the business concept and accounts. Brett was the person who was contributing business guidance and financial support and that was his contribution for his share in the business.
Please also note that all accounting and payroll is done by Jenny Belt and has been since her insertion in April 2018. She is in charge of the reporting of new employees, garnishments and paying of the taxes. She is also the person who made changes to the merchant unauthorized changes re routing the money to other accounts that I am not a signer.
I have been asking for a guaranteed payment since 4/12 when I noticed the deposit was not set up. I was told that there was not enough to make payroll and to keep selling we needed only $10,000 more and if we had anything left they would think about it paying me.
Emerald screens was taken over completely in a hostile manner shutting down all data available to the employees to be able to service customers the Internet which is a business account in the name of Brett weeks was also shut off the phones for emerald screens were also shut down abruptly without notice please note Brett weeks did not send out a notice to the existing customers in which he has access to their information warning them that if they were about to contact emerald screens here’s how to do that he did not notify the vendors Giving them an alternative number and/or email to contact he cut all lines of communication and now these customers feel scammed when all the employees at Emerald screens operated in good faith and what Brett weeks tried to do was to convince the employees that if they wanted to get paid because he did not pay them and there are 15 cleans with the department of labor and industries in the state of Washington do you to Brett weeks and Jenny Belt not paying for payroll that should’ve been issued on April 20 they tried to call her the entire team of employees to come to the capture those travelers office located at 14300South E. 1st St. so that they could work on a 100 commission basis selling ads on the screens for emerald screens and they would then earn their paycheck the employees declined he is in fact selling screens and/or sales on screens at his location capture those travelers he also has plans of opening up a new office in Florida helping a new person with their business which will ultimately end up helping himself to their business
Lot of details, How is Capture those Travelers as a company?
I have a pizza place and we've tried to work with them, but so far I have a hard time believing they are going to put a branded room key in a Marriot or Embassy Suites, which I know have very strict brand standards yet that's what he said he would do. What am I missing here?
This company and its owner are serious con artrists. They have ripped off several businesses nationwide for thousands of dollars each. They claim to get your advertisment in restaraunts, hotels, etc, but they have no intention of doing so. They drag out the process, and then eventually fall off the map. They have also conned their own employees as well, ruining some of their lives in the process. I found this out by doing investigative work while reaching out to former employess of them. Brett Matthew Weaks is the owner. He also goes by the name Brett Weeks, Brett M., and Brett W.
Their previous scam company was named Level Head, LLC. or Level Head Media. That company ran and dissovled a couple months ago.
DO NOT work with this company. They will play you like a fiddle and run with the money. Consumers, please BEWARE.
Brett Weaks and Jenny Belt were supposed to be mentoring me on how to run a business. I agreed to hand over 50% of my business for the help. Jennifer Belt signed a 50/50 operating agreement. This got her on the business bank account. We got an office in Portland Oregon in July 2018, and by August they ripped me off. Late July Brett started grooming me. I see that now. He told me how businesses go under in the first year ALL THE TIME, and that our business was in trouble because we needed money to buy tablets (Level Head Llc was selling advertising on these tablets that went on restaurant tables and bars.) He said we needed to "Go back to old Co." meaning to tell the lenders that it was just me on the business because it would be a lot "easier" to get the funds. We signed a letter of intent to merge into a different Llc with me, Jenny, Brett, a guy named Fargal McCarthy (sp?) and my husband which gave me a false sense of security I suppose.
We were approved for $56K but I had to personally guarantee it.
As soon as the money hit my account Jenny Belt wired herself $45k and wouldn't answer my calls. Wouldn't respond via text. I called the bank but couldn't stop it because she was a signor. They left me with only $11k and a $83k repayment agreement. I blasted them on social media which prompted them to cut us off from anything they had control of. Our websites, dashboards, CRM, payment processing. Anything they could get their hands on. They did give us some back. They said it was to protect us which is a feeble attempt at justifying their embezzlement. But by the time we got it (around 20k) it was weeks later. And the $335 daily automatic payment was already going strong and quickly draining the account. The fact remains that they never should have taken it in the first place. Part of the reason I signed 50% over in the first place was because they said they would be covering payroll for a while so we could get on our feet. I kept asking, what does that mean? Brett was vague.
Well I found out in June that meant they would just invoice me for anything and everything they put into Level Head. These invoices were full of errors and duplicate charges. I created a spreadsheet for March, the first month that they went back to, to show their errors. They claimed they paid out cash bonuses called spiffs to employees out of their own account, but I showed bank statements that proved that money came out of the Level Head account. They refused to talk about it. Also I accidentally found bills in my quickbooks that Jenny made out to capture those travelers. I learned that's called cooking the books. That was one of the things that they were mentoring me on was quickbooks. They walked me thru creating 2 bills. So when I ended up with that $83k bill to SnapAdvances I went into quickbooks to create a bill and then lost it. I didn't know where it went so I went to the little magnifying glass search bar and searched the term bills and found a report that listed them. That's when I found the other bills Jenny put in there. I had to file for personal bankruptcy and dissolve the business. I've been told that Capture those travelers are now selling ads on tablets. The lender SnapAdvances is harassing me even though I filed for bankruptcy.
My husband and I started another business. The true entrepreneurial spirit. The new business is social media management. Not tablets. And I used $100 to open a bank account for that new business and the lender is trying to take THAT from me too. I can't catch a break. I'm exhausted from explaining this over and over. I hope I didn't forget anything.
Dixie, you know that your narrative is untrue. It’s unfortunate that you have chosen to spread lies, neglect relevant information, and play victim in an attempt to manipulate others into giving you sympathy. Your statements are not only false; they are also egregious and malicious. However, if this is the platform you choose to have the facts exposed, then so be it.
These are the facts:
1) In late 2017, Brandon Treat came to me to ask for help with his business, Levelhead LLC. Brandon told me that Dixie (his wife) was the listed owner of Levelhead, but that he (Brandon) ran the day-to-day operations. Brandon also told me that he and Dixie’s initial business plan had failed, they had almost zero revenue and were broke. Out of our then friendship and because Brandon told me that he had no money for Christmas, in December 2017 I agreed to hire Brandon at a very generous salary and paid him in advance.
2) In 2018, I attended a business networking event with Brandon (who was still my employee). At this event, I discovered the opportunity to sell advertising on tablets that could be placed at various venues such as bars and restaurants. I decided to pursue this opportunity as an add-on to my current business within my company, Capture Those Travelers (CTT).
3) However, Brandon really wanted to own and operate his own company. Even though Brandon was my employee at the time, given our past friendship, I agreed to gift him ownership of the tablet business. This is how Levelhead got its second start - by me gifting Dixie and Brandon ownership of the tablet business. I also gave Brandon rent-free office space so that he could hire employees and operate the LevelHead tablet business; I did this to as a favor to give Brandon and Dixie the best chance of success.
4) Through CTT, I ended up investing $43,000 in Levelhead over a period of approximately six months; again, I did this based on Brandon’s promise that he would repay me when Levelhead became profitable. As part of this agreement, Dixie and Brandon agreed to make my fiance, Jenny, a signer on the Levelhead bank account.
5) At no point did Brandon or Dixie put any of their own money into Levelhead, and after already giving Levelhead (Brandon and Dixie) over $43,000, I told Brandon that CTT couldn’t continue to fund Levelhead without a fair financial arrangement. Because CTT provided 100% of the funding for LevelHead, Brandon agreed to merge the Levelhead business into a new entity that we would each own 50/50 (which never happened). Because LevelHead then appeared close to break-even, Brandon and I also agreed that any further financial support provided to Levelhead by CTT (i.e. funding payroll and other expenses) would need to be repaid on a strictly monthly basis from Levelhead’s monthly revenues.
6) As a result, CTT ended up providing over $20,000 in additional funding to Levelhead. We also assisted Dixie and Brandon in securing office space for Levelhead in downtown Portland. However, Brandon and Dixie and Levehead did not repay CTT this additional money within the timeframe promised. After reviewing Level Head’s books, I discovered that Dixie and Brandon were taking money out of the business to fund personal expenses, far in excess of the agreed monthly amount that Brandon had represented to me. Further, I discovered that bank withdrawals (thousands of dollars) entered in the books as spiffs for salespeople had not in fact been paid out to employees. When I enquired, Dixie passed this off as a mistake. Additionally, I discovered that Brandon had posted several videos on social media bragging openly about how much money he was making, and showing off; for example, he posted about private helicopter rides that he and Dixie were taking (see attachment). In short, the money trail evidenced that Dixie and Brandon were diverting money from Levelhead for non-business purposes. I also discovered other personal behavior (non-monetary) by Brandon that jeopardized that stability of the business.
7) After these discoveries, I informed Dixie and Brandon that Levelhead needed to seek alternative funding going forward. This is what led Levelhead to seek funding from Snap Advance - and Levelhead obtained this funding not as a loan but by selling its future receivables/revenue to Snap Advance. Because CTT had the right to a first lien position on Levelhead’s assets, Levelhead needed CTT’s permission to obtain this funding and I was able to review the Snap Advance agreement. Contrary to Dixie’s claim, the SnapAdvance agreement exempts Dixie from any personal guarantee except in the case of fraud (such as diverting customers, revenues and cash to another entity). See the attachment. Dixie is lying to gain sympathy and play victim.
8) Brandon and Dixie promised numerous times that CTT would be repaid. In addition to the initial $43,000 funding, CTT provided an additional $21,857.16 to fund two months of Level Head’s payroll because Dixie and Brandon claimed that Levelhead did not have the funds to pay employees themselves. However, after reviewing Level Head’s books, it became obvious that Levelhead’s finances were being grossly mismanaged and were being diverted for personal use. This was in violation of the terms of the Letter of Intent that I signed with Brandon/Dixie. For that reason, Jenny withdrew and set-aside $45,000; these funds were allocated to i) set up a reserve to insure that rent and furniture for Level Head’s Portland office was paid in accordance to their lease, and ii) reimburse CTT the $21,857.16 for the prior two payrolls that LevelHead had agreed repay within a 30 day period. Jenny was fully authorized to make that withdrawal in accordance with: (i) first, the initial agreement, whereby Jenny was an authorized signer on Levelhead’s bank account as a condition of CTT providing 100% of Levelhead’s initial funding ($43,000), and (ii) second, the Letter of Intent referenced by Dixie, whereby Levelhead received additional funding from CTT and was intended to be merged into a new entity.
9) The operating agreement that Dixie is referring to was never honored by Dixie/Brandon; anyone can reference the Oregon SOS website to view the last annual report, filed August 31 2018, to see that there is only one name, Dixie Yagle, listed as the sole member/owner of the business.
10) After CTT set up a $45,000 cash reserve (for future rent payments and the $21,857.16 payroll expense), Dixie and Brandon informed me that they wanted to renege on the signed Letter of Intent and go their separate way. Even though they had entered into a binding contract with CTT, I decided to respect their wishes. As a result, Jenny transferred the approximately $23k rent reserve back into the main Levelhead checking account; Jenny did this even though CTT was still owed $43,000 by LevelHead. (Of course, this $43k was never repaid contrary to Brandon’s numerous promises.) Despite Dixie's claim that it took "weeks" to receive the $23k back, it actually only took a few days. Following that transfer, Levelhead had approximately $44,000 in cash available in its checking account to continue its business operations along with a very desirable office centrally located in downtown Portland. This was a big difference from their situation eight to nine months earlier when they claimed they were flat broke.
11) Shortly thereafter, I received a call from Levelhead’s landlord informing me that Dixie and Brandon were not paying rent. I also learned that Brandon and Dixie had set-up a new entity named 4th Screen Marketing, LLC. It appeared that Dixie and Brandon transferred the customer-base and future revenues of Levelhead to this new entity, 4th Screen Marketing. After reimbursing CTT for the $21k payroll advance, Level Head still had approximately $44,000 in available cash to move forward with its business operations, which was likely diverted for Brandon/Dixie’s personal expenses or transferred into their new company 4th Screen Marketing. At the time that the $23k rent reserve was transferred back into Level Head’s main checking account, Brandon promised and agreed via text (attached) that he would make the rent/furniture payments specified in their lease on-time each month. Instead, he and Dixie skipped out on the rent and stole all of the furniture, equipment, phones, TV, and everything else that was in the office, leaving the landlord high and dry. So, if they stopped paying rent, what did they do with all the money?
12) Levelhead went out of business due to misconduct, mismanagement, inappropriate sales tactics and what appears to be a diversion of business funds and assets. Through Levelhead, Dixie and Brandon were taking customers’ money up-front and were racking up unfulfilled/unfulfillable orders (see examples of customer complaints attached). By the time Levelhead closed, Dixie and Brandon had racked up approximately $200,000 in unfilled/unfulfillable orders.
13) Dixie had only a LIMITED personal guarantee on the merchant advance (which was a purchase of future revenues and not a loan), which is only triggered in the event of acts of fraud. This likely explains why Dixie felt it necessary to personally declare bankruptcy. Dixie is also conveniently leaving out the fact that, yes, while access to the Levelhead website and CRM was shut down, this was temporary because Level Head’s website and data was on a shared platform with CTT. It was only a few hours in the very early morning while their website/intranet was down; these were up and running by 8:04 am, meaning Levelhead only lost barely over one hour of operating time. Contrary to Dixie’s claim, CTT is not, has not, nor is currently planning to, get into the "tablet" business. We are not offering or selling any advertising space on any charging stations or "tablets"; we are busy growing our core business. Dixie's claims that Levelhead was invoiced incorrectly by CTT is also false; I asked Dixie to provide any documentation of “errors and duplicate charges” she believed might have been made, but she was unable to do so. Per our signed, Letter of Intent, Levelhead still owes CTT $43,000; yet Dixie completely omitted this fact from her “I am the victim” narrative.
The narrative that Dixie is trying to push is completely false. The money that was transferred as a reserve by Jenny was done in accordance with prior written agreements and as a precaution against two people who were being extremely fiscally and otherwise irresponsible. As a non-owner, I did my best to ensure that Levelhead remained operational to ensure continuity for its employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Instead, DIXIE and BRANDON chose to divert money from Levelhead, end their business relationship with CTT, burn their landlord which included absconding with thousands of dollars of office furniture, and most egregiously, by making the approximate $44,000 in available cash that was in their bank account after our business separation disappear into thin air.
Capture Those Travelers, LLC. Reviews
I live in Vancouver Washington. I developed a business concept in November 2019 and was approached by a person I had worked with to discuss a partnership using my business concept and sweat equity. I original discussed my concept with my current employer and approached them with the opportunity to partner including my friend Janaya in the operation because while she was on maternity leave they replaced her with a working manager who performed better and so upon her return she did have a job but it was on a sales level and not management.
A couple of days before moving forward with my current employer I was approached by Janaya to meet with Brett to discuss partnering because he would give us more of a split compared to what was or had been negotiated with the current employer.
I did not want to partner with Brett at all due to what happened with Core Brand Solutions and believed despite his explanation that he contributed to the demise of that business which also did not pay some of the employees and Brett was also provided with some work claims and lost by two employees one who is named Dillion.
Furthermore only went with Brett at the direction of my friend Janaya and did not realize they were having an affair until January during a visit to a networking group in Portland and also can be documented as they were approached by police in the parking lot of Capture Those Travelers that night.
Agian this is when I found out about the affair and that is what caused the demise of our freindship and or partnership. Brett incouraged me to not work or partner with Janaya as she grew more involved with Brett and Brett stated she was threatning his famliy life and therefor he was not sure he wanted to continue with Emerald Screens.
I assured him we could make it and without the distraction of Janaya and threat of his family life if he was in for the support and the split we could continue. He agreed. He brought the operating agreement to reflect that split. Again dated and signed by Brett on 4/10/18. I partnered with a friend of mine and one of our colleagues. We were going to split the business 40/40/20 split. 3 members.
The business colleague obtained the business license, and both him and I open a business account and started building the business. His contribution was financial and business advise and direction. He in return for those contributions would get 20%. He estimates that contribution is around $22,000.
We started producing and we took on employees in March 2018 and at that time he (20%) partner seduced my friend and (40 percent partner) which caused tension and hindered production so I explained to him that I would not work in these conditions and going forward if he wanted to support my concept I would not work with her (40 percent partner).
I explained that in the event he wanted to continue his affair he would need to employ her at his office. Because his business is owned by Off The Cuff Media he was unable to employee her because Jenny Belt his live in girlfriend is aware of a previous affair and would not allow her to be one of his employees.
She then was out of the picture and at that point I explained if he wanted to move forward we would do so under the same agreement meaning I contribute concept and he contributes financial support and business guidance and we would do so at a 50/50 split at my recommendation trying to be fair and not absorb her 40 percent making my share 60 and his 40.
During the next couple of months we continued to produce and deliver. We went from an office the size of a closet housing 4 people to a bigger office housing 8-10 people. During this time we continued to build, work 12 hour days operating to drive production and sales and growing.
Some of the things that occurred during this time are as follows. 3/26/18 Janaya exits and balance is $1159 in the bank. 4/10/18 Brett provides operating agreement 50/50/19 split. 3/18- 7/18 Working out of Regis office in Camas with 10 employees.
Brett charging payroll to Emerald Screens for Johnny Fontana, Jenny Souto, Matt Souto, Grayson IT Technical, Brittany Scott, Emma the art person, Charlie Ferguson HR Please note I was being charged for Jenny Souto even though he owed Jenny Souto and her boyfriend from a previous loan he had given Brett when he started Capture Those Travelers and convinced Jenny that the 15 percent he owed her and her boyfriend he would give to them thru shares in Emerald Screens. His shares.
He also states from time to time when I ask him about that money he used and promised he would pay them in equity of his business Capture Those Travelers and after that was not part of his plan used Emerald Screens to negotiate ownership and return. Fearghal and Brett, Myself and Jenny Souto and her boyfriend who happens to be a very honest hardworking person as they all are and invested in what he thought would be a legitimate investment and return and then found out how Brett operates.
Not sure of the outcome. 6/18 thru 8/18 Brett suggested (because he needed Johnny Fontana who was living in his office at 14300 SE 1st, Vancouver at Capture Those Travelers because Brett wanted to bring in Fearghal McCarthy who is a person who I had never met or agreed to partner with and believed he specialized in acquisitions and hostile takeovers.
I moved from my home in Salmon Creek and Move into a property where we worked in my basement. This freed up space for Johnny Fontana and Matt Souto who Brett wanted to test scripts and or other technical ideas and in order to work more closely brought Matt Souto and his son here to live for that purpose. Matt was also helping with art and videos for customers.
Up until then we were paying Max Weston for artwork working from his home as he was Janayas cousin and that was the case up until the split at the end of March 2018. Brett was also aware that Johhny Fontana need cable and internet due to processing payments via a virtual merchant and Matt Souto needing access to the internet.
The other utilities were the usual ie... water, garbage, electric and gas. Upon Brett who also promised Johnny Fontana equity in Capture Those Travlers was cut out of the business by Brett and sent home to Detroit with very little monies and infact asked Brett for plain fare and ended up getting help with plain fare from his brother.
Brett also wrote in the second operating agreement with regards to Johnny Fontana. The property in Salmon Creek was $2200 per month. The Regis office was also around $2200 and infact later learned that we were in fact in a lease until August and were responsible for the rents and the deposit was returned after that.
Please also note in order for me to move which was in April 2018 I needed a deposit for the new property and that came from the business with the intention of using the basement to operate rather than the high rents in the Regus office and so we did just that moved to the basement and at that point Brett called the Americas phone guys and they came out and wired the basement for phones and we had comcast business for internet.
The deposit for the new place was $5000 and the rent was $2450 plus utilities such as internet and cable, garbage, electric, gas ect. Again the plan of action was to save money and be able to provide living quarters for employees who needed it. Brett exchanged work instead of wages and that was done with the accounting of Jenny Belt.
One of the employees who Brett offered living arrangements was not permitted by several of the roommates. This was determined because the girlfriend of the employee had mental issues that were documented and because some of the roommates have children they determined they were not comfortable.
We also rented to Trista Hendrix and her children and Lela Brewster and Her Sister. All employees except for Lelas sister. 8 months this lease was in place in which employees rented all rooms except for one. Also note that the deposit was returned based on the property being returned in good shape. We did have a small deduction for garbage removal over the normal weekly amount upon move out however all of the people who lived at this property can attest to this live/work relationship.
Brett and Fearghal were aware of the lease and the cost and living arrangements. They also were aware and approved of the move out from Regis to the new location at 6404 Montana Lane where the business operated in the basement.
Please also note that the Company Picnic for both Capture those Travelers and Emerald Screens was held at the house where the company was moved in late July. 6604 Montana Lane. We had a company gathering where Brett gave Brittany a winning ticket to Las Vegas a trip that was related to business.
I also attended the trip as the host and what I thought was an co owner. That Trip took place in October. We also had Thad the manager and Olivia my daughter who was the HR/admin and also note monies were taken out of all of our checks for plain fare and hotel even though the trip was a business trip.
In August we moved the office from the basement to the location of 311 East Reserve Street where the rent was in the amount of $1200. The office was again wired by Americas Phone Guys at the direction of Brett and we were operating again. We were then faced with an L&I audit. Because Brett was not taxing spiffs as income and paying some people off the books and or trading living expenses he then came to me with an operating agreement dating back to 4/1 with the business ownership as Off The Cuff Media owing 51 percent ownership and my ownership would be 49 percent.
I questioned Brett in front of my office about this agreement and he explained that it was necessary to offset the liability of Off the Cuff Media and to explain the financial support and the fact that we were a new business ect and assured me that once we made it successfully thru the audit he would revert back to the original agreement dated 4/10/18 and please note the operating agreement 51/49 is dated 4/1/18.
Please note that the team of Brett, Jenny Belt, Fearghal McCarthy, Brittany Scott and Charlie Ferguson provided a binder of proof outlining the information they were looking for and worked with the gentleman from L&I I think his name was Bernie and they went thru everything behind closed doors with Jenny Belt and Fearghal McCarthy and we received a very low fine.
For preparation Jenny went thru the books and did whatever she did and they charged everyone's checks for spiffs that were not taxed and Martin and I believe Thad for cash they received and or spiffs that also was not taxed or reported. Martin worked for cash for months and has record of such.
All cash that was paid to Martin is on a sheet he has or had on his computer. I also noted this in an email accounting for the first 4 months of accounting in which Jenny Belt was not included during the time in which Janaya was part of our team. Again, my role is day to day operations such as oversight of production, sales, customer service, delivery ect.
I coordinated recruiting, hiring, training, daily meetings, and made all decisions for the operations for the entire first year. I drove sales and delivery. Delivering and installing 40 out of 45 accounts. I hired a lenox administrator in June due to Grayson Bretts IT person not being able to help us deliver the device and me knowing and recognizing that in order to deliver we needed to fill that spot and also had hired a person named Matthew Hughes to fill the spot of building devises, upload, maintenance ect.
I was the person with the business concept and accounts. Brett was the person who was contributing business guidance and financial support and that was his contribution for his share in the business. To Whom It May Concern, I live in Vancouver Washington.
I developed a business concept in November 2019 and was approached by a person I had worked with to discuss a partnership using my business concept and sweat equity. I original discussed my concept with my current employer and approached them with the opportunity to partner including my friend Janaya in the operation because while she was on maternity leave they replaced her with a working manager who performed better and so upon her return she did have a job but it was on a sales level and not management.
A couple of days before moving forward with my current employer I was approached by Janaya to meet with Brett to discuss partnering because he would give us more of a split compared to what was or had been negotiated with the current employer. I did not want to partner with Brett at all due to what happened with Core Brand Solutions and believed despite his explanation that he contributed to the demise of that business which also did not pay some of the employees and Brett was also provided with some work claims and lost by two employees one who is named Dillion.
Furthermore only went with Brett at the direction of my friend Janaya and did not realize they were having an affair until January during a visit to a networking group in Portland and also can be documented as they were approached by police in the parking lot of Capture Those Travelers that night. Again this is when I found out about the affair and that is what caused the demise of our freindship and or partnership.
Brett incouraged me to not work or partner with Janaya as she grew more involved with Brett and Brett stated she was threatning his famliy life and therefor he was not sure he wanted to continue with Emerald Screens. I assured him we could make it and without the distraction of Janaya and threat of his family life if he was in for the support and the split we could continue. He agreed.
He brought the operating agreement to reflect that split. Again dated and signed by Brett on 4/10/18. I partnered with a friend of mine and one of our colleagues. We were going to split the business 40/40/20 split. 3 members. The business colleague obtained the business license, and both him and I open a business account and started building the business.
His contribution was financial and business advise and direction. He in return for those contributions would get 20%. He estimates that contribution is around $22,000. We started producing and we took on employees in March 2018 and at that time he (20%) partner seduced my friend and (40 percent partner) which caused tension and hindered production so I explained to him that I would not work in these conditions and going forward if he wanted to support my concept I would not work with her (40 percent partner).
I explained that in the event he wanted to continue his affair he would need to employ her at his office. Because his business is owned by Off The Cuff Media he was unable to employee her because Jenny Belt his live in girlfriend is aware of a previous affair and would not allow her to be one of his employees.
She then was out of the picture and at that point I explained if he wanted to move forward we would do so under the same agreement meaning I contribute concept and he contributes financial support and business guidance and we would do so at a 50/50 split at my recommendation trying to be fair and not absorb her 40 percent making my share 60 and his 40.
During the next couple of months we continued to produce and deliver. We went from an office the size of a closet housing 4 people to a bigger office housing 8-10 people. During this time we continued to build, work 12 hour days operating to drive production and sales and growing. Some of the things that occurred during this time are as follows.
3/26/18 Janaya exits and balance is $1159 in the bank. 4/10/18 Brett provides operating agreement 50/50/19 split. 3/18- 7/18 Working out of Regis office in Camas with 10 employees. Brett charging payroll to Emerald Screens for Johnny Fontana, Jenny Souto, Matt Souto, Grayson IT Technical, Brittany Scott, Emma the art person, Charlie Ferguson HR Please note I was being charged for Jenny Souto even though he owed Jenny Souto and her boyfriend from a previous loan he had given Brett when he started Capture Those Travelers and convinced Jenny that the 15 percent he owed her and her boyfriend he would give to them thru shares in Emerald Screens. His shares.
He also states from time to time when I ask him about that money he used and promised he would pay them in equity of his business Capture Those Travelers and after that was not part of his plan used Emerald Screens to negotiate ownership and return. Fearghal and Brett, Myself and Jenny Souto and her boyfriend who happens to be a very honest hardworking person as they all are and invested in what he thought would be a legitimate investment and return and then found out how Brett operates.
Not sure of the outcome. 6/18 thru 8/18 Brett suggested (because he needed Johnny Fontana who was living in his office at 14300 SE 1st, Vancouver at Capture Those Travelers because Brett wanted to bring in Fearghal McCarthy who is a person who I had never met or agreed to partner with and believed he specialized in acquisitions and hostile takeovers.
I moved from my home in Salmon Creek and Move into a property where we worked in my basement. This freed up space for Johnny Fontana and Matt Souto who Brett wanted to test scripts and or other technical ideas and in order to work more closely brought Matt Souto and his son here to live for that purpose. Matt was also helping with art and videos for customers.
Up until then we were paying Max Weston for artwork working from his home as he was Janayas cousin and that was the case up until the split at the end of March 2018. Brett was also aware that Johhny Fontana need cable and internet due to processing payments via a virtual merchant and Matt Souto needing access to the internet.
The other utilities were the usual ie... water, garbage, electric and gas. Upon Brett who also promised Johnny Fontana equity in Capture Those Travlers was cut out of the business by Brett and sent home to Detroit with very little monies and infact asked Brett for plain fare and ended up getting help with plain fare from his brother. Brett also wrote in the second operating agreement with regards to Johnny Fontana. The property in Salmon Creek was $2200 per month.
The Regis office was also around $2200 and infact later learned that we were in fact in a lease until August and were responsible for the rents and the deposit was returned after that. Please also note in order for me to move which was in April 2018 I needed a deposit for the new property and that came from the business with the intention of using the basement to operate rather than the high rents in the Regus office and so we did just that moved to the basement and at that point Brett called the Americas phone guys and they came out and wired the basement for phones and we had comcast business for internet.
The deposit for the new place was $5000 and the rent was $2450 plus utilities such as internet and cable, garbage, electric, gas ect. Again the plan of action was to save money and be able to provide living quarters for employees who needed it. Brett exchanged work instead of wages and that was done with the accounting of Jenny Belt.
One of the employees who Brett offered living arrangements was not permitted by several of the roommates. This was determined because the girlfriend of the employee had mental issues that were documented and because some of the roommates have children they determined they were not comfortable.
We also rented to Trista Hendrix and her children and Lela Brewster and Her Sister. All employees except for Lelas sister. 8 months this lease was in place in which employees rented all rooms except for one. Also note that the deposit was returned based on the property being returned in good shape. We did have a small deduction for garbage removal over the normal weekly amount upon move out however all of the people who lived at this property can attest to this live/work relationship.
Brett and Fearghal were aware of the lease and the cost and living arrangements. They also were aware and approved of the move out from Regis to the new location at 6404 Montana Lane where the business operated in the basement. Please also note that the Company Picnic for both Capture those Travelers and Emerald Screens was held at the house where the company was moved in late July. 6604 Montana Lane. We had a company gathering where Brett gave Brittany a winning ticket to Las Vegas a trip that was related to business.
I also attended the trip as the host and what I thought was an co owner. That Trip took place in October. We also had Thad the manager and Olivia my daughter who was the HR/admin and also note monies were taken out of all of our checks for plain fare and hotel even though the trip was a business trip.
In August we moved the office from the basement to the location of 311 East Reserve Street where the rent was in the amount of $1200. The office was again wired by Americas Phone Guys at the direction of Brett and we were operating again. We were then faced with an L&I audit. Because Brett was not taxing spiffs as income and paying some people off the books and or trading living expenses he then came to me with an operating agreement dating back to 4/1 with the business ownership as Off The Cuff Media owing 51 percent ownership and my ownership would be 49 percent.
I questioned Brett in front of my office about this agreement and he explained that it was necessary to offset the liability of Off the Cuff Media and to explain the financial support and the fact that we were a new business ect and assured me that once we made it successfully thru the audit he would revert back to the original agreement dated 4/10/18 and please note the operating agreement 51/49 is dated 4/1/18.
Please note that the team of Brett, Jenny Belt, Fearghal McCarthy, Brittany Scott and Charlie Ferguson provided a binder of proof outlining the information they were looking for and worked with the gentleman from L&I I think his name was Bernie and they went thru everything behind closed doors with Jenny Belt and Fearghal McCarthy and we received a very low fine.
For preparation Jenny went thru the books and did whatever she did and they charged everyone's checks for spiffs that were not taxed and Martin and I believe Thad for cash they received and or spiffs that also was not taxed or reported. Martin worked for cash for months and has record of such. All cash that was paid to Martin is on a sheet he has or had on his computer.
I also noted this in an email accounting for the first 4 months of accounting in which Jenny Belt was not included during the time in which Janaya was part of our team. Again, my role is day to day operations such as oversight of production, sales, customer service, delivery ect. I coordinated recruiting, hiring, training, daily meetings, and made all decisions for the operations for the entire first year. I drove sales and delivery. Delivering and installing 40 out of 45 accounts.
I hired a lenox administrator in June due to Grayson Bretts IT person not being able to help us deliver the device and me knowing and recognizing that in order to deliver we needed to fill that spot and also had hired a person named Matthew Hughes to fill the spot of building devises, upload, maintenance ect. I was the person with the business concept and accounts. Brett was the person who was contributing business guidance and financial support and that was his contribution for his share in the business.
Please also note that all accounting and payroll is done by Jenny Belt and has been since her insertion in April 2018. She is in charge of the reporting of new employees, garnishments and paying of the taxes. She is also the person who made changes to the merchant unauthorized changes re routing the money to other accounts that I am not a signer.
I have been asking for a guaranteed payment since 4/12 when I noticed the deposit was not set up. I was told that there was not enough to make payroll and to keep selling we needed only $10,000 more and if we had anything left they would think about it paying me.
Emerald screens was taken over completely in a hostile manner shutting down all data available to the employees to be able to service customers the Internet which is a business account in the name of Brett weeks was also shut off the phones for emerald screens were also shut down abruptly without notice please note Brett weeks did not send out a notice to the existing customers in which he has access to their information warning them that if they were about to contact emerald screens here’s how to do that he did not notify the vendors Giving them an alternative number and/or email to contact he cut all lines of communication and now these customers feel scammed when all the employees at Emerald screens operated in good faith and what Brett weeks tried to do was to convince the employees that if they wanted to get paid because he did not pay them and there are 15 cleans with the department of labor and industries in the state of Washington do you to Brett weeks and Jenny Belt not paying for payroll that should’ve been issued on April 20 they tried to call her the entire team of employees to come to the capture those travelers office located at 14300South E. 1st St. so that they could work on a 100 commission basis selling ads on the screens for emerald screens and they would then earn their paycheck the employees declined he is in fact selling screens and/or sales on screens at his location capture those travelers he also has plans of opening up a new office in Florida helping a new person with their business which will ultimately end up helping himself to their business
Lot of details, How is Capture those Travelers as a company?
I have a pizza place and we've tried to work with them, but so far I have a hard time believing they are going to put a branded room key in a Marriot or Embassy Suites, which I know have very strict brand standards yet that's what he said he would do. What am I missing here?
This company and its owner are serious con artrists. They have ripped off several businesses nationwide for thousands of dollars each. They claim to get your advertisment in restaraunts, hotels, etc, but they have no intention of doing so. They drag out the process, and then eventually fall off the map. They have also conned their own employees as well, ruining some of their lives in the process. I found this out by doing investigative work while reaching out to former employess of them. Brett Matthew Weaks is the owner. He also goes by the name Brett Weeks, Brett M., and Brett W.
Their previous scam company was named Level Head, LLC. or Level Head Media. That company ran and dissovled a couple months ago.
DO NOT work with this company. They will play you like a fiddle and run with the money. Consumers, please BEWARE.
Brett Weaks and Jenny Belt were supposed to be mentoring me on how to run a business. I agreed to hand over 50% of my business for the help. Jennifer Belt signed a 50/50 operating agreement. This got her on the business bank account. We got an office in Portland Oregon in July 2018, and by August they ripped me off. Late July Brett started grooming me. I see that now. He told me how businesses go under in the first year ALL THE TIME, and that our business was in trouble because we needed money to buy tablets (Level Head Llc was selling advertising on these tablets that went on restaurant tables and bars.) He said we needed to "Go back to old Co." meaning to tell the lenders that it was just me on the business because it would be a lot "easier" to get the funds. We signed a letter of intent to merge into a different Llc with me, Jenny, Brett, a guy named Fargal McCarthy (sp?) and my husband which gave me a false sense of security I suppose.
We were approved for $56K but I had to personally guarantee it.
As soon as the money hit my account Jenny Belt wired herself $45k and wouldn't answer my calls. Wouldn't respond via text. I called the bank but couldn't stop it because she was a signor. They left me with only $11k and a $83k repayment agreement. I blasted them on social media which prompted them to cut us off from anything they had control of. Our websites, dashboards, CRM, payment processing. Anything they could get their hands on. They did give us some back. They said it was to protect us which is a feeble attempt at justifying their embezzlement. But by the time we got it (around 20k) it was weeks later. And the $335 daily automatic payment was already going strong and quickly draining the account. The fact remains that they never should have taken it in the first place. Part of the reason I signed 50% over in the first place was because they said they would be covering payroll for a while so we could get on our feet. I kept asking, what does that mean? Brett was vague.
Well I found out in June that meant they would just invoice me for anything and everything they put into Level Head. These invoices were full of errors and duplicate charges. I created a spreadsheet for March, the first month that they went back to, to show their errors. They claimed they paid out cash bonuses called spiffs to employees out of their own account, but I showed bank statements that proved that money came out of the Level Head account. They refused to talk about it. Also I accidentally found bills in my quickbooks that Jenny made out to capture those travelers. I learned that's called cooking the books. That was one of the things that they were mentoring me on was quickbooks. They walked me thru creating 2 bills. So when I ended up with that $83k bill to SnapAdvances I went into quickbooks to create a bill and then lost it. I didn't know where it went so I went to the little magnifying glass search bar and searched the term bills and found a report that listed them. That's when I found the other bills Jenny put in there. I had to file for personal bankruptcy and dissolve the business. I've been told that Capture those travelers are now selling ads on tablets. The lender SnapAdvances is harassing me even though I filed for bankruptcy.
My husband and I started another business. The true entrepreneurial spirit. The new business is social media management. Not tablets. And I used $100 to open a bank account for that new business and the lender is trying to take THAT from me too. I can't catch a break. I'm exhausted from explaining this over and over. I hope I didn't forget anything.
Dixie's Lies & Manipulations
Dixie, you know that your narrative is untrue. It’s unfortunate that you have chosen to spread lies, neglect relevant information, and play victim in an attempt to manipulate others into giving you sympathy. Your statements are not only false; they are also egregious and malicious. However, if this is the platform you choose to have the facts exposed, then so be it.
These are the facts:
1) In late 2017, Brandon Treat came to me to ask for help with his business, Levelhead LLC. Brandon told me that Dixie (his wife) was the listed owner of Levelhead, but that he (Brandon) ran the day-to-day operations. Brandon also told me that he and Dixie’s initial business plan had failed, they had almost zero revenue and were broke. Out of our then friendship and because Brandon told me that he had no money for Christmas, in December 2017 I agreed to hire Brandon at a very generous salary and paid him in advance.
2) In 2018, I attended a business networking event with Brandon (who was still my employee). At this event, I discovered the opportunity to sell advertising on tablets that could be placed at various venues such as bars and restaurants. I decided to pursue this opportunity as an add-on to my current business within my company, Capture Those Travelers (CTT).
3) However, Brandon really wanted to own and operate his own company. Even though Brandon was my employee at the time, given our past friendship, I agreed to gift him ownership of the tablet business. This is how Levelhead got its second start - by me gifting Dixie and Brandon ownership of the tablet business. I also gave Brandon rent-free office space so that he could hire employees and operate the LevelHead tablet business; I did this to as a favor to give Brandon and Dixie the best chance of success.
4) Through CTT, I ended up investing $43,000 in Levelhead over a period of approximately six months; again, I did this based on Brandon’s promise that he would repay me when Levelhead became profitable. As part of this agreement, Dixie and Brandon agreed to make my fiance, Jenny, a signer on the Levelhead bank account.
5) At no point did Brandon or Dixie put any of their own money into Levelhead, and after already giving Levelhead (Brandon and Dixie) over $43,000, I told Brandon that CTT couldn’t continue to fund Levelhead without a fair financial arrangement. Because CTT provided 100% of the funding for LevelHead, Brandon agreed to merge the Levelhead business into a new entity that we would each own 50/50 (which never happened). Because LevelHead then appeared close to break-even, Brandon and I also agreed that any further financial support provided to Levelhead by CTT (i.e. funding payroll and other expenses) would need to be repaid on a strictly monthly basis from Levelhead’s monthly revenues.
6) As a result, CTT ended up providing over $20,000 in additional funding to Levelhead. We also assisted Dixie and Brandon in securing office space for Levelhead in downtown Portland. However, Brandon and Dixie and Levehead did not repay CTT this additional money within the timeframe promised. After reviewing Level Head’s books, I discovered that Dixie and Brandon were taking money out of the business to fund personal expenses, far in excess of the agreed monthly amount that Brandon had represented to me. Further, I discovered that bank withdrawals (thousands of dollars) entered in the books as spiffs for salespeople had not in fact been paid out to employees. When I enquired, Dixie passed this off as a mistake. Additionally, I discovered that Brandon had posted several videos on social media bragging openly about how much money he was making, and showing off; for example, he posted about private helicopter rides that he and Dixie were taking (see attachment). In short, the money trail evidenced that Dixie and Brandon were diverting money from Levelhead for non-business purposes. I also discovered other personal behavior (non-monetary) by Brandon that jeopardized that stability of the business.
7) After these discoveries, I informed Dixie and Brandon that Levelhead needed to seek alternative funding going forward. This is what led Levelhead to seek funding from Snap Advance - and Levelhead obtained this funding not as a loan but by selling its future receivables/revenue to Snap Advance. Because CTT had the right to a first lien position on Levelhead’s assets, Levelhead needed CTT’s permission to obtain this funding and I was able to review the Snap Advance agreement. Contrary to Dixie’s claim, the SnapAdvance agreement exempts Dixie from any personal guarantee except in the case of fraud (such as diverting customers, revenues and cash to another entity). See the attachment. Dixie is lying to gain sympathy and play victim.
8) Brandon and Dixie promised numerous times that CTT would be repaid. In addition to the initial $43,000 funding, CTT provided an additional $21,857.16 to fund two months of Level Head’s payroll because Dixie and Brandon claimed that Levelhead did not have the funds to pay employees themselves. However, after reviewing Level Head’s books, it became obvious that Levelhead’s finances were being grossly mismanaged and were being diverted for personal use. This was in violation of the terms of the Letter of Intent that I signed with Brandon/Dixie. For that reason, Jenny withdrew and set-aside $45,000; these funds were allocated to i) set up a reserve to insure that rent and furniture for Level Head’s Portland office was paid in accordance to their lease, and ii) reimburse CTT the $21,857.16 for the prior two payrolls that LevelHead had agreed repay within a 30 day period. Jenny was fully authorized to make that withdrawal in accordance with: (i) first, the initial agreement, whereby Jenny was an authorized signer on Levelhead’s bank account as a condition of CTT providing 100% of Levelhead’s initial funding ($43,000), and (ii) second, the Letter of Intent referenced by Dixie, whereby Levelhead received additional funding from CTT and was intended to be merged into a new entity.
9) The operating agreement that Dixie is referring to was never honored by Dixie/Brandon; anyone can reference the Oregon SOS website to view the last annual report, filed August 31 2018, to see that there is only one name, Dixie Yagle, listed as the sole member/owner of the business.
10) After CTT set up a $45,000 cash reserve (for future rent payments and the $21,857.16 payroll expense), Dixie and Brandon informed me that they wanted to renege on the signed Letter of Intent and go their separate way. Even though they had entered into a binding contract with CTT, I decided to respect their wishes. As a result, Jenny transferred the approximately $23k rent reserve back into the main Levelhead checking account; Jenny did this even though CTT was still owed $43,000 by LevelHead. (Of course, this $43k was never repaid contrary to Brandon’s numerous promises.) Despite Dixie's claim that it took "weeks" to receive the $23k back, it actually only took a few days. Following that transfer, Levelhead had approximately $44,000 in cash available in its checking account to continue its business operations along with a very desirable office centrally located in downtown Portland. This was a big difference from their situation eight to nine months earlier when they claimed they were flat broke.
11) Shortly thereafter, I received a call from Levelhead’s landlord informing me that Dixie and Brandon were not paying rent. I also learned that Brandon and Dixie had set-up a new entity named 4th Screen Marketing, LLC. It appeared that Dixie and Brandon transferred the customer-base and future revenues of Levelhead to this new entity, 4th Screen Marketing. After reimbursing CTT for the $21k payroll advance, Level Head still had approximately $44,000 in available cash to move forward with its business operations, which was likely diverted for Brandon/Dixie’s personal expenses or transferred into their new company 4th Screen Marketing. At the time that the $23k rent reserve was transferred back into Level Head’s main checking account, Brandon promised and agreed via text (attached) that he would make the rent/furniture payments specified in their lease on-time each month. Instead, he and Dixie skipped out on the rent and stole all of the furniture, equipment, phones, TV, and everything else that was in the office, leaving the landlord high and dry. So, if they stopped paying rent, what did they do with all the money?
12) Levelhead went out of business due to misconduct, mismanagement, inappropriate sales tactics and what appears to be a diversion of business funds and assets. Through Levelhead, Dixie and Brandon were taking customers’ money up-front and were racking up unfulfilled/unfulfillable orders (see examples of customer complaints attached). By the time Levelhead closed, Dixie and Brandon had racked up approximately $200,000 in unfilled/unfulfillable orders.
13) Dixie had only a LIMITED personal guarantee on the merchant advance (which was a purchase of future revenues and not a loan), which is only triggered in the event of acts of fraud. This likely explains why Dixie felt it necessary to personally declare bankruptcy. Dixie is also conveniently leaving out the fact that, yes, while access to the Levelhead website and CRM was shut down, this was temporary because Level Head’s website and data was on a shared platform with CTT. It was only a few hours in the very early morning while their website/intranet was down; these were up and running by 8:04 am, meaning Levelhead only lost barely over one hour of operating time. Contrary to Dixie’s claim, CTT is not, has not, nor is currently planning to, get into the "tablet" business. We are not offering or selling any advertising space on any charging stations or "tablets"; we are busy growing our core business. Dixie's claims that Levelhead was invoiced incorrectly by CTT is also false; I asked Dixie to provide any documentation of “errors and duplicate charges” she believed might have been made, but she was unable to do so. Per our signed, Letter of Intent, Levelhead still owes CTT $43,000; yet Dixie completely omitted this fact from her “I am the victim” narrative.
The narrative that Dixie is trying to push is completely false. The money that was transferred as a reserve by Jenny was done in accordance with prior written agreements and as a precaution against two people who were being extremely fiscally and otherwise irresponsible. As a non-owner, I did my best to ensure that Levelhead remained operational to ensure continuity for its employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Instead, DIXIE and BRANDON chose to divert money from Levelhead, end their business relationship with CTT, burn their landlord which included absconding with thousands of dollars of office furniture, and most egregiously, by making the approximate $44,000 in available cash that was in their bank account after our business separation disappear into thin air.