The lack of ethics in broadcast journalism is likely responsible for savvy news junkies first to leave the networks and then even the cable news programs, resorting to information from networked citizen's like the information found on scamion.com This reporter decided to do his own independent investigation on the recent attack on scamion.com and ED Magedson by WSVN 7News' Carmel Cafiero and report his findings here. One of the reasons for the mass exodus from broadcast media, both network and cable news, is for the behavior exhibited by Carmel Cafiero in her story, which the station broadcast. I used the term media whore advisedly.
It could be argued that it is a pejorative devised as an invective, but there is a denotative sense, which can only be communicated by this term. The excellent piece by Jamie York in the New Humanist is very precisely on point. The author of the article points out that when television news anchors, commentators and correspondents sell the soul of ethical journalism for a salary, and thus deprive millions of citizens of the opportunity to see and hear independent news reporting, then "whore" is the most appropriate term under the circumstances. Of note, nothing from WSVN has made it to the Fox News national feed for over three years, except for hurricane coverage.
Steve Miller's company (Federated Financial) was responsible for sending out a version of Risky Business, with the last part of the piece removed. This was brought to WSVN's attention. They did nothing. As it is said, silence is consent. In fact, the way that most people were able to view this WSVN-sponsored sham is through websites affiliated with Steve Miller of Federated Financial, Mike Zwebner (UCSY) and/or Alec Defrawy, Lou Pearlman's shill. Why? The sham news piece by Carmel Cafiero, Risky Business, was miss-able. Despite the EDitor's possible past peccadilloes of 30 years ago, on which the triumvirate of Miller McFarland Whitelock have attempted to cast light. It is likely to redirect attention from their own connivances, frauds and governmental interventions.
She practically offered ED her posterity to get information for her earlier stories, like so many other broadcast media and print journalism around the world. Here are some examples, which previously aired and mentioned the website in print.
There also have been recent cases where ED Magedson provided assistance to WSVN again, in spite of disabusing him in Carmel Cafiero's story. [COMMENT: ED Magedson seems to be a forgiving person and does not blame the entire staff at this Fox station.] It was also interesting that Lou Pearlman has been featured with WSVN many times before TODAY. [You would think they would read their own reporting and ask some difficult questions] Even after all the bad publicity from, NBC's Dateline and many of other media outlets throughout Florida and the US, which document Lou Pearlman's unscrupulous operations, WSVN still continues to feature Lou Pearlman and his talent scams.
scamion.com was the main source for victims for their story. Most of the employee and ex-employee insiders, which were also developed by this investigative reporter, were exposed by the Dateline report. Many, including myself have been the subject of retaliatory, harassing lawsuits.
(COMMENT: Yet another reason to push for anti-SLAPP legislation in every state, especially those states, such as Florida, which has more than it's share of scamster operations.) The following story is the main investigative report
7 News Features: Man Behind The Music. Air Date: 02/11/2004
Local News: Florida Talent Company Denies Misleading Contestants. 04/21/2004
7 News Features: South Florida Search. Air Date: 05/11/2005 but, Carmel Cafiero is neither known for her acumen, nor her mental agility. Her co-workers, past and present, were more than willing to provide their two-cents about her shoddy research methods and slippery ethics, often back-stabbing sources and reneging on promises. (A couple of her peers had even alluded to the fact that her ethics are not the only things that are flexible.) Carmel refused to comment and in fact provided an email stating that she does not do interviews. [Click here to view copies of Cafiero's emails.] (These emails will be available online soon.)
POOR JOURNALISM METHODOLOGY IN THE "ED MAGEDSON AND www.scamion.com" STORY One of the first glaring things that I noticed was the interview with Michael Joel Zwebner. It was packed with lies. How do I know? I was the individual who had the conversation he related and the person he called a number of times. I did not call Michael Zwebner. Mr. Zwebner called me from New York. In the interview with Carmel Cafiero, Zwebner made several allegations.
These are elements of her story that Carmel should have checked out. He alleged that: LIE: Zwebner states, We don't do anything illegal, we sell a good product. TRUTH: It is illegal to use someone else's patent without permission, and such permission as stipulated by contract.
TRUTH: He spoke with me, Frank Torelli, and I am not an agent of the website, although I did tell him I submit reports occasionally.
I am independent, although I do offer my work to the site upon occasion. There was no discussion of money until Zwebner brought it up. I told him I was disinclined to such a proposal. (The recordings below will show Michael Zwebner offered to pay expenses to write a retraction about him and his company. Neither ED Magedson nor I made offers to receive those funds.) LIE: The website offered to send a reporter to do a positive story on him. TRUTH: Zwebner offered to bring me to Miami, all expenses paid, to look at his operation.
I declined the invitation. He offered to come to Arizona. I told him we could conduct most of the investigation by phone. He tried to intimidate me with being involved in a court case if I didn't spout his brand of the truth. (see segment h below) LIE: Zwebner would have to pay $1,500 plus expenses and airfare for the reporter to do a story.
TRUTH: It was Zwebner who suggested bringing me to Florida. No amount of money was ever discussed at that time.
TRUTH: Anyone can respond on the website free of charge. There are penalties for abuses, however.
TRUTH: There is no evidence of this and it is simply not true. Where is Carmel's attempt to fact check?
TRUTH: The company that elects to participate must also irrevocably comply with other certain requirements, such as reimburse the losses of all the substantiated complainants
To also state what is being changed to avoid the same problems that caused the complaints. (Seach the words Corporate Advocacy Program on this site) This was also in the document Carmel showed to the audience but curiously failed to point that out. Hmmm, I wonder why? It clearly appears to be a story with an agenda. I'll get back to this.
LIE: Miller offers $20,000 reward to anyone who can tell him where to find ED Magedson.
TRUTH: It was not even a bona fide offer, but just grand-standing. Other offered to give them information on his whereabouts and collect the money, but Miller refused all offers. This is misleading because it was for information leading to the arrest and conviction of, alternatively, ED Magedson and Frank Torelli. Several investigators and private individuals offered, but, there was no calls back from Miller.
A similar reward was posted by Helene Goldnadel of International Creative Artists. I would like to know who collected the money since service. There is also currently no anti-SLAPP legislation in Florida, perhaps there should be. Miller offered to pay ED for the identities of the individuals, who posted and ED refused. ED is taking the brunt of the litigious atmosphere at Federated Financial Services.
Their attitude: We will do what we damn well wish with your accounts and your payments and if you squawk we'll sue you too. It is actually the fact that there are dissatisfied customers at Federated Financial that Miller wants covered up. There's an obvious story for you Carmel is it being ignored because there isn't any money in it?
LIE: There are no claims posted by Miller on his website that says, ED Magedson served personally.
TRUTH: Miller and his shills have been posting this claim on every blog they can, along with other false statements.
LIE: Carmel states that she was only in contact with ED by email.
TRUTH: I have personally listened to over 1.5 hours of taped conversation between ED and Carmel on this case. In each case Carmel CAFIERO called ED, and he even mentioned to her that he records his calls.
LIE: ED declined to be interviewed.
TRUTH: ED was interviewed. Carmel was not interested in anything ED offered. He offered her the names and contact info on victims of Miller's Federated Financial. ED offered taped phone conversations of Miller calling ED. ED offered taped phone conversations where ED interviewed the victims of Federated Financial. ED recorded those interviews about 3 years ago because Steven Miller repeatedly called ED Magedson, threatening him with bodily harm and lawsuits if the reports were not removed.
Carmel Cafiero declined to investigate Miller's company. I wonder why? This is all on tape. ED's lawyer did decline any on camera interview, only after it was evident that after 2 hours of phone interview, that Carmel Cafiero was only interested in going after ED and not wanting to see or hear the evidence with both Steve Miller of Federated Financial or Michael Zwebner of UCSY. All she was interested in were things 30 years old like marijuana possession. This was obviously a witch hunt.
Additionally, Carmel reports: LIE: Michael Zwebner was never connected to the mob. TRUTH: He told me that he used to date Gia Franzese, the daughter of mob boss, Sonny Franzese. Sounds like a connection to me. Carmel should have checked her facts better. (Listen to Zwebner's admission below.) Here are some other lies represented by Zwebner: LIE: He never represented himself as Michael Zarek.
TRUTH: He signed a statement to that effect to the Metro-Dade Police in the name of Michael Zarek at the occasion of Gia Francheze's death from an apparent overdose of cocaine. That statement is on file with the Metro-Dade Police Department. Very briefly, a word about Joe Murphy, he was a victim of Mike Zwebner. He allowed Zwebner to use his company as an "umbrella" for Zwebner, only to have him make allegations to the SEC about him which ruined his company, his career, and his health; some of the very allegations that Zwebner makes about those who have gone after him with allegations on the Internet.
The only difference is that Murphy was innocent of the charges, and it looks like it is nearly curtains for Zwebner. He is currently under investigation, according to sources. LIE: Zwebner claims that Joe Murphy is guilty of all of the allegations below. Zwebner filed a statement with the SEC alleging the following about Joe Murphy: 1. Fraud 2. Disgourgement 3. Disbarment TRUTH: While Joe Murphy did file a settlement with the SEC, none of those charges were part of it. LIE: Zwebner claimed to have won several cases against Murphy.
TRUTH: Zwebner was forced to withdraw his lawsuit in Reno against Joe Murphy. (Sounds like a loss.) LIE: Zwebner denies paying $500k hush money as part of a sealed court settlement. TRUTH: He paid Dean Dumont that amount for Mike's unscrupulous behavior. LIE: Zwebner claims he doesn't know Steve Cunningham other than from the Internet; that he is NOT related to Rick Cunningham, who used to work for him. TRUTH: They are related, according to source I have interviewed. LIE: Zwebner does not know anything about the $500,000 settlement with Dean Dumont to buy his silence.
TRUTH: This is a highly probable statement. Zwebner did admit that there was a settlement with Dumont, but disagreed about the amount. LIE: Zwebner denies any affiliation with John Quinlain. He was only a shareholder who did whatever he did without Zwebner knowledge. TRUTH: John Quinlain was paid to promote the stock. LIE: Zwebner claims not to know that Quinlain worked for Brad Gleason. TRUTH: John Quinlain was an employee of Brad Gleason. LIE: Zwebner only claimed to have met Brad or that he was NOT a paid promoter for Zwebner.
TRUTH: He worked for Zwebner. LIE: Zwebner claims that sending email to the Florida Attorney General's Office, which he got from Pete Antonacci through John MacGregor, gratis, is publishing. TRUTH: I maintained that I was a confidential source, that Jackie Dowd, former Assistant Attorney General of Florida, was pursuing a RICO lawsuit against Pearlman and my emails to her were privileged information. That is not publication. TRUTH: Just so everyone knows Fear retaliation if you communicate with the Florida Attorney General's Office.
They will GIVE your information to the enemy often to the business and/or person about whom you complained. Without anti-SLAPP legislation, you have no protection. I have also obtained the informational assistance of a male prostitute in Florida, who goes by the name Billy, whose services, he claims, are required by both Michael Joel Zwebner and Frankie, Lou Pearlman's full-time male companion, and 350-pound boy Friday.He has reported on this website.
Click here to read the scamion on Zwebner and his relationship to Steve Miller and Lou Pearlman [...be sure to see the copy of Zwebner's phone records showing a call to male prostitute, Big Black Buck!] HERE IS THE COMPLETE LIST OF SOUND BITES FROM THE REFERENCED PHONE CALL ABOVE, FROM MIKE ZWEBNER. [Sound files will be posted soon.] [It should be noted that Mike told me that he was visiting family in New York at the time he made the call, but indicated that he would be in Florida for the next two weeks, then back to New York again.]
The following comprises short synopses from the individual sound bites. [These sound bites will be posted when scamion can make the arrangements.]: Zwebner asks me about a scamion. [WARNING: Graphic language] /Zwebner Lies a.wav Zwebner confronts me about information I turned up over to Jackie Dowd, assistant attorney general, which was privileged. [I was a confidential source in a RICO investigation being conducted, but John MacGregor reneged and turned all my information over to Pete Antonacci, the former Deputy Attorney General and his boss.]
Zwebner double talks his connection with Michael Cuzner Charles. /Zwebner Lies b.wav Zwebner admits working with the DEA in a drug case and got an award. He admits helping the DEA in a major drug bust. [COMMENT: The context indicates that he had an inside access to the organization which he betrayed.] /Zwebner Lies c.wav Zwebner denies connection to Cullen Trading Limited, Jason Tabone, or Steven Hirst. Zwebner claims one individual sent 10,000 emails to the government; 80,000 pages, which is the basis for an accusation of RICO, of which he infers I am part, because I sent information to District Attorneys.
/Zwebner Lies d.wav I had to instruct Mike in the difference between a DA and an AG. I let him know that I was cooperating with the Florida Attorney General's Office (FAGO) in their RICO investigation and that I was a confidential source and they released my information illegally. I confront Mike about his brother's (Charles) involvement in ZOCE. He sidesteps it without answering it. /Zwebner Lies e.wav ***Zwebner makes the offer to buy me a ticket to come to Florida, no bribe and no money, to interview him, look over his operation with the ultimate end goal of printing a retraction to my emails.
If I did not comply, I would be included in a RICO lawsuit of internet posters who have conspired against him. [Sounded like extortion to me.] /Zwebner Lies f.wav ***I deflected the invitation and left it with Zwebner to contact me next. [He never did.] /Zwebner Lies g.wav ***I tell Zwebner I will not go to Florida and Zwebner offers to come to me. I counter that most can be conducted by phone. /Zwebner Lies h.wav The report on Zwebner was from Florida, so the person Zwebner accuses could not have posted the report. [COMMENT: Either Zwebner is playing dumb to avoid the issues or really does not grasp the intuitive nature of this investigator.]
/Zwebner Lies i.wav Hear Zwebner's dismissive nature which helps avoid questions and issues. He does not see the inappropriateness of an undisclosed advance to Zwebner's daughter but did not mention it in an SEC filing. He claims it was all disclosed and not inappropriate. Zwebner denied signing the statement in the name of Michael Zarek at the Metro-Dade police department about the death of his then girlfriend, who died of a cocaine overdose, Gia Franzese, the daughter of Colombo capo, John Sonny Franzese.
Mike claims that he was in Israel at the time of her death but he attended the funeral and the wake? [RANDOM COMMENTS: It was never determined how Gia obtained the cocaine, which was her demise. A question yet unanswered was, what besides money laundering, Zwebner did for the DEA? Sonny was just let out of prison and has set up shop in Nevada. There are also those who are no doubt interested that Zwebner may be planning on leaving the country because he has already changed his company residence to Israel.] Zwebner gives me permission to put this in print! /Zwebner Lies j.wav On the charge that he forged his ex-wife's signature: Mike claims that it was an allegation of a vindictive wife which was settled.
There were no criminal charges because there were two sides of the argument. Mike admits to knowing Rick Cunningham, he worked for Zwebner, but denies knowing Steve Cunningham. Zwebner asserts that he knows for certain that Rick and Steve are not related because Rick has publicly stated they are not. Zwebner denies settling with Dean Dumont for $500,000. /Zwebner Lies k.wav Zwebner denies having anything to do with the John Quinlain alias, talks about like he was a shareholder that posted things on the Internet on his own, Mike claimed that he did not know if there was an association with Brad Gleason.
He denied a business relationship with Brad and that he was not a promoter for him. I had to instruct Zwebner on the finer points of the English language; that sending a privileged email as a confidential source for the FAGO was not publishing. /Zwebner Lies l.wav Zwebner, when painted into a corner, he changes the subject. This is a typical ploy. As a trained interrogator, I am on to his deception. /Zwebner Lies m.wav Zwebner broaches the emails to the FBI about Gia Franzese again. I opined that there is evidence that she is not dead, but that someone may have faked her death and she is back in Italy.
Zwebner reiterates that he was at her funeral and her wake, but this time he says that he came back the day before she died, having purchased an engagement ring abroad. His story changes. [I wonder if his trips to Israel were often used as gem buying junkets. One could hide a great deal of money in gems in a wheelchair.] Mike then asks me for the identity of Pacific Blue, whose emails Mike wrongly ascribes blame to another person. /Zwebner Lies n.wav Zwebner tries to get me to disclose the identity of Pacific Blue.
He further claims he was hurt by these emails. /Zwebner Lies o.wav I offered to disclose the identity of Pacific Blue, if Mike would let me know that Pete Antonacci gave the 80,000 pages of emails to him. (I would never reveal the identity of a confidential source. I knew I was safe because Zwebner would never admit how he obtained the emails.) /Zwebner Lies p.wav Zwebner claims he got the emails from his attorney who won't tell him where he got them. Mike would not tell me the name of his attorney, who we now know is Robbie Cooper. [COMMENT: Cooper is so nefarious that he ran off Omar Ghaffar, the charged genital biter.
Ghaffar likely came on board because he liked Cooper's hiphop clientele and maybe that is what did him in; but finally, he probably decided he would rather be a public defender than work for Cooper, who not only works for Zwebner but now also Lou Pearlman.] /Zwebner Lies q.wav [Zwebner whistles nervously.] Zwebner admits he made the call to me. [More nervous whistling.] /Zwebner Lies r.wav Zwebner's email: [email protected] Cell 617513-2529; Ofc 305-672-6344. Zwebner was to send me the email where I allegedly accuse him of bad things.
I was to pass on to ED Magedson that Zwebner will sue him for not removing a report posted by someone else. [COMMENT: It is interesting that this is the reason that Zwebner sued ED and not for the other concocted stories he has recently added in court.] /Zwebner Lies s.wav Zwebner bemoans the insults on the site, which is regretful, but I made no commitments to do anything about them other than to mention them to the EDitor.
/Zwebner Lies t.wav The most recent Miami FOX TV Report on Lou Pearlman and his model search scam, shows WSVN TV must be ignoring all the reports on scamion about Lou Pearlman, including my breaking stories about the widespread fraud. You may remember the research done for the Dateline piece showed that this was the brain-child of lifelong scamster, Alec Defrawy, who changes his name almost as often as he changes the name of his companies. (Incidentally, I have come into evidence that Alec Defrawy, who Lou claimed to have fired, still had a virtual office at Fashion Rock as recently as the Spring of 2005.
Coincidentally, Lou also rehired Dave Elliott, the felon, only several days after he announced his dismissal. Additionally, the metro-sexual Armand Kulpa also still has a virtual office at Fashion Rock, too.) It is a no-brainer that Lou would continue the practices established by the Elliott/Defrawy scam team because those practices had served the company so well in avoiding prosecution by the Florida Attorney General. That didn't work. Jackie Dowd, the Assistant Attorney General assigned to the case, pursued Lou and his gang of convicts, felons, and lifelong equivocators.
So, Lou hired the Deputy Attorney General, Pete Antonacci, and had Jackie fired. The case was transferred to John MacGregor in Tampa and within weeks he closed the case against Lou. John MacGregor is known for making certain cases go away. There was some talk between MacGregor and Hartman, the attorney for Geri Kopa-Knudson, the trustee in the Pearlman bankruptcy case, to have the case transfered to Florida, but once Mark Tolner got it on the record that she had met with Pearlman's people in Mexico, they knew Hartman would never release the deposition to the public.
WSVN 7News Reviews
The lack of ethics in broadcast journalism is likely responsible for savvy news junkies first to leave the networks and then even the cable news programs, resorting to information from networked citizen's like the information found on scamion.com This reporter decided to do his own independent investigation on the recent attack on scamion.com and ED Magedson by WSVN 7News' Carmel Cafiero and report his findings here. One of the reasons for the mass exodus from broadcast media, both network and cable news, is for the behavior exhibited by Carmel Cafiero in her story, which the station broadcast. I used the term media whore advisedly.
It could be argued that it is a pejorative devised as an invective, but there is a denotative sense, which can only be communicated by this term. The excellent piece by Jamie York in the New Humanist is very precisely on point. The author of the article points out that when television news anchors, commentators and correspondents sell the soul of ethical journalism for a salary, and thus deprive millions of citizens of the opportunity to see and hear independent news reporting, then "whore" is the most appropriate term under the circumstances. Of note, nothing from WSVN has made it to the Fox News national feed for over three years, except for hurricane coverage.
Steve Miller's company (Federated Financial) was responsible for sending out a version of Risky Business, with the last part of the piece removed. This was brought to WSVN's attention. They did nothing. As it is said, silence is consent. In fact, the way that most people were able to view this WSVN-sponsored sham is through websites affiliated with Steve Miller of Federated Financial, Mike Zwebner (UCSY) and/or Alec Defrawy, Lou Pearlman's shill. Why? The sham news piece by Carmel Cafiero, Risky Business, was miss-able. Despite the EDitor's possible past peccadilloes of 30 years ago, on which the triumvirate of Miller McFarland Whitelock have attempted to cast light. It is likely to redirect attention from their own connivances, frauds and governmental interventions.
She practically offered ED her posterity to get information for her earlier stories, like so many other broadcast media and print journalism around the world. Here are some examples, which previously aired and mentioned the website in print.
There also have been recent cases where ED Magedson provided assistance to WSVN again, in spite of disabusing him in Carmel Cafiero's story. [COMMENT: ED Magedson seems to be a forgiving person and does not blame the entire staff at this Fox station.] It was also interesting that Lou Pearlman has been featured with WSVN many times before TODAY. [You would think they would read their own reporting and ask some difficult questions] Even after all the bad publicity from, NBC's Dateline and many of other media outlets throughout Florida and the US, which document Lou Pearlman's unscrupulous operations, WSVN still continues to feature Lou Pearlman and his talent scams.
scamion.com was the main source for victims for their story. Most of the employee and ex-employee insiders, which were also developed by this investigative reporter, were exposed by the Dateline report. Many, including myself have been the subject of retaliatory, harassing lawsuits.
(COMMENT: Yet another reason to push for anti-SLAPP legislation in every state, especially those states, such as Florida, which has more than it's share of scamster operations.) The following story is the main investigative report
7 News Features: Man Behind The Music. Air Date: 02/11/2004
Local News: Florida Talent Company Denies Misleading Contestants. 04/21/2004
7 News Features: South Florida Search. Air Date: 05/11/2005 but, Carmel Cafiero is neither known for her acumen, nor her mental agility. Her co-workers, past and present, were more than willing to provide their two-cents about her shoddy research methods and slippery ethics, often back-stabbing sources and reneging on promises. (A couple of her peers had even alluded to the fact that her ethics are not the only things that are flexible.) Carmel refused to comment and in fact provided an email stating that she does not do interviews. [Click here to view copies of Cafiero's emails.] (These emails will be available online soon.)
POOR JOURNALISM METHODOLOGY IN THE "ED MAGEDSON AND www.scamion.com" STORY One of the first glaring things that I noticed was the interview with Michael Joel Zwebner. It was packed with lies. How do I know? I was the individual who had the conversation he related and the person he called a number of times. I did not call Michael Zwebner. Mr. Zwebner called me from New York. In the interview with Carmel Cafiero, Zwebner made several allegations.
These are elements of her story that Carmel should have checked out. He alleged that: LIE: Zwebner states, We don't do anything illegal, we sell a good product. TRUTH: It is illegal to use someone else's patent without permission, and such permission as stipulated by contract.
TRUTH: He spoke with me, Frank Torelli, and I am not an agent of the website, although I did tell him I submit reports occasionally.
I am independent, although I do offer my work to the site upon occasion. There was no discussion of money until Zwebner brought it up. I told him I was disinclined to such a proposal. (The recordings below will show Michael Zwebner offered to pay expenses to write a retraction about him and his company. Neither ED Magedson nor I made offers to receive those funds.) LIE: The website offered to send a reporter to do a positive story on him. TRUTH: Zwebner offered to bring me to Miami, all expenses paid, to look at his operation.
I declined the invitation. He offered to come to Arizona. I told him we could conduct most of the investigation by phone. He tried to intimidate me with being involved in a court case if I didn't spout his brand of the truth. (see segment h below) LIE: Zwebner would have to pay $1,500 plus expenses and airfare for the reporter to do a story.
TRUTH: It was Zwebner who suggested bringing me to Florida. No amount of money was ever discussed at that time.
TRUTH: Anyone can respond on the website free of charge. There are penalties for abuses, however.
TRUTH: There is no evidence of this and it is simply not true. Where is Carmel's attempt to fact check?
TRUTH: The company that elects to participate must also irrevocably comply with other certain requirements, such as reimburse the losses of all the substantiated complainants
To also state what is being changed to avoid the same problems that caused the complaints. (Seach the words Corporate Advocacy Program on this site) This was also in the document Carmel showed to the audience but curiously failed to point that out. Hmmm, I wonder why? It clearly appears to be a story with an agenda. I'll get back to this.
LIE: Miller offers $20,000 reward to anyone who can tell him where to find ED Magedson.
TRUTH: It was not even a bona fide offer, but just grand-standing. Other offered to give them information on his whereabouts and collect the money, but Miller refused all offers. This is misleading because it was for information leading to the arrest and conviction of, alternatively, ED Magedson and Frank Torelli. Several investigators and private individuals offered, but, there was no calls back from Miller.
A similar reward was posted by Helene Goldnadel of International Creative Artists. I would like to know who collected the money since service. There is also currently no anti-SLAPP legislation in Florida, perhaps there should be. Miller offered to pay ED for the identities of the individuals, who posted and ED refused. ED is taking the brunt of the litigious atmosphere at Federated Financial Services.
Their attitude: We will do what we damn well wish with your accounts and your payments and if you squawk we'll sue you too. It is actually the fact that there are dissatisfied customers at Federated Financial that Miller wants covered up. There's an obvious story for you Carmel is it being ignored because there isn't any money in it?
LIE: There are no claims posted by Miller on his website that says, ED Magedson served personally.
TRUTH: Miller and his shills have been posting this claim on every blog they can, along with other false statements.
LIE: Carmel states that she was only in contact with ED by email.
TRUTH: I have personally listened to over 1.5 hours of taped conversation between ED and Carmel on this case. In each case Carmel CAFIERO called ED, and he even mentioned to her that he records his calls.
LIE: ED declined to be interviewed.
TRUTH: ED was interviewed. Carmel was not interested in anything ED offered. He offered her the names and contact info on victims of Miller's Federated Financial. ED offered taped phone conversations of Miller calling ED. ED offered taped phone conversations where ED interviewed the victims of Federated Financial. ED recorded those interviews about 3 years ago because Steven Miller repeatedly called ED Magedson, threatening him with bodily harm and lawsuits if the reports were not removed.
Carmel Cafiero declined to investigate Miller's company. I wonder why? This is all on tape. ED's lawyer did decline any on camera interview, only after it was evident that after 2 hours of phone interview, that Carmel Cafiero was only interested in going after ED and not wanting to see or hear the evidence with both Steve Miller of Federated Financial or Michael Zwebner of UCSY. All she was interested in were things 30 years old like marijuana possession. This was obviously a witch hunt.
Additionally, Carmel reports: LIE: Michael Zwebner was never connected to the mob. TRUTH: He told me that he used to date Gia Franzese, the daughter of mob boss, Sonny Franzese. Sounds like a connection to me. Carmel should have checked her facts better. (Listen to Zwebner's admission below.) Here are some other lies represented by Zwebner: LIE: He never represented himself as Michael Zarek.
TRUTH: He signed a statement to that effect to the Metro-Dade Police in the name of Michael Zarek at the occasion of Gia Francheze's death from an apparent overdose of cocaine. That statement is on file with the Metro-Dade Police Department. Very briefly, a word about Joe Murphy, he was a victim of Mike Zwebner. He allowed Zwebner to use his company as an "umbrella" for Zwebner, only to have him make allegations to the SEC about him which ruined his company, his career, and his health; some of the very allegations that Zwebner makes about those who have gone after him with allegations on the Internet.
The only difference is that Murphy was innocent of the charges, and it looks like it is nearly curtains for Zwebner. He is currently under investigation, according to sources. LIE: Zwebner claims that Joe Murphy is guilty of all of the allegations below. Zwebner filed a statement with the SEC alleging the following about Joe Murphy: 1. Fraud 2. Disgourgement 3. Disbarment TRUTH: While Joe Murphy did file a settlement with the SEC, none of those charges were part of it. LIE: Zwebner claimed to have won several cases against Murphy.
TRUTH: Zwebner was forced to withdraw his lawsuit in Reno against Joe Murphy. (Sounds like a loss.) LIE: Zwebner denies paying $500k hush money as part of a sealed court settlement. TRUTH: He paid Dean Dumont that amount for Mike's unscrupulous behavior. LIE: Zwebner claims he doesn't know Steve Cunningham other than from the Internet; that he is NOT related to Rick Cunningham, who used to work for him. TRUTH: They are related, according to source I have interviewed. LIE: Zwebner does not know anything about the $500,000 settlement with Dean Dumont to buy his silence.
TRUTH: This is a highly probable statement. Zwebner did admit that there was a settlement with Dumont, but disagreed about the amount. LIE: Zwebner denies any affiliation with John Quinlain. He was only a shareholder who did whatever he did without Zwebner knowledge. TRUTH: John Quinlain was paid to promote the stock. LIE: Zwebner claims not to know that Quinlain worked for Brad Gleason. TRUTH: John Quinlain was an employee of Brad Gleason. LIE: Zwebner only claimed to have met Brad or that he was NOT a paid promoter for Zwebner.
TRUTH: He worked for Zwebner. LIE: Zwebner claims that sending email to the Florida Attorney General's Office, which he got from Pete Antonacci through John MacGregor, gratis, is publishing. TRUTH: I maintained that I was a confidential source, that Jackie Dowd, former Assistant Attorney General of Florida, was pursuing a RICO lawsuit against Pearlman and my emails to her were privileged information. That is not publication. TRUTH: Just so everyone knows Fear retaliation if you communicate with the Florida Attorney General's Office.
They will GIVE your information to the enemy often to the business and/or person about whom you complained. Without anti-SLAPP legislation, you have no protection. I have also obtained the informational assistance of a male prostitute in Florida, who goes by the name Billy, whose services, he claims, are required by both Michael Joel Zwebner and Frankie, Lou Pearlman's full-time male companion, and 350-pound boy Friday.He has reported on this website.
Click here to read the scamion on Zwebner and his relationship to Steve Miller and Lou Pearlman [...be sure to see the copy of Zwebner's phone records showing a call to male prostitute, Big Black Buck!] HERE IS THE COMPLETE LIST OF SOUND BITES FROM THE REFERENCED PHONE CALL ABOVE, FROM MIKE ZWEBNER. [Sound files will be posted soon.] [It should be noted that Mike told me that he was visiting family in New York at the time he made the call, but indicated that he would be in Florida for the next two weeks, then back to New York again.]
The following comprises short synopses from the individual sound bites. [These sound bites will be posted when scamion can make the arrangements.]: Zwebner asks me about a scamion. [WARNING: Graphic language] /Zwebner Lies a.wav Zwebner confronts me about information I turned up over to Jackie Dowd, assistant attorney general, which was privileged. [I was a confidential source in a RICO investigation being conducted, but John MacGregor reneged and turned all my information over to Pete Antonacci, the former Deputy Attorney General and his boss.]
Zwebner double talks his connection with Michael Cuzner Charles. /Zwebner Lies b.wav Zwebner admits working with the DEA in a drug case and got an award. He admits helping the DEA in a major drug bust. [COMMENT: The context indicates that he had an inside access to the organization which he betrayed.] /Zwebner Lies c.wav Zwebner denies connection to Cullen Trading Limited, Jason Tabone, or Steven Hirst. Zwebner claims one individual sent 10,000 emails to the government; 80,000 pages, which is the basis for an accusation of RICO, of which he infers I am part, because I sent information to District Attorneys.
/Zwebner Lies d.wav I had to instruct Mike in the difference between a DA and an AG. I let him know that I was cooperating with the Florida Attorney General's Office (FAGO) in their RICO investigation and that I was a confidential source and they released my information illegally. I confront Mike about his brother's (Charles) involvement in ZOCE. He sidesteps it without answering it. /Zwebner Lies e.wav ***Zwebner makes the offer to buy me a ticket to come to Florida, no bribe and no money, to interview him, look over his operation with the ultimate end goal of printing a retraction to my emails.
If I did not comply, I would be included in a RICO lawsuit of internet posters who have conspired against him. [Sounded like extortion to me.] /Zwebner Lies f.wav ***I deflected the invitation and left it with Zwebner to contact me next. [He never did.] /Zwebner Lies g.wav ***I tell Zwebner I will not go to Florida and Zwebner offers to come to me. I counter that most can be conducted by phone. /Zwebner Lies h.wav The report on Zwebner was from Florida, so the person Zwebner accuses could not have posted the report. [COMMENT: Either Zwebner is playing dumb to avoid the issues or really does not grasp the intuitive nature of this investigator.]
/Zwebner Lies i.wav Hear Zwebner's dismissive nature which helps avoid questions and issues. He does not see the inappropriateness of an undisclosed advance to Zwebner's daughter but did not mention it in an SEC filing. He claims it was all disclosed and not inappropriate. Zwebner denied signing the statement in the name of Michael Zarek at the Metro-Dade police department about the death of his then girlfriend, who died of a cocaine overdose, Gia Franzese, the daughter of Colombo capo, John Sonny Franzese.
Mike claims that he was in Israel at the time of her death but he attended the funeral and the wake? [RANDOM COMMENTS: It was never determined how Gia obtained the cocaine, which was her demise. A question yet unanswered was, what besides money laundering, Zwebner did for the DEA? Sonny was just let out of prison and has set up shop in Nevada. There are also those who are no doubt interested that Zwebner may be planning on leaving the country because he has already changed his company residence to Israel.] Zwebner gives me permission to put this in print! /Zwebner Lies j.wav On the charge that he forged his ex-wife's signature: Mike claims that it was an allegation of a vindictive wife which was settled.
There were no criminal charges because there were two sides of the argument. Mike admits to knowing Rick Cunningham, he worked for Zwebner, but denies knowing Steve Cunningham. Zwebner asserts that he knows for certain that Rick and Steve are not related because Rick has publicly stated they are not. Zwebner denies settling with Dean Dumont for $500,000. /Zwebner Lies k.wav Zwebner denies having anything to do with the John Quinlain alias, talks about like he was a shareholder that posted things on the Internet on his own, Mike claimed that he did not know if there was an association with Brad Gleason.
He denied a business relationship with Brad and that he was not a promoter for him. I had to instruct Zwebner on the finer points of the English language; that sending a privileged email as a confidential source for the FAGO was not publishing. /Zwebner Lies l.wav Zwebner, when painted into a corner, he changes the subject. This is a typical ploy. As a trained interrogator, I am on to his deception. /Zwebner Lies m.wav Zwebner broaches the emails to the FBI about Gia Franzese again. I opined that there is evidence that she is not dead, but that someone may have faked her death and she is back in Italy.
Zwebner reiterates that he was at her funeral and her wake, but this time he says that he came back the day before she died, having purchased an engagement ring abroad. His story changes. [I wonder if his trips to Israel were often used as gem buying junkets. One could hide a great deal of money in gems in a wheelchair.] Mike then asks me for the identity of Pacific Blue, whose emails Mike wrongly ascribes blame to another person. /Zwebner Lies n.wav Zwebner tries to get me to disclose the identity of Pacific Blue.
He further claims he was hurt by these emails. /Zwebner Lies o.wav I offered to disclose the identity of Pacific Blue, if Mike would let me know that Pete Antonacci gave the 80,000 pages of emails to him. (I would never reveal the identity of a confidential source. I knew I was safe because Zwebner would never admit how he obtained the emails.) /Zwebner Lies p.wav Zwebner claims he got the emails from his attorney who won't tell him where he got them. Mike would not tell me the name of his attorney, who we now know is Robbie Cooper. [COMMENT: Cooper is so nefarious that he ran off Omar Ghaffar, the charged genital biter.
Ghaffar likely came on board because he liked Cooper's hiphop clientele and maybe that is what did him in; but finally, he probably decided he would rather be a public defender than work for Cooper, who not only works for Zwebner but now also Lou Pearlman.] /Zwebner Lies q.wav [Zwebner whistles nervously.] Zwebner admits he made the call to me. [More nervous whistling.] /Zwebner Lies r.wav Zwebner's email: [email protected] Cell 617513-2529; Ofc 305-672-6344. Zwebner was to send me the email where I allegedly accuse him of bad things.
I was to pass on to ED Magedson that Zwebner will sue him for not removing a report posted by someone else. [COMMENT: It is interesting that this is the reason that Zwebner sued ED and not for the other concocted stories he has recently added in court.] /Zwebner Lies s.wav Zwebner bemoans the insults on the site, which is regretful, but I made no commitments to do anything about them other than to mention them to the EDitor.
/Zwebner Lies t.wav The most recent Miami FOX TV Report on Lou Pearlman and his model search scam, shows WSVN TV must be ignoring all the reports on scamion about Lou Pearlman, including my breaking stories about the widespread fraud. You may remember the research done for the Dateline piece showed that this was the brain-child of lifelong scamster, Alec Defrawy, who changes his name almost as often as he changes the name of his companies. (Incidentally, I have come into evidence that Alec Defrawy, who Lou claimed to have fired, still had a virtual office at Fashion Rock as recently as the Spring of 2005.
Coincidentally, Lou also rehired Dave Elliott, the felon, only several days after he announced his dismissal. Additionally, the metro-sexual Armand Kulpa also still has a virtual office at Fashion Rock, too.) It is a no-brainer that Lou would continue the practices established by the Elliott/Defrawy scam team because those practices had served the company so well in avoiding prosecution by the Florida Attorney General. That didn't work. Jackie Dowd, the Assistant Attorney General assigned to the case, pursued Lou and his gang of convicts, felons, and lifelong equivocators.
So, Lou hired the Deputy Attorney General, Pete Antonacci, and had Jackie fired. The case was transferred to John MacGregor in Tampa and within weeks he closed the case against Lou. John MacGregor is known for making certain cases go away. There was some talk between MacGregor and Hartman, the attorney for Geri Kopa-Knudson, the trustee in the Pearlman bankruptcy case, to have the case transfered to Florida, but once Mark Tolner got it on the record that she had met with Pearlman's people in Mexico, they knew Hartman would never release the deposition to the public.