Hugh Cooper and Simon Brothers Linked to Canadian Developers Theresa Keeping/Dale Merkel Charged with Fraud and Conspiracy in Related Children's "Wish" Charity Litigation
by Captain Chuck Foster on 09/11/13
Sept. 12, 2013, Orange County, CA) - Who and what is a Hugh Cooper? Or, for that matter, who and what are the Simon brothers?
Not to be confused with the small, "mini cooper" sports import, this Cooper is a known link to Canadian developers Theresa Keeping and Dale Merkel currently charged with fraud, conspiracy and other statutory violations.
Cooper is also a currently named defendant in the U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina's class action lawsuit involving "Violation of the Federal Securities Act" including "fraud and deceit" and "to influence and cause ... unlawful conduct and practices."
So how, if, and to what degree are Cooper (and the Simon brothers) connected to Theresa Keeping and Dale Merkel? And what role, if any, does or did they have regarding current Keeping/Merkel fraud, conspiracy and other related litigation?
"Hugh Cooper" was the name flaunted by Keeping and Merkel in conjunction with their wealth and philanthropy claims, the expressed desire to become financially supportive of the childrens "wish" charity, and in conjunction with Keeping's $1.5MM capitalization payment to acquire the position of President along with a 49% equity/revenue sharing interest in the WishCruise Pirate Adventures, Ltd. management company.
It was also Cooper who introduced and spearheaded Keeping/Merkel's effort to purchase the Simon property, Port Harmon Authority, and to acquire executive positions and majority stock interest in VinKing Marine Enterprises; and concurrent with these business transactions, Cooper was VinKing's vice-president, treasurer and chief financial officer.
Most recently, Cooper purportedly gave his stock voting "proxy" in VinKing to Keeping to help her hostile takeover and control of the company.
And Cooper's motivation for this purported proxy gift was what?
Maybe it had something to do with Hugh Cooper's wife being Theresa Keeping's cousin!?
The textbook approach to truth-finding is to "connect the dots" which, in most instances, means "follow the money."
One of the "money dots" connects to the lawsuit involving a U.S. childrens "wish" charity wherein Keeping and Merkel are charged with fraud, conspiracy and other statutory violations.
"Money dots" two and three connect to Keeping and Merkel's suspected fraud and conspiracy acts against the Simon Brothers and former Port Harmon Authority owner, Cecil Stein - acts that occurred when Keeping/Merkel unlawfully took money from a childrens "wish" charity trust/holding account and used it to purchase property (building and land adjacent to Port Harmon) from Simon Holdings (brothers Randy and Sean Simon), and the Port Harmon Authority business from Stein.
The fourth "money dot" connects Cooper, Keeping and Merkel to VinKing Marine Enterprises due to the assets purchased with fraudulently obtained money from the Simon brothers and Stein became the capitalization payment and bases for vice-president positions for Keeping and Merkel, along with a major stock interest in the VinKing company.
"Money dot" number five connects back on the Simon brothers and their "Simon Holdings" company which was the recipient of the fraudulently obtained money paid by Keeping/Merkel.
Until recently, Simon Holdings (and the Simon brothers) were believed to have been victims of Keeping/Merkel's fraud by accepting the $600,000+ fraudulently obtained money used by Keeping for the property purchase. Now, however, the Keeping/Simon property purchase is being questioned and the concern being that, from the funds Keeping purportedly paid for the Simon property, Keeping/Merkel are believed to have gratuitously received an undisclosed sum of cash and/or in-kind benefits.
What fuels this belief is, in part, due to Cooper misrepresenting to VinKing management that an environmental impact report was needed in order to complete the Simon property purchase. However, when a brief (30 or 60 day) time extension was requested to complete the purchase, Simon brothers demanded an additional half-million dollars upping the property's initial purchase price from $115,000 to $620,000!?
Notwithstanding the outrageous and seemingly unjustified 500% price jump, Keeping and Merkel seemed unfazed with a seeming usury-level price increase, and surprisingly volunteered to pay -- and did pay -- the Simon brother's price demand!?
But why? Why would Keeping be so willing to pay a half-million dollars than the original property sales price, especially since the Simon brother's "Building Depot" business was already making good money off Keeping's construction business purchases?
A better question might be, "Why would the Simon brothers ask, let alone accept, such an inflated sum of money from their 'Aunt Theresa!?'"
An even better question would be, "Why did Keeping/Merkel conceal from VinKing management and investors that the Simon brothers were her nephews!?"
Given these recent discoveries, my intended Default Judgment filing in the Keeping/Merkel lawsuit by week's end may be delayed, at least long enough to determine if an Amended Complaint is warranted, and should Simon Holdings, Randy and Sean Simon be named as additional co-defendant parties!?
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In a related matter, Randy Simon and Cecil Stein were given written notice that they were the recipients of unlawfully obtained/embezzled funds belonging to WishCruise Pirate Adventures, Ltd., and that this money was to have been distributed to WCPA by a trust/holding company at the Royal Bank of Canada. Both were also informed of the laws and consequences pertaining to receiving stolen, embezzled, and fraudulently obtained property/money.
In good faith, both were invited and given the opportunity to contact me to discuss how the timely return of this money could be to our mutual benefit. To date, neither Simon nor Stein have contacted me about this invitation opportunity.
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The Trial Judge for the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, that's overseeing the VinKing Marine Enterprises hostile take-over battle, recently ruled in VinKing's favor by denying Keeping/Merkel's request for an immediate hearing, and continued the matter until December.
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Notwithstanding additional civil litigation, U.S. and Canadian revenue agency and law enforcement agencies have been contacted and asked to look into this matter and, if confirmed, pursue whatever criminal charges are deemed applicable and against all involved parties.
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(*) Upon information and belief, all blog and media release information made by me is accurately and truthfully communicated -- RCF
