Post on 24-Jun-2020
The Galt's Gulch Chile (GGC) 2014 Kerfuffle - The Truth & More
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-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐Original Message-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ From: Jerry Folta Sent: Friday, October 03, 2014 7:36 AM To: Jerry Folta Subject: Galt's Gulch Chile Hello GGC Investor: My name is Jerry Folta and I am a second round Founder investor in GGC. I am a
future owner of Orchard #1 and a .5 Ha residential lot. This investment represents a major part of my net worth so I have much to win or lose in the situation in which we find ourselves. I would like to share my understanding of GGC as follows: 1. My experience in purchasing in GGC. 2. My experience since purchasing in GGC. 3. The GGC situation as it stands now. 4. My experience with Ken Johnson throughout. 5. The activities of the “GGC Rescue Team” as they call themselves. 6. My perspective and recommendations for GGC Success. My experience with Galt’s Gulch Chile began when I visited during the time of the
first round Founders sales. I met Ken Johnson at that time and took what I called the, “dusty, bumpy road with waving arms jeep tour” which was Ken describing his vision for what GGC would one day be while we bumped along the dirt roads of the future Galt’s Gulch. Most of you have taken the tour, I’m sure :-‐) I did not possess enough vision to invest, or the risk was too great, or something, and I declined to invest at that time. I kept track of GGC because I greatly appreciated the concept (and, of course, was
continuously concerned with the extraordinary things that were/are happening in the U.S. on a daily basis). Then, the opportunity for the second Founders round occurred. I made another trip and took my second jeep tour with Ken. This time, however, was different in that I saw working lemon orchards -‐ a real, investable, sight to see and not just a vision. I began to seriously consider making an investment. I sold (and managed sales teams that sold) to Wall Street/Other NYC area
Information Technology organizations for going on 20 years. I started the Northeast Region for Foundry Networks in 1998 which went from just me in a nine state territory with $0 revenue to a team of 26 people including salespeople, engineers, etc., with an annualized revenue run rate of ~$22M. I estimate I met approximately 25,000 people during my time as a “sales schmackel” (as I was called by one long time customer :-‐). Many of these people were bright, aggressive, political people and I experienced a wide range of high-‐stress situations. Through these experiences I came to consider myself a good judge of people. Yet, even though I had spent a couple full days with Ken by then I simply could not get a read on the guy.
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At the time GGC was offering only Shareholder Agreements, not the purchase of
individual orchards. I was considering buying in and I asked Ken to send me the blank contract. As I carefully went through it I couldn’t believe what I discovered. I had to turn the pages back and forth several times to wind through the legal paths in the contract but it clearly spelled out that once GGC sold me the property it could unilaterally decide to buy it back and, then, set the price at anything the General Manager (Ken Johnson) wanted -‐ even $.01. I immediately thought, “He’s trying to screw me!” Even so, I wasn’t ready, yet, to let it go. Ken and I spoke on the phone and I showed him how the contract was written such that GGC could easily end up with both my money and my property. He was completely quiet, didn’t say anything, and didn’t try to argue with me one way or another -‐ again, a pretty clear indication (I thought) that he knew what I was telling him was true and that I had caught him red-‐handed. For some reason I impulsively asked him if I could rewrite the contract to something fair to both parties and something that I would be able to sign. I just didn’t want to let it go. He calmly said, “sure”. I rewrote the offending portions of the contract in a way the original language was
left intact but deletions/additions/changes were made in red so it was clear what I wanted to change. I also included what I described as written “rationales” for the changes I was proposing so he would understand why I wanted the changes and could better determine if he agreed the changes were fair. After a couple days rewriting Ken and I went through the revised contract start to
finish. With explanation and discussion it took a good while and at the end I waited for the verdict. After a brief pause Ken said, “Ok”. Not a single modification, not a single change, not a single objection to what I had written. The conclusion I came to was the attorneys wrote the contracts as attorneys are
wont to do; with as much protection as possible for Ken since he was the one paying them. Attorneys are usually not businessmen and the unfortunate way it came out under those circumstances was not appreciated by Ken. Also, the contracts were written in spanish and translated so both culturally and linguistically there is a great deal of uncertainty built into the situation. Still, once Ken saw my suggestions he immediately accepted them and, in fact, made it clear on several occasions afterward that he appreciated what I did because the work I contributed made GGC better -‐ especially for other shareholder investors. Although it’s easy from the sidelines to fault Ken for not doing a better job of managing the attorneys, in a project this big, this ambitious, this undeveloped -‐ these types of situations really should be expected to occur on a daily basis. Still, I was reluctant to commit. It was so much money and the project was so raw.
Almost everything (the contracts being just one example of many) had to be created from scratch which seemed incredibly high-‐risk. And, truthfully, I wasn’t yet 100% sold on investing that much of my money in something so undeveloped and ambitious -‐ especially when I still wasn’t 100% sure about Ken.
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So, I decided to make one more trip to GGC. Ken and I made a one more bumpy,
dusty jeep tour and I was happy to see many signs of progress. Afterward, we spent most of the day in and about “the Hacienda” -‐ the original farmhouse -‐ including the yard & buildings in the area. Ken and I went our separate ways several times -‐ I was content to just hang around, explore, and talk to the various people who were coming and going much of the time. I also wandered in and out of several informal and spontaneous meetings Ken had with various employees -‐ one that lasted over an hour with two people. The employees he interacted with -‐ every single one of them -‐ clearly were happy to be there, seemed completely comfortable with their relationship with Ken, and were excited about the work they were doing at GGC. I should point out that I spent a total of 4+ days with Ken during this whole process and I never once saw him other than gracious, generous and professional. This last visit I also had the good fortune to meet Guillermo Ramirez -‐ the owner
of the property since 1996 and the person responsible for planting all the lemon and lime trees that became the individual and group orchards in which many of us have invested. GGC bought the land from Sr. Ramirez ("Agricola Guipaca Limitada" on the attached Powerpoint -‐ “Legal Structure Today” slide). I was immediately comfortable and greatly impressed with him. He is an older gentleman and was clearly worthy of great respect. Mr. Ramirez spent an hour with me explaining the differences between the lemons in bins in the yard (size, smoothness of the peel, length of the stems, etc.) and the different markets and pricing they participated in. He also gave me a lesson in pruning the lemon trees -‐ all the different considerations and techniques used to provide the richest harvest. It was an exceptional experience and I remain grateful I was able to spend that time with him. I had a chance to see Sr. Ramirez talk with Ken on several occasions during the
day as they discussed various issues regarding the farm. I watched them interact very carefully and Mr. Ramirez clearly had great affection, respect and confidence in Ken. Finally, this was what I was looking for. If Mr. Ramirez was comfortable with Ken then I could be comfortable with Ken. That was the moment I decided to take the risk and invest in GGC. Since that time, Ken has never given me reason to regret that decision. Ken set expectations that the farm income would start by January 1st of this year,
that the haciendas would start producing revenue this year, that homes would be able to start construction before we got too deep into 2014. I simply didn’t put too much faith in these estimates. A U.S. guy comes in, buys a huge piece of land in a country he doesn’t know, in a language he doesn’t speak, with a government he doesn’t understand, etc., and he has the vision to see “Galt’s Gulch Chile”. There was zero chance (!) this was a project that was going to come in on time. I saw many dozens, hundreds, of Information Technology projects undertaken
during my business days. The ones that were this ambitious, this bold, with so many
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unknowns, genuine expeditions into the unknown, where little can be used that exists and virtually everything must be created from scratch, NEVER came in on time and within budget. Ken is such a great salesman we all thought we were buying a house on an American cul-‐de-‐sac where we could go into a showroom, select our kitchen cabinet doorknobs and carpet upgrades and the house would be ready in 120 days. Or, as investors, we could write a check and get a statement the end of the first month with the current value of our ETFs. This is not that kind of home buying experience. This is not that type of investment. This was, and continues to be, more a Lewis & Clark, Christopher Columbus, type of adventure. Earlier this year I requested updates on the accounting documentation and
income status of my orchard several times without a reply. I also began to become aware of other people with unmet expectations. Despite the great progress that has been made, GGC has not met the timing expectations we developed during the sales process. As the disenchantment level continued to increase people began to get more vocal and strident in their displeasure (increasingly in the public domain) and I observed as Ken said little to defend himself. Given the unmet expectations and lack of defense, information and/or explanation, the emotional kerfuffle that has been going on these past few months should really should not come as much of a surprise to anyone. Anyway, along the way I’ve given Ken three “constructive criticisms”: 1. Although a highly skilled salesman and equally effective writer, he created
vaccuums with his long stretches of silence. Finally, when the public attacks on him continued, he began addressing the issues that were raised. I thought he was highly effective when he did so although by this time the onslaught was really too much to take on with total effectiveness by himself. 2. I told him he was trying to do too much and the 24/7 he was working was not
going to be enough time to get everything done. I recommended he take on a COO to take care of the high level tasks that could be delegated. This would give him the time to adequately address the tasks that only he could attend to. He is now considering this idea (see the attached Powerpoint -‐ "Organization Chart -‐ Future” slide). 3. Even though I’d never seen him even the slightest bit unprofessional with
anyone in the 4+ days I spent with him, many have said it happens and Ken has agreed it’s not an unfair accusation. I told him he needs to learn to “help” employees that are underperforming to a better place (even if it's outside the organization) rather than dealing as harshly with them as he has apparently been doing -‐ as one example of his dealings with people that are frustrating him. He’s agreed to address this issue and, given what I’ve seen personally, I’m comfortable leaving him to do just that.
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For some reason I only became aware one week before Freedom Fest (which I did not attend) that the Founders were meeting there to discuss taking action against Ken. I wanted to know more and began to talk and email with some of the leaders of what is self-‐called “The GGC Rescue Team" (Josh Kirley, Col. Tom Baker, Wendy McElroy, Cathy Cuthbert). These are all people, like you and me, that entered this endeavor with a certain amount of blind optimism and are now trying to figure out what to do about the unmet expectations. Josh Kirley is a brilliant, high-‐energy, highly successful guy and Cathy and Wendy have hearts of gold. Wendy is also one of the best writers in the alternative media world -‐ if you’re not familiar with her work check it out on the TDV website. Anyway, I understand their frustration and their willingness to devote their time and energy toward correcting the situation. I spoke at length with Josh Kirley and traded emails with the other GGC Rescue
Team leaders as well as followed the myriad comments being made at that time in the online world. I came to the conclusion that, although perhaps well-‐intentioned, the GGC Rescue Team actions are cause for concern. For example: 1. There is no transparency in terms of what the strategy is, what they hope the
result to be once Ken Johnson is gone, and what our expectations might be concerning the state of our investments once they’ve taken over GGC. 2. Their actions are aimed at starving GGC of funds. They’ve effectively stopped
all GGC sales (Press Release: http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/9/24/redeeming-‐galt-‐galts-‐gulch-‐chile-‐
investors-‐and-‐buyers-‐band-‐t.html ) 3. Also, the GGC Rescue Team is attempting to starve GGC of all other means of
continuing the project like selling water rights (same link as in #2) to keep the cash-‐flow adequate to continue paying the bills while this infighting goes on. 4. I saw the press release shortly before it went out and asked the GGC Rescue
Team not to send it because it is a “Scorched Earth” tactic when, I believed, this type of situation should be kept in-‐house. I also warned it was a tactic that could possibly take the value of our investments to zero. I was told, in writing, by one of the leaders, “ I (am) pretty sure that our investment in GGC is already zero no matter what happens going forward”. If this were true why is so much effort being made to take GGC over? My experience consistently has been observing GGC employees enthusiastically and happily working toward making our investments a success. I was moved by the employees that recently spoke out publicly in defense of GGC and Ken’s efforts. There is nothing more dangerous for employees than jumping in the middle of a highly charged political situation like this and I applaud their courage. 5. I was also told several times that extensive legal actions have been taken and
will continue -‐ again, an effort that will, at least in the short term, harm our investments. Extensive legal actions is one more way to starve GGC of cash and divert attention from the business.
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6. I also think it’s better to move forward with someone who has taken the
arrows (Ken Johnson) and spent the time learning, the hard way, what works and what doesn’t, when adventuring in a strange land. I think there is significant risk in bringing in new management that has to start over making the mistakes necessary to accomplish the learning curve. If the perception is our investments are already worth zero, and we’re in the dark
as to the GGC Rescue Team plans, I believe there is cause for concern -‐ especially when there is a better alternative. We investors got into this situation in the first place because of our blind optimism. Perhaps we can blindly trust the GGC Rescue Team but, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” When I worked selling to Wall Street I quickly learned there were two types of
executive salesmen -‐ Ones (like me) that walked in someplace new, introduced themselves, got to know the people, how the organization worked, determined what it’s problems were, then professionally worked with the right people in the organization to solve the problems. By focusing on the people and their success I learned that money came to me -‐ often lots of it. The other types of people watched and waited until the salesmen like me created
value from zero; from an idea in the mind. Once much of the hard work was done and much investment time had been made, they would pounce. They would restructure the sales office, or claim a merger was going to take place soon, or talk about how someone had a strong relationship with a senior executive in the company -‐ and, lo and behold, the account I’d worked so long and hard to create value in would be given to someone else and I’d watch while someone else made tons of money in short order -‐ largely off my efforts. My mantra in those days was, “Screwed Again!”. (Don’t cry for me, though, eventually I figured enough out to retire at 46 so it’s all good :-‐). Usually, when a second group of people attempts to “poach” the value created by
the first person/group of people, many tactics can be used. Attacking the person/people who created the value in the first place. Driving the perceived value of a business to zero. Identifying deep pocket investors to come in to recapitalize the business. There are many more. The point is, the equity investors and debt holders (our best case legally, I believe) and unsecured creditors (our more likely case legally, I believe, since we don’t yet have legal contracts) often get pennies on the dollar or are wiped out completely. Think about it: If you wanted to take over GGC, is this how you would do it? Once you did, would you explain to the original investors that the value creator
was the bad guy, that he had driven the value of the business to zero, that there is nothing you can do and, sorry, your investment is wiped out -‐ see you later. Then,
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would you care if they watched from the sidelines while you recapitalized, perhaps rebranded, and relaunched the project to great success (and great profit!)? I’m not saying this is going on. I truly do not know. With the new investors
willing to make major new investments (from what I’m told) I believe this may well be a real risk and there is no written guarantee from the GGC Rescue Team suggesting otherwise. If the GGC Rescue Team legitimately wishes to make an offer to change
management, change the legal structure and/or ownership of the company, change the financial structure of the company, etc., they’re welcome to present their offer at any time to GGC ownership/management. They don’t need to weaken or destroy GGC to do so. This is, of course, if the interests of the rest of us are protected. Also, if it’s done without putting out additional press releases until after the deal is signed. Unfortunately, airing the dirty laundry publicly is a pretty clear red flag in my mind regarding intentions. It certainly does not help us. So, one option for each of us is to support the GGC Rescue Team -‐ until I see their
cards face up, a written plan, and the legal commitments they’re willing to make to us, in writing, I do not support this option. I would like to suggest another option -‐ please open the attached presentation for
the detail. If the presentation is no longer attached, please email me and I’ll send it to you. I like to try and keep everything to one page whenever possible -‐ note especially the financial statements are unusual in their one page format at my request since, at a single page, they are quite digestible. Further accounting detail can be provided if desired. However, I’m not an accountant or an attorney so nothing here should be
confused with legal or financial advice (!). Ken was generous with his time and also with providing the time of other GGC employees to help provide the data I’ve used here. I thank them all for their efforts. GGC Actions: Ken will continue to work on the major issues in the short term such as zoning
approvals, managing the business and cash-‐flow, perhaps begin the process of providing written updates to the community, work on his management style when dealing with frustrating people, move the accounting forward for the individual orchards and shareholder orchards as possible (main and organic) to position for income payments once cashflow issues are managed, and finalize the removal of Mario Del Real. Ken will also begin the process of hiring a COO. Local, bilingual, experienced in
Chilean agriculture, extensive business experience at an executive level, comfortable with all aspects of running a Chilean business including legal and financial strategies
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and issues, experience dealing with Chilean government agencies, and a person of integrity. This will be an equity position, i.e. his work will lead to an ownership position in GGC over time. If you know of any good candidates I encourage you to please let Ken know. There is much more in the attached presentation to consider. I recommend you
please take the time to look it over. I believe this strategy leverages the great strengths Ken has, addresses and
obviates the effects of his weaknesses, and is realistic given this is Ken’s vision and his legal structure. GGC likely can’t be taken from him but could quite possibly be destroyed if starved of revenue long enough. With that in mind, I think this strategy gives us the best chance of preserving our investment and realizing the dream/homes/income/success that we all hoped for when we invested into this endeavor. I have a business degree and 28 years in business -‐ but as an employee, not an
entrepreneur -‐ so I’m probably not the best person to present a new solution. Having said that, I’m just trying to protect my investment as best I can. I would also like to suggest that if I become a target of personal attacks because I’ve shared this perspective/recommendation please take that as a sign of effectiveness, not skulduggery. My long experience suggests when people make personal attacks, for one reason or another, it’s because they generally can’t argue the facts. This is my understanding, such as it is. It is in not from anyone other than me. I
hope it’s ok to say many of us have been perhaps unrealistic in our expectations and this, combined with the periodic vaccuums created by lack of communication from GGC management, has led to a lot of thought and action that doesn’t represent an accurate understanding of the situation. Still, I hope my efforts here assists your understanding and helps you make intelligent, informed decisions regarding your GGC investments. If you find you agree with me I recommend you contact the GGC Rescue Team
(Josh Kirley, Cathy Cuthbert, Thomas Baker, and Wendy McElroy) and ask them to take only actions that will be helpful to all of us under any and all circumstances going forward and discontinue the “Scorched Earth” tactics. Perhaps ask them to proceed with whatever they want to do in a spirit of helping regardless of how it’s determined we move forward. Perhaps they’ll consider using their truly impressive publicity team to let the world know the GGC Community has come together to determine the best way forward. Perhaps they’ll let the world know they can come on down, look around, and perhaps invest with us to ultimately join the community we are able to again enthusiastically and positively work to build. By the way, if you haven’t seen it, the five individual lemon orchards and 50 acre
shareholder farm subdivision was approved this week. (Photo attached.) Great job,
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Ken! Second phase subdivision work is also underway, allowing GGC to fulfill approximately 80% of contracts this year. Best of luck with your GGC investment! Sincerely, Jerry Folta
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On Oct 8, 2014, at 2:03 AM, cathy cuthbert wrote: Dear GGC Investors and interest parties, On Oct 2, 2014, fellow GGC investor, Jerry Folta, wrote to all of us with his
thoughts on the current state of the project. His email was lengthy, thoughtful and I take it to be a good faith effort to solve our current dilemma. I applaud him for his efforts, yet I'm sorry to say that his plan falls short. I would like to reply to the points Jerry made to clarify my activities on the rescue team and to outline the basic necessities for moving forward. I have attached a pdf file with my reply followed by the full text of Jerry’s email for your convenience. If you have not received his pdf that was attached to his Oct 2nd email-‐-‐"10.02.2104-‐-‐GGC Plan Folta " or you cannot open the pdf attachment with my response, please contact me. I apologize in advance for the length of this material, but I think it's necessary.
This disaster is complex, and that complexity is not to our advantage. If we investors and lot purchasers-‐-‐the people whose money is at stake-‐-‐do not take the time and effort to understand what our situation is, we will not make any headway in rescuing GGC, In a nutshell, we have invested money in a real estate development whose management refuses to be transparent about what has happened to that money, as the attached document demonstrates. Thank you to Jerry Folta for initiating this dialogue, and thank you for your kind
attention. Regards, Cathy Cuthbert PS Sorry for second mailing. Technical difficulties: my
email program doesn't like the long distribution list... <GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8.pdf>
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October 8, 2014 Dear Jerry, Thank you for taking the time to draft your document called “10.02.2014—GGC
Plan Folta” and sending it to us. In your lengthy email introduction (included following my response), you listed six causes for concern about the rescue team’s actions. Please find them below with my comments. “1. There is no transparency in terms of what the strategy is, what they hope the
result to be once Ken Johnson is gone, and what our expectations might be concerning the state of our investments once they’ve taken over GGC.” In an email to you from Josh Kirley dated Sepember 15, 2014, he said: "I have zero
desire to ‘lead’ GGC. I would, however, step in, in the interim, until we found a BILINGUAL, qualified project developer, who would put their own money into the project and who has successfully developed communities in S America. I have identified four." I have seen similar statements from some of the founders. I have also read
comments from investors that, with new management, they think they can help raise new capital. Clearly plans can be made only after access to comprehensive financial and other information and with the collaboration of the new management, and cannot be detailed right now. If you are truly concerned about transparency, don’t you think that it is far more
alarming that we have not received a detailed report from Mr. Johnson about how he plans to go forward if he were to retain his position, especially considering that he has considerable information—financial and otherwise—that he has not yet shared with the investors? Don’t you find it alarming that we have not gotten quarterly reports with financial statements and yearly audited financial statements? After all, we have already invested money with Mr. Johnson. Are you unconcerned that loan payments and refunds have not been made with no explanation and no estimated payment dates? Shouldn’t Mr. Johnson be the first to satisfy your requirement of in a private email
to you on September 23, 2014. I believe you are mistaken about the sequence of events. To my knowledge, GGC sales stopped with Wendy’s article dated August 25, 2014, http://www.thedailybell.com/editorials/35591/Wendy-‐McElroy-‐The-‐Fate-‐of-‐Galts-‐Gulch-‐Chile/ not with our press release dated September 24, 2014, a full month later. The fact is that our press release supplied no new information that would affect GGC lot sales. We were not trying to starve GGC of funds, rather, we were trying to block the sale of water rights. We vigorously deny your accusations about our intentions. Further, if you would like lot sales to resume, Mr. Johnson has merely to do is what he claims he wants to do: leave GGC.
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“3. Also, the GGC Rescue Team is attempting to starve GGC of all other means of continuing the project like selling water rights (same link as in #2) to keep the cash-‐flow adequate to continue paying the bills while this infighting goes on.” Again, you are accusing us of intentions we simply don’t have. We wanted to block
the sale of water rights because we are afraid that the sale would leave the project without sufficient water and therefor no path to recovery. How would the orchards be maintained? How would the land be subdivided? If the land is to retain any sizable fraction of the price paid, it must have considerable water rights associated with it. Clearly, we knew that blocking water rights sales would block a source of funds,
not for GGC however, but for Mr. Johnson personally. We fear that he has diverted money from GGC to himself in the past and may be doing so again. At no time have we tried to block funds flows to GGC for the sake of damaging the project. “4. I saw the press release shortly before it went out and asked the GGC Rescue
Team not to send it because it is a “Scorched Earth” tactic when, I believed, this type of situation should be kept in-‐house. I also warned it was a tactic that could possibly take the value of our investments to zero. I was told, in writing, by one of the leaders, “ I (am) pretty sure that our investment in GGC is already zero no matter what happens going forward”. If this were true why is so much effort being made to take GGC over? [snip]” I made that statement, sort of, in a private email to you on September 23, 2014.
Here is the whole of what I said: “I will tell you exactly what I have told Ken Johnson. I don't know who did what to whom, nor do I care. I am not taking sides, but this "he said/she said" stuff has to stop. Ken told me that he wants to leave GGC so I advised him to request a severance and get on with it. I have, from my marketing perspective, reached the conclusion that the project cannot be successful with him at the helm. The sooner he leaves the better for him and GGC due to the negative publicity. My assessment is based on public information and my background in marketing. “Frankly, Jerry, your statements puzzle me. My partner and I are pretty sure that
our investment in GGC is already zero no matter what happens going forward. I can't imagine why you think there is anything to salvage at this point. We hold a piece of paper that says some day we may own a lot, somewhere, and we may get water piped to it, what water we don't know. We don't have title to anything. As I said before, scorched earth is ALREADY HERE. Our only hope—my partner's and mine—is that GGC can hang onto the land and water rights, then find new capital to continue development. We could be completely wrong on this, but that's our assessment. And we are NOT going to attract new capital with Ken at GGC at this point due to the publicity.” I am not a “leader” of anything. In that exchange with you, I was one person giving
my opinion and not speaking for the rescue team. Others may disagree about the value of the pieces of paper they hold. Apparently you are one of them. Fair enough,
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as I say, I could be wrong. If I think my GGC “contract” is worthless, why am I trying to rescue GGC? Because I feel a burden of responsibility to my husband for throwing away money that he worked 60-‐70 hours a week to earn. I feel a responsibility to my partner and friend for leading him into throwing away his money. If I can make an effort to recoup some of the money I’ve lost, no matter how small the chances, I’ll do it for them. It’s my duty. “5. I was also told several times that extensive legal actions have been taken and
will continue -‐ again, an effort that will, at least in the short term, harm our investments. Extensive legal actions is (sic) one more way to starve GGC of cash and divert attention from the business.” Legal action is also the only way to recoup our investment. Negotiation has gotten
us nowhere. Apparently you are unaware that negotiations have been attempted for months. In fact, one of the founders told you that many of your suggestions in the
“GGC Plan Folta” have already been attempted with no success. And if extensive legal action worries you, I sincerely hope that you have been forcefully communicating this to Mr. Johnson. You might inquire whose funds he is using in his extensive legal actions. Hint: not his own. “6. I also think it’s better to move forward with someone who has taken the
arrows (Ken Johnson) and spent the time learning, the hard way, what works and what doesn’t, when adventuring in a strange land. I think there is significant risk in bringing in new management that has to start over making the mistakes necessary to accomplish the learning curve.” There is no intention of bringing in new management who would be on a learning
curve. Quite the contrary, as stated above, we need someone with the experience that Mr. Johnson did not and still does not have—real estate development experience, bilingual, knowledge of Chile. (Frankly, I doubt the Chileans consider Chile a strange land.) There is, of course, another criterion besides skills, i.e. skin in the game, which, along with relevant experience, Mr. Johnson also sorely lacks. “The arrows” of which you speak are exactly why Mr. Johnson has to leave. Have
you tried typing “Ken Johnson, Galt’s Gulch Chile” into your favorite search engine lately? Trust me, it’s not pretty. As I said above, I don’t know who did what to whom, nor do I care. Regardless, Mr. Johnson’s brand is ruined and GGC’s with it. He needs to leave and the project needs to be rebranded—this is marketing 101. Surely your experience in sales and business tells you that. Moving Forward—Making a Rescue Team Plan Possible Like you, I’m an investor with the goal of recouping my investment in GGC. What I
really want is to live there. But your document is not a viable plan for reaching those goals. It’s not a plan at all. Jerry, after 28 years of sales experience, you know what is needed is not a list of vague generalities. Tom Baker is quite right: we need benchmarks, metrics, priorities, timetables, etc. It is perfectly reasonable that you asked for a rescue team plan. Give us the data and we’ll make one. In fact, we’d like
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nothing better than to draft a plan, but we can’t without information. If you and Mr. Johnson are sincere in wanting to forge a path forward for GGC, we investors need to know, at a minimum: 1. All financial information about our investment. You included only two “balance
sheets” in the pdf you attached to your email and one income statement for one of the entities. I’m sorry to say that is wholly inadequate. I don’t want to go into much detail here due to space considerations, but I will mention that, for example, the chart labeled “ASGGSA Balance Sheet March 2014” appears to be an income statement. Also, the valuation information listed on page 5 doesn’t give a source. We require detailed quarterly income statements, cash flow statements and balance sheets plus all tax returns, bank statements, bitcoin account statements, payroll records, shareholder withdrawals, gold and cash transaction, purchase and sale contracts and amendments—filed or otherwise—and all sales, swaps and assignments of stock for all the entities at a minimum. We also need documentation of all vendor invoices and payments to be able to fulfill GGC’s obligations to the local trades people. Please understand that as investors, we have either equity positions, or have
made loans to GGC. This is a completely different situation from those who bought lots. All financial information, de rigueur for investors, should have been, and now must be, provided. 2. When our overdue loan payments and interest penalties, farm and farm share
payments, and refunds will be made. You and Mr. Johnson have received the list of three second round founders and 11 lot purchasers requesting refunds. To my knowledge, none has been told when or how to expect payment. Many on this list have waited months to hear. I’m sorry to say that the idea that Mr. Johnson requires investors to fill out a form for refund, and that we have to wait weeks for that form, is unconscionable. The total for refund requests is now $1,253,550. As a second round founder, I’m owed a payment on my loan. It is now one month
late with interest accruing. I’m waiting to hear when and how to expect my loan payment with interest. How many others are in the same position? 3. Clear information, timelines and contact information for all the litigation
concerning GGC. How can we structure a plan when we have no idea what legal liabilities we would be assuming? Tell me, Jerry, would you blindly assume someone else’s legal obligations? You said it yourself, we made one huge mistake and we don’t want to make any
more. Without this information at a minimum, we cannot go forward with any negotiations on a severance for Mr. Johnson, as he claims to want, and we absolutely cannot go forward with any plan that retains Mr. Johnson in management. In fact, if he wants to remain as the manager of GGC, I for one would like to see Mr. Johnson’s personal financial statements and tax returns for the past three years. (This is exactly what I have to do to apply for a loan.) I should have required these before
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wiring funds, since the way the entities are structured I apparently made the equivalent of a personal loan to him. If you would be so kind as to use your influence and provide us with these
minimum requirements, I and I think all the investors would appreciate it. You said, “Perhaps [the rescue team will] consider using their truly impressive publicity team to let the world know the GGC Community has come together to determine the best way forward.” That has been our plan all along—first data, then severance, then new management, then positive PR as part of the rebranding of the project leading to recapitalization. This is as transparent as we can be. We can’t provide more details due to the lack of information. Please convince Mr. Johnson to be forthcoming with the financials and other data and negotiate in good faith. With a viable plan in place, positive PR will flow like water. I have assumed that you communicated with us with the best of intentions, and
was very disappointed that you imputed evil motives to me. Believe me, we have not concocted a nefarious plot to destroy GGC’s value and take over. To even briefly entertain this as a possibility makes me think you have simply not done your homework. Had Mr. Johnson said all along that he wanted to remain at GGC, I could maybe see your point. However, he has been telling us repeatedly that he wants to leave. He begged Josh to invest more funds and take over the project. The only barrier to that was and is Mr. Johnson’s unwillingness to provide Josh with adequate financial information. If you have not read Mr. Johnson’s facebook exchange with Josh that was widely distributed by Mr. Johnson on September 28, 2014, I can understand your confusion. If you need access, I will be happy to forward it to you. It is immanently clear from that exchange that a lack of financial information is the roadblock. Thank you for efforts and your kind attention. We look forward to receiving all
the information outlined here and rescuing GGC together. Cathy Cuthbert
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Cathy Cuthbert GGC Investors' Update Oct 10 2014 Dear GGC Investors and interested parties, Well, another week, and no hard data from GGC. We do have some tidbits for you,
while we wait… 1. GGC is trumpeting the subdivision of the fruit orchards at the property. While
we realize this is progress, we should keep it in context. The area was already zoned 10 hectare (24.7 acres) agricultural residential. Council has told us that, in general, agricultural subdivision down to 0.5 hectares is straight forward. This ag subdivision says little about the future of obtaining rezoning for sub-‐10 hectare residential lots in other areas of the development. Still, we are looking forward to the farm investors getting title to their property. If you haven't received the GGC emails about this, we will be happy to forward them to you. 2. You’ll recall that Ken Johnson has filed a criminal complaint against Mario del
Real and Pamela del Real. Ken Johnson is accusing them of committing two specific crimes: misappropriation or conversion of property (Apropiación Indebida) and forgery and/or malicious use of a private document. We have heard no details of this complaint, don’t know how it might effect GGC, nor whose funds (hint: ours) are being used. And of course the whole story of how the del Reales became the proud owners of 30% of our investment to begin with is pretty murky in this writer’s mind. All this falls into the third type of information we are seeking from Mr. Johnson and Mr. Folta, as outlined in our attempt at a modus vivendi from earlier this week: 1. Comprehensive financial data, 2. Refunds and payments, 3. Comprehensive litigation information. 3. If you have requested a refund, please forward the details to our forensic
investigator, Tom Baker, at thomas.j.baker1.mil@mail.mil Mr. Johnson informed us that we will need to fill out a refund request form (?!?), but has not yet distributed one. We know he is very busy right now, so we volunteered to create a refund form for GGC, in the spirit of cooperation, don't you know. We've attached it to this email for your convenience. Refund request total to date: $1,396,589. 4. Also attached for your convenience is a Limited Power of Attorney for Josh
Kirley to represent you in his negotiations—such as they are—with Mr. Johnson. No recommendation, no advice, no pressure. We know you're grown-‐ups. If you decide to use the form, please email me for where to send a notarized original.
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5. Our final attachment is the next installment in our continuing series of painful email exchanges—reminiscent of when a drunk at the wedding gets a hold of a microphone, isn’t it? This one is entitled “Transparency Transcript.” You’ll recall that on Sept 28, 2014, Ken Johnson disseminated the transcript of a
facebook chat between himself and Josh Kirley entitled "GGC Document Release 2." It can be obtained as a pdf by emailing me, although you should all have it by now. When last we left our (anti)-‐hero, Mr. Johnson had entangled himself and GGC
with associates that he feels are not working out (see item #2 above), and approached Mr. Kirley to ask and later to beg that he commit the sum of $4M and take over operations. Mr. Kirley prudently asked for financial information before sending such a huge sum, but Mr. Johnson stonewalled. To this day, well over a year later and despite repeated requests from many investors, Mr. Johnson refuses to be transparent about the financial condition of GGC, blocking all efforts at due diligence. His excuse is that it is private information, clearly a bogus argument. Any business that solicits investment money must provide financial information to equity and debt investors so that they can perform due diligence. “Transparency Transcript,” dated from September 30 to October 2, is revealing in
that it shows the utter disdain Mr. Johnson has for one of his largest investors. He ridicules requests for transparency, mocking Mr. Kirley by demanding his financial information. He claims that the roadblock to GGC's progress is Mr. Kirley's unwillingness to fly to Chile to take over operations-‐-‐a childish ruse since no one would leave his home, family, business and lucrative career to commit to taking over a project without being able to do due diligence. Well, maybe Jerry Folta would, but would you? Mr. Johnson rejects transparency for himself, yet uses Mr. Folta to try to shame
the rescue team by falsely claiming that we are not transparent. We venture to say that we have provided more hard information about GGC in the past month than you have received from Mr. Johnson in the past two years. Are these the tactics of a manager who is earnestly negotiating his exit from GGC, as he repeatedly claims he wants? We bet that like us, you don't like reading this type of sophomoric exchange. You
probably think these arguments are just personality conflicts and don't mean much. "The truth is somewhere in the middle," you say to yourself. You would be wrong on all counts. If you can bear to read the attached exchange, please keep fixed in your mind that Mr. Johnson has control of your money and as yet has given you nothing. Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, concerns or information to
share with your fellow investors, simply reply to this email. Saludos, The GGC Rescue Team
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From: Jerry Folta Subject: GGC Folta Update Oct 10 Date: October 10, 2014 at 6:25:54 PM GMT-‐3 To: Hello again: As I think everyone is aware, the finances for GGC are strained because of the
current inability to aggressively pursue marketing and sales. Ken is in the process of soliciting competitive bids for a portion of the excess water rights Inmobiliaria Galt’s Gulch SA has rights to. This should be enough to cover all current GGC commitments. This will take some time to complete but hopefully the funds will be available for distribution by the end of the year. Again, this is new to all of us so this estimate may yet prove overly optimistic or overly pessimistic. Once the funds are in-‐house, however, there will be no delays in distributing them. Everyone is eager to get refunds paid (~$1.26M), founder loans paid (~$1.05M through December), the final loan for the land & water rights paid ($2.3M), farm income going (see below), past due commitments brought current (~$300K), taxes paid on the water sales (~$1.4M), and funds left over to cover operating expenses until the opportunity to begin selling GGC lots begins again. We share the enthusiasm for a fresh start and are working to make that happen as quickly as possible. That, by the way, is the basic plan -‐ to use the excess water rights sales to bridge
the financial strain in the short term, pay off all creditors/issue refunds/etc., then come together to continue to build the community in a positive, professional way as we add new members. As always, the hope is to get our situation to a point where all investors are comfortable coming together as a community to send out the message that Galt’s Gulch Chile is supported by all members of the community; we invite you to come visit GGC; we hope you’ll feel comfortable and confident investing in GGC; and please join us. Orchard and Farm Investors As mentioned previously, the first Subdivision approvals occurred in late
September. We’re currently waiting for the “S.I.I” (Chilean IRS) to issue “R.O.L.” numbers at which point the titles can be transferred to the Second Round Founders. This will occur soon. (Late breaking news from Ken -‐ "We picked up the completed ROL numbers from SII today and just dropped them off, along with the approved subdivision, at the Conservador. The inscriptions of the new ROL numbers will be completed on, or before, October 24, 2014"). The legal paperwork and processes will then be prepared by lawyers on behalf of GGC to make it as easy as possible for title to be transferred to you. Legal paperwork will also be prepared for the First Round Founders to facilitate
taking title/ownership in GGC. Once the lawyers have complete the legal documents and process, instructions for finalizing the title transfer will be sent to each of you.
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Orchard and Farm investors would like to begin earning income from their investments. We are currently working to finalize the accounting -‐ it appeared we were close to finishing -‐ see the documentation shown in the October 3rd presentation. That’s not quite yet true. There are 100 hectares in total for all farms -‐ (5) 10 Ha Orchards and (1) 50 Ha Shareholder farm. The issue is every investor needs a report that shows their Income less Expenses (Dedicated, Shared-‐Variable Expenses, and Shared-‐Fixed Expenses). We’re working on finalizing the accounting and documentation which is a necessary first step to paying income. In addition to that, there is the question of when and how to pay income.
Quarterly? Annually? With the previous farm manager neglecting the watering of the lemon trees and subsequent losses (see presentation sent out Oct. 3rd) the farms operated at a loss through September for 2014 (See Diego’s document from October 3rd attachment: Total Income = 58.061,066 and Total Expenses = $77.807,772). The accounting process needs to be finalized and the farm profitable before income can be paid. These efforts are underway and we’ll keep you posted on progress. Residential Investors The second round of Subdivision Requests are in process with GGC’s architect and
advisors. This will subdivide the remainder of GGC into 10 Ha lots. It’s realistic to hope they’ll be finalized by year-‐end. Once this has been done the third round of Subdivision Requests will be submitted -‐ dividing the 10 Ha lots into smaller (.5 Ha, 1.0 Ha, 2.5 Ha, 5.0 Ha) lots for the final subdivisions. There has been speculation it will not be possible to subdivide into smaller lots. There are several reasons to be optimistic this will not be true. First, so much of the public speculation of things "known to be true" over the past several months actually turned out to be false. Second, there is a project nearby that has been subdivided down to 2.0 Ha lots and they’ve already put in roads, electricity, etc., so there is possible precedent that it can be done. Third, the option of putting multiple houses on a single 10 Ha lot is being explored and has the possibility of becoming an option for GGC. Finally, we’re going to consult with one or more real estate attorneys in the area for ideas and strategies to satisfy the requirements of the the <10 Ha investors. The other issue we’re dealing with is the ongoing saga of Mario Del Real. I don’t
want to go too much into it because I don’t really don’t understand it yet. I’m comfortable saying Ken has initiated legal charges against Del Real, his daughter Pamela, and other involved parties. If I understand correctly this will not affect GGC in any meaningful way and, even at that, hopefully in the short term only. Ken and his attorneys have been forwarding water rights documents and financial
statements to my attorney over the past few days. My attorney tells me the water rights appear to be in order but he is going to visit two “Registers” to verify the water rights by the end of next week. He’s also told me the books of Inmobiliaria need some work to bring them 100% into compliance with Chilean law. This will be done in the coming weeks as well. I’ll pass along more information as I understand
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better what is being done. This is part of the continuing effort to make sure all aspects of GGC are clean, professional, profitable, etc. I will be in town for a one week visit to Galt’s Gulch October 25th to November
2nd. Josh Kirley, is there any possibility you might join Ken and I for a couple days during that time or even for the week? If you can come down perhaps we could accomplish much in terms of common understanding and a joint game plan we can all support. I apologize for
not working out the dates in advance -‐ I actually made the reservations weeks before I became in involved in this (Sept 3rd) and didn't let Ken know I was coming until this past Monday (Oct 6th). Josh, again, I apologize for the short notice but is there any chance you can join
us? We have begun the search for the GGC COO. The ideal candidate might have the
following attributes: * Lives in the Curacavi area. * Speaks at least a fair amount of Spanish -‐ preferably bilingual. * Understands the Chilean culture. * Can navigate the Chilean government. * Experienced in Chilean agriculture. * Good salesman. * Has successfully managed a medium to medium-‐large sized business. * Can successfully manage all the above as well as a large group of investors. * Is a person of integrity. This is an equity position. If you know anyone that might be a good fit for this
position please let me or Ken know. Also, Ken has asked me to join the Inmobiliaria Board of Directors which I’ve
agreed to do. Thanks to everybody who has contacted me since October 3rd. What’s truly
amazing is that despite the depth and passion of the conflict we’ve all been part of it seems most of us still believe in the original vision. Hopefully we’re moving closer to the time when we can unite to move GGC forward. Jerry
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From: Jerry Folta Subject: Re: GGC Moving Forward: Response to Folta Plan Date: October 14, 2014 at 1:01:39 AM GMT-‐3 To: Cathy: Thank you for your excellent response to my Oct. 3rd email. My thoughts: 1. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "Clearly plans can be made only after access to comprehensive financial and other
information and with the collaboration of the new management, and cannot be detailed right now." Folta: I’ve seen Ken send much documentation to Josh Kirley -‐ most without
acknowledgement. Has anyone on the GGC Rescue Team reviewed any of the documentation that has been received? 2. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "If you are truly concerned about transparency, don’t you think that it is far more
alarming that we have not received a detailed report from Mr. Johnson about how he plans to go forward if he were to retain his position" . . . Folta: Yes, but as I’ve mentioned, I have the same concerns about the efforts of the GGC
Rescue Team. Sure, Ken should be able to produce a plan with more clarity than the GGC Rescue Team but still, in terms of what the GGC Rescue Team might offer as an alternative, I haven’t seen anything at all. 3. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: . . . "especially considering that he has considerable information—financial and
otherwise—that he has not yet shared with the investors?" Folta: Are you sure about that? There may be yet some files that haven’t been sent to
Josh Kirley, however, a lot of the speculation in this regard seems outside the range of making sense from what I’ve seen. Again, has anyone on the GGC Rescue Team actually looked at the considerable documentation Ken has sent to Josh? 4. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "Don’t you find it alarming that we have not gotten quarterly reports with
financial statements and yearly audited financial statements?" Folta:
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Yes. Having said that GGC is a private real estate company, there is no legal reason GGC has to release financial statements, and there are excellent reasons for not releasing financial statements. 5. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "Are you unconcerned that loan payments and refunds have not been made with
no explanation and no estimated payment dates?" Folta: Yes, fortunately this seems to be fixable -‐ see Oct 10th progress report email. If
we don’t come together, however, this will not remain true forever. 6. Folta: “Their (GGC Rescue Team) actions are aimed at starving GGC of funds. They’ve
effectively stopped all GGC sales (Press Release).” GGC Rescue Team Response: "I totally disagree with you on this and said so in a private email to you on
September 23, 2014. I believe you are mistaken about the sequence of events. To my knowledge, GGC sales stopped with Wendy’s article dated August 25, 2014," Folta: I said the actions of the GGC Rescue Team were starving GGC of funds. Wendy
McElroy is a member of the GGC Rescue Team. What am I missing? 7. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "we were trying to block the sale of water rights” Folta: Ken has sent extensive documentation to Josh Kirley regarding the GGC project:
legal documents, all available accounting documents through 2013-‐year-‐end, land diagrams, zoning information, mining maps, water studies, subdivision documents, etc. The water rights numbers are well known (420 LPS Subterranean, 363.5 Surface, additional mineral springs). It would likely take no more than a few hours of work to reach a conclusion independent of Ken’s, i.e. 200 LPS would be sufficient out of the nearly 800 LPS available to support the entire GGC project. This is a real question -‐ why does the GGC Rescue Team prefer to take actions to shut down this important source of funds and risk destroying the value of GGC completely when only a few hours of work would prove one way or the other whether their supposition is true or false? It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and fling mud. When is someone from the GGC
Rescue Team going to roll up their sleeves and contribute to the cause? Perhaps this issue might be the perfect place to start? 8. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8:
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"He (Ken) needs to leave and the project needs to be rebranded—this is marketing 101. Surely your experience in sales and business tells you that.” Folta: Our plan is for Ken to continue to General Manage GGC until it’s complete,
however, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he might leave GGC before that happens. I have great respect for his vision and his willingness to give two years, 24/7, of his life (some might call this “skin in the game”, by the way) to try and make the GGC vision happen. If he were to consider leaving, I’d like to see it happen in a respectful, professional way that recognizes the contribution he’s made to GGC success, such as it is up to now, which is considerable. Also, as I mentioned I was in sales, not marketing, so the understanding of us sales guys as to the value added by marketing folks has always been minimal. Sure, I guess, rebranding may be a good idea but that's a decision to be made down the road so I’m not too concerned about it or “Marketing 101” right now. 9. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: . . . "we investors need to know, at a minimum:” All financial information about our investment. Folta: I would suggest reviewing the financial statements Ken has sent to Josh over the
past few months. They are what is available although they may well fall short of ideal. Getting financial reporting back on track both for Chilean accounting requirements as well as in a digestible form for us investors is a priority. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "When our overdue loan payments and interest penalties, farm and farm share
payments, and refunds will be made." Folta: See email dated Oct. 10th. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "Clear information, timelines and contact information for all the litigation
concerning GGC." Folta: There is no litigation against GGC. There are three lawsuits by GGC against others: 1. A criminal lawsuit against Mario del Real, Pamela del Real, and others involved
with actions detrimental to GGC. 2. A criminal lawsuit against John Cobin, to prevent further defamation of the GGC
project. 3. A criminal lawsuit against Adolfo Aguirre for theft of GGC property. One important thing to note is there are no lawsuits against either GGC or Ken. It
is my understanding GGC management filed the lawsuits on behalf of and in the best interests of GGC. In the meantime, Ken is planning on sending out an explanation on the history of what’s transpired with some of the various parties of GGC that have led us to the place we’re in now. Although he can’t release details on some of the
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legal proceedings, he’ll clarify much of what is behind the GGC activity as best he can. 10. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "I for one would like to see Mr. Johnson’s personal financial statements and tax
returns for the past three years” Folta: Obviously you have a reason for asking for this -‐ do you mind if I ask what it is?
Anyway, I’ll ask him. Also, I know what a tax return is, of course, but what is a “personal financial statement”? 11. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "That has been our plan all along—first data, then severance, then new
management, then positive PR as part of the rebranding of the project leading to recapitalization. This is as transparent as we can be. We can’t provide more details due to the lack of information. " Folta: Two things: First, thank you! This is the first time I’ve seen something that could
be called a plan, in writing, from the GGC Rescue Team. Second, if there isn’t more information available what would you suggest? If there isn’t more information, what would the GGC Rescue Team propose? If there isn’t more information is the GGC Rescue Team truly stuck in terms of ideas/plans/actions/written plans/etc? 12. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "Please convince Mr. Johnson to be forthcoming with the financials and other data
and negotiate in good faith. With a viable plan in place, positive PR will flow like water." Folta: Is there any possibility the GGC Rescue Team will consider doing likewise? I will send a separate email to the GGC Rescue Team with the five financial
documents put together for me by Spasa Consultores, the GGC accounting firm, for the email I sent out October 3rd. I asked the accountant there for income statements and balance sheets for the GGC companies condensed to one page each. I believe Josh has the financial statements that some of these were derived from. If anyone else wants the (5) one page financial documents please email me and I’ll
send them to you. 13. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "I have assumed that you communicated with us with the best of intentions, and
was very disappointed that you imputed evil motives to me.”
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Folta: I didn’t mean to impute you had evil motives, however, I admit I did sandbag you
a bit. Sorry. I’m impressed with the professional way you handled my bad behavior (!) 14. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: "If you have not read Mr. Johnson’s facebook exchange with Josh that was widely
distributed by Mr. Johnson on September 28, 2014” Folta: I read the entire 146 pages. My dad always told me, “You can live in the world as
you’d like it to be, the world as you think it should be, or the world as it is”. In those 146 pages, Josh asked repeatedly for completely reasonable things. He didn’t get them. He never, however, moved into the realm of “the world as it is”. GGC is what it is at the moment and, to state the blatantly obvious, is not what Josh would like it to be. I think the information and documentation that Josh expects in “the world as he’d like it to be” doesn’t exist. To continue to try and pretend otherwise will likely end up in a huge, public kerfuffle that could end up taking the value of GGC to zero. None of us want that, do we? Let’s all move beyond "the world as we would like it to be" and into "the world as it is". 15. GGC Folta Plan Response Oct 8: Statement 1: "We fear that he has diverted money from GGC to himself in the past
and may be doing so again.” Statement 2: “You might inquire whose funds he is using in his extensive legal
actions. Hint: not his own.”. Folta: Upon what do you base these allegations? You mentioned “Marketing 101”. As I
mentioned, I never was in marketing -‐ I was in sales. In “Sales 101”, for every interaction involving other people the first step is, “Establish Rapport”. Perhaps marketing folks don’t concern themselves with such things, however, they might find the people they're interacting with to be more amenable to listening to what they say if they're not making fantastic accusations like these -‐ especially if it should eventually be discovered they’re 100% false. Thanks again for your careful effort to continue healthy, forward progress in this
situation. We look forward to working with you and "The GGC Evolution Team” further. Hey! I like this rebranding thing after all :-‐). Sincerely, Jerry Folta P.S. I haven’t heard yet from Josh if he'll join Ken and I at GGC the week of Oct.
25th. If he can, perhaps our agenda might look something like this:
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1. Tour of GGC -‐ Progress of the building of GGC. 2. Spasa Consultores -‐ They’ll bring all financial reports, hardcopy and electronic
and go over them with Josh prepared to answer any and all questions. 3. GGC Law Firms -‐ They’ll bring documents, hardcopy and electronic, and go over
them prepared to answer and and all questions for Josh that . 4. Meet with GGC Employee(s), for example Diego Loja, for a Farm Update and
accounting. 5. Review accounts, cash, spending, etc. 6. Review of personal tax records? Josh, you bring yours, I’ll bring mine, and Ken
will bring his -‐ for the last three years? 7. COO -‐ Candidates, progress, etc. 8. Anything else? P.P.S. I just received Cathy’s “Important GGC Investors' Update Oct 13 2014”. I
think I’ve covered most of her points already, above, but a couple final thoughts: A. Sale of Water Rights Cathy says: “The chance of receiving market value for GGC assets is between slim
and none”. The market value of water is fairly well known in Chile. The real issue with getting the best price is having competitive bidders. Fortunately, Ken has identified a number of bidders for both subterranean and surface water rights -‐ at market rates. Also, See #7 above. B. The del Real Criminal Complaint See #9 above. When Josh makes the trip down to GGC, one or more meetings will
be arranged with the law firms handling the litigation. They will disclose information that is not sensitive to the case. C. Stewar(d)ship of GGC (sic) I believe these issues can all be resolved if the parties sit down in a spirit of
cooperation and respect and work through the issues. I’ve proposed the week of October 25th to Josh but haven’t heard back from him yet as to whether he can join Ken and me. P.S. I haven’t heard yet from Josh if he’s willing and able to join Ken and I at GGC
the week of Oct. 25th. If he can, perhaps our agenda might look something like this: 1. Tour of GGC -‐ Progress of the building of GGC. 2. Spasa Consultores -‐ They’ll bring all financial reports, hardcopy and electronic
and go over them with Josh prepared to answer any and all questions. 3. GGC Law Firms -‐ They’ll bring all documents, hardcopy and electronic, and go
over them prepared to answer and and all questions for Josh. 4. Meet with GGC Employee(s), for example Diego Loja, for a Farm Update and
accounting. 5. Review accounts, cash, spending, etc. 6. Review of personal tax records? Josh, you bring yours, I’ll bring mine, and Ken
will bring his -‐ for the last three years?
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7. COO -‐ Candidates, progress, etc. 8. Anything else?
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Cathy Cuthbert Important GGC Investors' Update Oct 13 2014 Dear GGC Investors and interested parties, As you may know, Jerry Folta sent out a message on Friday regarding GGC. Under
the guise of informing us, he is trying to put a happy face on recent, serious developments. There are many questions still unanswered and our situation is anything but happy. Three points of contention arise as a result of Mr. Folta’s email. 1. Sale of water rights 2. The del Real criminal complaint 3. Stewardship of GGC These are not minor issues, but at the heart of the struggle for GGC. Frankly, we
cannot understand how Mr. Folta can pass over these points of contention as if they are no big deal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sale of Water Rights The Rescue Team is dead set against the sale of water rights. Calling them “excess”
without any proof or documentation is unacceptable and a clear violation of Mr. Folta’s expressed dedication to transparency. We require supporting documentation with clear evidence that any water rights can be classified as in excess, including but not limited to 1. all deeds showing full, uncontested ownership 2. all engineering or other studies verifying the amount of water, and 3. pro formas or other forward looking documents detailing the amount of water
needed at GGC throughout at least the development stage including all farm and residential requirements. Further, Mr. Folta and Johnson must know that all of Chile is aware of the GGC
debacle making any sale of assets in this environment what is known in the real estate business as a distressed sale. The chance of receiving market value for GGC assets is between slim and none, and as they say, none is out of town. It would be the height of folly to try to sell now. Mr. Folta gave us a series of estimates showing that Mr. Johnson has burdened
GGC with over $6M in current liabilities. The Ramirez property purchase including all water rights was for $6.8M according to Mr. Johnson. How can they possibly raise $6M on short notice selling only “excess” water rights in a distressed sale situation? Mr. Folta’s numbers simply don’t add up. Are we in danger of being left with a chunk of land and no water?
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The del Real Criminal Complaint Mr. Folta passes by this very important development with barely a mention. Many
among us may not be aware, but the del Reales have a 30% ownership stake in GGC, several family members are on the GGC board of directors and Pamela del Real is said to be the managing director. These are people that Mr. Johnson brought into GGC, giving them ownership of our invested dollars and some measure of control over the company. Now he has brought criminal charges against them. Are we to believe that none of this is important, does not threaten our investment, and that the del Reales will not answer these charges? To the contrary, this is a big hairy deal and demands a boat load of answers. Who
are these people, how did they get 30% of GGC and on the board of directors? What are their powers? Of exactly what has Mr. Johnson accused them? How long will this court battle tie up our investment in GGC? Will it delay refunds? Is GGC paying both sides’ legal fees? Will court actions reduce our interest in GGC to nothing? Stewarship of GGC All this begs the question, how can Mr. Folta in good conscience and with a
straight face propose that Mr. Johnson remain as the project manager of GGC? This is an outrage. Mr. Johnson has been doing we-‐don’t-‐know-‐what while his duties are left unattended. Just one example: two weeks ago we’re told to great fanfare that the farm subdivision was approved. What they didn’t tell the investors was that the farm subdivision procedure consists of filling out some forms and submitting them to the local authorities. The approval is automatic. This could have and should have been done long ago, especially before selling farms and farm shares, but it was not. What was Mr. Johnson doing all these months? Mr. Johnson’s actions have caused a storm of bad publicity and clouded the
project with accusations of wrong doing. He refuses to disclose financial and legal information. He has been using GGC funds for his own legal fees. He brought in unknown partners and is now in a legal battle with them. He may have led the project to the bankruptcy and we are supposed to give the nod to him continuing? Further, if Mr. Folta is working for all of us—without our consent, I might add—
why hasn’t he disclosed the information in his possession? Why hasn’t Mr. Folta shared the legal and accounting documents that he has given to his attorney? To add insult to injury, Mr. Johnson gives Mr. Folta a position on the board of
directors. What about Josh Kirley who has the support of at least 23 investors who have invested about 70% of the funds? Why should Mr. Johnson be allowed to appoint anyone at this point? What has Mr. Folta gotten in return for his seat on the board? Mr. Johnson has repeatedly asked to be relieved. That’s the best course of action.
With him gone and the following disclosures that we requested on Oct 2, we can rescue GGC:
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1. Full financial disclosure 2. Full disclosure on the status and procedures for refunds and other payments 3 Full disclosure on all the litigation by and around GGC. The time for happy talk and fuzzy generalities is long gone. Mr. Folta is trying to
cover up the maleficence. He must come forward with the transparency he claims to support. He needs to make public these three disclosures plus all the water rights information immediately. Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, concerns or information to
share with your fellow investors, simply reply to this email. Saludos, The GGC Rescue Team
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Cathy Cuthbert
GGC Investors' Update for Oct 24 2104
PLEASE SEE NOTICE OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION REQUEST IN THIS UPDATE.
Dear GGC Investors and interested parties,
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* I M P O R T A NT * *
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Before we begin this week’s GGC Update, we have an important information request for investors and lot purchasers. We would like to gather as much information as possible about how your investment was made. This may be crucial to our rescue effort. If you are willing to share this information, please email the rescue team.
Thank you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's been another week of no progress in gaining the comprehensive information we requested of Mr. Johnson, Mr. Folta and GGC. To refresh everyone's memory, that information is:
1. comprehensive financial information
2. information on a schedule of refunds, loan payments and farm payments
3. comprehensive litigation information
Despite the deafening silence from GGC, we do have some interesting tidbits for you.
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1. We reported to you that who exactly owns and controls GGC was far from clear. We recently received a legal document that appears to address that mystery. We have attached that document, entitled “Vigencia y texto Poder Pamela Del Real” or “Validity and text Power Pamela Del Real,” which we are assured is fully legal and in effect even as you read this. Also attached is a very rough translation.
This document is the legal minutes of the first Board of Directors meeting for Inmobiliaria Galt’s Gulch, the Chilean entity that is alleged to hold title to the GGC property, the property that Mr. Johnson allegedly used our funds to purchase for the purpose of developing our community.
In attendance: Ken Johnson, Mario Alexis Del Real Castro, Alexander Michael Del Real Felipe Vergara, and Pamela Del Carmen Del Real Vergara
Just to give you the highlights, this document says that the purpose of this first Board meeting held on April 22, 2014 (that is NOT a typo) was to assign powers and responsibilities. Mario Del Real is the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inmobiliaria, and that his daughter, Pamela Del Real is the General Manager with broad powers over the whole of the operation. Ken Johnson is the Manager of Administration and Finance.
Nearly all of the following eight pages is a list of the powers assigned to the General Manager. The minutes were agreed to unanimously and signed by all four parties. In other words, this document shows that Mr. Johnson signed over the governance and day to day authority for Inmobiliaria to Pamela Del Real. So here is the burning question:
Who is Pamela Del Real and why does she control our assets?
2. Another document that was thrown through the transom is attached. It is entitled “Cesión de Acciones” or “Transfer of Shares," and is regarding Rio Colorado. It is accompanied by an excellent translation, "Cesion de Acciones English."
You might wonder, “What is Rio Colorado and why did we investors get this document?” Your guess is as good as ours, but it appears to be a clue as to why the Del Reales were given legal control of GGC by Mr. Johnson. It documents the transfer of shares of an entity called Rio Colorado from Mr. Del Real to Mr. Johnson worth, according to this document, approximately US$7.5 million--again, this is NOT a typo--followed by payment schedule. Ask yourself, "Where would Mr. Johnson acquire the funds to comply with such a prodigious payment schedule?" Hmmmm.
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3. Not to be left out, Mr. Folta sent us five GGC financial statements plus a list of bitcoins. They are not attached but are available for all investors. Simply respond to this email with your request and these documents will be forwarded to you.
These financial statements are very summarized, have little in the way of annotation and have no verification. Being adults, you are probably aware that financial statements reported using generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) can be manipulated to hide all kinds of maleficence and fraud—witness many Wall Street scandals. In view of this, why Mr. Folta thinks it’s acceptable to summarize financial statements is a mystery.
The only useful bit of information that we noticed was that the red ink for GGC seems to have been flowing by, at the latest, the end of 2013, putting to bed the notion that the efforts of the rescue team are the cause of GGC’s financial problems.
4. Finally, our attempt at helping Mr. Johnson with organizing our refunds requests apparently was not fully appreciated. GGC sent out another refund request form, this one requiring that we report the name and contact info for our legal advisors and forward to GGC some unspecified of power of attorney. We have asked twice for why this information is necessary and have not gotten an acceptable response. Does this mean that without this information, no refund will be coming? If you have not received this “official” refund request and would like one of your very own, please reply to this email.
That’s all the news we have for this week, but don’t worry, there’s lots more coming. When you’re a GGC investor, there is never a dull moment.
Thank you for reading. Please send any information, questions or concerns by replying to this email.
Saludos, The Rescue Team
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On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 7:35 AM, Jerry Folta wrote: Hello Galt’s Gulch Owners & Investors: Just to make sure we’re on the same page I’d like to review GGC owner and
investor objectives as I understand them. If I’m missing anything or I’m not getting things quite right please let me know, ok? Founders -‐ First Round: Our objective is to make your GGC investment lucrative primarily in terms of
appreciation of GGC as an asset. It is also important that the GGC farms becomes profitable so that significant, recurring income begins as soon as possible, too. Given there has been discussion of new investors, change of management, etc., this also means the terms of your deal don’t change and there is no dilution if there is a change of ownership. Founders -‐ Second Round: Second round founders have invested in GGC -‐ either individual 10 Ha orchards or
shares in the 50 Ha shared farm and/or future residential lots with a portion of the investments structured as no-‐interest loans. Second round founders want significant, recurring income from profitable farms, timely repayment of the loans, and an asset that has a significant and growing appreciation. Second round founders also want their original deal, including no dilution in the event there is a change of ownership. Residential Lot Owners: Future lot owners want approvals on lots, followed with roads, electricity, water,
etc., in place so they can begin building homes in GGC and be part of the community as it’s always been envisioned. Also, all owners and investors want to take legal title to their property as quickly
as possible. Regarding Finances: The water sales efforts are underway. An ad was placed in a
local farm supplement which brought in a half dozen calls the first day with total interest of 40-‐50 LPS. One potential buyer is saying he’s interested in 50-‐100 LPS. Ken is likely to sign a contract this week with a water broker to sell 150 LPS in 6 weeks for a 5% commission. Various other small contracts are in discussions at this point as well. In any case, water rights sales have just begun and we’ll report results as they occur. Although we’ll end up with more than enough water rights to support GGC, water rights in excess of GGC needs will be sold to fund the following: Pay refunds (~$1.73M) Pay Founder loans (~$1.05M through December) Pay the final loan for the GGC land & water rights ($2.3M) Pay past due commitments (A/P, past taxes, past salaries, etc. ~$300K)
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Pay taxes on the water sales (~$1.4M) Total: $6.78M There has been criticism of the decision to sell water rights to bridge the current
financial gap. I invited the GGC Rescue Team to check our math on the water rights required to support GGC and share their analysis but, as of now, I haven’t heard back from them on this issue. An important point to consider is that Ken holds ~70% of Inmobiliaria Galt’s
Gulch S.A. (aka IGGSA) which owns the land and water rights of GGC. (See my email dated 10/3/14 or email me if you need me to resend the presentation showing ownership of the GGC companies). The following items are also planned for the remainder of 2014: 1. The inscriptions of the new ROL numbers are now completed. Lawyers will
begin the legal paperwork and processes on behalf of GGC to make it as easy as possible for title to be transferred to you (2nd Round Founders/50 Ha Farm Shareholders). 2. Legal paperwork will also be prepared for the First Round Founders to
facilitate taking title/ownership in GGC. 3. The second round of Subdivision Requests are in process with GGC’s architect
and advisors. This will subdivide the remainder of GGC into 10 Ha lots. It’s realistic to hope they’ll be finalized by year-‐end. 4. Possibly positive news -‐ Ken is in discussions with a new architect (referred by
a friend of Ken’s that owns a local development company), who said he is confident that varying sizes of smaller lots can be achieved at GGC. His approach is quite different and I’ll explain further in future updates. Please consider this preliminary but it appears to be a credible possibility at this point. Other potential means of creating smaller lots will continued to be searched out as well. I am in GGC this week and will provide the next update the week of November
2nd. I had invited Josh to join us at GGC this week and he sent me this message: _______________________________________________________________ "On Oct 14, 2014, at 12:35 AM, Josh Kirley wrote: Sorry I'm actually going to be in Ireland, over that entire period, for a family event. But, I am glad to see progress. I'm eager to hold real title to my Orchard. Are there records (specific to each orchard and its owner) of past expenses and
proceeds? Given the size and complexity of what is required, I would expect that we will have to expand the search for a COO, to outside the Curacavi region. Good luck and keep working." ________________ I replied:
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Josh: Thanks for letting us know you won’t be able to make it the week of Oct. 25th. I
hope it works out we meet some other time soon. I’ve attached the spreadsheet produced by Diego Loja Correa for farm production
through September 30th that I originally sent in the powerpoint pdf I attached with my Oct. 3rd email. In the report Diego also shows total expenses. As you can see, Diego has identified income on a quarterly basis for each farm. This is all excellent but we need to take that one step further. As I said in my October 10th email: Oct. 10th email: “Orchard and Farm investors would like to begin earning income from their
investments. We are currently working to finalize the accounting -‐ it appeared we were close to finishing -‐ see the documentation shown in the October 3rd presentation. That’s not quite yet true. There are 100 hectares in total for all farms -‐ (5) 10 Ha Orchards and (1) 50 Ha Shareholder farm. The issue is every investor needs a report that shows their Income less Expenses (Dedicated, Shared-‐Variable Expenses, and Shared-‐Fixed Expenses). We’re working on finalizing the accounting and documentation which is a necessary first step to paying income.” We need to break out the Dedicated expenses for each farm; add to it the shared
variable expenses (like if daily workers work on two farms in a day their time needs to be allocated accurately, for the day, to each farm) and shared-‐fixed expenses (like the lease payment on a tractor that is used across all farms -‐ for example if there are 100 hectares total and your farm has 20 hectares, 20% of the tractor lease might be applied to your farm). Also, referring to Diego’s spreadsheet (and from my Oct. 10th email): “In addition to that, there is the question of when and how to pay income.
Quarterly? Annually? With the previous farm manager neglecting the watering of the lemon trees and subsequent losses (see presentation sent out Oct. 3rd) the farms operated at a loss through September for 2014 (See Diego’s document from October 3rd attachment: Total Income = 58.061,066 and Total Expenses = $77.807,772). The accounting process needs to be finalized and the farm profitable before income can be paid. These efforts are underway and we’ll keep you posted on progress.” Good idea on broadening the search for COO geographically. Also, if you’re open
to the idea perhaps you could ask your investor contacts if they know of any good candidates for COO? We appreciate your good thoughts. We look forward to the day when you’re
getting a regular Farm Income report, can do a quick check in your account to make sure the income has been deposited properly, perhaps do a quick scan of the quarterly updates -‐ and that’s all you need to do.
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Of course, if you’re still interested in a change of ownership all things are still on
the table for you. _______________________________________________________________ I am encouraged by Josh’s good thoughts and tone. Perhaps we’ve taken steps to
move closer to the time when all owners and investors are comfortable coming together to send the message that "Galt’s Gulch Chile is supported by all members of the community; we invite you to come visit GGC; we hope you’ll feel comfortable and confident investing in GGC; and please join us". I look forward to providing the next update after spending a week “boots on the
ground” at GGC. Jerry P.S. I received the update Cathy Cuthbert sent out a couple days ago showing a
preliminary contract between Ken and Mario Del Real for a company named "RIO COLORADO MINING AND EXPLORATION INVESTMENT COMPANY S.A.”. This contract was never finalized but what’s important is it was to be a private agreement between Ken Johnson and Mario Del Rio. In my mind this is like looking at Ken’s dental records -‐ perhaps mildly interesting but none of our business. As majority owner of Inmobiliaria Galt’s Gulch S.A. Ken has every right to sell his shares to anyone at any time for any purpose. When you purchase a residential lot, a dedicated orchard or shares in a shared
farm, the land owned by IGGSA is reduced (and cash is increased) while the land you own is increased (and your cash is decreased). As this process continues the amount of land (and water rights -‐ in the near term) owned by IGGSA will be reduced as more and more buyers are added. The ownership of IGGSA, however, will still add up to 100% -‐ it will just be 100% of less land/water and 100% of more cash. It’s important to recognize what we each own and what we don’t own when we’re choosing our words and our actions. As investors in residential lots, dedicated farms and the shared farm we do not own any interest in IGGSA. Cathy also sent a document that is more germaine to GGC -‐ the english translation
of the first GGC Board of Directors meeting. Ken has gone into great detail about the mistake he made bringing the Del Real family into GGC. If anyone needs the extensive email he sent out October 15th about this mea culpa issue, among others, please let me know and I’ll forward it to you. GGC was/is a start-‐up real-‐estate development company. I’ve worked for two
startups -‐ the successful ones are constantly changing, evolving, experiencing growing pains. The Board of Directors meetings for start up real estate development companies occur all the time but they are “meetings” that might
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involve a few people standing in a dusty or muddy field talking about what will be, how it’s going to get there, who’s going to do what, etc., for example. Perhaps 10 years from now the GGC Board of Directors will be a dozen people
from all over the world in the GGC board room with “green” paneling and conference room table, GGC grown organic crudité, LED lighting, careful preparation of the minutes by the CEO’s executive assistant and a rigorous process for following all legal and procedural protocols. For now, though, Cathy is right -‐ it’s time to get more professional and regular about annual meetings. It’s definitely time to grow to the next stage of GGC’s evolution as a company. This
is why we’re looking for a COO to take care of these types of tasks -‐ including the regular, documented Board of Director meetings. Although Ken is capable of these types of operational issues I believe it is best for all of us if he stays primarily focused on the big picture, continues to leverage his local relationships (like the new architect), identifies new opportunities for GGC (like subdividing larger plots to residential lots to fulfill commitents to residential lot investors and for the profit of founders), etc. My view is it’s best if he stays on top of all GGC progress, like he currently does, but have the COO make sure the detail work gets taken care of. I think it’s also important to note some of the most vocal people in the current
GGC kerfuffle have requested refunds. These refunds are expected to take place in a matter of a couple months. My expectation is once these people have their money we will hear very little, if anything, from them going forward. You might want to inquire of your thought leaders if they’ve requested a refund or if, perhaps like you, they’re in this for the long haul. It’s always good to make sure the interests of your partners are aligned with yours.
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From: cathy cuthbert Subject: GGC Investors' Update for Oct 30 2014-‐-‐Capture Flag Date: October 30, 2014 at 5:29:47 AM GMT-‐3 To: Dear GGC Investors and interested parties, It's been another week with no progress in gaining the comprehensive
information we requested of Mr. Johnson, Mr. Folta and GGC. To refresh everyone's memory, that information is: 1. comprehensive financial information 2. information on a schedule for refunds, loan payments and farm payments 3. comprehensive litigation information We’ve been neglecting the fourth category of information requested. It is added
below as a reminder to Mr. Folta: 4. proof of “excess” water rights. When last we left our (anti-‐) hero, Mr. Johnson had been attempting to raise funds
by selling “excess” water rights. This week, a temporary injunction was register blocking any sale of land or water rights by Mr. Johnson and GGC because the deed that transferred ownership of the Lepe-‐Las Casas property was improperly recorded and therefore null and void. The implications are: 1. The property sale may be reversed, and 2. Mr. Johnson has no way to raise funds for GGC’s prodigious debts that include
back pay for workers, unpaid bills to vendors, taxes, farm and farm share payments, investor loan payments with late fees and investor refunds—did we mention TAXES?—for an approximate total of $4.4M. Without some kind of negotiated settlement and the clearing of title not only to
Lepe-‐Las Casas but also to Inmobiliaria GGC, bankruptcy looms rather large. In other news, some very interesting documents came our way this week. We
thank Josh Kirley and our many friends, associates and informants for generously providing us information. Some of these documents are attached, to wit 1. GGC Report Real Estate 2. GGC Report Water Rights 3. GGC Rio Colorado Stock Swap Investigation 4. The Shareholders’ Agreement for Agricola GGC
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For those of you with busy schedules and rewarding lives of your own, we’ll post a few highlights. From the GGC Report Real Estate: “It is clearly visible the economic mismanagement of the [Lepe-‐Las Casas]
purchase. In the original deed dated August 14, 2013, it was established a payment schedule, and it is apparent that the management of GGC miscalculated its payment capabilities, and entered into a spiral of execution of amendments to the payment schedule and payment of fines, something which certainly could have been avoided.“ The report makes it immanently clear that severe financial stress began almost
immediately due to this purchase, as the second payment scheduled for Sept 14 2013 was missed, just four months after the agreement date. From the GGC Report Water Rights: “The water rights registered in name of Agricola Guipaca [the company that sold
Lepe-‐Las Casas to GGC] for this project (420.31 l/s), equal[s] more than 80% of [the] water rights of the aquifer. It [is] concluded that the sustainable use of the total water rights is not feasible. I[t is] estimated [that] a sustainable use [is] 1/3 of the total rights.” Again we ask, how are Mr. Johnson and Mr. Folta determining how much of the
water rights are in “excess” and can be safely sold? According to the engineering company, it appears there are no excess water rights. From our personal favorite, GGC Rio Colorado Stock Swap Investigation, aka,
Mr. Johnson’s dental records: “Rio Colorado/GGC “swap” was an operation between Mario del Real and his
family on one side, and Ken Johnson on the other. “Ken Johnson represented to Mario del Real that he owned and could therefore
convey 50% of the interest in the GGC companies. “In exchange for interest in the GGC companies and payments of certain amounts
of money, Mario del Real agreed to assign to KJ 51% interest in Rio Colorado. This was done by means of a public notarial deed of assignment of shares dated April 15, 2014. “Ken Johnson transferred CLP $155,000,000 to Mario del Real, in partial payment
of share payment obligations he undertook in such deed. [This according to Sr. Del Real.] Some of these funds could also have been transferred to finance the “Segunda Campaña”, i.e. the current project to exploit Rio Colorado. Ken Johnson allegedly
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missed a CLP $112,000,000 payment, and also breached an obligation to deliver bank bonds (“vales vista”) in partial payment of the price. Mario del Real did not complete the transfer of the shares to Ken Johnson by reason of the aforesaid breaches. “The entrance of Mario del Real in the GGC companies took place partially through
assignment of shares, and partially through a capital increase in Inmobiliaria Galt’s Gulch S.A (IGG). Mario del Real sees this is an issue between Ken Johnson and himself, but is aware that the funds that Ken Johnson used belonged to third parties.” (Emphasis added.) But wait! There’s more. In the conclusion we find: “The swap operation has numerous legal issues and should be undone if the
GGC project is to still take place. It seems very unadvisable (sic) to try to fix the operation or use the current ownership situation as a base for granting future ownership rights to third persons.” (Emphasis added.) If you for one crazy second entertained the ridiculous notion that this swap was a
purely private matter that has nothing to do with us and GGC as Mr. Folta contends, please read the full document attached, and make sure you have an ample supply of adult beverage handy. You’ll need it. Oh, and by the way, that money that belonged to third parties—that was yours. The Shareholders’ Agreement for Agricola GGC This is a 24 page document and frankly, we don’t know how to begin to describe
it. Instead of providing highlights, we’d like to announce the GGC Violations Grand Sweepstakes. That’s right; each of you is entitled to be a contestant for a grand prize to be announced in the next Investors’ Update. You will be competing against your fellow hapless investors to find the most violations of this contract committed by Mr. Johnson. Submit your answers to your scribe by midnight Thursday, Nov 6. Scribe’s decisions is final. Don’t forget to send those entries in and good luck! Where in the World Is Jerry Folta? Here is the part all of you have been waiting for. The following is a report from the
Rescue Team members who valiantly visited GGC this past week, and I am not referring to Mr. Folta. Even though his spurious “update” of Oct 27 stated that he was at GGC, he was most certainly not, or at least not at the club house/office. He could have been lurking in the bushes with his (anti-‐) hero, Mr. Johnson—really, I’m not making that up—but we don’t have confirmation. GGC Rescue Report--Capture Flag
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The GGC Rescue Team for Galt’s Gulch Farm arrived on the morning of October 23, 2014. EJ Lashlee, Senior Trustee for GGC Rescue Trust, as Team Leader, and Tom Baker, leading the criminal investigation held a two hour meeting at SCL airport terminal discussing the recovery. Chilean based employees and investors met with the team. There were multiple meetings all day with police, officials, attorneys, and security,
while the team also attempted to locate Mr. Johnson. After a visit with police commanders at 9pm, as well as a previous meeting with
earlier shift commanders, we proceeded to Galt’s Gulch Farm to attempt a meeting with Mr. Johnson. Upon arrival, and waiting at the GGC gate finding no one, we tracked down a
sleeping senior man who had a key and opened the gate. We proceeded toward the club house/office to find no vehicles and an apparently abandoned GGC. Soon, we found an individual crashing there, (not a paid employee or management). We secured the area and went looking for Mr. Johnson, searching all the rooms. All we found was an unfinished clubhouse without doors on half the building,
trash, rodent droppings, dog odor, and no food, heat, or evidence of any activity, other than an industrial sink full of dirty dishes and the countless dogs on the expensive furniture and beds. In the "master bedroom" where Mr. Johnson slept, the stench was overwhelming, and the trash made it difficult to navigate. The luxurious bathroom Jacuzzi, shower, and sink were covered in filth, and the toilet backed up with feces. There was no hot water, no heaters and no working shower. Flushing the toilet revealed that the floor seal was not sound, leading to flooding without clearing the blockage. Shortly thereafter the GGC Jeep blasted into the parking lot. We expected Mr.
Johnson, but the driver was a bitcoin investor named Dan who has been “working” and residing at GGC while attempting to recover his investment or get his money back. Mr. Johnson sent him to reconnoiter, while he, evidently too scared to enter, likely hid outside the gate in the bushes and in total darkness, awaiting a report from his scout. We asked Scout for his phone and the keys to the jeep, both of which are GGC
property. He turned over the phone, but attempted to leave in the Jeep. We refused to allow him to go, and had multiple discussions with him as to his investment and the whereabouts of Mr. Johnson. He was very secretive and kept trying to trick us into allowing him to leave in the Jeep, but finally gave us the key a few hours later. He stayed the night in his rat’s nest of a bedroom, and eventually walked outside and informed Mr. Johnson of our request for a meeting. Since there were no clean places to sit or sleep, EJ moved the GGC Jeep and parked
it at the front entrance blocking the gate, while other security patrolled the grounds.
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RECOVERY OF REAL ESTATE -‐ OCTOBER 24 Around daylight, Ian Thornton (Johnson’s personal translator and crony) arrived
and attempted to gain entry. The police were called. Upon police arrival, a pleasant discussion was held by all parties. As the police
commanders had been contacted the day before, they came prepared to review documents. It was determined that the Rescue Team would maintain control of the property, and that Mr. Thornton had been fired and was not permitted entry. The GGC Jeep was offered to Mr. Thornton by the Rescue Team, as they believed it worthless, and the bank was attempting to repossess it for nonpayment. The GGC Rescue Team gave everyone sandwiches, including Mr. Thornton. EJ went outside the gate to discuss Mr. Thornton‘s continued assistance to Mr. Johnson, warning of criminal actions and offering him the suggestion that he disassociate from criminals or risk being included as a co-‐conspirator. Pleasant goodbyes were made to both Mr. Thornton and Scout who unceremoniously left the property. The Rescue Team then began to speak to the remaining employees, mostly the Chilean farm workers, to explain the situation and alleviate any discomfort. Their relief was clear. SECURITY -‐ There was no effective security prior to our arrival. The old man was
mostly sleeping and did not appear to be securing much of anything. So, an external security company was hired, and we immediately moved forward on designing a guard shack at the front gate. The next day, materials arrived. Eight cameras, electric gates, fences, alarms, communications, and screens will be managed from the guard shack. Photos to follow. FARM OPERATIONS - REVIEW Mr. Thornton had been managing lemon sales and all the cash was split between
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thornton. The excellent farm staff kept meticulous records which will be of great use to the Rescue Team while building a criminal case against Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thornton for embezzlement. The Rescue Team also brought in a new Farm and Property Operations manager to support the understaffed team. All utilities were behind on payment, and the company phones were shut down the night of ousting. All have been returned to functionality. HACIENDA, CLUBHOUSE, GUEST OPERATIONS - The Rescue Team kicked out all the dogs because they were eating the peacocks,
and started clearing places to sit and sleep. By evening, a few rooms had been emptied, hosed down, and new furnishings pulled out of the store rooms and installed. We found one white peacock inside the clubhouse this morning, so the dogs hadn’t eaten them all.
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Meetings were attended offsite in various legal offices by each team member. Necessary food, repair materials, and security items were picked up or ordered and a new qualified GGC General Manager was hired. There was an unused junk filled room that was cleared and made into a GGC
Operations Office. Desks, expensive supplies, and computers were installed and the central compound location is perfect to manage all of GGC. Already, the staff is assisting in operations and preparing daily reports. These reports have already confirmed that most lemon income has been skimmed off by Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thornton. The Hacienda/Clubhouse contains five bedrooms that are being converted into
suites. Mr. Johnson’s room has been renovated as the best and renamed the Justice Suite, while the other new suites are in renovation as the Freedom Suite, the Honor Suite, the Friendship Suite, and Liberty Suite. All are now functional, though missing some embellishments. The two interior bathrooms that were half-‐started more than a year ago are still incomplete, but the Rescue Team hopes to start work on those soon. The decks are new, but must be treated or will soon deteriorate. GAME ROOM The former sales office has been cleaned and repurposed as a game room. The
carpeting had to be ripped out in order to remove the fetid dog odor. The on-‐staff gardener is working away, trimming flowers, bushes and repairing walkways to make the whole compound more functional and beautiful. The amount achieved on site in a small amount of time with such few hands is
extensive, and makes one wonder how it managed to fall into such disrepair. While the aesthetics are enjoyable, the attitudes of the employees and the work environment have turned 180 degrees. Ken Johnson’s reign of terror has ended. -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ That’s it for this week. As always, if you need a refund form or a limited power of
attorney form, we will be happy to forward them to you. And keep those covert documents coming. It seems as long as the GGC saga continues, your scribe will never be lonely. Don’t miss the next exciting issue, where we answer these questions: Who is the
winner of the GGC Violations Sweepstakes? What are the criminal charges against Mr. Johnson? and Is Jerry Folta’s real name Pollyanna or Harvey Dent? Saludos, The GGC Rescue Team
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GGC Rescue Report 10/30/2014 Our first goal was to secure the real estate physically. Done. Our second goal was to stop the theft and waste. Done. Our third goal was to prevent further attacks on the real estate, or trading off
items of value. An injunction has been legally granted that prevents anyone from deeding, trading, borrowing, or lending any GGC real estate or water rights. Done. Our fourth goal was to get the farm operational to maximum capacity. Done. Our fifth goal was to eliminate Mr. Johnson from every connection and further
involvement with the project. Not completed. 10/31/2014 Status of Mr. Johnson Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thornton are not allowed access to
the GGC compound or other real estate. They are prevented entry due to 24 hour security and warning systems. The current construction of the guard-‐shack will be completed within six days. Mr. Johnson finally met with the Rescue Team's civil legal counsel and EJ Lashlee.
With his remarkable sales ability and his high intelligence, Mr. Johnson delusionally believes that he is immune from prosecution because of "promesas," his emails, the Facebook diatribe, and his "intentions." Representing The Rescue Team, EJ ultimately offered him: 1. A Nuisance Departure Package that was very generous that must be accepted
within 24 hours; -‐OR-‐ completion of prosecution efforts 2. Since he did NOT formally accept our Departure Package, we reduced it by one-‐
half for an additional limited time. Criminal Investigations The GGC Rescue Team met with Attorney Francis and additional criminal
attorneys were added to our team. All assured us 100% that our efforts will be successful in completing an arrest and convictions on very substantial charges. Our meeting with various officials also enlightened us to a search for Mr. Johnson
by Interpol and by the PDI (the Chilean FBI, maybe just for an interview, but it sounded serious). We have not yet pursued any USA criminal charges, as the US can
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take too long to complete. Obviously, the Chilean authorities are very co-‐operative, as Mr. Johnson has shown disrespect for officials, workers, the locals, and most everyone else in so many ways for so many months. The local newspaper that Mr. Johnson sued for slander (and lost) is very excited
about working with us on a series of articles about GGC and the Rescue Team and about exposing the truth surrounding GGC. Our interviews with them were very lengthy and will be ongoing and triple checked for accuracy. The first article was printed locally yesterday. [See attached] Basically it says that KJ is an active swindler (estafador) who is dodging those he has cheated, and that he may be wanted by the authorities. Positive things were reported about The Rescue Team, too. The article takes up almost a full page, with many more articles to come. [Translation coming soon.] Mr. Johnson's Followers and Supporters Jerry, as an investor, has been invited to the property. He accepted the invitation
and is scheduled for 4pm Saturday. He is also invited to participate with the GGC Rescue Team, to tour all facilities, see construction, meet management, and make his own assessment of our recovery. Ian is probably going to continue to be a KJ sidekick, so may be included in our
prosecution. We hope not, but he will have to live with whatever consequences there are for continuing to associate with KJ. Rebranding Galt's Gulch Chile The Rescue team is convinced that there needs to be a name change. Reasons
include: 1) Goals, philosophy, radicalism, and implementation have all been perverted by
KJ. 2) We need a "break point" for investors, employees, neighbors, mismanagement
and fraud. 3) It turns out that Chileans have a difficult time with the pronunciation of Galt's
Gulch, even after two years. 4) Discussion of GGC and public relations will be difficult to repair for years. 5) We will have to continuously discuss the failures and fraud of Mr. Johnson,
rather than our new project. The Rescue Team suggests something like:
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1) GGC Ranch Resort 2) Chile Ranch Resort (best?) 3) Lepe Ranch Resort 4) Chile Guest Ranch 5) Chile Ranch & Resort All of the above new names are bilingual friendly, are easy "3 word" friendly with
marketing and remembrance, allow for a new image, and are pronounceable. Please offer suggestions for a new name within five days, as we want to get as much agreement as possible to finalize and proceed with the changeover. Marketing and Image-- Membership Proposal Investors, founders, and purchasers, are now automatically (additionally)
members. Any Member can invite guests, without the need to be accompanied. We are 100% open book to any member, or their designated reviewer, and will stay that way. Investors, neighbors, respected officials, and their guests will immediately be offered Member or Guest of Member accommodations. Since currently there is no logic in trying to make income from any of the
Members or Guests, we are offering complimentary lodging, including all food and activities, until such lodging and services are attractive enough to get (happy) paying guests. Member accommodations and services will therefore provide instant value to
those that invested, since they can come (or send their family, friends, or invited guests) to Chile Ranch Resort (CRR) and will pay nothing for anyone. This will allow their review, suggestions, comments and reports about facility improvements, and immediately encourage new Members. We can thereby have very fast proof of recovery and continuation of our original
goals. This name change will not stop us from paying old debts and unpaid employees,
and we will concurrently develop instant value for investors. Status of Accomodations We now have five suites, four detached cabins, and one executive cabin ready to
take reservations. Since it takes a few weeks to plan trips and occupancy, all can be easily ready to occupy on time. Staff executives are already occupying and doing maid service on the five suites. By the time we open up bookings (soon or now?), adding three weeks for the first arrivals, and invitations to the neighbors, vendors, and officials, we will be fully booked in a very short time. Free Bookings will gradually phase out and be replaced by paid bookings, probably within a year.
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Qualified and Experienced Local Management and Staff are already daily performing: 1) Managing the farm and paying all overhead and employees from the current
harvest income, as well as small payments to previous unpaid employees. 2) Ready to book and interact with reservations, scheduling, and guest services
(ready). 3) Maintaining and improving security. 4) Managing renovations and completing suites and cabins on schedule. 5) Handling local public relations 6) Managing and improving community relations. 7) Communicating daily/weekly/monthly reports of all cash flow, expenses,
income, and operations. For now, there will be no additional founders/investors/lot sales/farm income
sales, nor will there be any "sales office" for such items. All current purchasers and investors will get value first (but after all bills, unpaid employees, and unpaid vendors), and it is anticipated that The Rescue Team, the new plan, and the new name will allow for presale demand that will exceed supply for everything we offer to members, guests, events, and future members, simply by our reputation and word-‐of-‐mouth. No empty promises. Proof is in the performance. EJ Lashlee
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cathy cuthbert GGC Investor Update for Nov 3, 2014 Dear GGC Investors and interested parties, Still no progress in gaining the comprehensive information we requested of Mr.
Johnson, Mr. Folta and GGC. In the meantime, we do have other news to pass on, and a couple of transom deliveries to fill in gaps in this complicated story. Article about GGC Rescue in the Chilean Press. Please find attached a photo of the local newspaper article on Operation Capture
Flag. We apologize for forgetting to attach it to the last update. Also, here is a link to the online article, sans the photo of our dashing hero, Tom Backer, er, Tom Baker. Those anglo names are all the same, anyway. Gringo Project Lepe: From Promised Land to a Hell of criminal charges for Fraud
http://elmauco.cl/policial/item/480-‐proyecto-‐de-‐gringos-‐de-‐lepe-‐de-‐tierra-‐prometida-‐a-‐infierno-‐de-‐querellas-‐por-‐estafa.html .Who Is Maria Monica Wehrhahn Llorente? The reason we ask is that we were forwarded an official GGC company document
named “GGC Wiring Info BCI” attached to this email. You’ll notice that investors were being directed to send their funds to Sra Wehrhahn’s personal account rather than a GGC corporate account. Sounds fishy to us. What’s that you say? “Don’t be so conspiratorial, Rescue Team, maybe she was an
employee of GGC.” Well, remember we have access to personnel records and are in communication with employees and unfortunately for Mr. Johnson she was never an employee. You may quibble and say, “Yes, Rescue Team, but that doesn’t mean anyone really sent money to that private account.” True, however this official GGC document came through the transom with two others: 1. two wire transfer receipts for a total of $260,000, and 2. signed GGC investor contracts. Maybe Mr. Folta knows who Sra Wehrhahn is. And Speaking of Jerry Folta… We were hoping to disabuse him of various curious notions he propounded in his
last, tedious missive. He wrote the following: “I received the update Cathy Cuthbert sent out a couple days ago showing a
preliminary contract between Ken and Mario Del Real for a company named "RIO
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COLORADO MINING AND EXPLORATION INVESTMENT COMPANY S.A.” This contract was never finalized but what’s important is it was to be a private agreement between Ken Johnson and Mario Del Rio. In my mind this is like looking at Ken’s dental records -‐ perhaps mildly interesting but none of our business. As majority owner of Inmobiliaria Galt’s Gulch S.A. Ken has every right to sell his shares to anyone at any time for any purpose.” The contract was never finalized? Is Mr. Folta being less than credible here? We
know that there are many parties who have reported a swap agreement was signed between Mr. Johnson and Sr. Del Real. You may recall last week I pricked Mr. Folta’s bubble about that with a legal opinion on the matter. The law firm seems to think there’s a swap agreement. To refresh your memory, the legal beagles said: “The swap operation has numerous legal issues and should be undone if the
GGC project is to still take place. It seems very unadvisable (sic) to try to fix the operation or use the current ownership situation as a base for granting future ownership rights to third persons.” In other words, GGC shouldn’t have been selling lots to us with this swap mess
outstanding, although Mr. Johnson did just that. Really, Mr. Folta, it’s none of our business? Mr. Johnson himself thinks there was a swap agreement and that the Del Reales
are using it to “hold GGC hostage.” Again, none of our business. Now I know Mr. Folta’s next question, since he has recently accused your scribe of
having low credibility, despite the documentation in all our updates. Even with adequate evidence right under his nose, “Where’s your proof?” he would say, “Those are just words in an email.” Behold a juicy little mp3 file attached for your listening pleasure. But beware of
the foul language. Mr. Johnson can be rather crude at times. While you listen, please note that in addition to commenting on the swap
agreement, Mr. Johnson also reports that he does not own ~70% of Inmobiliaria as Mr. Folta mistakenly said. Not only that, he doesn’t have control of the issuance or assignment of GGC shares at the moment. That is the province of the Del Real Family, as we found out a few weeks ago-‐-‐another very important development that Mr. Folta dismissed as a mere factoid. Indeed, one wonders if Mr. Folta has any grasp of what is going on around him at all, especially since he informed us that he just bought 30% of Inmobiliaria from Mr. Johnson. That’s right, Mr. Folta paid an undisclosed amount for shares in a company
with huge current liabilities, embroiled in byzantine legal battles, and holding an invalid deed to its only valuable asset to Mr. Johnson who does not have control of those shares.
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We wonder if some of that money might find its way to Mr. Johnson’s lawyers to
continue the harassment of his investors. Maybe Mr. Folta is a wee bit more concerned with ransoming back a higher
percentage of his large investment in GGC in bankruptcy rather than rescuing the project. He couldn’t have been trying to take advantage of Mr. Johnson’s desperate situation-‐-‐ya know, owing millions of dollars with no source of income-‐-‐to grab a bigger chunk of GGC on the cheap, could he? Now wait, that can’t be. He’s got a heart of gold, that Jerry Folta. Made the Rescue Team promise to protect the small investors. What a guy. Let’s see, Mr. Johnson says his purchase price for Lepe-‐Las Casas was sound at
$6.8M-‐-‐great price, a steal, really-‐-‐and 30% of that is… hmmm, let me see here, I’ve got my trusty hp calculator… 6,8000,000 x 0.3 = OVER TWO MILLION DOLLARS. Could Jerry have paid TWO MILLION DOLLARS??? Pollyanna or Harvey Dent? We really can’t say, you’ll have to be the judge. Criminal Charges against Mr. Johnson Here’s a summary of the criminal charges that can be pursued against Mr.
Johnson: “[T]wo felonies for which Ken Johnson and the Del Real family can be charged: (i)
the specific felonies found in the General Act on Urbanism and Construction of having failed to guarantee return of the funds advanced on a future project, and having finally sold an inexistent project; and (ii) general fraud, as the victims were sold an imaginary or inexistent project. “In the case of Ken Johnson and Guillermo Ramirez, it is possible to charge them
with the felony of having entered into a simulated agreement with the intent and the result of causing damage to third parties, as can be concluded from the outrageously high price agreed when compared to the market price in the area. This action is aggravated by the series of subsequent actions postponing the last payment but at the same time adding ludicrous penalties of investor money in favor of Ramirez (CLP 350 million in four months).” About the first felony, the General Act on Urbanism and Construction requires
that a developer selling lots before subdivision purchase a bond or insurance for the purpose of providing refunds. It appears that Mr. Johnson may not have done this or there wouldn’t be approximately $1.7M—and climbing-‐-‐ in refund requests outstanding. Previously, our lawyer told us of another requirement, that all agreements to
transfer real estate before subdivision be signed in front of a Chilean notary. How many of us did that? It appears to this scribe, untrained in the law, that this is yet
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another felony-‐-‐as in jail time—but we don’t know, we could be wrong. In addition, the Rescue Team is currently performing forensic investigations on the financial information obtained over the past week. Preliminary findings show extensive "irregularities." We will distribute our final report when it is ready. If anyone has a good cake recipe, please forward. GGC (Un)official T Shirts Our last attachment is the new, (un)official GGC t shirt. We figured since we’ve all
lost our shirts, we simply had to drop everything and get this project done. Anybody know Jerry Folta’s size? We’d like to send him a consolation prize, since we know how tough it is when you throw good money after bad. That’s it for this week, we hope. The rescue team can’t keep up this furious
publishing pace much longer. Don’t miss the next exciting issue, where we hope to answer the burning question: Who the heck is Monica Wehrhahn and how do you pronounce that apellido, anyway? Saludos, The GGC Rescue Team
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Hi again: I guess we'll start by talking about the GGC Rescue Team “Invasion” of GGC. What
I heard initially was that there were people who came on the property, presented documents that were notarized in the U.S. (i.e. not Chile), someone flashed a badge (from some unnamed country but not Chile), Edward J. Lashlee (EJ) grabbed Ian Thornton by the throat the day following the takeover, they directed physical threats at Ken Johnson should he show up, they told the workers they were now working for them (The GGC Rescue Team), and the GGC Rescue Team took physical control of the property. It’s like a bunch of Ford car or truck owners decided they were unhappy with
Ford and got a group together to storm and take over Ford headquarters. What do you do when something like this happens? It’s a home invasion as well
as a business invasion. The following morning, Ian Thornton retrieved the Jeep which the GGC Rescue Team had unlawfully taken the night before but the computer hard drives, computers, keys, maps and GGC staff personal belongings were never returned. Ian also insisted that the police remove the intruders from the property since they had no lawful right to do what they did. Ian was informed, however, that after the immediate time in which this type of crime occurred, the situation transitions to the legal domain and, therefore, is now being addressed as a criminal matter using attorneys. Tom Baker, Cathy Cuthbert, me, Josh Kirley -‐ we’re clients of GGC. Edward J.
Lashlee was a new name on the GGC Rescue Team and I didn’t have any idea what his role was. I’ll speak further on this topic when we get to "My meeting with Edward J. Lashlee (EJ) of the GGC Rescue Team." Positive News: Ken and I met with the attorney that will be putting together the process for
transferring title from IGGSA to First Round Founders, Second Round Founders, and Shared Farm Shareowners. We’re in the process of pulling together all the records from each GGC Client like promesas, passport scans, funds letters, etc., so the attorney has everything he needs to step us all through the process. The documents are fairly complete but there are a few documents missing so if I ask you to send scans of some of your documents in the days/weeks to come, my apologies in advance, but we’ll need them to transfer title to you. We’re also trying to finalize the profit and loss (P&L) quarterly reporting format.
Two things are required to send out income payments: 1-‐Profitability, and 2-‐Documentation. As you may recall from the presentation sent with the October 3rd update, the Farm Manager was already keeping accurate records of income by orchard (good as is) and expenses (total). We were scheduled to meet with him to explain what is needed going forward to produce individual P&L reports earlier this week but he didn’t show up for our meeting. I suspect he’s torn as to who he should
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be taking direction from. Anyway, I’ll pass the information on to Josh Kirley in the P.S. to this update (immediately below my signature, below) and ask him to pass it on to the farm manager so that, while the GGC Rescue is in control of the property, progress continues to move forward until the legalities to remove the GGC Rescue Team from farm operations are complete. Ken is working with the architect to begin the process of subdividing into the
smaller lot sizes (5, 2.5, 1.25, .5 hectare). I think we’ve all been disappointed enough to take the claims of subdivision of the smaller lot sizes with a grain of salt, however, the owner of the firm is a friend of Ken’s for two years and they’re saying they’re completely confident they’ll obtain approvals in early 2015. We’ve also begun an informal search for COO. We had one candidate we wanted
to bring to GGC this week but with the Invasion we’ve had to postpone that search until such time as we can bring him onsite as part of the hiring process, i.e. once the GGC Rescue Team has been removed. Comments in Cathy Cuthbert’s: “GGC Investors' Update for Oct 30 2014--
Capture Flag" 1. “Excess Water Rights”: This summary report by Inverex Ltda. (attached to
Cathy’s email) was commissioned by GGC last year. The report is positive in that it documented the 420 LPS groundwater water rights and 216.2 LPS surface water rights owned by GGC. These numbers were produced during the flow testing performed between approximately 1996 and 2003 when Agricola Guipaca Ltda. was registering the water rights. They are valid and legal. Ken wanted Inverex to do flow testing to prove out the physical water but, as Inverex points out in the summary document, the cost of flow testing is approximately $5,000 -‐ $10,000 per well. There are over 50 wells on the property and the engineering of a meaningful water testing plan becomes involved fairly quickly. A single Litre/Second (1 LPS) of “permanent and continuous underground” water
is approximately 8.33 million gallons of water per year. The report claims 0.5 -‐ 1.0 LPS is required per hectare for residential use. This would indicate 4.165 million to 8.33 million gallons of water per year for a single house. As Ken has frequently pointed out, typical daily usage for a family of four in the United States is 400 gallons. After doing some math with this estimate, which is quite high by worldwide (and Chilean) standards, this equates to nearly 60 homes that can be supplied with a single litre per second (1 LPS). Agricultural usage typically ranges from 0.5 LPS to 1 LPS per hectare for strictly agricultural land. Ken has been working for months on bringing in a new form of agriculture called aquaponics which requires less than 5% of the water required for traditional farming (i.e. what GGC has now) and creates larger amounts of fruit, vegetables and also fish. This is consistent with Ken’s long interest in organic and sustainable food production.
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For GGC many of the lots are much bigger than 1.0 hectare. If there is one house on 2.5 Ha, or 5.0 Ha or 10.0 Ha or 25.0 Ha would they need 2.5/5.0/10.0 or 25.0 times the 0.5 -‐ 1.0 LPS per hectare? The report doesn’t qualify it’s position on residential water usage relative to GGC house densities. Since no flow tests were done the report is based on estimates, or predictions, and
not as credible as the figures produced when the water rights were registered during the period mentioned above. The usage numbers in the Inverex report don’t apply to residential usage and are vastly overstated -‐ especially for GGC requirements. Not to state the obvious, but future water availability is always a prediction and never a guarantee (see California drought). 2. “Rio Colorado Stock Swap”: Ken’s Comment: "Attached, is the only notarized
Rio Colorado agreement that Mario and I signed. This agreement was signed at the same time as the share transfer agreement for Inmobiliaria Galt's Gulch S.A. was signed. Both were signed on April 15, 2014, but" (someone) "then changed the date of the IGGSA share transfer agreement, so that it appeared that they already owned 3,000 shares of IGGSA, rather than such shares being part of the payments to him in the Rio Colorado agreement. As we know,” (someone) “also forged the signatures for the transfer of 2,000 shares of IGGSA to himself and his daughter. All of the shares that they claim to have in IGGSA are illegal. He knows this and so does Josh Kirley, but Josh Kirley is supporting him so that he can force me out of GGC.” My attorney looked at this and came to the same conclusion I did, i.e. that the
"stock swap agreement" was not illegal. The “third parties” funds Ken used were, in part, from GGC Clients but they were new funds sent by the “third parties” (GGC Clients) for the other project, not GGC, as Cathy claims. Cathy’s statement, “that money that belonged to third parties—that was yours.” is false. I happen to agree it was a bad idea to deal with the two companies to cross-‐purposes but Ken actually had good intent. He was impressed with Mario, felt he could help GGC in important ways, and therefore decided to move forward in this way. In hindsight it was a bad idea, however, my understanding and my attorney’s understanding is it was not illegal. 3. “The Shareholders’ Agreement for Agricola GGC”: This is a blank Shareholders
Agreement. The reason this is included in Cathy’s update is not stated. 4. “GGC Report Real Estate”. Our ability to make the final payment for the
land/water rights is contingent upon the sale of water rights. With sales at a standstill it is the only possible way forward that I see to re-‐establish forward momentum toward completion of the project. If the GGC Rescue Team is successful in stopping the water sales it doesn’t necessarily mean the land will be lost. Even if they did, the legal proceedings for non-‐payment on December 1, 2014, could go on for some time and there are still other ways to obtain the funds such as bank loans. Obviously, none of this is good for any of us if it happens.
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5. From Cathy’s email: "This week, a temporary injunction was register blocking any sale of land or water rights by Mr. Johnson and GGC because the deed that transferred ownership of the Lepe-‐Las Casas property was improperly recorded and therefore null and void." If this should turn out to be true the GGC Rescue Team will have successfully cut
off possibly the last source of funds (the first was when they cut off sales several months ago as explained in an earlier update email) that I can see now that gives us a chance of turning GGC back on a positive path. When I read this I asked Cathy to show me the documentation on the “temporary injunction”. Here is the exchange that followed: Cathy/Jerry exchange: _____________________________________________________ On Fri, October 31, 2014 12:50, Jerry Folta wrote: Cathy: Do you have any documentation on the injunction against selling water rights?
Also, how about Interpol and the PDI? Obviously, if these things are true I’m concerned but right now it’s just email words, you know? Thanks, Jerry On Oct 31, 2014, at 5:39 PM, cathy cuthbert wrote: Dear Jerry, If you are sincere, I'll answer you. I will not waste my time with your ridiculous
"Ken is our great leader" garbage for one more instant. Frankly, your actions over the last 3 weeks have been unbelievably damaging i can barely get past that to even write this. Let me know... cmc On Fri, October 31, 2014 17:36, Jerry Folta wrote: Cathy: Of course I’m serious. You have to understand that as low as my credibility is
with you, it really kinda goes both ways. If you can document these statements I will take them very seriously. If it’s just email chatter, though, what can you realistically expect? I have not seen an injunction against the water rights so I assume it does not exist.
If there’s nothing in writing about Interpol or the PDI I have to assume it does not exist. If it’s true obviously (!) I would like to know it and if not I’d like to know that, too. I don’t know what else to say . . . Thanks, Jerry Date: October 31, 2014 at 10:08:07 PM GMT-‐3
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No, Jerry, I don't understand that, I don't accept that and frankly it makes me furious. I have never lied to you. I warned you about your fraudulent passport and warned you repeatedly that Johnson is not honest. You, on the other hand, accused me of slinging insults, impugned my motives, accused Josh of lying, and have backed a scam artist despite overwhelming evidence. You're the one with no credibility, not me. Clearly you are either terminally stupid, or you're in on the scam. Either way, I can't waste my time with you any longer. You're on your own. _____________________________________________________ Two points about this Cathy/Jerry exchange: First, Cathy and I are both second
round founders, both were/are upset about the unfulfilled promises we experienced relative to GGC, we both decided to take action, and we both want the success of GGC so we can preserve our investments and hopes for a particular type of future life we think GGC (still!) offers. Having said that, my experience is when people can’t argue the facts, because they don’t have the facts, they often resort to personal attacks. Regarding the ongoing saga of Mario Del Real. Ken was in discussions with Del
Real to transfer 50% of his personal shares to Del Real in exchange for partial ownership in the Los Andes Water Project, aka Rio Colorado. They drew up an agreement whereby if Ken didn’t make certain payments the contract would be nullified and all activities/transfers/etc. would be reversed. Unbeknownst to Ken, (someone) changed the wording slightly in the contract and then backdated the related GGC contract one day which, if true, meant Del Real owned a total of 3000 shares outright. Unfortunately for Del Real, Ken and the two attorneys who supposedly signed/dated/notarized the agreement for 2000 prior shares to the Del Reals have all signed statements claiming they were not present the day they supposedly signed/dated/notarized the agreement. Ken has initiated criminal complaints against Del Real, followed by civil complaints -‐ the criminal charges should not be difficult to prove since both signatory attorneys signed/notarized statements disavow their signatures. Even with the near 100% probability of success in removing any claim on these
shares by Del Real, Ken is attempting to work out a settlement with Del Real in order to put the matter behind us sooner. It should be noted the amount Ken's offering will rapidly decrease since the time value of money is contingent upon a quick resolution and, if there is no quick resolution, the legal actions filed will certainly remove all dispute over ownership of the shares. The criminal charges may be harder to prove (but maybe not) and if Mario Del Real and his daughter, Pamela, are found guilty, they may well face jail time. While Ken has been working to resolve this situation with the Del Reals in an
amicable manner, it is now known that Ken Carpenter set up meetings between GGC clients and/or their attorneys and the Del Reals. This is known because my attorney was invited to and attended one of those meetings. These activities date back to May/June of this year which coincides with Ken Carpenter emailing Daniel Evankovich, Nathan Youngblut and Gaelan Brown (the GGC sales team at the
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time) informing them that he had been telling potential GGC investors and clients to hold off on any investment into GGC. Cathy Cuthbert and the GGC Rescue Team want to represent that their involvement in scaring away GGC revenues came in August, but in fact, it appears to have started in a covert manner months earlier. Also, Ken and I closed on the purchase of 3000 shares of IGGSA (30%) from him to
me on Monday, October 27th. This means the current IGGSA ownership is Ken 40%, Del Reals 30% (disputed), me 30%. In the near future it will be First Round Founders 10%, Agricola Guipaca Ltda 5% (Guillermo 3% and Hector 2%), Ken 55% (assuming resolution of disputed shares), me 30%. The Jeff Berwick TDV Article: Friday, October 31, 2014: Early on, Jeff says,
"Lost in the mix was the truth.". I’ll agree with that! 1. “the team also attempted to locate Mr. Johnson.”. Ken has the same home
address, email address and phone number he’s had for the last couple years. Also, the GGC Rescue Team knew I was in town and would be spending a lot of time with Ken this week. If, for some reason they couldn’t locate Ken in any of those ways, they could have called or emailed me if they wanted to contact Ken. Ken and I met to discuss GGC and also have dinner in Curacavi and met several times in Santiago and Vina Del Mar. He was always easy to find for me and those meeting with us. 2. “We asked Scout for his phone and the keys to the jeep, both of which are GGC
property. He turned over the phone, but attempted to leave in the Jeep. We refused to allow him to go,”. The GGC Rescue Team took the Jeep off of the property and kept the it overnight. The police arrived the following morning and when the GGC Rescue Team was instructed by the police to release it to Ian they gave him the keys -‐ but only after stealing Ken’s personal belongings from the vehicle. 3. "EJ went outside the gate to discuss Mr. Thornton‘s continued assistance to Mr.
Johnson, warning of criminal actions and offering him the suggestion that he disassociate from criminals or risk being included as a co-conspirator.”. I’m not a lawyer but isn’t this one example (of many) where the GGC Rescue Team is on record calling Ken Johnson a criminal? It is my belief that Ken is many things but a criminal is not one of them. If I’m correct, isn’t libel a crime? 4. “The excellent farm staff kept meticulous records which will be of great use to the
Rescue Team while building a criminal case against Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thornton for embezzlement.”. Ken and Ian paid the workers out of the proceeds from the lemon/lime sales -‐
same as the GGC Rescue Team is doing. Here, again, the GGC Rescue Team is accusing Ken (and now Ian) of being criminals without any evidence of wrongdoing. It has been suggested the GGC Rescue Team has been destroying and/or is altering GGC records. If this is true they should be aware that receipts and records are kept in multiple locations including with Ken. The GGC accounting firm
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has also been alerted to protect the original receipts and files from any parties claiming ownership of them, such as EJ Lashlee, Alison Sherman, Thomas Baker, etc. 5. “The last word of his location is that he has gone into hiding in the woods around
GGC. Knowing what I know about the GGC Rescue Team and their abilities he better hope the police find him before they do.”. I really enjoyed reading this article but at the end of the day it was more an exercise in creative writing from a B+ community college student (I was a community college student so I can say that :-‐) than an accurate description of what is/was going on. The police were not looking for Ken. They didn’t need to because he was at the police station on Saturday in order to file complaints. My Meeting With Edward J. Lashlee (EJ) of the GGC Rescue Team: The GGC Rescue Team invited me to GGC which I was delighted to receive and
accept. Nothing positive is going to happen unless we’re talking to each other in person. When I arrived (Saturday, Nov.1, 4:00 pm) there was no one at the gate and GGC
looked deserted. The car gate was locked so I parked in front of it but the people gate on the side was unlocked so I was able to get in. After walking up the drive to the hacienda Ed Lashlee was there and introduced himself. I said, “your front gate is unlocked -‐ any kind of riff-‐raff can get in”. He laughed. Then, Ken Carpenter materialized, we shook hands, and he dematerialized and I didn’t see him again. EJ showed me around briefly and the hacienda looked great. I recognized much of the good work that occurred on Ken’s watch from my last visit to GGC and everything was clean, well maintained and, with minor exceptions, in good repair. EJ and I spent almost two hours together. Some of this is out of order but here’s
my recollection of everything meaningful we discussed: I said I knew all the founders but had no idea who he was or what he was doing
there. He gave me his background and said he had been involved in several situations like this where they needed to force someone to leave an organization. He also shared his very impressive business background and his success in building a trust business with thousands of clients. He’s definitely a likable and impressive guy. I asked him his role on the GGC Rescue Team. I don’t remember exactly what he
said but he used the word “dictator” in his self-‐description. I was so taken aback by the force of that idea that I didn’t hear any of what he said for the next 5-‐10 seconds. He also said, “We (The GGC Rescue Team) have all the important founders” to which I said, “Well, thanks for that!”, laughing. He was a little embarrassed but acknowledged the faux pas which I give him credit for. The exchange reminded me of my first introduction to Josh Kirley a few months ago and early on in our
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conversation he said, “I have all the Founders under Power of Attorney”. I was silent for a moment then somewhat sheepishly said, “Well, I’m a Founder and you don’t have ME under Power of Attorney”. (What is it about me that makes me so insignificant to the GGC Rescue Team :-‐) We talked early on about “The Invasion” of GGC by the GGC Rescue Team. EJ, if I
understand correctly, said Tom Baker -‐ as a retired ex-‐Marine colonel -‐ was able to leverage contacts between the U.S. Military and Chilean military/law enforcement to get them to stand down during the Invasion even though it was unlawful. Ed, by the way, was not denying the action was illegal when I brought it up -‐ ok, brought up several times. If I should die in a small plane crash, single car crash, or of a sudden inexplicable heart attack you’ll know where to look -‐ I’m kidding! I hope. Later that night I was with Ken and Ian Thornton and Ian translated the article the
GGC Rescue Team planted in the local newspaper (en español) about Ken and how he was charged with embezzlement and other financial crimes. Yet, when EJ was describing Ken’s “slam dunk” crimes with me he talked about how funds in situations like GGC were supposed to go into bonded accounts (or something like that) and that he did not follow certain procedures when firing workers and he could go to jail for what he did/didn’t do during these “slam-‐dunk” crimes. I thought it was interesting how the crimes the GGC Rescue Team chooses to talk about are selected to play to the audience present at the time (newspapers to the Chilean public, different crimes in person to me). Very strategic! I apologized to EJ that he had to talk to me, and I wasn’t saying he was wrong, but
that I had not seen or experienced those “crimes” so I just didn’t know whether they were true or not. Oh yes, if I understood him correctly, he said they had already spent $200,000 on attorneys and had just signed to spend an additional $200,000 on just one attorney alone going forward. Very committed! I also told EJ I’ve never caught Ken in a lie and was not aware personally of anything illegal he had done, however, if I’m not mistaken, the GGC Rescue Team has committed crimes on multiple occasions -‐ the Invasion and all the unsubstantiated (I believe) accusations by the GGC Rescue Team of crimes by Ken (libel). Ken had met with EJ Thursday last week at which time EJ made a buyout offer for
Ken to leave GGC. The offer was $20,000 and was good for 24 hours at which time it became $10,000. I am looking forward to helping Ken make GGC successful by any measure over the next couple years but it’s usually fun to reflect on a buyout offer even if one has no intention of accepting it. $20K for 24 hours, then $10K is laughable or it’s designed to be a faux offer as part of a larger strategy. For example, they might say, "we made him an offer but he rejected it.". Cathy Cuthbert didn’t mention the amount in her update Oct. 30th but called it a, "Departure Package that was very generous that must be accepted within 24 hours“. I think it’s safe to say she was being disingenuous regarding the generosity of the package offered.
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We also discussed the claim by Cathy Cuthbert that there was an injunction against the sale of water which would prevent us from attaining the funds necessary to pay off the land, pay the founder loans to present, pay refunds, and pay various accounts/taxes/salaries payables, and give us the ability to move into the future, begin sales again, etc. I said if that were true I would not, at least yet, see a way to move forward and honor the commitments made to GGC clients. I told him Cathy Cuthbert wouldn’t send the documentation to me and Ed said he would email it to me later. I did received something from someone in EJ’s office (Tuesday, Nov 3) but it was short and didn't make sense to me. I forwarded it to my attorney and Ken is doing the same so we can get opinions on what it says, what it means, and what we need to do to get it reversed. Here’s what it looks like:
ROL : C-1193-2014 KIRLEY / INMOBILIARIA GALT F. Ing : 14/10/2014 Est.Adm.: Sin archivar Proc.: Medida prejudicial Ubicación: LETRA Etapa: 2 Tramitación M.P. Precautoria Estado Proc.: Tramitación Tribunal : Juzgado de Letras de Casablanca Texto Demanda : Historia Causa Cuaderno
Donde dice "INGRESO DEMANDA," está la copia de la escritura de compraventa de Ramírez a IGG, dice..." SEGUNDO: " de la página 4 a la 17 se refiere a los derechos de agua.
Update: November 3rd I received two legal documents in Spanish from EJ Lashlee
which are much more official looking. I sent them to my attorney and at this point they appear to be invalid but more investigation will be done. I will keep you posted as this important issue progresses. In the beginning of our discussion I said to EJ that I felt I was like the other
Founders he was working with -‐ I just wanted to try and preserve the value of my investment. Near the end of our discussion I brought it up again and asked him if under their plan I would get my orchard and 0.5 hectare residential lot as originally agreed upon. EJ said something to the effect of everyone will get proportionally what they put in (I don’t want to put it in quotes but I’m confident I have it pretty close). I said, “EJ, you sound like a socialist or something. Will I get my original deal or not?" EJ then claimed he didn’t get involved in the discussions at this level because it wasn’t well defined and that he was more of a big picture guy. I came back a third time and said, “EJ, it’s not poorly defined at all! The orchards are legally subdivided so they are clearly defined and the agreement on the residential lot purchases said people will pick their lots after the subdivision is done”. EJ then said something to the effect, “Well, maybe it will work out”. Also, EJ said definitively there will be “no refunds”. I did not ask him about this -‐
he just kind of blurted it out in the middle of a discussion on another topic.
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I guess he felt the GGC Rescue Team “No Refunds” position might be a problem
because Monday, 11/3/14, I received this email with a “Letter of Intent” to “Honor all” (i.e. your) commitments from EJ: We will honor all contracts and promesas that were paid for by Founders, Orchard Investors, Farm Share Buyers, and Lot Investors. "Paid for" is defined by copies of wires, metals, USD, Chilean Pesos, or Bitcoin determined as of the date received by either GGC (see below) or the the GGC RESCUE GROUP TRUST. Honoring this LETTER OF INTENT is only to go into effect upon the fraud conviction of Ken Johnson, OR the recovery of all funds transferred to Ken Johnson and his alter ego organizations, OR the legal recorded transfer of real estate to GGC RESCUE GROUP TRUST. Any legal actions by Jerry Foltas naming the GGC RESCUE GROUP TRUST shall void this LETTER OF INTENT. The GGC Rescue Team is, in my opinion, saying they will NOT honor GGC contracts
and promesas (see my Oct. 3rd update where I predicted this might happen). For example, what difference does it make to you if Ken is in jail in terms of The GGC Rescue Team honoring your original agreement? They’ve left all kinds of ways to claim the conditions have not been met. Or, even if somehow Ken does get convicted and, for whatever reason, I take legal action against the GGC Rescue Team then I’m the bad guy because they won’t honor their commitments to you. I have not intention of suing them -‐ I want us to work this out amicably and move forward as one community. Ken feels the same way. But still, if their intent is to honor the original agreements they would say it. I strongly recommend you factor this into your thinking in how to move forward in your own particular GGC situation and, especially, make sure you are getting their promises to you in writing (!) Prediction: The GGC Rescue Team will soon begin using some of their $200,000+
legal war chest to start suing me. The GGC Rescue Team is highly professional and experienced business strategists. They’re always thinking two or three steps ahead so if they begin suing me and I’m forced to take legal action to protect myself they will use that as an excuse to invalidate their “Honor” Letter of Intent to you. This bears no relation to the truth -‐ it is yet one more example of aggressive tactics being used by the GGC Rescue Team as part of a comprehensive and highly aggressive business strategy. Please do not be fooled if this happens. Think about it -‐ the GGC Rescue Team has been actively attempting to persuade
GGC clients to request refunds. Now it’s clear they had no intention of giving refunds and are only now trying to find a way to appear they will.
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Final note on my meeting with EJ. He asked me to discontinue sending out these updates. I said that until such time as we’re all working together I could not do that. My hope is, however, is if (when!) we’re working together perhaps I’ll stop sending out updates but perhaps I will continue sending them, too -‐ the difference being my efforts will be supported by the unified community. As I mention often, I got involved in this in an attempt to preserve the value of my
investment. It is my belief that Ken is an honest, hardworking guy with both huge talents and as well as good-‐sized flaws. I believe Ken’s shortcomings are easy to accommodate if people with different skills take on certains tasks and functions (like a COO) but Ken is honest and he’s trying very hard to honor the original deals between GGC and GGC Clients. We each see things our own way, draw our own conclusions and pursue our interests in our own way. Supporting Ken, while helping with ideas on changes that needed to be made, was one option for me. During the time I was trying to decide what to do, I had multiple conversations
with the GGC Rescue Team. I was never able to understand what they were working toward other than vague generalities -‐ none of which included guaranteeing the original deals with GGC Clients. Since then I’ve seen them continue to make, in my opinion, illegal actionable accusations (libel) and now, in my opinion, they have acted illegally in the “Invasion” (as I think of it) and “Capture Flag” (as Cathy describes it in her Oct. 30th update). Supporting the GGC Rescue Team was the second option I saw for me. I came to view Ken as truthful and the GGC Rescue Team as pursuing a hidden
agenda. This has also been the opinion of other GGC clients and investors whom have emailed Ken and me. Nothing since I came to that conclusion over a month ago (including spending the better part of all last week) has changed my view. As unappealing as some aspects of supporting Ken were, I found nothing appealing at all about supporting the GGC Rescue Team. So, I decided to try and bring everyone together in a way that makes sense for all
GGC Clients as part of my effort to preserve the value of my original investment (and now as part owner of IGGSA). But, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due. The GGC Rescue Team is winning 100-‐0 on publicity. Having said that, at this point (and I’m not a lawyer), I believe they’re record legally is going to be the exact opposite, 0-‐100. Perhaps once they realize that they’ll continue the progress of our in-‐person meeting Saturday and we can finally start the process of moving GGC forward as one community with one agenda. By the way, after I finish this update I’m putting all the updates together in one
thread and we’re going to post them on the Internet so that the other side of the story can be told. This way, for example, when articles come out after the careful, professional, strategic work of the truly impressive GGC Rescue Team publicity team (neither Ken nor Ian was called to comment on the article) at least we can call people and have a place to point them to understand the other side of the story.
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One thought before I close. When I sold to Wall Street IT organizations I saw
many times that people were attacked, not because they had done anything wrong but because they were simply in the way of people that had an agenda. I also said many times -‐ the more value (money) that’s involved -‐ the more aggressive, more intelligent, more strategic, more ruthless, and sometimes even the more unethical are the people (I’m not saying that’s the case here -‐ I believe it’s not) that come after you. It helps if people have made mistakes (like Ken in this situation) and part of the community is angry with the person that is in the way (like this situation). This makes it more likely the people trying to wrest away the value that’s been created by others can be successful. I believe I have a pretty good idea what they the true GGC Rescue Team plan is but
I want to try and figure out a couple more things before I talk about it. I hope to share my thoughts on what their real plans are in the next update. Remember: Just because claims are strident and/or repeated again and again
doesn’t necessarily make them so (!) Thank you for your attention and understanding. Jerry P.S. Josh Kirley, since the Farm Manager is taking direction from the GGC Rescue
Team would you please ask him to do the following? 1. Create individual spreadsheets using the attached spreadsheet as a model? (If
you have ideas to add to it please feel free to improve it) for the First Round Founders, Second Round Orchard Owners and Shared Orchard Shareholders. 2. The income by orchard is perfect. Great job, Diego! The expenses need to be
further broken out as follows: * Identify variable costs by orchard. For example if (10) daily workers are
working for the day, keep track of their time by worker by orchard. * Apply the time/expense accurately for the work done to each of the six (five
10Ha and one 50Ha) orchards. * Then, identify fixed costs and pro-‐rate them by orchard. For example if Orchard
#1 is 10% of the Farm total (10Ha out of 100Ha total) then 10% of the tractor lease should be applied to the Orchard #1 P&L. This should be done for all fixed costs. * Now that all variable costs have been identified and all fixed costs have been
identified the spreadsheet can be finalized. * Ian Thornton correctly pointed out an additional line should be added to
subtract taxes to be paid. Good catch, Ian.
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* For the Shared Orchard Shareholders their income will be their percentage ownership of the shared orchard multiplied by the shared orchard P&L. * It's too late to do this for October but perhaps they could start in November? I
suggested we take the Nov/Dec totals and use the percentages for Nov/Dec to back-‐compute the October numbers. * The First Round Founders will receive 1% / 1% / 1% / 7% of the total profits
for all orchards. * IGGSA will receive 35% of the total for all orchards (less 10% First Round
Founders) for a net of 25% of total orchard P&L. * It remains to be seen if we’ll be able to make P&L payments for Q4’14 (we need
profitability first) but getting the documentation finalized is a significant step forward toward being able to do so. * Once we’ve turned the corner on the profitability, whoever is in physical control
of the farm at that time can ask in what form (wire transfer, checks, etc.) each Orchard owner will want the income. If you have any questions please let me know. Thanks. P.P.S. The GGC Rescue Team is attempting to make an issue about GGC funds
going into an account belonging to Monica Wehrhahn. I’ll go into this in more detail in the next update but the following email was sent by Ken to Monica less than a month ago and it will go a long way to explaining what you will come to view as a transparent business situation and not self-‐serving in any way. Would an embezzler, as Ken has been accused of being several times by the GGC Rescue Team, put in writing the amounts of the funds that are under duress as well as copy several attorneys? -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Forwarded message -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ From: Ken Johnson� Date: Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 7:16 PM Subject: GGC -‐ Poder -‐ Completo (3) y Incorecto (1) Resciliacion To: "monica_wehrhahn@XXXXX.com" <monica_wehrhahn@XXXXX.com>, Jorge
XXXXX <andaur.XXXXX@gmail.com> Cc: "jose.XXXXX@chile-‐lawyers.com" <jose.XXXXX@chile-‐lawyers.com>,
"jeff.XXXXX@chile-‐lawyers.com" <jeff.XXXXX@chile-‐lawyers.com>, "samuel.XXXXX@chile-‐lawyers.com" <samuel.XXXXX@chile-‐lawyers.com> 11/4/14 -‐ Hola Monica, How are you? I hope that your health is better. I have attached the fully signed rescission agreements for the incorrect contracts
that you provided to me for you to act as an agent of Galt's Gulch Chile (GGC) with GGC client funds.
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When I realized that these were incorrect, we both agreed to rescind these agreements. You then signed all four of them to rescind them, but I noticed that the information that was entered into the Agricola y Comercial Galt's Gulch Limitada rescission agreement was incorrect. You had entered the RUT and name of Asesorias y Servicios Galt's Gulch S.A., rather than the RUT and name of Agricola y Comercial Galt's Gulch Limitada. For your files, I have attached the four executed rescission agreements, including
the three fully completed rescission agreements, along with the incorrect rescission agreement for the Limitada. I have also attached a correct version of the rescission agreement for Agricola y
Comercial Galt's Gulch Limitada for you to sign and email back to me this week. I have also attached the Power of Attorney (Poder) agreement that we provided
to you a while ago for you to sign and return to me, so that BCI Bank is clear on the reason for GGC client funds to be wired into your bank account. Please let us know of any questions that you may have and when we can expect to
get these back from you. Ian and I would be happy to meet with you tomorrow to retrieve the signed documents from you, if that is best for you. Do you have any updates on the $90,000 USD that you said BCI was not willing to
release and the $80,000 USD wire transfer that (GGC Client Name Withheld) sent to your account on July 23, 2014? We should resolve the matters surrounding these funds as soon as possible. Thank you, Ken P.P.P.S. Regarding the possibility of criminal charges against Ken Johnson (see the
end of Cathy’s November 3rd update) my attorney explained to me that bond insurance is required only when you are buying a house and/or apartment that is part of a project not yet built. It is called in Chile "compra en verde” and is regulated by urban law regulations. Second, this regulation cannot be applied to rustic or agricola land because even if IGGSA is subdivided the land will still be considered agricola or agricultural land. Also, any infraction to the urban law will not generate a felony or criminal charge because infringements cause administrative fines and civil actions but not felony or criminal offenses. “Simulation" is a difficult matter to be proved in civil tribunal and note -‐ this is a
civil action -‐ not criminal or to possibly be considered a felony. Note, the GGC Rescue Team keeps saying the price agreed upon between IGGSA and Agricola Guipaca Ltda. was too high. If this was purely a land deal, perhaps, but I don’t think
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they’re taking into account the value of the water rights included in the price in which case the purchase price is quite arguably even too low. Lastly, I was told it is not mandatory to sign a promesa before a notary so, again,
there is no chance this could be found a criminal act.
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11/06/14 EJ Lashlee
Jerry, We invited you to the GGC meeting last Saturday to show our transparency and to show we are trying to recover from the existing disaster. KJ has admitted his gross mismanagement, lack of experience, his most significant error of contracting with MDR, and a few of his other flaws. He has always stated that he did not steal anything, but if he has a heart attack tomorrow, all GGC assets would go to his heirs (excepting what he gave to MDR). Note that KJ told me and many others that the property was either 1) paid for, 2) completely paid for, 3) KJ had the money in the bank, 4) it's coming in a wire tomorrow, or some other variation. Meanwhile, he went on to make further deals with investor money and without the big investors approvals, and severely reduced investor equity. KJ had two years to obtain proper staffing and a CEO or COO and have a proper Organizational Chart. The GGC RESCUE TEAM lost all faith in KJ. KJ could never be trusted to finally create a successful staff, and we certainly do not believe he is capable to do so now. In one week, the GGC RESCUE TEAM has installed a competent experienced operating staff, cleaned up almost all of the grounds, hacienda, built a Guard Shack at the entrance, had meetings with many officials, attorneys, law enforcement, unpaid vendors, unpaid employees, unpaid lemon pickers, and the Mayor; AND turned on utilities, and made arrangements to pay the back utility bills. We invited you to the meeting and have provided info to you so you can consider joint efforts to recover. It appears you are caught in the middle because you have given so much money to KJ again (last week) and because (in your mind) you probably think you will come out fine whether the GGC RESCUE TEAM succeeds or not. Our view is that there is only the GGC RESCUE TEAM way for success, of which we intend to protect you, as well as the others, with-‐or-‐without your joining forces with us. As far as your "newsletters", they are very well written, mostly true, somewhat mis-‐focused, and an annoyance. They may prevent a (more) united effort and slow our pathway to success. We will succeed anyway. We are more determined than ever to succeed, regardless of the individual battles that will be encountered. As far as "changing" the records, we are presenting receipts as well as all sources of records, many which you are also relying on.
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We would rather have ALL investors working together and will increase our outreach to those we missed. Keep in mind that with the secrets, non-‐disclosures, and many "Cease and Desist" orders by KJ, the isolation of information that KJ required, we have only recently been able to update our lists of participants. Many sources were combined, and we may still be missing a few. Also, many of the investors could not afford their own legal actions, and many have never encountered a legal minefield, or had the business experience to participate in such a recovery. So the majority of decisions were made by a majority of the money investors with expensive attorneys that we paid for. With the GGC RESCUE TEAM TRUST, there is a Chain of Command, and replacements, cross training, oversight, consultation, and successors to maintain and progress to our final result, which is making sure ALL investors and ALL agreements with those that invested money can get what they were promised or recover their investment. We are willing and OPEN BOOK to all that put money into GGC. EJ -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Please see EJ comments below each section below as per your Analysis about our meeting: -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ My Meeting With Edward J. Lashlee (EJ) of the GGC Rescue Team: When I arrived (Saturday, Nov.1, 4:00 pm) there was no one at the gate and GGC looked deserted. The car gate was locked so I parked in front of it but the people gate on the side was unlocked so I was able to get in. After walking up the drive to the hacienda Ed Lashlee was there and introduced himself. I said, “your front gate is unlocked -‐ any kind of riff-‐raff can get in”. He laughed. Then, Ken Carpenter materialized, we shook hands, and he dematerialized and I didn’t see him again. EJ showed me around briefly and the hacienda looked great. I recognized much of the good work that occurred on Ken’s watch from my last visit to GGC and everything was clean, well maintained and, with minor exceptions, in good repair. ..... Most of the staff and workers were allowed to take off for the holiday. The remainders were in the field, on patrol, or getting supplies in town. I said I knew all the founders but had no idea who he was or what he was doing there. He gave me his background and said he had been involved in several situations like this where they needed to force someone to leave an organization. He also shared his very impressive business background and his success in building a trust business with thousands of clients. He’s definitely a likable and impressive guy.
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......Thanks! as are you. I asked him his role on the GGC Rescue Team. I don’t remember exactly what he said but he used the word “dictator” in his self-‐description. I was so taken aback by the force of that idea that I didn’t hear any of what he said for the next 5-‐10 seconds. He also said, “We (The GGC Rescue Team) have all the important founders” to which I said, “Well, thanks for that!”, laughing. He was a little embarrassed but acknowledged the faux pas which I give him credit for. The exchange reminded me of my first introduction to Josh Kirley a few months ago and early on in our conversation he said, “I have all the Founders under Power of Attorney”. I was silent for a moment then somewhat sheepishly said, “Well, I’m a Founder and you don’t have ME under Power of Attorney”. (What is it about me that makes me so insignificant to the GGC Rescue Team :-‐) ..... OK We talked early on about “The Invasion” of GGC by the GGC Rescue Team. EJ, if I understand correctly, said Tom Baker -‐ as a retired ex-‐Marine colonel -‐ was able to leverage contacts between the U.S. Military and Chilean military/law enforcement to get them to stand down during the Invasion even though it was unlawful. Ed, by the way, was not denying the action was illegal when I brought it up -‐ ok, brought up several times. If I should die in a small plane crash, single car crash, or of a sudden inexplicable heart attack you’ll know where to look -‐ I’m kidding! I hope. ..... Almost correct. "Invasion" was more like we came to GGC to meet with KJ, and were let in, found a abandoned mess, and decided to protect the property. We talked to officials earlier in the day and law enforcement. We showed everyone our documents, our resumes, and told them our intent. We asked them to participate as "Keepers of the Peace, and to prevent violence" Later that night I was with Ken and Ian Thornton and Ian translated the article the GGC Rescue Team planted in the local newspaper (en español) about Ken and how he was charged with embezzlement and other financial crimes. Yet, when EJ was describing Ken’s “slam dunk” crimes with me he talked about how funds in situations like GGC were supposed to go into bonded accounts (or something like that) and that he did not follow certain procedures when firing workers and he could go to jail for what he did/didn’t do during these “slam-‐dunk” crimes. I thought it was interesting how the crimes the GGC Rescue Team chooses to talk about are selected to play to the audience present at the time (newspapers to the Chilean public, different crimes in person to me). Very strategic! ... Almost correct. We were visited at GGC by the newspaper that KJ sued (and lost). They were very interested and are writing a series of articles about GGC and KJ and stated he is what he is.
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I apologized to EJ that he had to talk to me, and I wasn’t saying he was wrong, but that I had not seen or experienced those “crimes” so I just didn’t know whether they were true or not. Oh yes, if I understood him correctly, he said they had already spent $200,000 on attorneys and had just signed to spend an additional $200,000 on just one attorney alone going forward. Very committed! I also told EJ I’ve never caught Ken in a lie and was not aware personally of anything illegal he had done, however, if I’m not mistaken, the GGC Rescue Team has committed crimes on multiple occasions -‐ the Invasion and all the unsubstantiated (I believe) accusations by the GGC Rescue Team of crimes by Ken (libel). ...You are mistaken about the team committing crimes. ... Maybe believing KJ is a criminal will be confirmed in court. Is believing illegal? Ken had met with EJ Thursday last week at which time EJ made a buyout offer for Ken to leave GGC. The offer was $20,000 and was good for 24 hours at which time it became $10,000. I am looking forward to helping Ken make GGC successful by any measure over the next couple years but it’s usually fun to reflect on a buyout offer even if one has no intention of accepting it. $20K for 24 hours, then $10K is laughable or it’s designed to be a faux offer as part of a larger strategy. For example, they might say, "we made him an offer but he rejected it.". Cathy Cuthbert didn’t mention the amount in her update Oct. 30th but called it a, "Departure Package that was very generous that must be accepted within 24 hours“. I think it’s safe to say she was being disingenuous regarding the generosity of the package offered. ....It was an offer. We also discussed the claim by Cathy Cuthbert that there was an injunction against the sale of water which would prevent us from attaining the funds necessary to pay off the land, pay the founder loans to present, pay refunds, and pay various accounts/taxes/salaries payables, and give us the ability to move into the future, begin sales again, etc. I said if that were true I would not, at least yet, see a way to move forward and honor the commitments made to GGC clients. I told him Cathy Cuthbert wouldn’t send the documentation to me and Ed said he would email it to me later. I did received something from someone in EJ’s office (Tuesday, Nov 3) but it was short and didn't make sense to me. I forwarded it to my attorney and Ken is doing the same so we can get opinions on what it says, what it means, and what we need to do to get it reversed. Here’s what it looks like:
ROL : C-1193-2014 KIRLEY / INMOBILIARIA GALT F. Ing : 14/10/2014 Est.Adm.: Sin archivar Proc.: Medida prejudicial Ubicación: LETRA Etapa: 2 Tramitación M.P. Precautoria Estado Proc.: Tramitación Tribunal : Juzgado de Letras de Casablanca Texto Demanda : Historia Causa Cuaderno
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Donde dice "INGRESO DEMANDA," está la copia de la escritura de compraventa de Ramírez a IGG, dice..." SEGUNDO: " de la página 4 a la 17 se refiere a los derechos de agua. Update: November 3rd I received two legal documents in Spanish from EJ Lashlee which are much more official looking. I sent them to my attorney and at this point they appear to be invalid but more investigation will be done. I will keep you posted as this important issue progresses. .... Good. In the beginning of our discussion I said to EJ that I felt I was like the other Founders he was working with -‐ I just wanted to try and preserve the value of my investment. Near the end of our discussion I brought it up again and asked him if under their plan I would get my orchard and 0.5 hectare residential lot as originally agreed upon. EJ said something to the effect of everyone will get proportionally what they put in (I don’t want to put it in quotes but I’m confident I have it pretty close). I said, “EJ, you sound like a socialist or something. Will I get my original deal or not?" EJ then claimed he didn’t get involved in the discussions at this level because it wasn’t well defined and that he was more of a big picture guy. I came back a third time and said, “EJ, it’s not poorly defined at all! The orchards are legally subdivided so they are clearly defined and the agreement on the residential lot purchases said people will pick their lots after the subdivision is done”. EJ then said something to the effect, “Well, maybe it will work out”. Sorta correct. I don't remember your "socialist" comment, but It has always been expected and talked about by the GGC RESCUE TEAM that all investors will get what they have been promised, including Yourself, Jerry. We are here to do precisely that. Also, EJ said definitively there will be “no refunds”. I did not ask him about this -‐ he just kind of blurted it out in the middle of a discussion on another topic. .....When The Rescue Team finally realized the certainty of GGC failure with KJ, we had meetings and many of the biggest (and about half of the smaller) investors whereby we agreed to join forces for a recovery. Early on in those meetings, we realized that any refunds could only come from moneys recovered from GGC or what KJ had already spent, and that any successful refunds would leave almost everyone else with no source of recovery. So, we concluded that there should be no expectation of refunds. Look to any bankruptcy or other recovery to see your chances of a refund. Virtually zero, or something like a 90% discount. Alternatively, we are united in completing the removal of KJ and finishing what he originally promised and being successful with our original investment. I guess he felt the GGC Rescue Team “No Refunds” position might be a problem because Monday, 11/3/14, I received this email with a “Letter of
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Intent” to “Honor all” (i.e. your) commitments from EJ: We will honor all contracts and promesas that were paid for by Founders, Orchard Investors, Farm Share Buyers, and Lot Investors. "Paid for" is defined by copies of wires, metals, USD, Chilean Pesos, or Bitcoin determined as of the date received by either GGC (see below) or the the GGC RESCUE GROUP TRUST. Honoring this LETTER OF INTENT is only to go into effect upon the fraud conviction of Ken Johnson, OR the recovery of all funds transferred to Ken Johnson and his alter ego organizations, OR the legal recorded transfer of real estate to GGC RESCUE GROUP TRUST. Any legal actions by Jerry Foltas naming the GGC RESCUE GROUP TRUST shall void this LETTER OF INTENT. .....The Letter of Intent that I forwarded to you was simply to live up to my word of sending you (something) fast, and not allow any conflicts by your interference to prevent us from protecting all investors. We believe if everyone worked together, that the resolution could take place much faster, and that when too many cooks are in the kitchen, we get something similar to what the current GGC situation is. The GGC Rescue Team is, in my opinion, saying they will NOT honor GGC contracts and promesas (see my Oct. 3rd update where I predicted this might happen). For example, what difference does it make to you if Ken is in jail in terms of The GGC Rescue Team honoring your original agreement? They’ve left all kinds of ways to claim the conditions have not been met. Or, even if somehow Ken does get convicted and, for whatever reason, I take legal action against the GGC Rescue Team then I’m the bad guy because they won’t honor their commitments to you. I have no intention of suing them -‐ I want us to work this out amicably and move forward as one community. Ken feels the same way. But still, if their intent is to honor the original agreements they would say it. I strongly recommend you factor this into your thinking in how to move forward in your own particular GGC situation and, especially, make sure you are getting their promises to you in writing (!) ....Actually we do expect to honor all agreements. As far as "convicting" KJ. The ONLY reason to proceed to that logical result, is to completely remove him from interfering with the recovery. The sooner he is gone, the sooner we can repair the bad feelings in the community, and succeed with the project. Upon his departure, we also believe that other legal issues can be resolved much faster. If you, (Jerry) continue to interfere, or other investors were to waste more money on attorneys (whether on our recovery side or attacking either or any of the parties in this quagmire), most likely you will simply create more investigations, and waste more investor money, and waste more time, and create more public relation issues, and perhaps even allow the real estate to be repossessed.
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Prediction: The GGC Rescue Team will soon begin using some of their $200,000+ legal war chest to start suing me. The GGC Rescue Team is highly professional and experienced business strategists. .....We have no plans to sue you individually, nor has anyone considered you as a defendant. We just consider you to be funding and supporting the wrong guy. They’re always thinking two or three steps ahead so if they begin suing me and I’m forced to take legal action to protect myself they will use that as an excuse to invalidate their “Honor” Letter of Intent to you. This bears no relation to the truth -‐ it is yet one more example of aggressive tactics being used by the GGC Rescue Team as part of a comprehensive and highly aggressive business strategy. Please do not be fooled if this happens. .....Actually no. If we initiate suit against Jerry, we would NOT invalidate the Letter of Intent. On the other hand, if Jerry sues us, then we will offset our legal costs to his investment. Think about it -‐ the GGC Rescue Team has been actively attempting to persuade GGC clients to request refunds. Now it’s clear they had no intention of giving refunds and are only now trying to find a way to appear they will. ....We did NOT solicit Demands for Refunds, except in a few cases where investors were very distressed. While we felt/still feel there is no way KJ can issue refunds, we also cannot expect to issue refunds with the money already spent by KJ. That is one big reason to get recovery success and go forward. There is no going back. Final note on my meeting with EJ. He asked me to discontinue sending out these updates. I said that until such time as we’re all working together I could not do that. My hope is, however, is if (when!) we’re working together perhaps I’ll stop sending out updates but perhaps I will continue sending them, too -‐ the difference being my efforts will be supported by the unified community. Unification is only possible upon departure of KJ and would be a wonderful co-‐operative solution on our road to success. As I mention often, I got involved in this in an attempt to preserve the value of my investment. It is my belief that Ken is an honest, hardworking guy with both huge talents and as well as good-‐sized flaws. I believe Ken’s shortcomings are easy to accommodate if people with different skills take on certains tasks and functions (like a COO) but Ken is honest and he’s trying very hard to honor the original deals between GGC and GGC Clients. We each see things our own way, draw our own conclusions and pursue our interests in our own way. Supporting Ken, while helping with ideas on changes that needed to be made, was one option for me. ...A poor choice, now even worse with your recent cash purchase.
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During the time I was trying to decide what to do, I had multiple conversations with the GGC Rescue Team. I was never able to understand what they were working toward other than vague generalities -‐ none of which included guaranteeing the original deals with GGC Clients. Since then I’ve seen them continue to make, in my opinion, illegal actionable accusations (libel) and now, in my opinion, they have acted illegally in the “Invasion” (as I think of it) and “Capture Flag” (as Cathy describes it in her Oct. 30th update). Supporting the GGC Rescue Team was the second option I saw for me. ......OK, an interesting way to analyse it. I came to view Ken as truthful and the GGC Rescue Team as pursuing a hidden agenda. This has also been the opinion of other GGC clients and investors whom have emailed Ken and me. Nothing since I came to that conclusion over a month ago (including spending the better part of all last week) has changed my view. As unappealing as some aspects of supporting Ken were, I found nothing appealing at all about supporting the GGC Rescue Team. ....Sooooo sorry. So, I decided to try and bring everyone together in a way that makes sense for all GGC Clients as part of my effort to preserve the value of my original investment (and now as part owner of IGGSA). But, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due. The GGC Rescue Team is winning 100-‐0 on publicity. Having said that, at this point (and I’m not a lawyer), I believe they’re record legally is going to be the exact opposite, 0-‐100. Perhaps once they realize that they’ll continue the progress of our in-‐person meeting Saturday and we can finally start the process of moving GGC forward as one community with one agenda. ....Good to have an opinion. We have employed some of the best talent to get our qualified opinions. Of course we had to actually pay our attorneys. It's also pretty easy to get information and assistance from professionals that KJ failed to pay. By the way, after I finish this update I’m putting all the updates together in one thread and we’re going to post them on the Internet so that the other side of the story can be told. This way, for example, when articles come out after the careful, professional, strategic work of the truly impressive GGC Rescue Team publicity team (neither Ken nor Ian was called to comment on the article) at least we can call people and have a place to point them to understand the other side of the story. ...Emails, Facebook, and promises only assist you with your own opinions and gossip groups. Facts will win in court.
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One thought before I close. When I sold to Wall Street IT organizations I saw many times that people were attacked, not because they had done anything wrong but because they were simply in the way of people that had an agenda. I also said many times -‐ the more value (money) that’s involved -‐ the more aggressive, more intelligent, more strategic, more ruthless, and sometimes even the more unethical are the people (I’m not saying that’s the case here -‐ I believe it’s not) that come after you. It helps if people have made mistakes (like Ken in this situation) and part of the community is angry with the person that is in the way (like this situation). This makes it more likely the people trying to wrest away the value that’s been created by others can be successful. ...It's good then that KJ didn't put up any of his own money, nor did MDR. They have so little to lose. I believe I have a pretty good idea what they the true GGC Rescue Team plan is but I want to try and figure out a couple more things before I talk about it. I hope to share my thoughts on what their real plans are in the next update. ...Hope some of the above comments clear up your misconceptions. Remember: Just because claims are strident and/or repeated again and again doesn’t necessarily make them so (!) ...Correct. Facts are facts. Thank you for your attention and understanding. Jerry ....the "...." comments are by: EJ Lashlee, Senior Trustee GGC RESCUE GROUP TRUST; and as Recovery Agent against Kenneth Dale Johnson and all alter egos, et al; and as Recovery Agent against Mario de Real