There Aren’t With ANY

9–2–2016 Raw Notes When we want to indicate that a zero quantity of something exists we use there aren’t any. There aren’t any people at the party. There aren’t any trees in my street. We also use this structure with uncountable nouns: There isn’t any water in the swimming pool. There isn’t any sugar in my coffee. http://www.grammar.cl/Present/ThereIsThereAre.htm Geico has sued 5 Florida glass firms and 6 persons for allegedly billing for hundreds of fraudulent auto-glass repairs. Geico seeks to recover damages under the federal RICO and state consumer-protection laws. The insurer says the defendants used customer info to create invoices for phantom glass repairs. http://www.insurancefraud.org/fraud-news-weekly.htm International Association of Special Investigation Units http://www.iasiu.org/resources/ Fraud Study Scams move across industries, investigators say in a study by LexisNexis. Nearly 9 of 10 fraud-mitigation pros (84 percent) say some cases they review are tied to another industry. http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/downloads/whitepaper/2016-LexisNexis-Fraud-Mitigation-Study.pdf http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/newsevents/press-release.aspx?Id=1472076713365797 http://www.iasiu.org/resources/ Sunset Blvd 1950 movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZmanNgLShg https:[email protected]/* */ Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D., https://www.nngroup.com/articles/author/jakob-nielsen/ http://www.signature-reads.com/tag/writing-tips/ https://www.pinterest.com/camphora/libri-da-leggere/ Federal Register | Cargo Securing on Vessels Operating in U.S. WatersThis document contains final regulations that define terms in the Internal Revenue Code describing the marital status…www.federalregister.gov Always in motion is the future. Yoda http://fourletternerd.com/luke-skywalker-did-not-fall-to-the-dark-side-and-is-not-kylo-fing-ren/ Top 5 Youtube Marina Joyce https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKc6JrWSt_67UpEYIefrJQ http://socialblade.com/youtube/user/iraindropsx Tanner Foxx https://www.youtube.com/user/MTflims Scarece https://www.youtube.com/user/GoScarce Emotional contagion In a 2013, paper on how emotions diffuse across social media, Steiglitz discovered that emotionally charged messages tend to be retweeted more often and more quickly. “Emotion can be transmitted via computer-mediated communication and can go viral,” he says. “This is called emotional contagion.” Emotional contagion isn’t new either. It’s an age-old phenomenon whereby an individual’s emotions trigger similar emotions in others. Historically this has led to outbreaks of mass hysteria such as the Salem witch trials, but on the internet the potential for hysteria to spread is even greater. “There is a pressure on people to react instantly as this can enhance a person’s popularity within a group,” says Jacqui Taylor, a chartered psychologist and cyberpscyhology researcher and lecturer at the University of Bournemouth. “This pressure exacerbates groupthink as there is no time to check facts or consider other explanations. If people think others have similar views or emotions then hysteria can result as they confirm the accuracy of each other, and so emotions spiral.” doxxed — meaning their private information had been published on the internet — as a result of the online hysteria. If it sounds remarkably like a witch hunt, that’s because it is. “This sort of thing has always happened in human history,” says John Suler, one of the founders of cyberpsychology and the author of Psychology of the Digital Age: Humans Become Electric, “but cyberspace speeds up the process because these like-minded people can easily find each other and easily target someone.” Being part of a group empowers a person,” says Suler. “The can also result in ‘deindividuation’ — the person goes a long with the crowd and feels less responsible, personally, for the actions they take with the crowd.” The delete button — that came in handy for the many journalists who also accused Sunil Tripathi of being the Boston bomber — also allows users to if not feel, at least appear, less responsible. The implications of this are huge. We live in a world where it’s easier than ever for hysteria to spread, easier than ever to uncover personal information in order to target an individual, and easier than ever to remove ourselves from blame. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/04/marina-joyce-internet-hysteria-witch-hunts-cyberspace ****** design words https:[email protected]/* *//how-to-design-words-63d6965051e9#.i8kt3gcjs WRITING A Writer’s Guide to Hacking the Reader’s Brain (in 5 Steps) By LISA CRON August 22, 2016 : a clear sense of how what’s happening in the plot is affecting the protagonist internally. A story isn’t about what someone does, it’s about why they do it. Only by diving deep into what someone is really struggling with as they make a hard, unavoidable decision, can we reap useful intel on what it would actually be like to be in that situation ourselves. 1. What’s your point? What insight into human nature will I give my reader; what savvy intel on how to better navigate the chaotic, confusing, beautiful world we live in? 2. What’s your protagonist’s agenda: what does she enter wanting? All protagonists enter the story already wanting something very badly — even if it’s to stay exactly as they are, forever. This is something they’ve most likely wanted for eons before the fateful moment when you shove them onto page one. This goal will underlie their agenda from the second they enter the story. It will define how they see the world, themselves, what they want, and what they do. To begin creating your protagonist’s worldview ask: What does my protagonist enter the story already wanting? Why does she want it? 3. What longstanding misbelief will your protagonist have to confront and overcome to get what she wants? This is where your novel’s seminal source of conflict lies: the struggle between what your protagonist enters believing about the world, and what the plot will then set her straight on — that is, if she wants to achieve her longstanding goal. Story is about what it costs your protagonist, internally, to evolve. The question you’re answering here is: evolve from what? This misbelief is what your protagonist will have to confront, struggle with and overcome in order to achieve (or not) her goal, and thus solve the external plot problem. Ask yourself: What longstanding misbelief has held my protagonist back, keeping her from swooping in and getting what she wants without breaking a sweat? 4. What external plot problem will force your protagonist to go after what he wants? The plot revolves around one single problem that grows, escalates and complicates — a problem with mounting consequences that the protagonist has no choice but to deal with. But here’s the part writers often forget: everything that happens in the plot will get its meaning and emotional weight based on how it affects the protagonist, given his internal quest. The plot is there to serve the protagonist’s inner transformation, not the other way around. That means that you need to be sure of two things as you begin to develop your plot problem: Does this one, single problem have the power to steadily escalate, and so sustain the entire novel from the first page to the last? Will it force my protagonist to confront his misbelief — and take action — every step of the way in order to get what he wants? 5. What will your protagonist’s ultimate “aha” moment be? This is the moment when your protagonist recognizes his misbelief for what it is: wrong. In that second his worldview will shift as at last he grasps the actual consequences of what’s been happening. This is often what spurs him to solve the plot problem. It’s the moment the entire novel will build toward from the very first page. This internal shift — and what it will cost your protagonist emotionally to finally get there — is what your story is about. This is what readers come for (whether they’re consciously aware of it or not). Knowing your protagonist’s “aha” moment before you get to page one is what allows you to create a story that earns it. The questions to ask are: What will my protagonist realize that ultimately upends his misbelief? What new belief will take its place? Here’s the beauty of answering these five questions now, and diving deep, asking “why” at every turn: Everything you come up with will actually be in the pages of your novel. You’re creating the lens through which your protagonist will evaluate everything that happens, a lens wholly created by her past experience — which you may have heard referred to as “backstory,” making it sound like it’s not really part of the story you’re telling. That couldn’t be less true. Backstory is the most seminal layer of the story you’re telling, and will be laced into every page, giving meaning to everything. And the excavating doesn’t stop here. You will continually dive into your protagonist’s past as you write forward, to bring clarity, context, conflict and meaning to every decision the plot forces her to sweat over. After all, as Faulkner so astutely said, “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” This article originally appeared on Signature. Lisa Cron has worked as a literary agent, a TV producer, and a story consultant for Warner Brothers, the William Morris Agency, and many others. She is a frequent speaker at writers’ conferences, and a story coach for writers, educators, and journalists. Her latest book, Story Genius, is out now. https:[email protected]/* */[email protected]/* */ff8b6#.xycnubn13 syn·cre·tism ˈsiNGkrəˌtizəm/Submit noun 1. the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought. 2. LINGUISTICS the merging of different inflectional varieties of a word during the development of a language. ghosting — someone suddenly stop all communication “entitled rationalizing” ******* Benjamin Moore Aura line of paints — semi-gloss finish for trim and doors. Aura (in all 3 finishes) can be applied at lower temperatures: a minimum — and I mean minimum — of 5 degrees! http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-ca/for-your-home/transform-your-exterior-with-paint Painting or Restoring a Wood Garage Door. Door painting tips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYuXMSeOj3A How To Paint A Door. Paint A Garage Door With An Airless Paint Sprayer https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_1824510841&feature=iv&src_vid=zYuXMSeOj3A&v=LmEZWqfUefs The Basics of Airless Spraying http://www.graco.com/content/dam/graco/ced/literature/misc/321132/321132EN-F.pdf **** U-turns with commercial motor vehicles are always risky. There is a simple rule to follow if thinking about making a U-turn with a truck: Don’t do it. Straight trucks and dumps are not required to have conspicuity (reflective) tape, at times making them near impossible for other motorists to see . . . www.linkedin.com/hp/update/6177536119207452672 ******** http://drndata.com/liars-lie-why-garaging-fraud-could-be-an-indicator-of-future-fraud/ Lying about where you park your car constitutes insurance fraud One of the most common forms of premium rating errors occurs when drivers misrepresent their residency and the parking address of the insured vehicle. Some drivers may not realize that this constitutes insurance fraud — and while it may save drivers money upfront, the consequences can be more severe than expected. If an insurance consumer lies about a vehicle’s parking address, that consumer may simply find his or her insurance policy is essentially worthless when it comes time to file a claim. Commercial Auto Insurance? You need commercial auto insurance for any automobile, taxi, van, limo, bus or small truck that you use for business because a personal auto policy will not cover your vehicles used for business. Your commercial vehicle coverage will protect you and your business from the costs of property damage, injury and liability claims that you may incur in the use of your commercial vehicles. For larger commercial vehicles such as tow trucks, cement trucks, construction vehicles, tractor trailers or semi-trucks, you will need a commercial truck insurance policy. Not only is your commercial vehicle policy critical for protecting your business financially, but it is required by law. How Much Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cost? The cost of auto insurance depends on a number of things including the size of your business, the types of vehicles and number of vehicles you need to insure, your risks, and the amount of coverage you need. Generally, a passenger auto vehicle will cost much less than a heavy duty vehicle such as dump truck. However, insurance carriers also offer fleet insurance and these policies are typically available at a bulk discount The cost of insurance also depends on the driving records of the drivers who will be using your commercial vehicles. Employees who have bad driving records will cost you more to insure, so it is always important to perform a driving record background check on prospective employees. Drivers who are between the ages of 30 and 65 are typically given better insurance rates. In terms of the cost for the type of vehicle being insured, rates are generally the least expensive for vehicles used in construction and farming. Vehicles used as passenger vehicles and for small deliveries are slightly more expensive. The most expensive vehicles to insure include heavy duty cargo vehicles that transport loads more than 10,000 pounds. Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cover Personal Use? Personal use will be covered for a company owned vehicle providing the company has commercial auto coverage. If you are driving your own vehicle to and from work without using your vehicle for commercial purposes then it would be covered under your personal auto policy. If you are using your personal vehicle for occasionally for commercial purposes, you will either need to have sufficient liability coverage under your personal auto policy, or purchase commercial auto insurance. The best option will depend on the circumstances; if you are using your vehicle for any kind of business purpose, be sure to talk with your agent. The business may be required to get a non-owned business liability endorsement for these situations. If your personal vehicle is insured as a commercial vehicle and other members of your family use the vehicle for personal purposes, then you may have to get a “non-owned vehicle” endorsement. Ask your agent about what is required for these situations. https://www.trustedchoice.com/commercial-vehicle-insurance/coverage-faq/ Driver vs. Company Liability in Commercial Truck Accidents It isn’t always clear who is on the legal hook after a commercial truck accident. Amir Tikriti After a vehicle accident involving a commercial truck, even if it is clear that the truck driver caused the accident, it’s not always easy to figure out who is legally liable. In this article, we’ll discuss some key things to consider when answering the liability question. When is a Company Liable for Its Driver’s Conduct? “Respondeat superior” is the primary theory of liability that holds a company responsible for a traffic accident caused by a truck driver employee. “Respondeat superior” is a Latin phrase that means “let the superior make answer.” Under this principle, an employer is liable for the wrongful acts committed by its employees or agents, provided the acts were unintentional and were committed within the scope of employment. Essentially, respondeat superior imputes the employee’s liability to the employer, making the employer liable as if it had committed the wrongful act itself. The policy governing this rule is a realization that, practically speaking, certain wrongful conduct is bound to occur during the course of the employer’s business. As a result, the losses caused by this wrongful conduct should be placed on the employer as a cost of doing business. Another rationale for respondeat superior is that businesses generally have “deep pockets”, when compared to its employees, and are better able to protect themselves by purchasing insurance, spreading the cost over the entire business. Is the Driver an Employee or Independent Contractor? The first thing the injured person must show is that the truck driver is an employee of the company, rather than an independent contractor. That’s because a company is generally not liable for wrongful acts committed by independent contractors. Although each state’s laws may differ, generally the emphasis is placed on whether the employer has the right to control the detailed manner and means that the work must be performed. If the employer controls the result of the work, but not how the result is accomplished, then an independent contractor relationship is established. For example, if a truck driver used his own truck, furnished his own gas and oil and own liability insurance, assumed the cost of repairs, was paid on a “per route” basis, and received no employee benefits, and the company did not withhold taxes from the driver’s paychecks or instruct the driver how to make deliveries or how to drive the truck, likely the truck driver is an independent contractor. What Acts are “Within The Scope Of Employment”? Determining what constitutes an act committed “within the scope of employment” can be a difficult task. Courts have adopted a number of factors to help resolve this issue. Although each state’s laws may differ, common factors can include: intent of the employee nature, time, and place of the employee’s conduct type of work the employee was hired to do incidental acts the employer should reasonably expect the employee to do amount of freedom allowed to the employee in performing his or her duties, and amount of time consumed in the personal activity. For example, if a truck driver rear ends a car while making a delivery, the employer would be liable for any harm that results because the truck driver was acting “within the scope of employment”. Now suppose that the truck driver leaves work early to go to a basketball game and hits another car outside of the stadium. Here, an argument can be made that the company should not be liable for the accident because the truck driver was not acting “within the scope of employment”. What If the Driver’s Acts Were Intentional? There is an exception to the general rule that a company is liable for accidents caused by its employees. Generally, an employer is not liable for the intentional torts (i.e., assault, battery, kidnapping) committed by its employee. The rationale is that the purpose of the “respondeat” principle is not being met when the employee’s acts are not related to the business enterprise. For example, if a truck driver slams into another vehicle because the driver of the other vehicle was sleeping with the truck driver’s spouse, the company will probably not be liable. http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/auto-accident/liability-commercial-truck-accident.html# http://www.iii.org/publications/insuring-your-business-small-business-owners-guide-to-insurance/specific-coverages/business-vehicle-insurance Biggest lies in car insurance http://www.insure.com/car-insurance/biggest-car-insurance-lies.html INSURANCE FRAUD HANDBOOK Association of Certified Fraud Examiners With estimates ranging from $80 billion to $110 billion a year, insurance fraud is a growing concern within the industry. Current estimates show that 10 cents of every dollar earned is lost due to fraud. https://www.acfe.com/uploadedFiles/ACFE_Website/Content/documents/Insurance-Fraud-Handbook.pdf Making a Career of Investigating Insurance Fraud By ELIZABETH GARONE Updated June 4, 2010 10:43 a.m. ET Michelle Bergeron will tell you that the urge to snoop starts early. As a small child, she would sneak under the Christmas tree late at night and shake her presents to figure out what was inside. For her junior high school science fair project, she chose to bypass the more common baking soda volcano and instead investigate pet food companies and their nutrition claims. Turns out her early sleuthing habits would serve her well in her future career, as an analyst at Esurance, where her challenge is to find and investigate insurance fraud. Name: Michelle J. Bergeron Age: 35 Hometown: Cedar Rapids, Iowa First job: Nurse’s aide Favorite job: My current position Education: B.A. in Sociology (focus on crime, law & deviance), University of Iowa Current position: Special Investigation Unit (SIU) Analyst with Esurance Years in industry: 10 How I Got Here in 10 words or less: Being determined to find a job that made a difference Q: SIU Analyst seems like quite a specialized career choice. Why did you choose it? A: I’ve always been interested in investigations and fraud. A former co-worker saw a posting for an SIU Analyst and encouraged me to apply. I think my varied experience combined with my computer skills ultimately convinced my supervisor that I was the one for the job. You can train the right person for this type of work if they have a natural aptitude and strong computer skills. Q: When did you develop your sleuthing skills? A: I’ve always loved watching investigative shows, and even as a kid I watched “Columbo” and “Murder, She Wrote.” I never took anything at face value. It’s interesting to research and verify something for yourself. Basically, that’s what I do with insurance claims. It’s just much more detailed. Q: You studied sociology in school, yet you recently won a national award for building a computer analysis process from scratch at Esurance. How did you become a techie? A: All of my computer skills are self-taught. I’m a good problem solver, and I’m very interested in computers. I do most of my own PC maintenance and upgrades. I just keep working on different solutions until one works. I’ve tried to find ways to incorporate them into all areas of my life where they can improve results. In fact, I met my husband on the Internet way back in the early nineties before it was so mainstream. Computers open up a realm of possibilities that are otherwise inaccessible. I embrace everything they can do for me at work and at home. Q: Most people don’t equate jobs in the insurance profession with excitement. What do you think? A: The people who commit fraud generally fall into two categories: opportunists and professionals. Trying to outwit the people who make a daily living by committing insurance fraud is exciting. It’s very gratifying when we stop a large ring of people who commit organized fraud. The software I get to use to detect the fraud is very cutting edge and used by many police departments and federal agencies around the country. What could be better than catching fraudsters with high-tech equipment and helping keep insurance costs down for your neighbors in the process? Write to Elizabeth Garone at [email protected]/* */ HOW YOU CAN GET THERE, TOO Best advice: There’s really only one way to go, according to Ms. Bergeron. “You need to get your foot in the door at an insurance carrier and then work toward SIU.” Skills you need: You need to be a self-starter with excellent computer skills, the ability to organize and evaluate data, and effectively communicate analytical results both verbally and in writing. Degrees you should go for: Criminal Justice and Sociology degrees are fairly standard in the industry. Where you should start: An internship is one of the best ways to gain experience. Professional organizations to contact: IASIU (International Organization of Special Investigation Units) Salary range for position: $45,000 to $92,000, according to Insurance Compliance Insight. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704025304575284360503618800 Behaviors: editing the information, exaggerating. minimizing, or perhaps even misrepresenting what is going on Look at attitude and demeanor, use of illustrators as well as their verbal * Lufkin’s Andy House, the exotic car salvage yard owner who crashed his million-dollar Bugatti into a lake in the La Marque area, was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to insurance fraud. According to information presented in court, in October 2009, House bought a 2006 Bugatti Veyron for $1 million and insured the vehicle for $2.2 million. On Nov. 11, 2009, House drove the sports car into Gulf Bay. He left the car running in the water and that resulted in the engine being flooded with saltwater, destroying the vehicle. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Man-who-crashed-Bugatti-into-a-lake-is-sentenced-6703778.php https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLNtqJ_ij_A Lufkin man gets 1 year prison for false insurance claim in Bugatti case 15–15–2015 LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) -A federal judge has sentenced a Lufkin man who drove his million-dollar car into a Galveston County lagoon to 12 months and a day in federal prison after he made a false insurance claim on the car. Andy House will also have to serve three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison. According to information presented in court, in October 2009, House purchased a 2006 Bugatti Veyron for $1 million and had it insured for $2.2 million. On Nov. 11, 2009, House drove the vehicle into the Gulf Bay near La Marque, Texas, and upon exiting the Bugatti, left the motor running, resulting in the engine taking on large amounts of salt water which destroyed the vehicle. House reported to first responders he was reaching for his cell phone when he swerved and accidentally drove into the bay. On Nov. 12, 2009, House called the insurance company and filed a $2.2 million claim on the Bugatti. However, House did not know that another motorist had videoed the accident, including the moment House drove the vehicle into the water, and then posted the video to YouTube. Federal court documents appeared to have shown House had settled with Philadelphia Indemnity in October 2012. House must also pay that settlement back, which was revealed in court to have been $600,000. Judge Michael Schneider handed down the sentence Tuesday in the Lufkin Federal Courthouse. http://raycomgroup.worldnow.com/story/30756895/lufkin-man-gets-1-year-prison-for-false-insurance-claim-in-bugatti-case Al Moriarty’s financial victims: How 100 people lost their savings SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: Now convicted of fraud, a financial adviser and Cal Poly Hall of Famer drew clients into a Ponzi scheme that plundered the savings of more than 100 people for a total of $22 million. How? Patrick S. [email protected]/* */ Nearly eight months pregnant, Sasha Del Giorgio visited financial adviser Al Moriarty with her grandfather in 2008, hoping Moriarty could provide the money she would need to spend more time with her unborn daughter. If her grandparents’ testimonials weren’t enough to persuade her to invest with the Cal Poly Hall of Famer, the gold rings on Moriarty’s fingers seemed to vouch for his success. “He looked like the real deal,” said Del Giorgio, 38, of Cayucos. “I really believed in this man.” In an effort to prove his acumen to investor Sehon Powers, Moriarty flashed even more precious metal, pulling out a suitcase full of gold coins. “That looked pretty good to me,” recalled Powers, 72, of Nipomo. “At the time, gold was worth 1,800 or 1,900 bucks an ounce.” But just as fool’s gold misled many Gold Rush miners, Moriarty’s gold was both alluring and deceptive. And dozens of investors — mostly seniors, people with Cal Poly connections and high school sports coaches — gave Moriarty money on the promise of 10 percent returns. While some received interest payments for a while, eventually many lost life savings, retirement money and homes in what the District Attorney’s Office has described as a Ponzi scheme, paying old investors with new investor money. In all, Moriarty’s $22 million in debts included investments by more than 100 individuals. The 81-year-old Moriarty, who pleaded no contest to seven counts of felony fraud last month, will be sentenced Wednesday when he faces a 5-year term. While a judge will order restitution and a bankruptcy trustee has been selling Moriarty’s property to pay creditors, individual investors aren’t likely to recoup much — if any — of their losses. “I’ve accepted that there’s going to be no financial recovery,” said J. M. Phillips, 76, of Morro Bay, who lost $225,000 investing with Moriarty. Long ties to Cal Poly Moriarty’s roots in the county date to 1953, when he played on a Cal Poly football team that finished the season undefeated, having outscored the opposition 395–65. Primarily a tackle and an end, he also pitched in as a quarterback, guard and kicker. Dick “The Tank” Mannini, a freshman on the team when Moriarty was a senior, said Moriarty was supportive of his teammates. “Friendly,” described Mannini, another Cal Poly hall of famer. “Good guy. Good athlete.” While still a student at Cal Poly, Moriarty, a Long Island, N.Y., native, began selling life insurance, launching a long career in financial services. Football remained an integral part of his life. While Moriarty coached football at Mission Prep, two sons played the sport at Notre Dame. His wife, Patty, is the niece of the late Art Rooney, a founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. As his personal fortunes grew, Moriarty lived in a 4,700-square-foot home in Nipomo, where he threw lavish parties for Cal Poly events. An avid booster of Mustang athletics, he paid $625,000 in 2009 for naming rights to the scoreboard at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Using his connections As a financial adviser who sold annuities, Moriarty had always used his Cal Poly connections to find clients. “He said he did that because employment in education is very stable,” said Eric Burdick, associate media relations director for Cal Poly athletics, who first met Moriarty as a Tribune sports editor and reporter 30 years ago. Prosecutors say Moriarty’s problems began in 2007. Even though he wasn’t licensed to sell securities — a violation of the law — he encouraged investors to take money from their retirement, savings and mortgage accounts to invest in a more lucrative plan that would earn 10 percent interest annually for five years, paid in monthly installments. After investors “loaned” him money, he told them he would invest their money in gold, real estate and home loans for Cal Poly instructors. “After several years of annuities, he told us we could make more money by going with this 10 percent, five-year loan,” Powers said. The District Attorney’s Office would not release a list of victims. But Moriarty’s bankruptcy case tallies 103 individual investors and the amounts they are owed. More than a quarter of the people on the list are connected to Cal Poly as alumni, teachers or athletes. The list is also heavily populated by seniors, high school teachers and high school sports coaches. Many of those investors were initially pleased with results, in some cases seeing steady 10 percent annual profits for a few years. “I would say we were happy for about seven years with the returns we were getting,” said Powers, a Cal Poly graduate. Retired from the aeronautical and space industry, Powers attended a seminar Moriarty put on about 10 years ago. Initially, he decided to invest in annuities, which were earning 3 to 5 percent per year. Burdick began investing seriously with Moriarty in 2007, after he sold his mother’s house for $525,000. “When I sold my mom’s house is when Al made contact with me and told me, ‘Here’s what we can do,’” Burdick said. Moriarty came through initially, paying off a five-year loan at 10 percent annual interest, allowing Burdick to put money in a family trust that helped pay for his mother’s care and helped build retirement funds for him and his two sisters. Trusting Moriarty When Moriarty investors were making money, several of them wrote glowing testimonials for Moriarty’s ads, which appeared in Journal Plus magazine. “The most impressive characteristic about Al Moriarty is his honesty,” wrote Bill Dutton, a former Cal Poly football player and coach, in 2009. Dutton, who first approached Moriarty for annuities in 1988, later lost more than $30,000 in the investment plan, according to the bankruptcy filings. “Not once has any of his advice been incorrect,” wrote Jerry Dean in 2010. Dean, a retired ag instructor at Atascadero High School, lost $171,000. In 2011, Mike Zohns, a retired Cal Poly horticulture professor who lost close to $418,000, wrote that investing with Moriarty, his investment adviser since 1990, was the best thing he and his wife had ever done. Betty Smay, a retired biochemist from Arroyo Grande, offered a similar opinion in 2010: “I can truly say he saved my financial life.” Reached by phone, Smay said she didn’t want to comment about Moriarty, though she said she now wishes she had not invested with him. She lost $158,000, according to the bankruptcy filing. After receiving lucrative returns on early investments, many rolled money from one Moriarty loan to the next, hoping — as Burdick said — “you’d get a bigger pot at the end of the rainbow.” “I had no idea what he invested in,” Burdick said. “As an investor, you probably should know that kind of information, but that was the trust I had in Al. I didn’t need to know that; Al would take care of it.” Del Giorgio visited Moriarty based on stories from her grandparents, who gave Moriarty several loans. Her grandmother, a once-prominent banker, knew Moriarty through a business relationship. Familiar with his work, she and her husband, who once owned a carpet supply business, had invested $187,000 that same year. “I went to see him, and he promised me the world,” Del Giorgio said. If Moriarty could put her $50,000 investment to work, the single mother thought, she might be able to reduce her hours, spending more time with her daughter, now 6. Eventually, she thought, she could earn money for her retirement and her daughter’s college. ‘In over his head’ Moriarty’s plans were genuine, said Marc Stern, his bankruptcy attorney. “I don’t think he ever intended to defraud or screw anybody,” Stern said, noting that one of the real estate purchases Moriarty made had valuable water rights that could have paid off richly during the current drought. “I also think he got in over his head.” The investments would be backed, Moriarty said, by his gold, real estate and a $6 million life insurance policy. But he sold his gold to help pay the $625,000 for naming rights to the Cal Poly scoreboard. The life insurance policy listed his wife as a beneficiary. And the real estate market tanked, damaging his line of credit. “He got caught in the downturn and perhaps made some stupid decisions,” Stern said. The District Attorney’s Office said Moriarty never used investor money to purchase gold or real estate. Money that didn’t pay other investors, the prosecution alleged, went to Moriarty’s personal bank account. By the time Moriarty purchased scoreboard naming rights in 2009, the bankruptcy trustee alleges, Moriarty was already insolvent. Unaware of his financial straits, investors continued to provide him loans, often swayed by the testimonials, Moriarty’s experience and his Cal Poly connections. “He’d been here 50-some odd years,” Phillips said. “It sounded like he had a lot of rentals and investment properties.” As Wall Street woes looked increasingly grim, investing with Moriarty seemed safer, said Phillips, a 1959 Cal Poly graduate who retired as a ranch and vineyard office manager in 1997. Fiscally conservative, he and his wife had built a nest egg over 40 years. With Moriarty’s encouragement, they took the money they had invested with the Charles Schwab brokerage service and entrusted it to Moriarty in 2008. Of the $225,000 he lost with Moriarty, $40,000 had been designated to pay for his grandchildren’s college tuition. Burdick, who had invested $400,000 from the sale of his mother’s house earlier, rolled that money, plus the interest earned off his first investment, into another $600,000 loan in 2011. Powers invested around $800,000, including close to $550,000 for his now late mother. While Moriarty “was a BS’er” who “liked being a big deal,” Powers said, “I never got the sense that he was crooked. And, you know, that’s the mark of a good con man.” Payments suddenly stop According to Moriarty’s preliminary hearing, he once told Jon Hitchen, a former Nipomo High School Football coach, that he had so much gold he could build a mini Fort Knox in his house. But at the beginning of 2011, according to the District Attorney’s Office, Moriarty’s gold was gone, and his boasts gave way to pleas for help as his finances began to crumble. “He would pay me like clockwork,” Del Giorgio said. “And then it started slowing down. And then I started having bounced checks.” In January 2011, Del Giorgio’s monthly $690 checks from Moriarty ceased for good. As he was urging some investors to be patient, Moriarty asked others for more loans. In October, he asked Del Giorgio’s grandparents for another, shorter-term loan — this one for $40,000. “I told my grandfather, ‘Don’t do it, Grandpa — that’s fishy,’” Del Giorgio remembered. Around that time, Moriarty gave Powers several checks, but told him not to cash them. “He said, ‘Hey, I’m in a pinch. I can’t pay you,’” Powers said, noting that Moriarty asked him to be patient. “I said, ‘Well, OK — do your best, Al.’” Jon Huss, a former Stanford football player who coached Arroyo Grande High School’s football team to four sectional titles, had received just three payments from his $322,000 investment when the money stopped that January. “Obviously, it’s a very heinous thing he did to people,” Huss said. In February 2012, after he’d stopped paying some investors, Moriarty asked Pismo Beach residents Harvey and Betty Jones, who met him at a seminar in 2004, for more money, saying he was in a bind. Six days after they gave him $29,000, he asked for another $10,000, which they also gave him. The couple, who lost $585,000 total, never saw any returns from those loans. But Moriarty asked the Joneses and others to be patient, saying he was looking to sell the land with water rights. “He was pinning his final hopes on a piece of property in Nipomo,” Burdick said. Around that time, Moriarty also stopped payments to Ken and Angela Lintz, of San Luis Obispo. Moriarty had regularly paid the couple for more than two years, according to court records. Ken, a 91-year-old World War II and Korean War veteran who retired as a school repairman in Los Angeles, and 92-year-old Angela, a retired key punch operator at UCLA, had first met Moriarty after seeing the Journal Plus ads in 2009. Having lived through the Depression, Ken Lintz said, he and his wife “saved and saved,” until they had $600,000 to invest with Moriarty. “It was the most money I ever had in my life,” said Ken Lintz. While they had always been cautious with money, Moriarty seemed to have a good plan. “He was paying 10 percent, and people were happy with that,” Ken Lintz said. They were making money as well until January 2012, when the checks abruptly stopped. Scheme unravels In April 2012, Moriarty stopped paying Burdick. “Probably one of the most difficult things I ever had to do in my life was to tell my two sisters what happened with Mom’s money,” he said. “And to this date, I have not heard one peep from Al.” In December 2012 — as lawsuits began to pile up — Moriarty moved to Washington state, where he’d owned a vacation home since 1985. On the final day of the month, he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. By May 2013, he was an accused criminal, charged with seven felonies. While the bankruptcy trustee will seek to repay creditors, Moriarty doesn’t have enough assets to pay his debts, which total $22 million. “The amount of money we’ve raised is nothing compared to what the creditors are owed,” said James Rigby, an attorney for trustee Michael P. Klein. While sales of Moriarty’s property have raised “very little,” according to Rigby (around $2 million, according to court records) bankruptcy cases give priority to secured creditors, such as banks. Some of the money will also go to Klein and Rigby, who invoiced the court for $26,000 and $86,000, respectively. As a result, investors are resigned to having lost large amounts of money. “It took away all the cushion I had for retirement,” Powers said. “Now I’m dependent on Social Security and my home equity.” Fortunately, Powers never used his home to invest with Moriarty. Phillips remembers Moriarty encouraging people to refinance their homes to invest more money with him. “I’m just so thankful that we said, “We don’t really need to do that,’” he said. “My heart goes out to the people that did do that.” Phillips is one of several investors who filed lawsuits against Moriarty. But taking legal action cost him even more. “It annoys me that I’m out about $10,000 in attorney’s fees,” he said. Del Giorgio is now happily working full-time in member services for a large retailer. But she’s sad to see her grandfather in a bind. His wife now has Alzheimer’s, she said, and it’s costly to keep her in residential care. While his investment money could have paid for her care, he had to take out a reverse mortgage to support for it. “My grandfather is devastated,” she said. Painful lessons Still, some are more forgiving. After Moriarty was charged with felonies, Angela Lintz wrote a letter to the editor, which appeared in The Tribune and declared, “To call Al a scam artist is criminal.” “I don’t think that man ever did anything willfully to hurt anybody,” Lintz, who lost $516,000, told The Tribune. Her husband agrees, saying Moriarty’s fall from grace was caused more by the poor economy than fraud. “He had nothing but good intentions,” said Ken Lintz. His wife’s children eventually would have inherited the money, he said. Mannini, Moriarty’s former teammate at Cal Poly, said he wished Moriarty had been more truthful about the investments. But, he added, he doesn’t want to sit in judgment. “I think when the real estate market went belly up, that’s when this business started,” said Mannini, who lost $25,000. “I made a mistake, and he made a mistake.” While Cal Poly is working to have Moriarty’s name removed from its scoreboard, Mannini doesn’t think that’s fair — despite Moriarty’s felony convictions. “I think he did an awful lot of things for the university,” said Mannini, who now lives in Twain Harte. “I don’t think the university should turn its back on him.” Those who think Moriarty’s name is a disgrace to Cal Poly, however, also believe the financier with golden promises should spend more time in jail. “It’s better than soaking up the sun up there in Washington,” Phillips said. Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/investigations/article39496623.html#storylink=cpy ♦