By The San Francisco Chronicle
A former San Francisco prosecutor who inherited a role overseeing a multimillion-dollar trust has been sentenced to an 8 1/2-year prison term and ordered to repay the $52 million in trust funds he misappropriated and spent in just six months in Alaska, authorities said.
Mark Avery, 48, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money-laundering charges in federal court in Alaska in March 2007. After repeated delays, he was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline and immediately sent to federal prison.
Avery, who has filed for bankruptcy protection and most recently was living with relatives in Vallejo, worked as a prosecutor in San Francisco before he was fired by then-incoming District Attorney Terence Hallinan in 1996.
His father, Luther Avery, was one of the nation's pre-eminent trust attorneys. When the elder Avery died in 2001, Mark Avery inherited his role in charge of a charitable trust run out of San Francisco on behalf of the late May Smith, a wealthy widow.
Avery illegally borrowed against the trust and spent the money on a ragtag fleet of vintage war machines, including World War II planes and a fleet of fighter jets in Alaska, prosecutors said.
His attorney said he fell under the influence of Robert "Commander" Kane, a swashbuckling figure who convinced Avery that the fleet would be useful to foreign clients fighting rebel armies.
The spending spree drew the attention of the FBI and Internal Revenue Service in Alaska, triggering the federal investigation. Smith suffered from Alzheimer's disease and died in 2006 without knowing what had happened.
Avery spent the trust money in six months, but his defense lawyer has said he always intended to pay it back.
"Mark did not approach his position as trustee with the idea that he was going to steal $52 million from it," attorney D. Scott Dattan said. "That was not his intention when his father died."
Avery faced a minimum of 14 years in custody under federal guidelines, but government prosecutors asked that he be sentenced to a shorter term because he was cooperating with a continuing investigation into the trust fraud.
Steve Skrocki, the federal prosecutor, said there was no evidence Avery considered the money he took to be a loan.
"He took the money and kept taking it until there was no more left," Skrocki said. "He didn't stop at $10 million. He took the entire $50 million and then some. And no one checked him on it."
Skrocki said Avery had betrayed Smith and her trust. "None of the things he did was for her benefit," the prosecutor said.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Rob Kane Disapeared?
Anchorage, AK-Jan. 29, 2008-Early this month I received a message that former Alaskan Rob Kane had been found dead in the Philippines by his wife Karen.
The message came from a contact of Kane's that I was familiar with, only by name. Other than that one message--no other contact has been possible.
According to the brief dispatch--he had been pushed, or jumped from a building--near or in the place that they were living on the island of Mindanao.
Neither e-mail, telephone, or Skype contact was ever returned by Kane, or his wife Karen.
My efforts to contact Kane have failed, but according to bloggers and newspaper reporters there was no story, or information about his death, or the death of a U.S. Citizen during that same time period.
The mystery of Rob Kane continues, this time with his disappearance--or death.
Stay tuned!
The message came from a contact of Kane's that I was familiar with, only by name. Other than that one message--no other contact has been possible.
According to the brief dispatch--he had been pushed, or jumped from a building--near or in the place that they were living on the island of Mindanao.
Neither e-mail, telephone, or Skype contact was ever returned by Kane, or his wife Karen.
My efforts to contact Kane have failed, but according to bloggers and newspaper reporters there was no story, or information about his death, or the death of a U.S. Citizen during that same time period.
The mystery of Rob Kane continues, this time with his disappearance--or death.
Stay tuned!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
OIG Hiding, or Incompetence..No too busy?
Anchorage, AK-Nov. 4, 2007-The latest in the query into how the civil rights of Rob Kane were violated by the FBI while investigating Mark Avery and Security Aviation is just as puzzling as the rest of the case.
A complaint filed with the OIG by myself, "yours truly" came up with the letter posted previously, so I called the OIG office and asked them once again, Why would the OIG ask the FBI to investigate itself?
The answer is obvious, they don't want anything to do with the case complaint, or they are investigating it and don't want to let the cat-out-of-the-bag.
"We get thousands of complaints and don't have time to investigate them all," according to Cynthia Schnedar. "You will have to read our latest report of activities online and you might understand why."
But look at what she said. "Thousands of complaints."
This doesn't exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about our government at work.
And now the FBI has been advised to investigate itself if they find cause.
That's cause for alarm enough.
We will see if the FBI received the letter from the OIG, or is this just further a ruse to buy time...another FOIA is on its way Cynthia.
Standby.
A complaint filed with the OIG by myself, "yours truly" came up with the letter posted previously, so I called the OIG office and asked them once again, Why would the OIG ask the FBI to investigate itself?
The answer is obvious, they don't want anything to do with the case complaint, or they are investigating it and don't want to let the cat-out-of-the-bag.
"We get thousands of complaints and don't have time to investigate them all," according to Cynthia Schnedar. "You will have to read our latest report of activities online and you might understand why."
But look at what she said. "Thousands of complaints."
This doesn't exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about our government at work.
And now the FBI has been advised to investigate itself if they find cause.
That's cause for alarm enough.
We will see if the FBI received the letter from the OIG, or is this just further a ruse to buy time...another FOIA is on its way Cynthia.
Standby.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
OIG Refuses to Investigate FBI in Alaska
Anchorage, AK-Oct. 24-Amazing simply amazing.
When I sent a complaint to the Office of the Inspector General on Aug. 16 about the odd, and ruthless investigation into Security Aviation, and trial of Rob Kane by the FBI, it was lost, and I re-sent it three times.
Today I received the following letter that indicates that the OIG wants the FBI to investigate itself.
This is strange, how can this be?
Click on the image to read it better:
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Kane Trial Information Sealed by CIPA Motion
Click on these to read:
Anchorage,AK-Oct, 23-Here art the motions and letters to seal information that the U.S. Attorney's office obtained from the intelligence community. If Kane was not an operative for a U.S government agency, or other worldwide organizations, then why was this case protected by the Classified Information Protection Act?
Please click on the images above to enlarge and read them.
Anchorage,AK-Oct, 23-Here art the motions and letters to seal information that the U.S. Attorney's office obtained from the intelligence community. If Kane was not an operative for a U.S government agency, or other worldwide organizations, then why was this case protected by the Classified Information Protection Act?
Please click on the images above to enlarge and read them.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Are we losing our "Freedom" here in the US?
Is martial law immanent in the U.S.?
Anchorage, AK-Oct. 20-I chatted yesterday with Rob Kane who is now living in the Philippines. He now has the time to take a close look at what happened during the Security Aviation investigations of 2006.
The subsequent trial where he was acquitted of possessing, ordering, and failing to register Soviet rocket launchers for L-39 jets was surely a sham, and left him with a stigma.
Despite the acquittal he can no longer travel, or work.
Although some might say that he never did work, others would argue, that's how it was supposed to look.
What a shame that after experiencing 32-days in jail, a trial, and being acquitted he is not a free man, and really he never was.
Neither are we.
Those of us who live in the U.S., pay in many forms for our birthright, some with their lives, others by taxes, most by supporting the very country where we were born in some indirect way by being a society of consumers.
To prove this point more information will be posted on this blog in the future. Should this blog disappear, or stop its postings...well you can guess what has happened to my freedom.
Please review the following posting, a transcript of a KTVA Channel 11 new story on Rob Kane's predicament.
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/tik0703/frontpage/911critique/talkback/1178027899/discussionitem_view
Anchorage, AK-Oct. 20-I chatted yesterday with Rob Kane who is now living in the Philippines. He now has the time to take a close look at what happened during the Security Aviation investigations of 2006.
The subsequent trial where he was acquitted of possessing, ordering, and failing to register Soviet rocket launchers for L-39 jets was surely a sham, and left him with a stigma.
Despite the acquittal he can no longer travel, or work.
Although some might say that he never did work, others would argue, that's how it was supposed to look.
What a shame that after experiencing 32-days in jail, a trial, and being acquitted he is not a free man, and really he never was.
Neither are we.
Those of us who live in the U.S., pay in many forms for our birthright, some with their lives, others by taxes, most by supporting the very country where we were born in some indirect way by being a society of consumers.
To prove this point more information will be posted on this blog in the future. Should this blog disappear, or stop its postings...well you can guess what has happened to my freedom.
Please review the following posting, a transcript of a KTVA Channel 11 new story on Rob Kane's predicament.
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/tik0703/frontpage/911critique/talkback/1178027899/discussionitem_view
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
FBI lies, the twisted truth in hopes of a conviction
(Oct. 17) Anchorage, AK-Rob Kane is alive and well in the Philippines, but he is stuck.
If ever there was a man without a country, Kane fits the definition. You see, Kane can't come back to the U.S. even "if" he wanted to.
It seems that he has been flagged by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and is on a 'watch list.'
Even after being acquitted (in a two-week court case) he is paying the price for what looks like a war between U.S. departments that are seeking power over each other. Kind of a war-within-a-war between government agencies.
But how can this be?
Americans are not war like, we are politically correct...or are we?
For some unknown reason it appears as if the FBI sold Kane out, in a self imploding war between field offices, some who work in the U.S. and other that do not.
It seems that the agents that are so visible these days in Alaska, are looking for something more than fish, and moose, but some hide. And Rob Kane's hide was exposed for awhile during the first days of the Security Aviation investigations.
Not that the the Anchorage Daily News helped any... they were spoon fed information from the FBI and published forty some stories about Kane and Avery. Sort of like picking a scab, until it bleeds, they continued to beat the feds drum.
Not knowing, FBI agents examining the Security Aviation case involving Mark Avery tripped over Kane, blindly and tried to discredit him because he was in the way of their trumped up case.
It all started over a crash in Ketchikan, AK that killed a U.S. Custom's agent. What prompted this deal to go sour? Maybe it was knowledge that Kane had, that Security Aviation's competitors feared...and someone squealed to the Feds in jealousy.
To see and hear more about how our taxes are being used please look at these online YouTube videos from KTVA Channel 11 News in Anchorage:
A pilot dies while repossessing Security Aviation L-39s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EGH8UCv7Jo
Omissions by the FBI in search warrants..an agent lies to the court and says "I am taking that company down" and he did!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLtoN6DTXV0&mode=related&search=FBI%20LIES%20TO%20JUDGE%20AND%20PILOT%20DIES%20SPY%20ALASKA
FBI goes after Rob Kane, during a witch hunt for a murdered woman who is alive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5OtDdeXk8g&mode=related&search=FBI%20LIES%20TO%20JUDGE%20AND%20PILOT%20DIES%20SPY%20ALASKA
Only an investigation into the actions of the FBI will help control this from happening needlessly again.
If ever there was a man without a country, Kane fits the definition. You see, Kane can't come back to the U.S. even "if" he wanted to.
It seems that he has been flagged by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and is on a 'watch list.'
Even after being acquitted (in a two-week court case) he is paying the price for what looks like a war between U.S. departments that are seeking power over each other. Kind of a war-within-a-war between government agencies.
But how can this be?
Americans are not war like, we are politically correct...or are we?
For some unknown reason it appears as if the FBI sold Kane out, in a self imploding war between field offices, some who work in the U.S. and other that do not.
It seems that the agents that are so visible these days in Alaska, are looking for something more than fish, and moose, but some hide. And Rob Kane's hide was exposed for awhile during the first days of the Security Aviation investigations.
Not that the the Anchorage Daily News helped any... they were spoon fed information from the FBI and published forty some stories about Kane and Avery. Sort of like picking a scab, until it bleeds, they continued to beat the feds drum.
Not knowing, FBI agents examining the Security Aviation case involving Mark Avery tripped over Kane, blindly and tried to discredit him because he was in the way of their trumped up case.
It all started over a crash in Ketchikan, AK that killed a U.S. Custom's agent. What prompted this deal to go sour? Maybe it was knowledge that Kane had, that Security Aviation's competitors feared...and someone squealed to the Feds in jealousy.
To see and hear more about how our taxes are being used please look at these online YouTube videos from KTVA Channel 11 News in Anchorage:
A pilot dies while repossessing Security Aviation L-39s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EGH8UCv7Jo
Omissions by the FBI in search warrants..an agent lies to the court and says "I am taking that company down" and he did!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLtoN6DTXV0&mode=related&search=FBI%20LIES%20TO%20JUDGE%20AND%20PILOT%20DIES%20SPY%20ALASKA
FBI goes after Rob Kane, during a witch hunt for a murdered woman who is alive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5OtDdeXk8g&mode=related&search=FBI%20LIES%20TO%20JUDGE%20AND%20PILOT%20DIES%20SPY%20ALASKA
Only an investigation into the actions of the FBI will help control this from happening needlessly again.
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