Rock Concerts Rip-off $1 million !!!
“Nothing is so contagious as example, and our every really good or bad action inspires a similar one.” La Rochefougauld
I found this quote for this post, but thought it was ironic that is, as far as law and justice are concerned. If all these individuals are being incarcerated, what example is being inspired. Obviously, sending people to prison is not a deterrent to crime, increasing the time is not deterring crime, even the death penalty for white-collar crimes in some cultures have not been a disincentive to crime. I think we need to rethink what truly works to ‘prevent’ crime, or at least minimize it.
Today CrimeDivas, Lauren Baumann, 43, of Downey, CA– plead guilty to wire fraud. Ms. Baumann, the owner of Aliso Viejo-based Stewardship Estates LLC, ran an $1 million Ponzi scheme on more than two dozen victims in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Ms. Baumann promised these investors that their money would be used to host battle-of-the-bands Christian rock concerts. (Just because you do something in the name of christianity does not mean you are a christian – is that being judgmental or having a right to your own opinion?)
The really disturbing aspect about this is it is not Ms. Baumann first time committing a white-collar crime. According to records, she was convicted of securities fraud in Texas in 1999, which means this time around, Ms. Baumann, prison time will be even longer when sentenced . . . up to twenty years.
The only way I see this, is we have to start talking openly about white-collar crimes, especially among females. These kinds of crimes are a secret to everyone in that person’s life and the more people openly talk about this the more likely the person will think about not doing a crime. The more examples they see of how it destroys families and communities the more likely we can prevent someone from crossing the line. Join me today, tell someone about this site and www.CrimeDivas.com. Let them read for themselves this Pandora box these crime creates.
It’s summer, why not learn more about white-collar crimes by reading some very short but informative stories like: The Password-DeVine or The Check-DeVine. If you are a Kindle Prime Member its free, for all other upload either books, or both on your eReader for only .99 each.
6 comments on “Rock Concerts Rip-off $1 million !!!”
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Back in March of 1998, I notified US Postal Dept and SEC of her illegal activities! They came
back to me saying “we need your help in gaining evidence to shut her company down, and
get her sent to prison”; so, I got into her file cabinets, pulling pertinent information showing
Lauren wiring money to different investors from another investor’s account! Plus, her putting
illegal seconds on properties I owned (never an officer in my company) to prove collateral
as security for her investors! They needed me as the inside man to get the documentation
to get her convicted! Now, back-up one month to February of 1998, I saw her investment
letter showing huge returns for money investing in her company; I then knew at that time she
was doing something illegal, thus my interest in exploring her financial activities. When I
confirmed some her of illegal activities, I went to law enforcement! At no time did I conspire
in her illegal activities; as a matter of fact, when I first saw her investment letter, I tried to get
her to discontinue it, pay her investors back, and shut it down! When she refused, then I
decided to go to the feds and inform them.
Wow, Ed, that was very brave of you and I’m sure a very hard thing to do considering you guys had children. I want to stop
women from committing these crimes. It is the purpose of my websites and why I write by books. I would really be honored to
hear how this affected you and your children in more details [you said you had major lost in your business],
so I can really show the impact of these crimes to these and other women in order for them to see what I call
“The bigger picture.” Hope to hear from you. My email address is lcdevine50@gmail.com
Thank you for the email response on my ex-wife Lauren Baumann! In going deeper into the details of carnage to victims (like myself), I was so naive to the amount of damage inflected
on me as time went on; for instance, the SEC and US Postal Departments were very pessimistic
about my integrity when I first approached them about my wife’s illegal activities. There thinking
was “he’s married to her, they office together, how could he NOT be involved”. He just yelled
WOLF earlier before she did! So, I spent months accumulating illegal documentation to prove
my cooperation and loyalty; also, you have to remember back when all this started, I assumed
once I hired my attorney (former FBI lawyer & prosecutor), that he and the SEC/US Postal
Departments would handle everything from now on! Not so, saying that I had to get the documentation to them so she could be shut down and prosecuted! I did what they ask me to
do, and finally they believed me after months doing my investigative work and findings! Now lets go to my personal and business side; half on my neighbors believed I was involved with her scam, and the other half believed me! Most of our neighbors had invested with Lauren, so later
on when she started to skip making the monthly payments, they came to me for help! All I
could say to them was get your money out ASAP-couldn’t say anything more because I was under a gag order from SEC to not divulge anymore information to them. Then when my three
banks that I do my real estate business found out that my wife was being investigated by the feds, they all dropped my lines of credit with them! I’m talking $1.5 million with one bank, $1.5 million from another, and $750,000 from the last one; so, $3.75 million dollars of credit just
went down the drain, which ultimately destroyed my business! Next battle I faced was our
divorce war! I got stuck with a huge child support monthly amount that I could not pay because
my business was failing-to bad for me, so I was thrown in jail for ten days for non-support
payments falling behind-which were only two payments! She had a very aggressive child
support attorney, and I did not because I could not afford one! Then, Lauren came-up with
all these terrible charges that I inflicted on her and our children-drunk, physical abuse, molesting the children, etc. saying this caused her to do illegal business deals to satisfy my
huge desire to not harm her, and make forceful demands of money from her! I was so outraged
by her making all those allegations until I found out why she made them-to get me and keep me
in jail indefinitely so the judge would be sympathetic to her, and not send her to federal prison
for her forty-one month term; her reasoning was that if I was incarcerated, the judge would not
send her to prison because both parents would be jailed, causing nobody to take care of our
children! Well, this all backfired in her face because child support agency did an investigation
of her alleged charges against me and concluded none of them were true, and the judge still
would have sent her to prison regardless if I was in prison or not! Let me know if you want me to continue-
Regards
Ed Baumann
Ed, I haven’t forgotten about you. Working on a big project at work and won’t be done until after the 27th. Will reply then.
Interesting story about my ex-wife Lauren Baumann! None of the vicious illegal activities that
she conspired and implemented over the years would have been possible without my imput
and tireless documentation that I provided to the SEC! The one element missing that is never
discussed is what pain she caused me and my sons; her ponzi scam ruined my business and
caused undue embarassment to our sons. Thank God I found the courage to leave her and
help law enforcement close her down!
Ed Baumann
Ed, thank you for commenting. I am a little confused you stat “without my imput and tireless documentation that I provided the SEC – am I reading this correctly, because the way that is worded it sounds like you conspired to the illegal activities and if that is the case one would think you are much to blame as she for your business ruined and your sons embarrassment. If I am reading what you stated incorrectly please correct me, because I will have a completely different conversation for you.