business & economy

Also in this section:
Doctors' strike prolonged
Mark Boswell's alias Rex Freeman's Costa Rica office raided
Business & Economy Briefs

From Costa Rica's English-language online daily newspaper, AM Costa Rica

Agents investigating expat financial figure and wife

by Elise Sonray and the AM Costa Rica staff

An expat consultant and his wife are being investigated for running unregistered financial operations here, according to the Seccion de Fraudes of the Judicial Investigating Organization.

The investigators confirmed Thursday that they had conducted a raid on the premises of Trade Exchange SA October 30 as part of the investigation.

The individuals involved are Mark Emory Boswell, who uses the name "Rex Freeman" in his online financial operations, and his wife, Evelyn Reed, said the investigators.

Boswell, formerly from Colorado, had lived and operated his business in Costa Rica since 1999. Although some of his businesses still are operating here, Boswell shut down Interglobal Finance SA in November 2005 and moved the bulk of his operations to Panama.

Both Trade Exchanges, identified as Tradex and Interglobal are among the 19 companies that the Superintendencia General de Valores lists on its Web site as operating here but not registered with the government. The agency said that operating without registration is a violation of the securities law and the commercial code and punishable by prison.

Tradex is believed to sell bonds, other financial instruments and even real estate via a phone room based in Escazu, said investigators. At the time of the raid about five or six persons were working there. Now the firm continues in business with one employee, they said.

Two other firms believed associated with Boswell are Kerford Investments SA, and Strategic Management Services SA, which also are on the Superintendencia's unregistered list.

Bosell, using the name Rex Freeman, published at least two articles is EscapeArtist.com, a website that promotes high-return financial services. He said in January 2005:

"I left the USA probably for many of the same reasons most do; the erosion of rights, the lawlessness of the courts, the intrusions of privacy, the omnipresence of big brother and the general mental decay of society. What once made America great, is now gone, or at best is quickly disappearing and I’d had enough. It was time to go."

He bragged on how he could make a good living dealing in foreign exchange with a computer as a permanent tourist in Costa Rica. The next month he wrote an article on how to buy property here for pennies on the dollar using a third-party trust.

The Judicial Investigating Organization agents said that at least 150 investors are involved with Boswell's firms here. Two of these investors are Costa Ricans and former employees. These are the individuals who have signed complaints against him. Agents said the two men had from $5,000 to $8,000 each in his businesses.

When Boswell moved to Panama he quickly sued Eric Jackson, operator of the Panama News. Boswell appeared to be upset with a story Jackson wrote titled "'Patriot' militia radio personality to expat investment hustler." In the article Jackson chronicled how Boswell left Colorado where he had a right-wing weekly radio talk show and then set up business in Costa Rica. Interglobal is believed to be registered in Panama now.

One of the former employees who filed a complaint said that Boswell's business caters to those trying to hide assets offshore. The ex-associate displayed a credit card that had no name imprinted on it, just numbers. The card was issued by Continental Trust in Switzerland, it said.

Investigators said Thursday [November 8] that they have not developed enough evidence to seek an arrest.

(Copyright 2007 by AM Costa Rica, reprinted with their permission)

Editor's note: After publication of this story one Donald K. Winner, who has published the teachings of "Rex Freeman" and published a call for the mass filing of criminal defamation charges against yours truly in order to close down The Panama News, rose to Mark Boswell's defense with a prolonged rant that began and ended in this curious way:

A web site called AM Costa Rica published an article yesterday entitled "Agents investigating expat financial figure and wife"

*     *     *

[I]t bothers me to see Eric Jackson taking chunks out of another victim. But you should also know that Rex Freeman is not a personal friend of mine (we have met exactly once), nor does he advertise on my website. In the case of Rex Freeman there are, as usual, some elements of truth to the stories Eric Jackson writes - like a raid did occur in Costa Rica. But for the most part it's apparently just a continuation of a personal conflict between Rex Freeman and Eric Jackson. And with regards to the report published in AM Costa Rica (and echoed by Eric), I see it as lazy, inaccurate, biased, unethical, and morally questionable "reporting" which has been Eric's trademark for years. Really, no surprise at all.

Editor's note: Sic. Lots of fun being attacked for a story that I didn't write!

Mark Boswell alias Rex Freeman's response to the AM Costa Rica story was even longer and more ludicrous, a diatribe entitled "An Ex-Pat Warriors’ Search for Freedom & Truth" (sic), wherein he boasts of his far-right "patriot" movement activities and criminal convictions in Colorado. The part about his chameleon act, where he claims to have "adopted my pen name which has later become my bona fide persona" was especially entertaining.

Inventing a fictitious source for my previous reports about his scams, Boswell / Freeman alleged a fictitious bribe:

She found a mouthpiece with an internet Panama Newspaper rag to print all kinds of nasty untruths and c-r-a-p and half truths about me. The bogus writer never knew me or had any dealings with me and had no basis for anything he wrote so he was obviously ‘fed’ this information from somewhere. Hmmmm. I wonder? When he requested an interview from me it was very clear that he had a predetermined agenda and he wanted nothing to do with the truth of the matter. He was going to print what he had in mind regardless of the truth. So I ignored him with a warning to respect the truth.

So he printed his filth for profit as he was likely paid to do.

And what does my colleague in Costa Rica, editor Jay Brodell of AM Costa Rica, think of Winner's and "Freeman's" responses to his publication's story?

As to Winner:

I must admit it was getting dull here. I have not really been attacked since the Villalobos investors began to wise up.

I think Miss Sonray will be very happy to have been called names on the Internet.

I would sue Winner but I would be hard-pressed to prove any damages.

As to Boswell alias Freeman:

His rant is typical of that political stripe....  This guy needs professional help.

And what did Panamanian authorities do, now that "Rex Freeman" is in Panama offering unregistered "banking" services over the Internet. Why, Migracion just gave him residency status here, despite his criminal record in Colorado.

For a more intimate look at the operations of "Rex Freeman," see this issue's letters section.

Also in this section:
Doctors' strike prolonged
Mark Boswell's alias Rex Freeman's Costa Rica office raided
Business & Economy Briefs