Lots of letters

Re: article on Mary Sloane

First, I am a friend of the Sloanes so I have an obvious bias, but so do you. I assume your hate for Don Winner has clouded your judgment. Nor did you do the fair thing and ask her for her side of your "evidence." Let me set the record straight on a few things in your article:

1. No crime has ever been proven against Mary Sloane. There was a crime in New York which cost us all including me a lot of money. Mary did not steal any money nor did she commit a fraud... this was all done in New York. What you have is the rantings of a couple of obsessed investors who are looking for someone to blame for their greed and stupidity. After the collapse of Razor/FX, we all looked to someone to blame, but most of us got over it. Your implication is that because Mary organized an information session and was enthusiastic (as she often is) that she is guilty of something besides enthusiasm (which even in Panama is not a crime). Mary knew nothing of the fraud in New York until the collapse. Almost everyone of us did some outside assessment and I never found Mary to be anything more than enthusiastic. Sometimes I listen to her, sometimes I don't, but it is for me to chose.

2. Mary got commissions on the investments... this was available to any investor who brought in new clients including the vindictive asshole that you are listening to. You don't blame the car sales rep if GM goes bankrupt and what he does with his commission money is nobody's business. If the collapse hadn't occurred, this would not be an issue. (The personal account statement and the email were not public knowledge and I can only assume that the disgruntled one stole these from the Sloane's house in Panama which is often open. Mary's personal laptop was also stolen from her car). This are interesting but all I see as a withdrawal is 5000 in the time period. I withdrew some money as well as other investors I know of, so are we guilty of fraud? The fact remains, the Sloanes lost money and maybe $50,000 is chickenfeed to you, but I suspect it will hurt most investors.

3. The LSBC disciplinary action is interesting but occurred 17 years ago and involved no theft for Mary Sloane's benefit, nor were criminal or disbarment actions taken. You seem to want to hang her for a long forgotten past. I would love to know the 17-year-old secret you have that we can disclose as evidence in the future. Irrelevant at best... read it.

4. Mary was an officer of the company, but did not have bank signing authority so only could deposit cheques. The court requested bank records at Mary's encouragement but as far as I am aware, all money went to NY and the amount that was left uninvested at the time of the collapse was returned to the investors.

In short your article is a smear campaign based on innuendo and hate. What you should be telling to your mister disgruntled is grow up and take your losses like a man and admit to his greed. Unless you were paid to write this crap, you should sit back and look at the damage done to the Sloanes by a few vengeful people and not feed the fire with innuendo! You have now joined that team.

Thanks --- once again --- for cutting edge information

Thank you --- yet again --- for an insightful, informational and yes, humorous news article. Your article on Mary Sloane and the London Asset Management Company reinforces my observation that the greatest danger in Panama is not from drug gangs or robbers, it is the greedy expat preying on newcomers.

You are one of the editors whose articles I try very hard never to miss.

Thanks.

Mary Sloane's website

Thought you might also find the dates of setting up her website quite interesting as well.

http://www.v3whois.com/w/londonassetfx.com

Editor's note: She created the company, and set up the website, in August 2006, but as part of her sales pitch to investors showed a chart that claimed steadily growing earnings for the company starting in 2004. Uh huh. In any case, that website and all of its sales pitches has now been taken off of the Internet.

Who knows what the Panamanian legal system, which takes frauds directed at foreign victims as a laughing matters, will do about this situation? But although Mary Sloane's high-school-style in crowd clique wants to question the maturity and masculinity of anyone who was bilked by her, and spits venom at journalists who publish the documentary record of her actions, I stand by my story.

This woman was chased out of the Canadian legal profession because she misappropriated her client's money, then lied to her client about it, then lied to the British Columbia legal ethics enforcers about it. They may have let her resign before she was disbarred, but the disciplinary report speaks for itself and is damning. Now Mr. Morrison and others take this woman's word about millions of dollars of other people's money that went missing --- having been last seen in her possession --- at face value, and condemn anybody who does not.

Meanwhile, the documentary evidence clearly shows that Mary Sloane used material misrepresentations of past and present facts --- a patently bogus earnings report for her company --- to lure investors into parting with their funds. That's fraud, by somebody with a documented history of taking other people's money and then lying about it. And if she finds individuals and institutions to champion her cause in the community and sling mud at her victims, that's just one more symptom of a severe moral disorder in the community.

Winner

Eric… I am shocked, just shocked, to learn that Don Winner is not a pillar of the expat community! He tried to horn in on my radio show… came by often, uninvited and unannounced, usually with edible goodies --- while we were on the air --- and tried to get air time. Talk about a self-promoter! Mary Sloane sounds like a winner… or I should say Winner.

Corrects an error about the Hercules

The misinformation in this document is appalling. The lightest miter gate on the Panama Canal is over 350 tons, the sea gates at Miraflores --- the tallest gates --- are well over 750 tons. Now how does a crane rated at 250 tons capacity, lift these weights off the hinges for maintenance. Easy question to answer, the gates float. They are hollow and will float when laid down, thus the crane only has to lift part of the gate to get it off the pintle ball at the bottom. Its a sad thing when you have to sell some thing that has the history of the Hercules. My two cents.

Dual citizenship

Just like the concerned reader, in regards to dual citizenship, I, too, am confused. I have always known that the USA doesn’t accept dual citizenship of any kind. However, Panama does). There are MANY Panamanians with dual citizenships. The difference between them and Bosco is that they are not openly running for office. If the rules are to be changed, I hope they do change for ALL and not during this furor about Bosco. Until that happens, across the board, we need to stop quoting American Law and mixing it up with Panamanian Laws. The United States does not accept dual citizenship (do not expect the USA to rescue you when turmoil starts and you are in Panama proclaiming Panamanian citizenship). On the other hand, as Panamanian with a dual citizenship, you may be able exercise your right to vote, run for public office, until it is change and written into the law of the land.

Election coverage

Thank you for sharing all this time your keen insight slicing through this electoral melee, Eric. 

Spread the word about ALS

A good friend of mine (also a Notre Dame graduate but much later than me) who lost her mother to ALS maintains this blog. I am always impressed with her creativity and gift with words.

http://www.alsspreadtheword.blogspot.com/

Sign the letter to stop the US-Panama FTA

As the global economic crisis deepens and more people lose their jobs, we are shocked to learn that the Obama administration may soon push for ratification of the Bush-era US-Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

This treaty promotes deregulation for corporations operating in Panama, one of the world's major corporate tax havens. Even worse, it will reduce wages and labor standards, degrade the environment, and decimate family farms in both countries.

Mingas-FTA is asking Congress to reject this agreement. We are deeply concerned that Congress will use approval of the US-Panama FTA as a litmus test on the likelihood of passing the US-Colombia FTA.

It's time for change! Obama and many congressional candidates were elected on promises to rethink our current economic model, and we need to hold them accountable to their pledge.

Add your voice to our call on Congress to support fair trade over the failed "free trade" model.

To sign the letter as an individual, go to:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/uspanamafta/

To sign the letter as an organization, go to:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/uspanamaftaorg/

Please circulate widely. Thanks for your support!

(The Mingas-FTA Collective is a group of individuals from across the United States, Canada and Colombia who are concerned with promoting sovereignty and economic development, strengthening democracy and improving labor conditions in Colombia. We are integrated within the Hemispheric Social Alliance and are active in North America. We are united in our support for social movements and our rejection of all acts of violence in Colombia, regardless of their source.)

The retirement of US Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter

The retirement of US Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter is critical to all Americans. Though Democrats are hoping for a younger liberal to replace him, conservative Republicans are praying Souter's decision will provide President Obama with the opportunity to rethink his personal pragmatism, to forgo some of his party's policies and to appoint a strictly constructionist judge who will help restore to the country and its citizens the nation’s founding Christian principles and values.

Decades of Godless Supreme Court decisions have created a culture of death in America that now sanctions and approves everything from contraception to abortion, homosexual activity, sex outside of marriage, divorce, sterilization, in-vitro fertilization, pornography, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia and even false notions of a just war.

Without objective truth responsibility, evil, goodness and moral judgment lack any clear concept or manageable moral definition. Indeed, for the pragmatist immoral acts are often falsely elevated to the status of moral virtues under the description of the “right act” --- that being the act required to bring about the “perceived” greater good.

Through man’s conscience an anamnesis of the objective good and true is bestowed on us by God. The genuine word of conscience is not identical with one’s own wishes and taste; nor is it identical with that which is more advantageous, socially speaking, with the consensus of a group or with the claims made by political or societal power.

In this time of great moral upheaval let us hope that President Obama will be moved by the grace of God --- that he will hear the genuine voice of conscience and appoint someone to the US Supreme Court worthy of upholding Supreme values.

chiriquinatural.com

I just placed a link to your publication on www.chiriquinatural.com of which I am webmaster. I participated in the REDLAR forum in Boquete and happened to go along with the group to the besieged Naso territory in San San Druy (beyond Guabito). See Chiriquinatural. Between Ganadera Bocas (owner, controversial millionaire Mario Guardia) and Hidroelectrica Bonyic the Nasos are being squeezed out of their traditional lands. 1 MW dam capacity produces 1 million yearly revenue and so forth. Could it be that Mario Guardia is now being interested in a hydroelectric plant on the San San River being such a good business deal? It's worth looking into.

Oscar Sogandares G.

Objects to link to a Panama Star story

I wish to post a critical objection to Mr. Koster's recent article on the campaign of Pedro Miguel González, which was referred to in an article occurring in the Panama News. Apart from the details of the campaign and the reason for enmity by local Panamanian neighbors of González and other reasons to object to his election, the article fails to mention that González was tried for the murder of Zak Hernandez and acquitted by a court in Panama.

I am aware that the United States government subsequently indicted González for a number of crimes which arose out of the same transaction or occurrence following González's acquittal. I am also aware that Panama law denies to the United States a right to extradition of any Panama citizen for any reason the procedure regarding extraditions from Panama allow.

It is even possible that González cannot travel to neighboring countries without being picked up by INTERPOL and spirited to the United States justice system. Nevertheless the failure of this article to mention these very real objections to United States jurisdiction in this criminal case, implies an approval of a procedure to take Mr. González to the United States and try him for a crime arising out of the same transaction of a crime for which he has been acquitted in Panama.

The United States invaded Panama under most questionable legal norms, and subject to the same criticisms that now exist for the Iraqi invasion. A number of Panamanian citizens were killed in the invasion, unlawfully if the invasion was unlawful, which most thoughtful people, US citizens and Panamanians, agree was unlawful.

I have always admired, and continue to admire The Panama News for its critical reporting. I recognize that the article to which I refer did not occur in The Panama News, but when it is referred to as you did, it might as well have been printed in The Panama News. This appears to me a relaxation of the very high journalistic standards I enjoy and look forward to in the Panama News. If I want lesser quality journalism I can always go to Don Winner's scandal sheet. Consider that I am reproving you for this article, and ask that in the future implied approval of United States terror politics not be in the future endorsed by implication.

Wants more even-handed coverage of Bocas land dispute

As always, a big fan of your writing. However, I must take issue with the unmerited criticism of the Eleta family. It can be perceived as bias or prejudice toward the "rabis" if continued. I believe you are usually fair in your judgements, but in this case, I think you went a little overboard. You might reconsider your judgment of them until all the facts are in.

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