OBC Chair Cristina Danforth Admits At July 6 GTC Meeting That Traveling For One Of Her Other Jobs & Her Staff’s Incompetence Resulted In Loss Of $4 Million From Negotiated Prescription Drug Price Program [VIDEO]; ALSO, Tina Claimed That Vice-Chair Melinda Danforth Under Guidance Of Chief Counsel Jo Anne House Allowed Vote On Unlawful Amendment Reducing Tribal Per Capita Payments At June 13 GTC Meeting; PLUS, Media Reports That GTC Members Were Asked To Not Discuss Possible New Sales Tax For Non-Indian Businesses On Reservation; Read The Oneida Law Office’s CONFIDENTIAL Analysis; UPDATE: Fmr. Loan Officer Paul Piikkila Pleads Guilty In Bank Fraud Case Involving Ron & Kelly Van Den Heuvel; Read The Plea Agreement

At the July 6, 2016 Semi-Annual General Tribal Council Meeting, Oneida Business Committee Chair Cristina Danforth admitted that the Oneida Health Center lost access to a federal negotiated prescription drug cost program resulting in a loss to the Tribe of $4 Million due to her own extreme carelessness in failing to sign the required documents in a timely manner due to the fact that she was away traveling for one of her other jobs.

As Oneida Eye has reported, OBC Chair Cristina Danforth is also currently President of the Native American Finance Officers Association / NAFOA Board of Directors and is also a member of the Board of Directors of both the Native American Bank, NA & the Native American Bancorporation Co.

As we’ve also reported, the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin has already lost over half of its $1 Million investment in NABNA.

Although some Tribe members have speculated that Comprehensive Health Division Director Debra Danforth may have withheld the documentation from the Chair’s office until Tina Danforth had already left on travel in an act of political gamesmanship, OBC Chair Tina Danforth told GTC at the July 6 Semi-Annual Meeting that her office had been notified by email about the necessity of her signing the documents in order to access the discounts.

Yet, Tina Danforth claimed that she receives too many emails for her staff to keep track of, suggesting that she would have failed to sign the required forms in time even if she had not been away on travel for another job.

As Oneida Eye reported, OBC Chair Cristina Danforth’s Executive Assistant Lora Skenandore was given that position by Tina immediately following Lora’s dismissal from the Oneida Gaming Commission due to her conviction for ‘Welfare Fraud.’

OBC Chair Cristina Danforth also claimed at the July 6 Semi-Annual GTC Meeting that – in her absence from the June 13, 2016 GTC Special Meeting due to travel for another job – OBC Vice-Chair Melinda Danforth had unlawfully allowed a vote to reduce GTC’s Per Capita to $1,300 as an amendment by Nancy Skenandore to a main motion by Yvonne Metivier to raise GTC’s Per Capita to $2,000 for five years.

The June 13, 2016 GTC Special Meeting Action Report Draft shows the following:

Motion by Yvonne Metivier to direct the OBC to pay $2,000 Per Capita beginning Fiscal Year 2017 through 2021. Seconded by Scharlene Kasee. Motion carried by hand count: 1068 support; 200 opposed; 35 abstained

Amendment to the main motion by Nancy Skenandore to revise the Per Capita payment amount to $1,300 instead of $2,000. Seconded by Don Charnon. Motion carried by hand count: 791 support; 702 opposed; 32 abstained

Amendment to the main motion by Debra Schnell to revise the Per Capita payment plan to be in effect for the next three (3) fiscal years instead of the next five (5) fiscal years. Seconded by Linn Cornelius. Motion failed by hand count: 642 support; 829 opposed; 52 abstained

Amendment to the main motion by David P. Jordan to go with the OBC’s plan to pay off the debt. Seconded by Chris Cornelius. Motion carried by hand count: 697 support; 612 opposed; 87 abstained

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07/28/2016 UPDATE & REVISION:

Oneida Eye has posted below video of OBC Chair Cristina Danforth’s admission that the incompetence & negligence of herself and her staff cost the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin millions of dollars, and we will be posting our updated analysis of OBC Chair Cristina Danforth’s and OBC Chief Counsel Jo Anne House’s competing claims about the lawfulness of the actions of OBC Vice-Chair Melinda Danforth in an upcoming post.

 

Apparently, Cristina Danforth was too busy planning for the NAFOA Board’s recent trip to Cuba and she expensively failed to the atend to the business that GTC elected her and pays her to do as Oneida Business Committee Chair…

just as Tina failed in her own personal business resulting in bankruptcy.

Tina Danforth with NAFOA Board enjoying themselves in Cuba

Tina Danforth with the NAFOA Board enjoying themselves in Cuba

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Another motion was made at the July 6 Semi-Annual GTC Meeting by Oneida Personnel Commission Administrator Gina Powless-Buenrostro, and seconded by Mike Debraska, to create a new CEO position despite the fact that GTC has previously voted to eliminate the former Chief of Staff position and General Manager positions as part of the adoption of a restructuring endeavor named ‘Plan B.’

Fmr. & illegal OBC member David ‘Fleet’ Jordan asked for the Parliamentarian’s opinion on whether doing so would require a 2/3 majority vote given the proposed CEO position would be essentially the same as the eliminated positions, stating that he didn’t want GTC to once again be misled into taking unlawful actions, which is ironic given that the election that resulted in him returning as an OBC member was itself unlawful due to OBC Chair Cristina Danforth’s incompetent insistence that “reconsidering” a motion is the same thing as “adopting” a motion despite objections by GTC members…

…and despite the fact the Oneida Appeals Commission’s Appellate Body determined that the OAC’s Trial Body’s decision to allow an election to proceed despite OBC Chair Tina Danforth’s unlawful actions was clearly erroneous and is against the weight of the evidence presented at the [Trial] hearing level.”

Some Tribe members believe that the OBC would most likely try to fill any such ‘CEO’ position by hiring current Oneida High School Principal and former General Manager Artley Skenandore

…who is also the fraud scheme partner with Tribally-owned Oneida Seven Generations Corp. in the expansive machinations of Ron Van Den Heuvel.

 

Gina Buenrostro’s motion to undo GTC’s previous directive failed to achieve a 2/3 majority in a split vote with almost as many voting to reject the motion as voting to adopt it.

General Tribal Council was not able to make it through the entire Semi-Annual Meeting Agenda and must now meet within 60 days to continue the agenda due to a motion by Madelyn Genskow which GTC voted to approve.

OBC Secretary Lisa Summers claimed that directive wasn’t feasible because the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center did not have any availability. When challenged by Madelyn Genskow if OBC Sec. Summers had asked the Radisson yet Lisa admitted that she had not, and GTC openly laughed out loud at OBC Sec. Summers.

At that future continuation of the Semi-Annual Meeting, GTC is scheduled to further discuss the possible implementation of a sales tax on non-Indian owned businesses on the Oneida Reservation on top of the existing 5% sales tax imposed by the State of Wisconsin, which GTC members were asked not to discuss with the public or media.

BROWN COUNTY – (WLUK) The Oneida Nation Indian Tribe is considering adding a sales tax for retailers operating on tribal land. …

Walmart, Sam’s Club, Festival Foods, and Home Depot are among major retailers operating on Oneida tribal land, according to Brown County land records. …

According to tribal documents, last July, tribal members voted [359 to 133] in favor of a referendum whether the tribe should supplant the state’s five percent sales tax on tribal trust land.

The money would be dedicated to a trust fund for ‘Per Capita distribution.’

“[Oneida Judiciary Trial Court Chief Justice Denice Beans] had an initiative in…her mind to go forth and ask the question,” said Webster. “So [she] asked for it to be put on a referendum and [Tribe members] have the right to put the questions out as referendums.”

Tribe documents show [Deputy Chief Counsel James Bittorf] wrote the tribe has the authority to impose a sales tax on non-Indian companies that operate retail businesses on the Tribe’s trust lands. However, [Deputy Chief Counsel James Bittorf] clarified the tax would have to be in addition to the state’s tax.

[Dept. Chief Counsel James Bittorf] also wrote those businesses would be placed at a competitive disadvantage to companies whose businesses are not located on tribal trust lands.

[Dept. Chief Counsel James Bittorf] wrote the businesses would have the incentive to challenge the validity of the Tribe’s sales tax, and may seek to terminate their leases.

“I think the General Tribal Council would want more information,” said [PR Director Bobbi] Webster. “They would want to know what is the impact, what would you forecast, the impact financially, socially, business development.”

There is no word on how much the tax could be. Webster tells FOX 11 it’s too early in the process for that answer.

Before the meeting Wednesday evening, a tribal member told FOX 11 members were asked not to discuss the sales tax issue.

 

7/13/2016 UPDATE:

GREEN BAY – The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin is considering adding a sales tax on retailers located on tribal land.

That has some Green Bay aldermen worried that big-box stores on tribal land within the city limits could leave the area or other businesses avoiding it altogether. …

City staff have drafted an ordinance opposing the Oneida sales tax at the request of Alderman Joe Moore, who chairs the Council’s finance committee.

“I think that it’s very important we express our concern. (The city’s west side) falls on tribal land, and I’m sure you don’t want to see retailers moving out of the district or decreased development because of this extra sales tax,” Moore told the committee.

The committee did not act on the resolution. It will take up the issue in August after reaching out to the tribe for more information on its intentions with the tax. …

The relationship between Green Bay and Oneida governments has been strained recently. In April, the city backed out of a 15-year service agreement with the tribe because of a dispute over who should have jurisdictional control of land within the tribe’s historical reservation boundaries.

City leaders opposed a provision in the agreement prohibiting them from challenging the tribe’s transfer of properties it owns into a federal tax-exempt trust. The transfers are a key component of the tribe’s plan to reclaim its original 65,400-acre reservation. About 14 percent of Green Bay lies within the original reservation boundaries, and the Oneida are unwilling to back down from plans to reclaim that land.

 

  

 

Imposing a tax on non-Oneida business owners is certainly one way to try to make up for the unnecessary losses of millions of dollars created by the incompetence, unlawful actions and extreme carelessness of the Oneida Business Committee Chair & members and Chief Counsel Jo Anne House…

…not to mention trying to fill the gap left by the millions of GTC’s dollars wasted on fraud schemes and secretly given away in a possible extortion shakedown, all involving Artley Skenandore, John Breuninger, Oneida Seven Generations Corp. & its subsidiaries, and Ron Van Den Heuvel, which now totals somewhere between $15 and $25 MILLION.

However, the better option seems obvious:

Stop electing and hiring incompetent, reckless, deceitful, and malfeasant individuals in the first place, and start holding Tribal officials & employees accountable when they behave stupidly & selfishly to the detriment of the General Tribal Council of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.

Capisce?

 

 

Speaking of Ron Van Den Heuvel’s many costly fraud schemes:

BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) – Federal court records show a former loan officer accused of helping a De Pere businessman in a loan scheme has entered a plea agreement.

Paul Piikkilla could face 5 years in prison.

The trial for Ronald Van Den Heuvel is expected to start on Monday.

Van Den Heuvel is accused of defrauding Horicon Bank out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Investigators say he used other people, sometimes workers or relatives, to obtain the loans for him and give him the money. Prosecutors say Van Den Heuven never paid it back.

Actually, Ron Van Den Heuvel’s trial will not start on Monday, July 11, but will be pushed back given that, as Oneida Eye reported, Ron’s former counsel, Atty. Nancy DePodesta, has withdrawn from Ron’s case due to “potential conflict issues.”

In fact, as FOX 11 WLUK reports, a telephone status conference for Ron & Kelly Van Den Heuvel is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, July 15, 2016:

GREEN BAY (WLUK) – The banker who allegedly conspired with a De Pere businessman to illegal funnel loans has agreed to plead guilty – and testify in the case, according to federal court documents obtained by FOX 11.

Paul Piikkila, then with Horicon Bank, authorized a $240,000 loan for a former relative of Ron Van Den Heuvel – and then Van Den Heuvel used the funds to pay for personal expenses and other loans at different banks. While prosecutors allege Piikkila helped arrange multiple loans after his bank instructed him not to, court documents indicate Piikkila has agreed to plea guilty for that specific transaction.

Piikkila faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

As part of the plea deal, Piikkila also “agrees to fully and completely cooperate with the government in its investigation of this and related matters, and to testify truthfully and completely before the grand jury and at any subsequent trials or proceedings,” the document states.

Prosecutors and Piikkila’s attorney will jointly recommend to the court that his sentencing wait until after the other case are completed. …

Van Den Huevel and his wife, Kelly, also face charges in the case. A status conference in those cases is scheduled for July 15. Ron Van Den Huevel faces 13 charges, while Kelly faces three.

Van Den Huevel, who founded a company called Green Box, also faces state review for late loan re-payments to the state.

 

An Appleton loan officer has entered a plea deal in a federal bank fraud case that involves a De Pere businessman whose green technology company owes the state’s job creation agency more than $1.2 million.

Paul Piikkila, of Appleton, admitted committing conspiracy to defraud his employer Horicon Bank of more than $700,000, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee. Piikkila originally pleaded not guilty and a hearing on his change of plea is scheduled for July 22.

As part of the deal, Piikkila agreed to testify in the case involving De Pere businessman Ron Van Den Heuvel, who pleaded not guilty to a 13-count grand jury indictment related to the case filed in April.

According to the agreement, Piikkila helped Van Den Heuvel and Van Den Heuvel’s wife secure more than $1 million in loans from the bank, mostly through straw borrowers, between January 2008 and September 2009. The money was used to pay off Van Den Heuvel’s other debts and mostly wasn’t repaid, the agreement said.

The bank told Piikkila not to loan money to Van Den Heuvel after turning down his attempt to secure a $7.1 million loan for one of Van Den Heuvel’s companies in 2008, the agreement said. The bank’s attempts to investigate Van Den Heuvel’s financial record convinced them that he “was not a good credit risk,” the document said.

 

GREEN BAY – An Appleton banker has pleaded guilty to his part in what federal authorities claim was a bank fraud scheme led by De Pere businessman Ron Van Den Heuvel.

Paul J. Piikkila, a loan officer for Horicon Bank’s Appleton office, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Green Bay to one count of participating in a scheme to defraud the bank.

Prosecutors claim Piikkila used his position to provide more than $1 million in loans to Van Den Heuvel and his wife, Kelly Van Den Heuvel, in 2008 and 2009. …

Piikkila prepared the paperwork for the loans to prevent his bosses from realizing that he was violating their instructions not to loan money to Van Den Heuvel or his businesses.

Neither the straw borrowers, at least some of whom worked for Van Den Heuvel, nor Van Den Heuvel himself paid back any of the loans. At least one of the straw borrowers was Van Den Heuvel’s former brother-in-law and another was the Van Den Heuvels’ nanny, a woman who barely could speak English. Kelly Van Den Heuvel was primarily responsible for the loan obtained through the nanny. Kelly Van Den Heuvel allegedly told Piikkila the nanny earned $50,000 a year, but the nanny told authorities she wasn’t getting paid at all and that, in fact, Kelly Van Den Heuvel had been running up debt on the nanny’s credit cards. …

While many of the straw investors believed the money was going for purchase equipment or operating capital for Van Den Heuvels’ businesses, large sums were going toward various unpaid debt, and some went toward the Van Den Heuvels’ personal expenses, including rent they paid for a luxury box at Lambeau Field. …

Once the bank started trying to collect on collateral offered as security on the loans, it learned that much of the collateral property wasn’t worth what it had been represented or was already encumbered by other banks trying to collect on loans. …

Piikkila faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agree not to charge him with additional offenses. He will be sentenced July 29.

The Van Den Heuvels, like Piikkila, each face a count of conspiring to commit bank fraud. Ron Van Den Heuvel also faces seven counts of executing a bank fraud scheme and five counts of making false statements to influence a bank loan. He faces up to 30 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines on each count.

Kelly Van Den Heuvel also faces one count of executing a bank fraud scheme and one count of making false statements to influence a loan action.

Both are awaiting trial.

Along with the criminal charges, Ron Van Den Heuvel faces numerous lawsuits by investors whom he led to believe he was developing a waste-to-energy procedure that would put an end to landfill waste.

That company, Green Box NA Green Bay LLC, filed for bankruptcy in April.

 

The fraud case is unrelated to another, higher-profile scandal in which Van Den Heuvel received $1.2 million from Gov. Scott Walker’s “job-creation” agency, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Critics have branded WEDC as a corporate welfare agency for giving away millions to political donors without holding them accountable for creating jobs in return for the money.

In some cases, WEDC recipients took money and shipped jobs to other states or overseas. In other cases, the loans weren’t properly recorded, tracked or repaid — with impunity.

Van Den Heuvel, a longtime Republican donor, seems in some ways typical of WEDC awardees. He received the loans just months after the agency’s creation in 2011 based on his connections. He never underwent a background check. If he had, WEDC, which was headed by Walker at the time, would have learned that Van Den Heuvel owed millions in legal judgments to banks, business partners, state tax officials and even a jeweler.

Despite Van Den Heuvel’s failure to produce jobs or repay his initial loan, WEDC officials considered giving him more money as recently as February 2015.

Van Den Heuvel’s proposed business to create jobs was called Green Box NA. He claimed the company would convert dirty napkins and plastic eating utensils into synthetic fuel and paper products, but it apparently never had either a facility or the technology to perform such functions.

Van Den Heuvel faces numerous lawsuits from investors who loaned the business money, thinking that it was legitimate.

Green Box has declared bankruptcy. The state apparently is not pursuing charges or repayment from Van Den Heuvel.

 

According to PACER:

NOTICE OF HEARING as to Paul J Piikkila. (cc: all counsel) Change of Plea Hearing set for 7/22/2016 02:30 PM in Courtroom 201, 125 S. Jefferson St., Green Bay, WI 54301 before Chief Judge William C Griesbach.

The evidence to prove this charge comes from several sources. All involved personnel from the Horicon Bank and all individuals serving as straw borrowers to obtain loans have been interviewed. Records have been obtained from the Horicon Bank and other banks which made loans for the benefit of Ron Van Den Heuvel, which loans from Horicon were used to repay. To avoid confusion between the two Van Den Heuvels, this offer of proof will refer to them as Ron and Kelly, respectively.

During the period of the scheme, Paul Piikkilla [, VP of Straubel Company Inc.,] was employed as a loan officer for Horicon Bank (hereinafter “the bank”) working at the Appleton, Wisconsin branch. He had authority to make loans up to a $250,000 limit. Any loans he proposed above that limit needed to be approved by the bank’s Business Lenders Committee.

Ron is a member of a wealthy and prominent family in Green Bay. During the scheme, he represented himself to be a businessman in the Green Bay area. He operated and controlled at least seven purported business entities that he used interchangeably.

During the period of the scheme, Kelly Van Den Heuvel was the wife of Ron and was also the owner and operator of KYHKJG, LLC. She is still married to Ron.

In late 2007 or early 2008, Ron approached [Paul] Piikkila about issuing loans from the bank to Ron or his business entities. All of the witnesses who know Ron characterize him as a charismatic individual who seems to have the ability to get other people to do what he wants. He often convincingly describes his grand plans for major business ventures which will make all participants millionaires.

On or about January 17, 2008, [Paul Piikkila, Interim Controller of the Green Detroit Regional Center authorized a loan of $250,000 from the bank to RVDH, Inc., one of Ron’s business entities. Ron signed the business note for RVDH, Inc.

About two months later, on or about March 20, 2008, Piikkila proposed to the loan committee that the bank loan $7,100,000 to Source of Solutions, LLC, another of Ron’s business entities. Members of the loan committee, who were Piikkila’s superiors at the bank, did due diligence to look into Ron’s creditworthiness. They found that he had a number of judgments against him and that bankers at other banks at which Ron had done business advised Horicon Bank against making any loans to Ron. As a result, the loan committee would not approve this loan. Piikkila tried to restructure it a couple of times but that did not change the committee’s decision. Piikkila’s superiors at the bank instructed him that the bank did not wish to make any loans to Ron or his businesses so Piikkila should not.

That led Piikkila to authorize a series of loans to other people for Ron’s benefit or the benefit of his companies. The paper work on these loans was put together in a way that prevented the bank from realizing that Piikkila was authorizing these loans in violation of the instructions not to loan money to Ron or his businesses. It was also in violation of Piikkila’s loan limits. His first loan to one of Ron’s entities, RVDH, in January of 2008 already reached Piikkila’s limit to loan to any one individual. The subsequent loans for the benefit of Ron through various straw borrowers drastically exceeded that limit.

The first such loan was on or about September 12, 2008, when Piikkila approved a loan of $100,000 to [Steven Peters, business partner with Ron, Artley Skenandore, and Oneida Seven Generations Corp. in Nature’s Way Tissue Corp.]. [Steve Peters, President of SCPeters Enterpriseswas an employee of Ron’s at the time. These proceeds were immediately transferred to two other of Ron’s business entities. [Steven Peters] who also obtained two other loans from Horicon for Ron, fully admits that he was recruited by Ron to be used as a straw borrower. He denies that he received any reward for doing so but did it as a favor for Ron who was his friend and employer. [Steven Peters] fully admits that he, Ron, and Piikkila all had the understanding that none of the money was going to him and that he had no obligation to pay back the loan since they understood that Ron was responsible for that.

On or about November 7, 2008, Piikkila authorized two separate loans to Kelly’s company, KYHKJG. One loan was $250,000. The second loan was $70,000, therefore exceeding Piikkila’s loan limit.

On January 2, 2009, Piikkila approved a loan of $240,000 to [William C. Bain / Bill Bain, partner with Ron & Bill Investments, LLP]. [William Bain] is a former business partner of Ron’s and a former brother-in-law. [Bill Bain] fully admits that he was recruited by Ron to be used as a straw borrower to obtain a loan in his name even though the money was not going to him and none of the responsibility for repaying the loans was on his shoulders since it was his understanding, and Piikkila’s, that Ron would be repaying the loan. All of the $240,000 was quickly disbursed. The large majority of it went to pay off earlier loan debts at other banks, either in Ron’s own name or in [Bill Bain]’s name because he had earlier served as a straw borrower to obtain loans for Ron at other banks. The money left over after these loan payments was used for personal debts of Ron’s.

On or about February 11, 2009, another loan was made to [Steve Peters] of $30,000. All of that money was quickly transferred to business entities belonging to Ron.

On the same date, May 15, 2009, Piikkila approved a loan of $25,000 to [Julie Gumban]. [Julie Gumban] was a nanny for Ron and Kelly’s children. She comes from the Philippines and does not speak English well. The money borrowed in her name was immediately distributed to make a payment on the [Steven Peters] loan, make a payment on the [William C. Bain] loan, and to transfer money to Ron’s company, RVDH, and Kelly’s company, KYHKJG. [Julie Gumban] states that she was pressed to take out this loan by Ron and Kelly, for whom she worked. It was her vague understanding that this money could be used by her to invest in Kelly’s company, but none of the money was used for that purpose. [Julie Gumban] states that Kelly brought her to the Ron’s office to sign the loan papers with Piikkila.

On or about September 11, 2009, Piikkila approved a loan of $240,000 to Source of Solutions. The loan application was signed off on by [Debra Stary]. She served for years as an administrative assistant and jack-of-all-trades for Ron. The witnesses associated with Ron’s businesses all agreed that [Debbie Stary] had no real authority in the company and just acted at Ron’s direction. She was made an officer of Source of Solutions shortly before this loan was taken out. None of the money went to Source of Solutions. Much of the money was transferred to Ron’s other business entities. Some was used to pay for personal expenses of Ron and Kelly, including the Packer luxury box they regularly rented. Lump sum payments were made to employees, including $5,000 to [Debra Stary]. Payments were made against the other Horicon loans. Piikkila was repaid for having personally covered a short-fall of Ron’s in a different account at Horicon Bank.

The last loan was on or about September 25, 2009 where Piikkila approved a $10,000 loan to Tissue Technology, another of Ron’s entities. $1,000 was deposited into the Tissue Technology account and the remaining $9,000 was taken out in cash.

A number of categories of evidence tend to prove that Ron acted with fraudulent intent by obtaining these loans through the submission of information he knew to be false.

Of course, he had a motive since these practices allowed him to obtain large quantities of money which he could use for his own purposes. All of the witnesses agree that Ron and Kelly Van Den Heuvel lived a high-end life style including an expensive house, another residence in Florida, expensive automobiles, a live-in nanny, expansive use of credit cards, and a private plane. All this despite little evidence of actual business activity by any of Ron’s business entities.

The reason for obtaining the loans through straw borrowers was apparent from the circumstances. It had to be done that way because the bank would not loan any money to Ron or his entities. So, it was necessary to put the loans in the names of straw borrowers, always at amounts of $250,000 or less so that Piikkila did not need to obtain authorization from his superiors at the bank.

The straw borrowers all state that Ron caused them to serve in the role as straw borrowers and that it was all done with Piikkila’s knowledge. On the [William C. Bain] loan, there is even a written proposal from Ron to Piikkila about the terms which should be used for that loan.

The fact that Ron was responsible for these loans, rather than the straw borrowers, is supported by the fact that whatever collateral was offered as security for these loans was collateral owned or controlled by Ron, not by the straw borrowers.

Once the bank started to try to collect on this collateral after there was default on the loans, the bank representatives learned that the collateral was often inadequate as security for the loans. Property was not worth what it was represented to be worth. Properties were already encumbered such that the bank had an inferior position in terms of foreclosing on certain properties. Ownership of some of the collateral was in dispute and it appears that Ron pledged collateral that he did not necessarily own.

Each of the loans was purportedly for some general business purpose such as the purchase of equipment or operating capital. However, the loan proceeds consistently went to pay off old loans, often obtained by the straw borrowers for Ron’s benefit, or to pay off Ron’s personal expenses, not any stated business purpose.

There are various written and oral communications from Ron after the banks started looking into collecting on these loans which show that he acknowledged responsibility for repayment, corroborating the point that these were really his loans, not those of the straw borrowers. That includes emails that Ron exchanged with various bank personnel and the straw borrowers, talks he had with individuals tasked by the bank to collect on the loans, and a written repayment agreement he had with [Steven Peters] acknowledging Ron’s responsibility to repay the [Steve Peters] loans. [William Bain] communicated with Ron about settling his debt to the bank. All of the memo lines on the various [Bill Bain] checks which went to pay off earlier loans refer to the payment of Ron’s earlier loans or notes. Prior to the Source of Solutions loan, Ron and Piikkila exchanged emails making it plain that Ron was the true applicant for that loan.

Other apparent misleading information provided by Ron to Piikkila and put into the bank’s records included grossly inflated financial statements. [Julie Gumban] had come to this country and had been working as a nanny for Kelly and Ron. Her financial statement claimed that she had assets of nearly $280,000, including $208,000 in real estate. It claimed that she had salaries and bonuses totaling $65,000 a year. However, she states that Ron and Kelly were not really paying her and were months behind in her salary.

As a guarantor for the January, 2008 loan of $250,000 to RVDH, Ron submitted a financial statement to Piikkila. That financial statement included assets of more than $115,000,000, a net worth of more than $94,000,000, and an annual income of $2,320,306. The evidence in this case is full of instances in which Ron failed to pay various debts for which he was responsible. That would indicate that this financial statement is dramatically false. If it is true, Ron was failing to repay amounts he could easily pay just from money he claimed to have in various cash accounts.

Kelly Van Den Heuvel culpably participated in the scheme, especially as to the loans to KYHKJG and [Julie Gumban]. Of course, she shared Ron’s motive for acquiring money to maintain their lifestyle.

As for the [Julie Gumban] loan, it seems that Kelly was primarily responsible for that one. [Julie Gumban] states that Kelly is the person who physically brought her into Ron’s office to close that loan with Piikkila. Kelly told Piikkila that [Julie Gumban] was paid $50,000 a year but [Julie Gumban] says she was not being paid and, in fact, Kelly was running up debts on [Julie Gumban]’s credit cards. Prior to the issuance of the loan, Piikkila was communicating by email with Kelly about how the money was going to be disbursed. As noted above, none of it was disbursed for the benefit of [Julie Gumban].

The purposes of the [Julie Gumban] loan were misrepresented in the bank’s records. [Julie Gumban] was supposedly to invest in KYHKJG but none of the money was used for that purpose.

[Julie Gumban] agrees that Kelly asked her to take out the loan to invest in KYHKJG. [Julie Gumban] agrees that her financial statement was false and she did not know where the money went.

With the exception of the [Julie Gumban] loan, which was paid off from the proceeds of the Source of Solutions loan, none of these loans were paid off. After attempting to use the collateral to collect the amounts due, the bank wrote off all the loans except the [Julie Gumban] loan for a total loss of approximately $553,000.

[Paul Piikkila], by entering into this agreement, further agrees to fully and completely cooperate with the government in its investigation of this and related matters, and to testify truthfully and completely before the grand jury and at any subsequent trials or proceedings, if asked to do so. The government agrees to advise the sentencing judge of the nature and extent of the defendant’s cooperation. The parties acknowledge, understand and agree that if the defendant provides substantial assistance to the government in the investigation or prosecution of others, the government, in its discretion, may recommend a downward departure from the applicable sentencing guideline range. The defendant acknowledges and understands that the court will make its own determination regarding the appropriateness and extent to which such cooperation should affect the sentence. …

In order to allow the defendant to complete his cooperation and to allow both the court and the government to fully evaluate his cooperation, the parties will jointly recommend postponing the defendant’s sentencing until his cooperation has been completed.

 

Speaking of so-called ‘SOLUTIONS’…

As Oneida Eye previously reported, Oneida Nation of Wisconsin-owned Bay Bank also loaned money to Ron Van Den Heuvel after it was obvious to other local banks that Ron “was not a good credit risk”:

It should be noted that former OSGC incinerator fraud scheme Project Manager PETER KING III  – whose sham business KING SOLUTIONS, LLC, was appointed by the Oneida Business Committee as ‘Managing Agent’ of Oneida Seven Generations Corp. – is a Board member of Bay Bancorporation, Inc.

 

It is unknown at this time if OSGC’s fraud scheme partner Ron Van Den Heuvel – or his wife Kelly or any of their ‘straw borrowers’ – took out illegal loans from Tribally-owned Bay Bank that may have been ‘written off‘ due to non-repayment, but Oneida Eye presumes that the FDIC and other federal agencies have been investigating all of the named parties’ banking activities for the last few years.

Was Pete King III/Bay Bank a ‘source of solutions’ for Ron?

Or just a source of mo’ ill-gotten money, mo’ legal problems?

 

 

See also:

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted in Artley Skenandore, Bay Bancorporation, Bay Bank, Business, Court, Fmr. OBC Chair Cristina Danforth, Fmr. OBC Vice-Chair Melinda Danforth, General Tribal Council, Godfrey & Kahn, Green Bay Renewable Energy, Incinerators / Pyrolysis / Gasification / Waste-to-Energy, Media, Nature's Way Tissue Corp. LLC, OBC Chief Counsel Jo Anne House, OBC member 'Fleet' David Jordan, OBC Sec. Lisa Summers, OBC Vice-Chair Brandon Stevens, Oneida Business Committee, Oneida Energy Inc., Oneida Health Center, Oneida Law Office, Oneida Nation of Wisconsin / ONWI / Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Oneida Seven Generations Corporation, Oneida-Kodiak, OTIW / ONWI, Per Capita, Resources, Ron Van Den Heuvel, Tribal Budget, Tribal Corruption, Uncategorized, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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