Pearlasia Gamboa
Pearlasia Gamboa is a Filipino American business woman involved in controversial international banking, investment, and financial development transactions, including bank fraud, securities fraud, and passport fraud, from 1990 through 2010. She was also the president of the micronation known as the Dominion of Melchizedek in the 1990's, with her husband David Korem (Mark Logan Pedley) being vice president.
Banks and companies
Gamboa claimed to own banks, gold mining companies, biodiesel plantations and refineries, and other companies in the United States, the Philippines, and around the world, which the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) called empty shells in 2009.
According to media reports and those by state officials, Gamboa’s method of operation in her banks and companies is to claim that she is highly religious, to display wealth and provide luxury, to create associations with international achievement and celebrity, to use numerous variations of her names and aliases, and to use fictitious business names similar to existing businesses in order create the impression of being companies that they are not. In 1995, after being investigated for represenating herself as a bank, Gamboa claimed a “religious freedom” by which she did not recognized the laws of the State of California, as the Dominion was set up as a religious theocracy, and she declared spiritual warfare on California’s Deputy Attorney General. In 2002, the address Gamboa listed with the SEC as an address for two of her businesses was the largest residence in Beverly Hills, used as the fictitious residence of a wealthy film producer in the 90210 television series. In 2009, Gamboa’s name was listed as one of the authors of a local newspaper claiming that her son, Hazemach, won a gold medal in a national Karate competition. Gamboa has used hundreds or aliases and fictitious names; according to the SEC one of her business itself had 59 different names. Gamboa’s victims include people in Bangladesh, the Philippines, southern Italy, Europe, Fiji, China, and in America. The anti-Mafia Directorate in Rome has investigated Gamboa for her activities in Italy. Gamboa has been sought by police worldwide.
Banks
A United States law enforcement official said Gamboa's banks were involved in serious fraud and were being closely wathced by law enforcement. Banking regulators in California and Indiana said Gamboa represented herself as BankAsia AG, and California state officials sued her to stop her from representing herself as a banker, receiving a default judgment against her in 1995. In 1994, the counsel for California State banking authorities describe Gamboa as having tried to get loans representing herself as , causing the lender to alert state authorities, and local authorities sued her to stop her from doing business as a bank. Gamboa claimed net banking assets of $25 Billion, and the sued Gamboa to prevent her from representing herself as a banker. She and her husband, David Korem (various aliases), continued to represent her as being in banking after the judgment. In America, state regulators described claims made in her business applications as “invalid”, and a Special Assistant to the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said "this phony bank... it's a phantom bank" and "It's a con artists' operation through and through… It's a phony bank… the whole thing's a phony."
The anti-Mafia Directorate in Rome investigated Gamboa’s International Monetary Reserve banking scheme for fraud by her method of operation being to display vast wealth to convince customers of her many banks around the world, when in fact they did not exist. The First Canadian American Holding Corp and the International Monetary Reserve (IMR) were headquartered at 1156 Shadow Hill Way, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210, used as the fictitious residence of a wealthy film producer in the 90210 television series, and the largest residence in Beverly Hills at the time, according to Bruce Nelson Real Estate of Beverly Hills. The United States Office of Comptroller General said about Gamboa’s bank, "It's a con artists' operation through and through… It's a phony bank… the whole thing's a phony".
Banking micronation
Gamboa was the president of the defunct micronation known as the Dominion of Melchizedek during the 1990s. She and her husband, vice president David Korem, (a.k.a. Mark Pedley, Mark Wellington, David KorMAN “Branch Vinedresser”), conceived of the Dominion of Melchizedek international bank fraud scheme shortly after Mark Pedley’s release on parole from Walla Walla prison in the early 1990s. Gamboa used the Melchizedek scheme by defrauding small farmers and investors in southern Italy, buying time until the victims found out they had been cheated, when it was too late.
Among Gambo's Melchizedek schemes was to defraud hundreds of Filipinos, Chinese, and Bangladeshis to pay as much as $35,000 for useless Melchizedek passports which purchasers were told were internationally recognized. State of California and United States officials alleged her micronation was a front for criminal activity, a front for international fraud since 1990, and only existed in the mind. Gamboa stated that she did not recognize the State of California, and ran afoul of its laws. As president of the Dominion of Melchizedek, she declared spiritual warfare on California’s Deputy Attorney General. The Washington Post wrote that “getting to the truth requires a walk down a bizarre labyrinth that includes a home-brew religion…it appears to exist mainly so that money can be whisked through shell banks”.
Companies
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Gamboa of selling securities in empty shell corporations from 2007 to 2009, using falsified financial information to make them look real, and in August 2010 a court ordered her to stop selling securities in the United States and to reimburse her victims.The SEC alleged that from 2007 to 2009, Gamboa had sold nearly 2 billion shares in what she claimed were Philippine gold mines but the companies were in fact only empty shells with falsified accounting, and only had names that were similar to real gold mines. According to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), between 2007 and 2009, Gamboa sold nearly 2 billion shares in what says are phony gold mining companies in the Philippines. In 2009, the SEC alleged that Pearl Asian Mining was not a real gold mine, but just an empty shell corporation which Gamboa was selling shares in as a real Philippine gold mine. Pearl Asian Mining, ZNext, and First Canadian American Holding Corporation are empty shells according to the SEC. In 2009, The United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed against Gamboa to stop her from selling securities of any kind again, and to reimburse victims of her fraudulent activities.
Operation Broken Trust
Gamboa's Znext mining fka Pearl Asian Mining was the target of this SEC action, as well one of the targets of United States president Barak Obama's Operation Broken Trust, involving Homeland Security, the FBI, the SEC, the Secret Service, and numerous other government agencies, in which her husband, David Korem, was convicted and imprisoned in August 2010. Operation Broken Trust was the largest investment fraud sweep by the Federal government of the United States, conducted between August 16 and December 1, 2010. The stated purpose of the operation was to "root out and expose" investment scams within the U.S. and to educate the public. The operation involved 343 criminal cases with damages of $8.3 billion and 189 civil cases with damages of $2.1 billion; more than 120,000 victims were affected. The operation included arresting Gamboa's husband, David Korem, involving her ZNext Mining fka Pearl Asian Mining. According to the December 6, 2010 joint press release by the United States Attorney General Eric Holder, the Office of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the United States Secret Service (USSS), the Postal Inspector of the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission Southeast Region (FTC), the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the State of Florida’s , and the Miami Police Department, their nationwide investment fraud investigation involving Znext Mining aka Pearl Asian Mining, “Operation Broken Trust is the first nationwide operation of its kind to target a broad array of investment fraud schemes that directly prey upon the investing public.” In the joint press release involving Znext Mining fka Peral Asian Mining, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said that some investors "lose their entire lives’ savings. While the victims of fraud are financially ruined, the fraudsters live a life of luxury."
Banking and corporate methods
According to a Special Agent for the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Gamboa works in the open, presenting a “façade of religious respectability”, including to victims in the Philippines who were “conned out of in excess of $1 million”, saying "Everything that comes out of this so-called religious organization is phony." Gamboa listed a residential address with the Securities and Exchange Commission as being 1156 Shadow Hill Way, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210, at the time, the largest residence in Beverly Hills according to John Bruce Nelson Real Estate of Beverly Hills. Among Gambo's schemes was to defraud hundreds of Filipinos, Chinese, and Bangladeshis. under her "Bae Katiguman" alias, Gamboa is listed as Chairman and Director of Royal Oil & Alternative Energy Co., Inc. (PROL), using the honorific "Princess" in her emblem, in her corporate filings published by the Penny Stock News and her company website. The same filing lists a "Brother" as both corporate executive and head of the Missionaries in Action outreach to local Catholics program, Operation Reach Out, who is also stated to be the "former regional director of the Philippine Anti-Graft Center".
International scope
Gamboa is from the Philippines, and has operated internationally and in numerous states, including Redwood City California, Los Altos California, Portola Valley California, Palo Alto California, Woodside California, San Francisco California, Sacramento California, Las Vegas Nevada, the State of Oregon, the State of Washington, Las Vegas Nevada, the State of Hawaii, the State of Delaware, and other countries and cities such as Canada, Germany, Venice Italy, London, Mexico, Tahiti, Colombia, and Fiji.
In 1994-1995, Shasta County, California, and the State of Indiana were used for BankAsia AG. In 2002, Gamboa listed Beverly Hills California as the corporate contact address for her International Monetary Reserve (IMR, different from International Money reserves - IMR's). She operates as Gamboa Properties and owns land in Hawaii. Anti-Mafia law enforcement has been monitoring her activities in Italy. The SEC alleged that from 2007 to 2009, operated using the alias "Elivra Katiguman" and "Pearl Asian", and lived in Foster City, California. In 2009, she wrote newspaper articles about her son "Hazemach" under her "Pearl Asian" alias in Moraga California, in 2009. In her various corporate filings in 2009-2010 for her Philippines Royal Oil & Alternative Energy Co., Inc. (pinksheets PROL, different from Phillips Oil, Inc.) alternative energy and Missionary outreach company, and its subsidiaries such as Greengold Ray, she listed Corpus Christi Texas as one corporate address and location of biodiesel refineries, the Philippines as the location of land and Jatropha plantations, and used multiple aliases in the filings.
Use of aliases and corporate names
Gamboa has operated under various aliases and fictitious business names, described by the Securities and Exchange Commission as being a “woman with multiple aliases”, and by the Washington Post newspaper, “names that change with kaleidoscopic ease”. Aliases include Bae Catiguman, Bae Katiguman, Princess Bae Katigumen, Bae Cat, B. Cat, pbc, Rebekah Mesaleah, Elvira Katiguman, Elvira Catiguman, Bae Elvira Gamboa, Pearlasia Gamboa, Ming Zhu, Pearlasia Korem, Pearlasia Grace Gamboa, Grace (Pearlasia Gamboa), E. Pearl Asian, Elvie G Gamboa, Elvira G, Elvira Gamboa, Elvie Austin Gamboa, Elvira G. Austin, and Maria Gamboa.
Media characterizations
The activities of Peralasia Gamboa have received unusually strong descriptions in the mainstream media, as well as in her own media promotion. In 1994, the Indiana Star newspaper described her activities as being “like a novel full of global intrigue and biblical ties." In 1995, the Washington Post newspaper describes Gamboa’s numerous aliases, company names, and the complexity of her activities as “names that change with kaleidoscopic ease and a history of more legal proceedings than 'Melchizedek' has syllables… getting to the truth requires a walk down a bizarre labyrinth that includes a home-brew religion…it appears to exist mainly so that money can be whisked through shell banks”. In 2000, the Asia Times described Gamboa’s operations as “an astonishing series of worldwide swindles”. In 2002, the Italian newspaper La Republica described her international banking scheme as “A trap of luxury for the victims of one of the most diabolical international scams ever devised in recent years”. In the corporate filings published by the Penny Stock News and the Philippines Royal Oil & Alternative Energy Co., Inc. (PROL) website listing Gamboa as Chairman and Director, Gamboa (Bae Katiguman) is described as "spiritual and a true visionary" with a "passion to aid humanity", and as having as her company executive Brother Manny Tecson, the former regional director of the Philippine Anti-Graft Center, working on her Missionaries in Action program, Operation Reach Out.
Personal life
Gamboa’s previous husband was Rocky Austin, with whom she had daughter Bernadette Austin (Bernadette Austin-Bower) and son Raymond Austin (Ray Austin, Raymond James Austin. Bernadette Austin is employed at California Capital in the same area as Gamboa, financial development. Bernadette Austin, a graduate of Woodside Priory and St. Mary's College, entered UC Davis for Master's degree in Community Development. Her husband Michael Bower is the son of Peggy Bower and John Bower of Gualala, California. At the Woodside Priory, Austin was salutatorian, and Bower was valedictorian.
Gamboa had a second son Hazemach (“Hazemach” with no last name, “Haze Mach”, “Hazemach Hazemach”, "Hazemach Korem", “Hazemach Gamboa”, “Hazemach Pedley-Gamboa”, "Hazemach Pearlasia", “Z”, “Branch”,) with her husband “TZMach David Korem”, (“David Korem”, “Mark Pedley”, “Mark Logan Pedley”, “TZMach”, “Branch Vinedresser”, “David Korman”, “Jack Williams”, “Mark Wellington”, “TZMach David Netzer Korem”), the son of David Wellington who was convicted of bank fraud in Mexico, and who disappeared as he was transferred from a Mexican jail to the United States for prosecution. Hazemach Korem won the Mathematical Association of America American Mathematics Competition School Certificate of Merit in 2008.
Gamboa, as “Pearl Asian”, wrote an article for a local newspaper with Thomas Westernoff. The article was about Westernoff as “Sensei”, naming his business “Karate & Fitness Place USA”, and about her son, referring to him as both “Hazemach” and "the local product", then Westernoff wrote a subsequent article naming the son “Haze Mach”. According to the first article "Hazemach" was a student at Woodside Priory in 2010 and won two Karate gold medals in Kobuto (weapon) and Kata (form) at the 2009 Amateur Athletic Union to represent the United States on the Junior World Karate Team at the World Karate Competition. The second article states that "Haze Mach" won a silver and bronze medal at the World Karate Confederation's World Karate Championships held in Venice, Italy in December 2010.
See Also
References
External links
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearlasia_Gamboa
