I know that many of you are waiting to hear the full -- not to mention accurate -- story of Apply 2 Save and some have been supportive -- others not so much (which I expected) -- while many continue to carry the same old tune that I stole millions of dollars.
So really quickly, let's just get that one out of the way while I have a few minutes. This is the easiest myth to debunk. Apply 2 Save in its entirety made right around $4MM in earned revenues (not all of which was collected) during operations and had well over $6MM in operating costs -- the overwhelming majority of which was employee salaries for our core operations staff made up of skilled negotiators, customer service folks, consultants and doc prep teams --which resulted in a net loss of over $2MM. I can go into booked versus collected revenues, outstanding debts that were found to be uncollectable and on and on but the reality is that despite all of our success -- which was never reported mind you -- in negotiating positive terms for our consumer partners, I and my investor partners ran out of the funding necessary to get us to the finish line. We kept the company running as long as possible because we all believed in what we were doing and knew that if we could keep it going long enough our superior systems, process, and most of all our people would allow us to succeed where all others were failing.
I was personally forced to file bankruptcy and spent the last 18+ months with a slew of state and federal law enforcement agents and regulators crawling through all of my financial statements, assets, etc. When all was said and done, do you really think that the FTC would settle with me for no fine and no guilt? That the Idaho Attorney General -- who wanted my head for a trophy because I was from California -- would settle for no fine or admittance of guilt when settling with me? Do you think that my BK in FEDERAL COURT would have been discharged and accepted if any of the lies were true and I had stashed millions of dollars that never existed in the first place? All of this is public record, you don’t have to take my word for it, look it up for yourself. There was no money to stash, we lost more than we made. It is that simple.
I very much regret that our outside investors failed to follow through on their contractual obligation when the final rounds of payroll came due and told me to "pay the team with I-O-U's." That is my biggest regret, that our own people were left hanging and that we were unable to finish the job for some of our consumer partners. The fact that we failed like thousands of other companies during 2009 does not make it any easier. My only hope is to one day make up for everyone's individual loss somehow and some way.
So for now, you can stick with the same old -- tired -- story that I am a scam artist and stole millions. The problem is that the facts tell a completely different story; but as I have learned it is a rare thing for people to let the facts get in the way of their opinions, no matter how far from reality they stray.
I was one of those employees and loved my job their. I was a negotiator that worked with banks everyday. I can recall numerous accounts that were saved and people that got to keep their homes because of what I and others like me did their.
ReplyDeleteYou can say oh he's a plant or drank the juice but I continued to work even when I wasn't paid because I wanted to help people. Those were some hard times I remember watching the news and seeing us dragged through the mud. I hated the way news was spun already, but after this it was alot more clear.
People say we were the bad guys well what about banks pitching those horrible loans to people. Well at least they get a bailout with our money...but thats another subject.
So there is my two cents.