Where were the buses? Did Mantouvalos even vote? The tale of Darragh Murphy's fraud case.

It could just be that the primary is winding down and I have had a few minutes to sit, ponder, and look at the pieces with much more gravitas. You know, for about three hours I thought we were done with the pumadness, but- man, oh, man, does it look like I was wrong.

Do you love voting?
I love voting!
How about voting in primaries?
I LOVE voting in primaries!

Guess who can't say the same- Diane Mantouvalos. She has lived in Florida for over a year, and this "die-hard Clinton Democrat" isn't even registered to vote!

Hope(yikes!)fully Mantouvalos, co-founder of "just say no deal" went back to the state she IS registered in, Massachusetts, to pull the lever for Hillary (HEY! Mass is where Darragh lives!weeeiiiirrrddd). Otherwise, this whole "count every vote.. she is better.. I love Hillary" argument is moot.

From Gay City News:

She has lived in Florida for a year, but is not registered. Previously, Mantouvalos lived in Boston, but no one by that name has been registered to vote in that city for the past 11 years for which records are kept, according to election officials there.

Gay City News spoke with Mantouvalos by phone while she was in Denver making her case and giving media interviews in which she is described as one of the "Clinton die-hards" or a "Hillary die-hard."

Mantouvalos said she was registered in Massachusetts, but, explaining she had received death threats and been harassed, declined to say where she used to live so Gay City News could not confirm her voter registration and party affiliation.

Strange, right? How can you tout your love for a candidate, make noise on Fox, and start an entire coalition based on a campaign that you haven't even supported enough to vote for? I think it's safe to assume that Mantouvalos is a fluke. That, or she was so busy shopping for shoes that she missed the primary (if you've ever been to her site, hireheels.com you know of what I speak). Hmm.

In other PUnews:

Did you all see any buses in Denver? I didn't see any buses in Denver. Are you  asking what buses in Denver?

DENVER UPDATE, July 3, 2008 at 12:35pm: TRAVEL UPDATE! Puma PAC will be providing buses from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Jacksonville, and Washington DC to bring Pumas from all across the country to Denver, starting on August 24th. Please help pay for these buses. Many Pumas will find it difficult to pay for getting the time off, motels, food etc. Let’s help as many Puma PAC members as we can join us in Denver. This is a special BUSES TO DENVER FUND. All donations made here will go EXCLUSIVELY to paying for buses. If we can raise enough to hire 100 buses, then hell yes we’ll do it. If 20,000 members each throw in $10 bucks for a free ride to Denver for a fellow Puma we’ll have enough for 500 buses. Grab your fanny packs and get your days off from work Pumas. We’ll have a mighty convoy to Denver rolling on August 24th!

Those buses in Denver.

Turns out, those buses never quite made it to Denver (but garychapelhill is having a blast driving around in that RV).  Instead of delivering on their promise, they subsidized payments for individual pumas to come to Denver and spend the week with Darragh & Co!

What a week!

Now, as you probably know- some people just didn't make it. So did they get a refund? This is a question I have been asking since their little "Denver Bus Scam" started. A source (not Tommy) tells me that many people haven't received their refunds yet- and they are growing tired of always donating and seeing so little in return.

As KnoxvillePUMA wrote, when leaving PUMApac:

So where are the television ads? Or how about placing newspaper ads? Murphy has continually cited figures about how much money it would cost to place an ad in a newspaper, which would be a faster and less-expensive way to get the Party Unity, My A~~ message out to the public. It can be done today. So why hasn’t she produced a newspaper ad and placed it yet? I have two potential newspaper ads on this site. She can have them. She can change them. She can use them to advertise PUMA PAC. I’ll help her do it. Just use the money to run an ad in a major newspaper. Please.

And remember the ads Darragh Murphy promised? Yeah, some people are mad about that too. A refresher:

559 hotsky on 08.04.08 at 1:26 pm Alright there are only a few weeks left until the convention. MURPHY, where are the newspaper ads that you promised? Denver group has published two full page ads one of which got national coverage. Where is the money going?

I ran a story on August 4th, 2008 about PUMAs beginning to ask questions regarding where their money is going (the comment above is cited there). You can read the story here.

Now, when Knoxville began speaking out against Darragh's failed promises- he was accused of everything under the sun (much like I have been). Darragh Murphy even spoke out, claiming this:

UPDATE AUGUST 11th AT 3:09PM: It has come to my attention that the so-called Puma formerly known as Knoxville (aka Knoxville Puma, Knoxville Brian, and Brian Carniello) has been incessantly blogging lies and misinformation about Puma PAC and me personally all around the internet, specifically in regard to Puma PAC’s finances. As our members and most readers know, Puma PAC is a political action committee registered with the Federal Elections Commission. This means we must follow very strict and specific campaign finance laws, and that our financial disclosure forms are a matter of public record. In June of 2008 we raised just over $22,000. In July we raised approximately $20,000. Our July disclosure forms will be submitted this week and made public by the FEC soon after that. As of July 31st Puma PAC had spent about $8,000 on our documentary and youtube clips, $2,000 on printing and shipping, $5,000 on web hosting and development, and $2,500 on legal fees. The remainder being safe and sound and untouched in Puma PAC’s own bank account with Bank of America. Our budget for Denver is close to $20,000. That means we are frugal, cautious, and will soon be flat broke. ALL of our contributions come from individual donors, the VAST majority of them $25 or less. Please help spread these facts far and wide. Brian Carniello’s attacks are not merely damaging to me they are an attack on ALL of us and on the Puma Movement itself. Please email me at murphy@pumapac.org if you have more specific or further concerns. Thank you — Darragh Murphy.

I am sure not all PUMAs are like Danceswithpumas, a definite captain in the platoon of PUsoldiers. Here they are, advocating Darragh pocket the money:

What do they call it when someone takes money from an organization, pockets it, and spends it on themself?

Oh, I think it's called fraud.

So danceswithpumas is okay with fraud. Well, if they are okay with Darragh being fraudulent with their hard-earned dollar, I guess they won't mind if, maybe, Darragh Murphy had a past with funneling money from a business and giving it to herself? Or maybe, her mom?

Are you saying, "why do you ask" yet?

Well, Dems, I got my hands on some silly little case law file that MAY just MAY be connected to miss always victimized Darragh Murphy. It It goes a little something like this:

JOSEPH BRAUNSTEIN, CHAPTER 7 TRUSTEE FOR THE ESTATE OF ROWANOAK CORPORATION,
Appellant,
v.
ANN WALSH,
Appellee.

 
On January 8, 1999, Rowanoak filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 7 relief.  During the course of the bankruptcy proceeding, the Trustee requested that Rowanoak turn over all of its books and records, as well as its canceled checks and bank statements.  In response, Rowanoak turned over only canceled checks and bank statements.  In reviewing these documents, the Trustee discovered that from March 5, 1997, through May 20, 1997, Rowanoak made six payments from its bank account to Murphy's mother, Ann Walsh.  The checks totaled $63,344. ⁽³⁾
---
3. The six checks were as follows: (1) check number 1235 dated March 5 for $12,000; (2) check number 1237 dated March 6 for $14,000; (3) check number 1282 dated March 21 for $10,000; (4) check number 1306 dated April 7 for $18,244; (5) check number 1308 dated April 7 for $4,100; and (6) check number 1371 dated May 20 for $5,000.
----
Having affirmed the bankruptcy court on all issues pertaining to its finding Rowanoak's transfers to Walsh were fraudulent under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 109A, � 5, we need not discuss the bankruptcy court's finding that Rowanoak's transfers to Walsh also were fraudulent under � 6(a). ⁽⁷⁾  For the reasons stated, we conclude the district court erred in reversing the bankruptcy court.  Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is REVERSED.
---
7.In reversing the bankruptcy court, the district court appeared to confuse the elements of claims under these two sections.  The district court incorrectly identified the bankruptcy court's finding that the payments to Walsh rendered Rowanoak insolvent as an element of a � 5 claim.  But this finding goes to the Trustee's claim under � 6(a).  See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 109a, � 6 (transfer is fraudulent under � 6(a) "if the debtor made the transfer or incurred the obligation without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer or obligation and . . . the debtor became insolvent as a result of the transfer or obligation.").  Even if the bankruptcy court's finding that Rowanoak's payments to Walsh rendered Rowanoak insolvent was clearly erroneous, Walsh still must reimburse the payments as fraudulent transfers under � 5.

So, this is a decision by a Federal court stating that a Darragh Murphy (possibly the PUMApac founder Darragh Murphy) engaged in fraudulent loans and monetary transfers from her company to her mother.

Kind of like what danceswithpumas was advocating. Ironic. I don't know about you but do you really want your money going to someone who has may have a history of sticking their hand in the cookie jar?

My lawyer friend is finding out very soon if Ann Walsh and Darragh Murphy are the very people we presume they are. I feel so certain that this Darragh Murphy is the same Darragh Murphy who has been holding out her hand, asking for donation after donation after donation, Darragh will have A LOT of explaining to do

UPDATE: I now have confirmation from a source who was IN DENVER, who met face to face with Darragh's mother. Her name is Ann. What more do we need?

Remember Dems, when I started this site I said that PUMA was going to have some major opposition on their ass-- this is me, keeping my promise :) More to come....

Comments

[Pumalicious!]

Christina, with all due respect to your husband, I just want to say that I love you and I want to have your children. :P

[anti-Rocinante]

Christina,

This does not surprise me in the least. I have yet to see any report of disbursement from Murphy's PUMA PAC (The Denver Group shows several so far).

There are also other criminals associated with the PUMAs. You have Sinclair, of course, and Mike Donovan, who Cristi Adkins used to get some of the uglier web sites up and running.

I'm just waiting for the Congressional investigation to start on all this...might be better than the Keating Five!

[Pumalicious!]

If you watched yesterday's Hardball, you should be concerned that the MSNBC producers are trying to turn Murphy into a pundit. You also know that she is no Michelle Bernard.

As far as I'm concerned, she needs to be completely a thoroughly discredited...as does Will Bower, Larry C Johnson, Alex Rodriguez, et al. That way, no media outlet will touch any of them with a twenty-foot pole.

[Christina]

Pumalicious- you know the Black face video where PUMAs are depicting Michelle Obama in such a HORRIBLE fashion?
Yeah, Alex Rodriguez is mentioned in the credits as being one of the directors or something along those lines. I may do a post about it.

[Jeff]

Didn't I read somewhere that the director of "The Audacity of Democracy" is actually related (or married) to a high-ranking puma? What happens if he receives at least $8,000 for a move that is never completed? Does that constitute fraud?

[Christina]

Lori (a puma), and Brad Mays (the director) are married.
I don't know if what you are suggesting constitutes as fraud but- look into it.

[Jennyjinx]

Color me unsurprised that the top ranking PUMAs are frauds. The only people that can't see that have drunk so much of the Kool-Aid it's seeping through their pores.

Of course, the criminal minds of part of the Repub party would take advantage of the "low-information" voters. They saw an opportunity to exploit these folks and ran with it. It's too bad I can't find it in myself to feel bad for those that lost the most money. They should know from experience that they were getting taken for everything they've got. And they really should have bailed out the very second they found out that HRC's debt was not paid down. No one to blame but themselves and all that jazz.

[Henry]

I apologize for the length of this post in advance.

I happen to be looking at the riverdaughter PUMA site--specifically their action plan which reads:

1.) Dissociate yourself from the party. Tell them you will not be a party to its self destructive behavior.

2.) Reflect on your values. Read the credo at the top of this site and create at better one. Keep the language general and inclusive. Concentrate on universal truths and beliefs. Avoid wordsmithing.

3.) Stick together. We are powerful as a unit if we do not fall victim to the psychological warfare that is about to be directed at us. Turn off the media. Avoid conversations with trolls. Stand firm and do not yield.

4.) Remember that there is a better alternative. Hillary Clinton is the strongest candidate for the party and the nation. She has a lot of support out there. The nation will rally around her if we let them know we are not giving in. We must not let her concede one inch. Stand firm. Send her your good thoughts. Send her money. Do not give up.

5.) Spread the word.

It made me uncomfortable reading this for some reason. Then I remembered why. It strikingly fits the warning signs of a cult that I remember reading. If you want to read it yourself, here's the link (http://www.religioustolerance.org/safe_sec.htm)

Cults advocate that their members isolate themselves from people from all media. (see action plan 3)

Cults force/strongly encourage members to internalize specific belief systems. Other ideas are fine as long as it mimics the groups basic creeds. All opposing views are not tolerated. (PUMA sites are notorious for deletions of posts)

Cults have their own group language or codes.

And of course, cults encourage people to donate money for causes that are hidden from members.

Of course, I know people are going to say Obama followers are cult members because of Obama's ability to fund raise and his charismatic nature. But the crucial elements are missing: Isolation and intolerance of opposing viewpoints.

Until the PUMAs change these characteristics, they will always be considered a cult to me.

[Jeff]

I'm just speculating that if the costs of the documentary production are not completely and thoroughly documented, then it's possible that they could be funneling all of that money back around to Murphy and other puma leadership.

Check out that NDP.org site. Nothing there, but there is a pop-up for a magazine subscription ad. It's already established that hillaryis44.org's Alex Rodriguez is fronting hidden ads for Canadian pharmacies, and Larry Johnson has an Amazon Associates account.

Something's definitely rotten in Denmark.

[anti-Rocinante]

There is more out there, folks; for instance, in what state is Cristi (McGee) Babin Adkins licensed as a Registered Nurse? I do not find an RN in North Carolina, Louisiana or Virginia of that or similar name. So, if she's not registered elsewhere, what does that mean?

And what ever happened to the "J.D." at the end of Cifre's (Savage Politics) name? Seems to have disappeared from his site.

[Ames]

Great work Christina!

[anita]

Hmmm- maybe the money went to the PUMATARDS so they could their hair done and bleached blond so they'd look hot ( snark snark )when they got on camera at the MSNBC press booth- oh and those nifty banners that looked like they were done in Shparie pens... those cost and don't forget the three Pumatards in Hillary Masks who followed my husband and some delegates to the Pepsi Convention Center.

Just an idea

[TDJ]

Great work, Christina. You continue to impress. Keep it up!

[Zing]

Wow, that's a really interesting find, Chistina.

I thought the first three paragraphs of the court's ruling were very revealing. Darragh Murphy's been in legal trouble before for failing to keep adequate financial records. She also appears to have practice setting up shell companies, which then serve as fronts for fraudulent transactions.

Did she learn her lessons before starting Puma PAC or is she up to the same old tricks?

The Debtor, Rowanoak Corporation, was incorporated in July 1994 by its president and sole shareholder, Darragh Murphy. Rowanoak did business as a general contractor of construction projects, primarily with the City of Boston. Rowanoak performed virtually no labor on its contracts. Instead, Rowanoak, whose only full-time employee and officer was Murphy, hired subcontractors and occasional part-time labor to perform the labor on its projects.

On January 8, 1999, Rowanoak filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 7 relief. During the course of the bankruptcy proceeding, the Trustee requested that Rowanoak turn over all of its books and records, as well as its canceled checks and bank statements. In response, Rowanoak turned over only canceled checks and bank statements. In reviewing these documents, the Trustee discovered that from March 5, 1997, through May 20, 1997, Rowanoak made six payments from its bank account to Murphy's mother, Ann Walsh. The checks totaled $63,344.

Uncertain about the basis for these checks, the Trustee filed a motion to compel Rowanoak to turn over other books and records to the Trustee. In response to the motion, Murphy, as president of Rowanoak, filed an affidavit stating that Rowanoak "did not maintain any books and records with respect to the financial operations of the corporation," and did "not have any documents in its possession, custody or control that are relevant to payments made by the Debtor to Ann Walsh." The Trustee subsequently commenced an adversary proceeding against Walsh to avoid and recover the payments as fraudulent pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 109A, 5 and 6(a). In response, Walsh claimed the checks represented payments on various pre-petition loans made by Walsh to Rowanoak.

[velveeta jones]

Christina! You are a Goddess. I might just send you money......... just because. You can spend it on your mortgage or your sex dungeon, whatever. Doesn't matter to me, because I get so much joy from just reading your posts and feeling like I have a life.

:D

Seriously though, great work as usual! You ROCK!!

[Christina]

Thank you velveeta!

We SERIOUSLY need help getting this out and about. We need EVERYONE to send an email to anyone you know, any newspaper contacts, any other big liberal/prgressive blogs. Everyone, everywhere!

[Henry]

Someone shoot an email over to Chris Matthews. See if she will go on his show again to answer questions about this. How sure are you that this is real?

[Christina]

Henry- I am not like PUMA. I don't post speculation without saying, "Word on the street" or something to that effect.
This is a case law file.
It is real, 100% real. This is NOT some fluke. The website is a "find law" that archives lawsuits and cases. This is NOT made up.
I feel VERY VERY certain that this is the real Darragh Murphy. How many Darragh Murphy's live in Massachusetts who owned businesses in Boston?

[Scott Erb]

Just when I think you've done more than one could imagine to out what is behind the pumas, you dig even further. Thank you! Also, I agree completely with Henry above that the pumas are sounding more and more like a cult, with the folk at "riverdaughter" getting very weird. Cults want loyalty, want you to shut out any dissident information, want blind adherence to the dogma and are usually led by frauds who milk them for money and an easy life. I wonder if Murphy, Riverdaughter, that Gary Chapelhill person and the others are just current day incarnations of people like Moon, Jones, and other cult leaders. It's sad.

[Jeff]

hardball@msnbc.com

A couple of suggestions:

1) Make sure you reference this web site in your message. Encourage the producers to check it out.

2) Express your concern that MSNBC is going to severely damage their credibility by letting a dishonest shyster like Darragh Murphy serve as an instapundit.

[Bill]

I recall that at one point DM announced that she'd arranged to have PUMA blimps fly the east & west coasts.

[Henry]

I'll tell you one thing. Emailing MSNBC may accomplish something postive. For one, it will allow Matthews to ask her to address the concerns people have about how she is using the money.
But..it might just scare her away from appearing again for fear that she might be asked this question. Cause you know she's reading these posts. Hi Darragh! Love that Cindy Brady zombie stare you have perfected!

I am kinda torn between the 2 because everytime she appears, she makes the PUMAs look even more stupid.

[Brad Mays]

Hello everyone. At Tommy Christopher's suggestion, I am now following the stories on this site. Since I am mentioned in the comments here, I thought I might respond to one or two things.

First, I am not a PUMA. My wife Lorenda is a PUMA member, but I'm not sure of her being "high-ranking." I believe her to be a TRUSTED member of the group, but not terribly sure of her rank.

Secondly, we are genuine filmmakers. We have a feature length comedy premiering at the San Diego film festival this September, entitled THE WATERMELON. As I rule, I don't do political docs. My last documentary was about opera training. My financial arrangement with PUMA is pretty straight-forward, and there is no chance of the film not being followed through to completion. Films are way too much work for someone my age to just walk away from them.

Finally, the film is not an Obama hit piece, thought I can certainly understand why many are under that impression. The film is ABOUT the PUMA movement, and it will be a warts-and-all story. PUMA has absolutely no say in content, and that is part and parcel of our agreement.

The production will continue shooting throughout the remainder of the election. I have shown Tommy some still-unseen footage from our Texas shoot, and I think that seeing some of that made an impression on him.

I like Tommy very much, by the way. I also think very highly of Darragh Murphy, whom I regard as a scrupulously honest human being.

[Henry]

Gee Brad,

A PUMA filmed entitled, "THE WATERMELON". A bit provocative no?

[Bill]

I could see a real film of the PUMA comi-tragedymaking a lot of money and winning awards.

But due to this, I don't think it's likely

" I also think very highly of Darragh Murphy, whom I regard as a scrupulously honest human being."

[Christina]

Hi Brad, Tommy is a nice man. Thanks for commenting.
I know that you are no PUMA, and was told that Lori is the most sane person in that entire coalition. I like to think that I remained civil with you AND lori throughout our interactions. And I honestly think I have been given a pretty bad rap within the clan.
Yes, my assessments are caustic. This is because the kinds of strange bedfellows PUMAs keep are not conducive to their supposed "Democratic principles." You can't post a Rush Limbaugh transcript, call Sean Hannity a "moderate," "debunk" global warming, boo al gore, call your own supposed party the "Democrat party," and expect us to be fooled by the "I've voted Dem my whole life.." It's quite frankly, insulting to my intelligence. this is something I see every single day in this group. You know what I mean? Yep, there are a few disaffected Dems. But let's call a spade a spade, PUMA is brimming with GOP hacks.

I disagree with your assessment on Darragh. I fear that she may just be swindling gullible women who are so caught up in emotion and animosity, they haven't really taken the opportunity to step back and ask, "just who IS Darragh Murphy?" Instead, they have begun to crown her some Goddess of all things right and I have an inside source who has dealt with this coalition face to face who says she once heard a puma say, "Darragh tells us what to believe." In a sense, THEY have become the true "cult." THAT is scary.

[Bill]

Christina:

Clearly you are mistaken. TrishfromCanada explains

"3. We are not republicans and should refrain from openly discussing our support of them"

[Brad Mays]

Henry - THE WATERMELON is not a PUMA-related film. I shot it last summer, long before I'd ever heard of Barack Obama, nor does the title refer to anything racial. The title refers to an old camping trailer painted to look like a particularly juicy summer fruit.

Bill - I speak as I find, and my contact with Darragh Murphy has led me to believe her to be very honest and forthright. I'm not here to convince you otherwise, but just to speak my own mind.

Christina - As I said to Bill, I am not here to speak on Darragh Murphy's behalf or to defend her against her accusers. But I have personally found Darragh to be a sincere and honest person worthy of respect and trust.

And for the record, not everyone in the PUMA movement thinks well of my film. For her own part, Darragh has agreed to let the production draw its own conclusions, and that sets her far apart from others in the "Just Say No Deal" coalition.

I'd like to think that I can come in here and have my posts taken at face value.

[Christina]

Oh sorry Bill, CLEARLY I have just been hallucinating things like THIS:
"I agree her policies are different from Hillary... I have watched her for 2 year, many times on CNBC... shw reminds me of a republican version of Hillary.."
SOURCE
Ugh, how could I have been so naive?! ;)

[anti-Rocinante]

Here are Darragh's comments in response to all the rumors of mismanagement (scroll down, it's dated 8/11/08):

http://blog.pumapac.org/2008/08/12/rendell-pressuring-delegates-not-to-support-clinton-nominating-petition/

So, on 8/11, she states:

"Our July disclosure forms will be submitted this week and made public by the FEC soon after that."

Checking the FEC filings just now, there is no July disclosure form filed as yet.