This blog is dedicated to the memory of David Weintraub, who took on insidious astroturfers and won.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Internet Disinfo Racket Tied to Former Department of Justice Employee

The_last_name_left found this link a while back. At the end, a list of contacts with addresses was provided. One of them was for disinformation personality Michael Rivero of WhatReallyHappened.com.


Michael Rivero
20500 W. Country Club Drive
Aventura, Florida 33180


That's the same address BankIndex.com used to provide on their contact page.



Instead of Rivero finally owning up to who has been behind the success of his website, he denied the connection in an email sent to the administrator of the board where TLNL had first posted that shocking information.

...providing private details such as my brother's previous address for the purposes of applying coercive pressure is defined as an act of terror under the USAPATRIOT act.


His brother? I don't think so, but thanks go out to Mike anyway for not coming up with a better cover story. It looks like we now know exactly who has been bankrolling the What Really Happened website.

Thanks also go out to J. Conti of BankIndex.com, who years ago gave an interview to the right wing, disinfo writer. That was quite the strange partnership. I'm guessing that ever since the mysterious S. Boyle exposed that relationship, a decision was made to take the scrub brush out of the closet. Both BankIndex.com and PMC4.com have been flushed down the memory hole. BankIndex.com used to do a number of those with kooky conspiracy theorists. I see through google that at a minimum, BankIndex.com interviews with Henry Makow, Victor Thorne, and Jim Marrs also took place.

In December, 2002, the mysterious S. Boyle wrote the following.


So why would Michael Rivero, an avowed anti-globalist, anti-corporate champion of the truth be working for (or very closely with) a corporate operation like PMC4, LLC?

(http://www.pmc4.com/version2/index.asp) Perhaps a better [question] to ask is what kind of business is the Aventura, Florida corporation?

"From web hosting to options to multi-faceted revenue generation strategies, PMC4, LLC offers a variety of services and solutions intended to optimize your path to profitability.", and their objective is to specialize "in assisting small to medium sized businesses as well as Fortune 100 companies whose presence on the Internet is more than ancillary to their core business." (http://www.pmc4.com/version2/objective.asp)

The "About Us" section reveals five key figures behind the PMC4 corporate structure: James P. Garib, founder of an Intellectual property development firm; Peter Sordjan, a technology-focused financial entrepreneur; Ruben D. Lupulescu, a former computer engineer for Hughes Electronics and DirectTV Latin America; Lawrence D. Kruguer, a seasoned marketing VP for fat-cats like American Express, SportsLine, and Alamo Rent-a-Car; and Rico M. Sogocio, attorney and former member of the United States Department of Justice.

http://www.pmc4.com/version2/garib.asp
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/sordjan.asp
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/lupulescu.asp
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/kruguer.asp
http://www.pmc4.com/version2/sogocio.asp


Here's the lowdown on Rico M. Sogocio courtesy of the wayback machine.



It's strange how BankIndex.com and pmc4.com have closed shop. I sense it's because of the work a few cybersleuths did back in the day. The disinfo fockers tried to intimidate S. Boyle with threats of lawsuits. S. Boyle seems to have made only one mistake.... or maybe he didn't? Carol Adler's Dandelion Books was the publishing house which worked with Michael Rivero. S. Boyle mistakenly assumed that Dandelion Books in addition to BankIndex.com was owned by PMC4, LLC. However, the only provable connection between Adler and PMC4, LLC was that books were being sold through GoOff.com, another PMC4, LLC owned subsidiary.

I've got S. Boyle's back. I just found a little tidbit of information which may validate his assumption that Dandelion Books was actually owned by PMC4, LLC no matter how it has been spun otherwise. Remember that former Department of Justice employee who was one of the big five of PMC4, LLC? Apparently Rico Sogocio was Carol Adler's partner!


The Ripoff Report: Carol Adler - “President” Dandelion Books ripoff, conartist, scam, unpaid royalties, violations of contracts, attempts to exhort thousands of dollars, sells on Amazon.com Tempe Arizona



Carol Adler - “President” Dandelion Books, LLC
5250 South Hardy Drive, #3067
Tempe Arizona 85281-800-7899
U.S.A.
Phone: 800-861-7899
Web Address:

Category: Book Publishers

Submitted: Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Last posting: Monday, June 01, 2009
Carol Adler, Dandelion Books, promotes herself as "the authors' publisher".

In reality she is a Con Artist.

On March 10, 2003, I signed a Publishing Agreement with Carol Adler and her (then) partner Rico Sogocio....


Rico left a comment denying PMC4 LLC were partners with Adler.


Dandelion Books and PMC4, LLC were at one time engaged in a collaborative effort to promote and sell "non-mainstream" books through the website GoOff.com.

Any contracts bearing my name were signed in my capacity as general counsel and authorized representative of PMC4.

Due to minimal book sales and internal changes within PMC4, Dandelion Books and PMC4 ended the collaborative effort in May 2003 and GoOff.com became defunct.

Although I have no recollection of this specific author or her book(s), relatively few books ended up being sold via GoOff.com....



Can anyone say lipstick on a pig? It looks like this story evolved into damage control ever since PMC4, LLC got outed by the mysterious S. Boyle. I think we might have found the head of the disinfo octopus or at least a major tentacle. I think they got busted, plain and simple. Rivero wrote some book for Dandelion. He was interviewed by Bank Index. Now we know that Mike Rivero's work address was the same as BankIndex/PMC4, LLC. Oops, Mike says his brother used to work there, not him. Yeah right, Mike! And the Joos control the world!!! And they did 9/11. And what a great guy you are for pimping for the Special Forces Underground, Willis Carto, Zundel, Rense.com, Alex Jones, Tinoire of Progressive Independent, Curtis Maynard, and many more dispensers of internet convolution!!!!! That's the ticket!

We now know who is behind Michael Rivero. We now know what has always been suspected. The rise of WRH was anything but organic.


related reading: Carol Adler in bed with the anti-semitic Barnes Review:

Conspiracy Theories and Far-Right Disinformation
Carol Adler E-Mail

3 comments:

the_last_name_left said...

Hey, you've been busy - hadn't seen these posts of yours. :)

A few things on this BankIndex, Rivero, Dandelion thing:

-- I think Rivero was actually referring to another address when he mentioned about his brother's address: I had put up the WHOIS info on a web-design site, operated, seemingly, by Matt Rivero (apparently Rivero's brother)

Still, ridiculous to imagine it is "an act of domestic terrorism" to post WHOIS info.....and it doesn't explain how Rivero's address was given as the same as BankIndex's.

-- I had seen that RipOff report on Adler/Dandelion before. What a surprise eh? I hadn't seen the April 09 response by Adler though. That's new to me. ;)

She attempts to clarify Sogocio's relationship - but she only confirms how sketchy the relationship was.

C.A.: Rico Sogocio was not a partner with Dandelion at the time. He co-signed Dandelion Books contracts because his company, of which he was the fourth partner, was under contract to market and distribute Dandelion books. Mr. Sogocio was the legal member of the company and signed contracts for his other partners. He explains this confused statement by you, Judith, in a RipoffReport.com statement that is also available online.

I don't see how that separates Sogocio from Dandelion at all. Partners? What does that mean? Regardless - Sogocio (PMC4) was signing contracts for Dandelion.

Earlier PMC4/Grand Dominion/Bank Index were threatening S Boyle because s/he had linked them.

I'm not sure if I recognised the Sogocio connection before. You've made it much clearer, now, anyway, Socrates. ;)

You linked to an article I haven't seen in a while - that DrLaniac one that touches on all this, Rivero, SpecialForcesUnderground, fascism, holocaust denial, disinfo etc.......

Good article - have you seen the comments? He might be interested in some updates?

Back to Carol Adler's response at RipOff.com:

Many Dandelion authors have chosen not to participate in the marketing and promotion of their books. Consequently, because of the fierce competition in the marketplace, sales reports are extremely low.


hehe. Anyone surprised that sales "reports" are extremely low for the guff they sell? And odd to say "sales reports" are extremely low - why not say "sales" are extremely low?

And notice how she blames the authors? One wonders quite what Dandelion were supposed to be doing, if it's the authors' own responsibility to sell and promote the book.......

CA: Many authors who are eager to become rich and famous from book sales,

Hmmm - nice dig at the author, Ms Adler...... The author doesn't seem remotely expectant of becoming "rich and famous". Though admittedly the author seems a little "mad" imo --- but that's just what you'd expect from a Dandelion writer (and reader!)

CA says

if we are clandestinely selling (y)our books as you claim, please tell me where I can find statements confirming this fact.

That isn't a denial. (Gotta watch for that, when there's lawyers about, like Sogocio, eh?)

Adler gives a series of testimonials by clients -- the first one I tried was dead - the website is dead and defunct. Some testimonial. lol

As for Sogocio - wasn't his work with Immigration & Naturalisation dept?

Tokyo Shemp said...

Hi Tlnl. Thank you very much for the feedback.

It's like I said a few weeks ago. I'm more relaxed. I'm not into reinventing the wheel. I'd rather try to figure out what we've got, than just keep adding to a mountain of raw data.

That sounds more correct that Rivero was responding to the whois with his brother Matt on it. The reference to the Patriot Act, like you point out, was ridiculous, not even worthy of a response.

So for posterity, let's see if we (myself and the readers) have this correct. You posted a lot of your findings concerning Rivero and WRH on Trausti's board. Ay some point, Rivero got nervous or whatever and wrote directly to Trausti, with the result being his forum has become visible only to members. I'm curious what the sequence was in regards to Rivero popping up as being an employee of PMC4. Was that info in your post that Mike responded to? Or does he have wiggle room to say he never gave Aventura, Florida as a contact address, and that it was a mistake? How could such a mistake take place? This can get very confusing as regards to dates and data. I see that S. Boyle made the entry I posted above in December, 2002, and that Sogocio says GoOff.com was dropped in May 2003.

Sogocio and Adler claim they weren't in a partnership. But the link you found put Mike Rivero in Aventura. The impression has always been that the only relationship between Rivero and Bank Index was an interview. Let's call the top link you found a press release. That was sent out on July 26, 2004. Rivero and Sogocio truly have to explain why Mike Rivero's contact address was to PMC4. I think that's a huge find of yours, and it wasn't until yesterday that the implications sunk into my noggin. The point is, we can link Rivero and Adler in a working relationship. We can link Adler to PMC4. How Rivero ended up listed with PMC4 is the biggie.

All three appear to have been in first degree relationships.

Think back to how Al Giordano says we are going with McCarthyite smears based on tenuous connections. If you have the time to skim through my recent entry concerning Larisa Alexandrovna, Brett Kimberlin, and the Michael Connell story, you will see the same kind of argument made by Alexandrovna. But you'll also find the same kind of internal conflicts witnessed with Giordano-Ackerman and now with this other grouping. Larisa wants to frame her relationship with Kimberlin as not being substantial, that we are jumping connections or rather degrees of separation. Yet, a few years ago she said Brett was a friend of hers; enough to be able to vouch for him being an exonerated, ex-political prisoner. Around the end of last year, she said Michael Connell was a source of hers, that he was scared and ready to spill the beans. Yet, then she turned around and said that there was no threat she was aware of against Michael Connell. She made no acknowledgement of Kimberlin's sworn affidavit concerning threats made against him by Karl Rove.

(continued)

Tokyo Shemp said...

Look at what happened to S. Boyle, how he was bullied. Look at what happened to us, when we picked up on the story in 2007. We were viciously attacked at a forum which housed Rivero's letters, and one he linked to prominently on his front page. Was that a coincidence, or was our experience a variation of what Boyle went through?

Why was Rivero's address given as the same as BankIndex? I think that was perhaps the greatest find any of us have ever come up with. Well-done! And now we can be grateful to the disenchanted writer for putting in print that PMC4 was signing off on contracts with Dandelion Books. How can that be seen as having even one degree of separation? Sogocio and Adler confirmed that the essence of what the writer said was true, that the two were working closely in the publishing business. I want to see if any of them can explain why Rivero's contact address was PMC4.

I find it interesting the description PMC4 gave of itself at what is now only available through the wayback machine. They said they were adept at helping companies whose main source of revenue would be through the internet. That backs up the contention that PMC4 and What Really Happened have been tied together at the hip. S. Boyle was a genius!

You might want to try to email Dr. Laniac and perhaps even Damian Penny who is still blogging. It's as if they took the baton from S. Boyle, and then we took the baton from them.

I'm trying to not reinvent the wheel. We know what we went through. At my forum we had the long thread. Then at the WRH Forum, we got trolled in a very sophisticated manner. I saved a specific thread which is now only available through ourselves. It's in the astroturfing section of my forum with your name in the title concerning Rivero saying it's not about the Jews, it's about the oil, something close to that.

On the sales reports being low, maybe that was a freudian slip?

The author who penned the ripoff report said she has proof of her claims. She could be another person to try to get in contact with. And you're right. Adler didn't technically say she was lying but merely dared her to cough up the proof. Maybe that was another freudian slip, in which she was saying she doubted the disgruntled writer would go to the trouble of scanning the letters thus proving the claims.

I couldn't believe the amount of testimonials presented by Adler. It felt like a methinks you doth protest too much kind of thing.

If a website is gone, you can always try archive.org. I for one am not afraid if Rivero or Sogocio or one of their assets shows up to intimidate us. I believe there is a lot of bluffing going on with these types of things. Al Giordano tried that. Larisa Alexandrovna does that. I didn't look too deeply into Sogocio's background. I do find it intriguing he was with the Department of Justice.