This just in: Public records paperwork on Walia's campaign treasurer has arrived - Candia Lynch-Mausser nailed for securities fraud by SEC in 1995

Judgment and sentencing paperwork from 1995 (13 pages, PDF) shows that city council candidate Harry Walia's campaign treasurer, Candia Lynch-Mausser, was a leader of a Cincinnati securities fraud ring in the early 1990s. While never criminally charged, the SEC adjudged her civilly as guilty of fraud and assessed over $6,000 in "disgorgement" fines against her. The company she worked for was ordered to pay $30,000 as a direct result of her actions. Additionally, Mausser was barred from ever selling stocks and securities for a minimum of four years.

Up until the receipt of the documents early this morning, Venice Florida! dot com only had sketchy details of Mausser's legal problems with the SEC. Knowing that Venice Florida! dot com was looking into the charges, Walia's campaign had reportedly been telling the Gondolier and the Herald-Trib that Mausser's SEC history was a minor matter and that Mausser had gotten into some small trouble as the result of taking bad advice from someone that she had trusted.

The investigative and judgment paperwork from the SEC received today indicates that nothing could be further from the truth.

The SEC filings and judgments were sent pursuant to a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by Venice Florida! dot com approximately ten days ago.

According to the filings, Mausser was an employee at, and later the "Branch Manager" of, a franchise office in Cincinnati of Corporate Securities Group, Inc., a Florida-based corporation. The Cincinnati office was owned by Dr. George Rizos and Matthew Zahn.

Mausser was accused by the SEC of selling unregistered securities, lying about their value, and funneling the sales proceeds to Rizos' personal accounts instead of into the corporate accounts of Corporate Securities, Inc.

From pages 3 and 4 of the PDF file (same as pages 1 and 2 of the second document in the file): "Mausser willfully violated Section 17(A) of the Securities Act of 1933 in that, in the offer or sale off securities, ...Mausser employed devices, schemes, or artifices to defraud; obtained money or property by means of untrue statements of material facts, ...[and] engaged in practices or courses of business which operated as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser."

Specifically, Mausser was accused of making "...material misrepresentations and omissions in the offer or sale of Goldstar securities by making baseless price predictions, making false assertions that Goldstar would be freely tradable and would be listed in NASDAQ."

In other words, Mausser was a sort-of miniature version of Art Nadel.

Mausser had two co-defendants, Rizos and Zahn. Rizos was ordered to pay $14,500 in fines and disgorgement fees, while Mausser was ordered to pay $6,300. No penalty was assessed against Zahn. Corporate Securities was ordered to pay $30,000 in fines because of Mausser's and Rizos' activities.

Additionally, Mausser was barred for four years from selling stocks and securities and from working for anyone who does sell them. Rizos was barred for two years while Zahn was barred for six months.

That makes two out of two staffers on Walia's campaign staff with what could loosely be termed as less than stellar backgrounds.

Walia's events coordinator, Heather Skeffington, is on probation with the Florida Department of Corrections for burglary. Additionally, she is still facing charges of using a stolen credit card and exploiting the elderly.

In one of the biggest PR mistakes ever in the history of Venice politics, Walia used Skeffington to park cars at his July 24 fundraiser for Republican Bill McCollum's gubernatorial bid. McCollum is currently employed as Florida's Attorney General. Attendees at the event were not told that they were giving their house and car keys to someone who was on probation for burglary and was facing other theft-related charges.

--THE REAL STORY-- Inside sources: Police not charging Walia, Crowe with filing false police reports because of Walia's political connections, particularly with Attorney General Bill McCollum

Herald-Trib was close, but no cigar

Despite an abundance of proof that city council candidate Harry Walia  (photo at right) knowingly gave police false information in sworn affidavits and interviews, there are no plans to charge Walia with filing false police reports. According to police sources who wish to remain anonymous, the police are giving Walia a pass due to his Republican Party political connections, both local and statewide.

In late July and early August of this year, police conducted an investigation into allegations that Garry Moore, of State of the Art Landscaping, had sabotaged and vandalized Walia's irrigation system and electrical wiring. Walia refused to pay Moore for fixing a water fountain pump. Walia was, at the time, fixing up his backyard for a July 24 fundraiser for the gubernatorial campaign of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. McCollum did attend the fundraiser at Walia's house.

Walia is alternatively known in numerous legal records, including the deed to his house, as Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia.

Walia, his girlfriend/attorney Diana Pankova(1), and two staffers, Heather Skeffington and Candia Lynch-Mausser(2), all gave sworn written statements to Venice Police Detective Ron Perisho, all implicating Moore as having criminally caused a series of electrical and plumbing failures that police later determined were due to shoddy repairs previously authorized by Walia. All but Pankova gave taped verbal interviews to Perisho as well.

According to a statement obtained by Venice Police from an electrician contracted by Walia, the system had been defective from long before Moore had ever laid eyes on it, and it was rapidly deteriorating. "It was a Mickey Mouse job," Ron Parish, of Best Electric, told police in his police interview.

Walia liberally name dropped the state's attorney general, Bill McCollum, in his interview with Detective Ron Perisho, this as heard in the audio recording of Walia's police interview as obtained by Venice Florida! dot com. At one point, Walia infers a strong chummy relationship with McCollum by stating that the pair of men were together until midnight on July 24. Walia name drops McCollum in his written sworn affidavit as well.

Moore, who did this repair as a one-off job and had never met Walia or been at the property prior to July of this year, stated to this writer that he tracked down prior workmen that Walia had used and that these workmen claim that they had warned Walia repeatedly about the shoddy electrical and plumbing work that
was on his property, but that Walia ignored their warnings.

Both Moore and Venice Florida! dot com have been inquiring as to why Walia remains not criminally charged with knowingly filing false criminal complaints.

The unofficial reason given to both Moore and to myself was that this whole mess was too political and that Walia is too highly connected.

Officially, the reason given to Venice Florida! dot com is that the complaints were dropped as "unfounded," therefore they don't exist as criminal complaints any more and thus cannot be false.

According to Moore, the official reason given to him was that, despite proof of Walia's prior knowledge that both the police and Moore unearthed, Walia is goofy enough that police couldn't prove that Walia understood that he was making a false statement. In other words, the police appear to be claiming that they will not charge Walia because Walia might claim an insanity plea. Remember, this is a man who is currently running for election for a seat on Venice City Council on a so-called "common sense" platform.

Moore has filed a contractor's lien against Walia's house for just over $900. Additionally, Moore has filed suit in small claims court. Walia has filed a countersuit.

The second criminal complaint involves Walia campaign staffer and supporter, Cyntia Crowe, who was caught on video physically attacking this writer at the Venice Library immediately after a League of Women Voiters debate.

Crowe had watched as Walia, outside of the room where the debate had been held, was asked about the criminal complaint that had been filed against Moore. Crowe then followed this writer back into the room where the debate had been held and issued threats of an impending lawsuit. When asked why, Crowe repeatedly refused to answer and proceeded to threaten and then follow through with a right-handed punch.

The video, and a verbal witness statement made to Venice Florida! dot com by Mayor Ed Martin, clearly show that Walia is not in the room at the time of the attack. In fact, Walia was some twenty to thirty feet outside of the room and around a corner.

Nevertheless, Walia and Crowe both filed criminal affidavits claiming that I physically attacked Crowe (PDF, 4 pages).

That complaint was dismissed as unfounded after detectives reviewed the video, which by that time had been published to YouTube.

Again, no charge of filing a false police report is being contemplated by the Venice Police Department, this because the complaint has been determined to be "unfounded," so it doesn't actually exist as such and therefore cannot possibly be a false complaint situation (or: since it was false, it cannot be valid and only a valid complaint can later be investigated for being false).

Meanwhile, Venice Florida! dot com has made inquiries to Attorney General Bill McCollum's office to inquire if it is the attorney general's policy to give a pass to offenses and crimes related to fundraisers for McCollum's election campaign.

I am still awaiting return calls from Captain Tom McNulty of the Venice Police Department and from the state's Attorney General's Office to see if either law enforcement agncy can come up with any clarifications as to why Walia is getting a pass from prosecution for what are prima facie cases of abuse of perceived authority in the filing of false police reports.

[FOOTNOTES:
(1) Walia identifies Pankova as his girlfriend in the audio recording of Detective Perisho's interview
(2)  Walia staffers and witnesses against Moore,  Skeffington and Mausser, both have problematic legal pasts. Skeffington is currently on probation with the Florida Department of Corrections for burglary. She still is facing charges of exploiting the elderly and multiple counts of using a stolen credit card. Mausser and an associate were accused of securities fraud by the SEC in 1994, a $30,000 administrative fine was imposed against the pair.]

Batshiat Crazy Harry's foul odor solution and other great insights from the candidates

Venice Florida! dot com welcomes Mary D. as a new volunteer staff writer. This is her first piece.

Ref: Ideas for council candidates by Bob Vedder, Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/28/09

"While we think this year’s city council candidates lack experience in city and community affairs, they still have many ideas, some good, some questionable. ... Yet there is a lot more to a candidate than ideas. I hope we have laid out enough information for you to choose."

I must have missed all the info the Gondo has been laying out about the candidates. This babble fest seems to be one of the more detailed write ups and it didn't provide squat as to who is qualified. One particular blurb from this article did catch my attention though:

"Because our beaches are rated very low, Harry Walia suggested that we route stormwater into the holding ponds that used to be for treating effluent at the old Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. Harry has had some engineering experience, which came out a couple of times in his interview. Jim Bennett, his opponent, thinks we need to better define what is causing the problems before we seek a solution."

Wow, now Batshiat, in addition to those many other talents we've seen like drunk-driving, speeding, running a development into bankruptcy, avoiding paying for services received and showing off his scary knowledge by making comments like Venice joined the UN for $3500, acknowledges that he can fix our wastewater system with his engineering skills. That's funny because, from what I've read, Harry can't fix his own fountain or sprinkler-system.

Perhaps this next idea of Batshiat's will give us more insight, "to solve the foul odor coming from the wastewater and water treatment plants ... He thought there should be a tall vent stack to carry the odors higher so as not to bother homes and businesses nearby." Maybe Harry can just invent a giant deodorizer to put on the side of the treatment plant instead. I think it would make as much sense. I'm qualified to make that comment because I had a semester of engineering in college, which I'm guessing is more "experience" than Batshiat has ever had.

Can't ignore Jim Bennett's comment that he needs to better define what is causing the problem. Ah, the problem would be rain, Jim, and at times lots of it, and with no good place to go after it lands on the ground. Maybe Harry can control the weather, though. In between his engineering courses, he may have taken a class in ancient rain-dance rituals. Of course, I'm sure there are more problems to define now that I've answered that one. I'm sure Jim will get to the bottom of them before he votes for the giant deodorizer.

Some of the other great insight offered by the Gondo's article was that Ted Koszarski would like to use volunteers as consultants and that he himself would volunteer to do a veterans video archive, and that Emilio Carlesimo would like to have a swing set on the beach. Ted and Emilio were not quoted on their theories about rain and smelly water so we'll have to make a leap of faith as to what they think about my giant deodorizer idea.

According to the Gondo, after reading this pile of crap you are officially locked and loaded with all the info you need to vote this coming Tuesday. Good luck ...

Herald-Trib [finally] nails Batshiat Crazy Harry for being batshiat crazy

Carlesimo won't openly endorse or denounce Walia, refuses to admit or deny that he voted for Walia

"The police report, filed Sept. 23, is the latest twist in the Walia-Bennett race. Bennett's supporters have cited the report, a 16-year-old DUI against Walia -- later reduced to reckless driving -- and a number of lawsuits and foreclosures he has been involved in the last few years in opposing Walia."
--from City Council candidate's complaint is dismissed by Kim Hackett, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/28/09

Well, not exactly. This isn't "the latest twist," nor was it being "cited" by "Bennett supporters." That's more than a bit dismissive of an incredible amount of time that I've put in to research this very shady politician.

This was the starting point for a series of investigations into Walia's past that has resulted in two physical attacks against me so far, one by Walia supporter Cynthia Crowe, another by Gondo reporter and Walia supporter Greg Giles. Walia and Crowe filed a criminal complaint against me for hurting Crowe's wrist when, according to the pair of would-be victims, my chest slammed into her fist (I wish I were kidding -- you can see the video and read the affidavit for yourself).

That complaint was also dismissed by police as "unfounded." Mercifully, I had a vidcam rolling during the latter incident. YouTube can be a good friend.

Bennett once stepped on my foot. I have every reason to believe it was an accident. He apologized, not that there was any real need to.

Walia didn't like my questions, so he inquired about getting a restraining order to prevent me from attending any more political events as I might endanger more of his supporters' wrists when they take a swing at me.

Bennett once took me out to lunch.

I can't call myself a Bennett supporter, but if I'm interviewing a candidate, I sure as heck have a preferance to getting a free meal over being punched and then later lied about.

Still, Hackett scored a major coup when she caused Batshiat Crazy Harry to pop the latch on his cranium so that she could could peer down inside at the vodka and ether soaked cobwebs within, this when Batshiat stated of Garry Moore, "He tried to burn down my house!"

Did you see the name drop of Attorney General Bill McCollum? Did you note that, as though that gave some imprimatur of validity to Batshiat's ramblings? He tried that name drop with the cops, too, it's in the recorded audio of his police interview. It worked so well with police that they still wrote Walia off as totally unreliable: "He could have paid Mr. Moore but for whatever reason, [Walia] is blaming [Moore]," that quote attributed by Hackett to Detective Ron Perisho.

Translation: Walia is nuttier than Jimmy Carter's farmland.
Then there is the check-swapping scam at a health care provider, the accusations of fraud, inducement to fraud, and conversion levied against him in a counter-suit filed by Florida Flight Training Center, and more.

Look in your own archives for a story I found from 2000 or so when Walia was in a dust-up with a Sarasota pizzaria owner.

Drivers License suspension, tags not assigned, driving with no insurance -- those are out of county charges that show up in his DUI court file driving record as then-recent events (normally, these are crimes of poverty, but Walia claims to be and been highly affluent).

There's more. Much more. Way too much more. Enough that Venice Florida! dot com has officially dubbed him "Batshiat Crazy Harry."

I'm actually debating whether to vote for him, as he is and will continue to be the most fun and inane untamed wildness that I could watch for the price of a vote.

Walia's running mate, Emilio Carlesimo, has stated that he has already voted. Curiously, Carlesimo won't admit or deny that he voted for Walia. There's a ringing endorsement, eh?

Readers submit their own Walia scandal articles to Gondo, Herald-Trib, are told to go away

When I published the article entitled How to write your own Walia scandal story, it was intended as a deliberate and outrageously voiced jab at the local print media for continuing to fail at their very basic mandate, to wit: to report the news and to inform their readership.

What I didn't expect was that any readers would actually take me up on the challenge.

Two readers did, working independently. They both took the core elements available on Venice Florida! dot com, gathered additional material, and did their own interviews. Before submitting the articles to Venice Florida! dot com, they shopped them to the two local print newspapers for hopeful publication.

Both women writers (neither of whom have I yet to actually meet in person) claim they encountered a hostile barrage of denials from Greg Giles at the Gondolier. Giles made it clear that he believed that if the stories were not written entirely from the perspective of his favored candidate, the stories could not possibly be fair and balanced (a la Fox News). Those weren't Giles' exact words, but the message was clear to its recipients: Go away and leave me alone, I barely have a job at a barely-existing newspaper and if this shitpile collapses, I don't think I can find anyone else who will hire me.

The irony here is that Giles (seen at the right side of photo, being confronted by Venice Taxpayers League prez Gary Budway at a recent campaign event) has claimed to me that I am biased while remaining clear that his straight news coverage at the Gondo is unbiased.

I am biased. I am partisan. I never claimed to be otherwise. It's a deliberate attempt to bring some balance into an extremely biased media environment that claims to be otherwise. As to this new Gondo/Fox News philosophical merger in the Gondo's bogus claim to be fair and balanced, I have a few rude Monty Python quotes that spring to mind. Some Shakespeare insults as well.

I'm not saying it is wrong to be biased. It is genuinely and transparently dishonest to be so heavily biased as the Gondo has become while claiming to be unbiased. It's a lie and the paper is fooling no one.

Victor Hull at the Herald-Tribune, after being offered a couple of inches-thick stacks of papers from the pair of women, reportedly stated that he needed more info from them about the nature of the documents. God forbid he should actually have to glance at a stack of docs.

So, I am led to believe that the research department at the Herald-Tribune is unaware of the existence of the internet, this web site, or the clerk of court. Either that, or Hull is just too lazy to attempt to understand the story or he's too lazy to make a few phone calls to validate any of it or he's too lazy to tell one of his staffers to make a few phone calls to validate it.

Another possiblity, one that I am beginning to give more and more credence to, is that William Randolph Hearst has risen from the grave, bought both papers, and, like his famous missive about Billy Graham so many years ago, has sent two-word telegrams to both papers: "Puff Walia!"

The latter theory makes more sense than anything else. It means that both papers are under orders from a highly influential and powerful man to deny readers any meaningful insight as to who the stealthed-out CQG is asking you to vote for.

Please: do not tell me the CQG is not in this. I was at the VASI forum. I watched the temporarily dethroned King of Venice, land development attorney E.G. 'Dan' Boone, as he lovingly gazed at his best hopes to regain his throne: candidates Emilio Carlesimo and Carlesimo's running mate, Batshiat Crazy Harry Walia. If these two get in, it's Happy Days Are Here Again time at the Boone, Boone, Boone, Dewy, Cheetham, and Howe law firm, which in turn means that the treasury looting will begin again under the guise of heading towards prosperity.

The way Dan Boone was gazing at retired fireman Carlesimo could only mean one of two things: that Boone was having a near-rapturous religious experience in his ongoing worship of green bits of paper, or he has turned gay late in life and he totally wants a wet weekend with a guy who knows his way around a fire hose.

I'm not exaggerating for the sake of humor here. I don't need to. The truth is pretty hilarious. As Carlesimo talked, Boone, unaware that anyone was watching him, looked like a child at the circus. A gnomish, deformed child with spinal bifuda, granted, but a child nonetheless. I've never seen him gleeful before, and yet the glow on his face as he gazed at Carlesimo was undeniable.

But I digress.

Since the papers refuse to inform, I will do two things over the next few days. The first is ask for a one- or two-week boycott of both newspapers. Everybody calls in on the same day to cancel their subs for two weeks. The front page of Venice Florida! dot com will be replaced during this time with boycott calendar. I urge all readers of this site, as well as leadership of the VNC and VTL, to help the call out on this rather radical move in an attempt to make the newspapers aware that their readership are indeed NOT IDIOTS as their editors seem to think.

The other is that I will be running the two articles written by readers that were intended for publication in the Gondo and the Herald-Tribune. If the Herald-Trib or the Gondo actually wants to take a crack at it, then I will withhold publication. Short of that, a hearty sweet F.A. goes out to both publications for their failure to inform in the face of a hungry audience.