I swear, I'm not making this up even though it's so bizarre that you will undoubtedly think otherwise. However, let me start out by telling you that the name of his alleged organization, "Espavo", means "thank you for taking your power". Well, some people say power is money, and if so, the Espavo Foundation is aptly named because this guy has taken a lot of people's money.
First, some background.
Jim Norman claims to have $156 million in a foreign bank account which was frozen by the US government following 9/11, under authority of The Patriot Act. However, the Patriot Act doesn't give the United States the power to freeze a foreign bank account; and that's not even getting into the not-insignificant fact that the United States has no jurisdiction over any foreign bank account. You can read all about the banking provisions of the USA Patriot Act for yourself.
He claims to have an account with the World Bank, although the World Bank only deals with countries, and never with individuals. Two separate representatives of the World Bank have stated that they don't know who he is, that the account form he showed prospective investors is a fraud, and that his claims with regard to the World Bank are a fraud. Yes, they actually used the word "fraud" in writing. Is it even a possibility that he's telling the truth about the World Bank? See for yourself that's it's not possible, by reading the World Bank website.
He claims the International Monetary Fund is also involved with his "portfolio", even though the IMF has specifically denied even knowing who he is, denied sending the documents in question, and furthermore they also only deal with countries. You can read all about the International Monetary Fund - and understand why he cannot possibly be telling the truth - on their website.
He claims the International Court of Justice at The Hague (which he calls the World Court) has made decisions in his case, even though they have no jurisdiction to hear anything involving him (again, because he's not a country) and there is no record or even a hint that they have any earthly idea who this guy is. The truth is that the International Court of Justice is the judicial organ of the United Nations, only deals with member countries of the United Nations, and every single case they have ever heard, and every pending case, is listed clearly on their website.
In other words, this makes no sense whatsoever to anyone who bothers to check out his fantastical claims. Those who don't check him out are always going to lose their money. How much money are we talking, you may ask? I've been able to confirm well over a million dollars; some estimate it to be as much as $4 million.
Bear in mind, this scam has been going on for four years, even though his "investors" were each supposed to be paid within a few weeks. He always has an excuse for why he doesn't pay and, although the excuses are akin to "the dog ate my homework", many, many people continue to believe him.
This is how the scam works.
Jim Norman has "facilitators" who solicit people to invest in his so-called "project". The reason given these poor gullible folks as to why he needs the money has to do with fines, fees, and other facially false payments that allegedly must be made to release his nonexistent funds (typical of 419 scams). "Investors" are given a promissory note, obviously not written by an attorney, which states that they are to be paid the principal sum plus an astounding 760% interest in a period of approximately two weeks. In other words, for each 10K invested, the investor is supposed to receive $76,000 in two weeks.
Yeah, I know, anybody with even a lick of common sense should have known this was nothing but a scam, but you might be shocked at the people who believe Jim Norman. That list includes attorneys, believe it or not. All the money changes hands by wire transfer. And once the money has been sent ... well, the old saying "a fool and his money are soon parted" takes on a whole new meaning.
Some people have given him $5,000. Others have given him as much as $450,000. The sums are staggering, when you consider how facially ridiculous his claims are, and how easy it is to ascertain that he is lying.
So, why do people "invest" in the Jim Norman Project? Simple greed and gross gullibility. He actually convinces these people that he has contacts in international finance, that he has the ability to operate as a country, and that the paltry interest rates one usually sees do not apply in his world. He has also claimed that he is opening his own Swiss bank. Not a bank account, mind you. A bank, which he is calling Banque du Espavo. Shockingly, people believe him when he makes those claims. What surprises me most is the number of "investors" who still believe him, despite the fact that his claims have been thoroughly debunked.
For example, he presented a document which he stated was from the United States Department of the Treasury. This document states that he is to be paid the sum of $2 million from a former "facilitator" who allegedly defamed him and tried to steal his nonexistent portfolio.
Stop the boat. The US Department of the Treasury has no authority to award damages to him, and no jurisdiction to award damages, much less to hear a case involving money which allegedly belongs to a Canadian citizen, being held in another country. Add to that the fact that it references the Ivory Coast, one of the scam capitols of the world, and it's obvious what's really going on. The document is, in fact, a forgery, as has been confirmed by multiple sources within the Department of the Treasury. That being said, it wasn't necessary to ask if it was a forgery, since it was a really bad forgery. In particular, note that the words on the seal state "Dept. of Treasury". However, it's actually called "Department of the Treasury". That's not even getting into how the real US Department of the Treasury never issues documents which makes it appear that everyone there writes as if English is their second language. LOL
There was a document allegedly from the International Monetary Fund, which contains the name of a real official at that agency. Note that the name of the person in question is in a different font from the rest of the document. Also, it is interesting to note that the official in question has stated unequivocally that she did not send that document. Considering that she was educated at Harvard, I find it hard to believe that she writes like a Nigerian scammer. Needless to say, the IMF is investigating this matter.
Then there are the Spanish documents, variously from la Caixa Bank (an institution which is regularly named in such scams) and even the Spanish counterpart to the Internal Revenue Service.
According to the Spanish tax document (which is written in Spanish, so his investors just took his word for what it said) he is requesting a tax deduction due to maternity. It also says that he is the proud mother of two sons, both named after him. Now, I don't keep up with all the latest scientific advances, but the last time I checked, it is a biological impossibility for a man to be pregnant.
I told you, this stuff is unbelievable. Many of his "investors" refuse to believe it's a scam even though the evidence has been presented to them repeatedly. Many if not most will not go to law enforcement. Why? A review of the investor list shows that many of the investors are scammers themselves.
I have to admit, it doesn't break my heart when a scammer gets scammed, especially in a scam this blatant.
Not all of his investors are scammers, though. Some of them are elderly. One elderly investor wrote to him after he asked for even more money, saying that she has no money left but that she trusts him to pay off the principal plus interest. She doesn't understand that he is a scammer, much less that her money is gone forever. Now, that pisses me off.
In the meantime, he has sent photos to his "investors" of all the things he has bought. Strangely enough, for the most part he just poses with things which belong to other people, and the one expensive vehicle which was his has been repossessed due to his having passed a counterfeit check in payment (more details below). Even his fiancee is fake. All the photos of her are obviously fashion photography shots, and the only one of them allegedly together is merely a shadow of two arms, holding hands. The girl is real, the relationship is not real. Obviously, this guy lives in a world the rest of us can't see.
Jim Norman rarely speaks for himself, preferring instead to implicate various females in the United States to do his dirty work for him. He threatened to sue me, as did one of those females. I laughed my ass off about that, I have to admit. When he realized that wasn't going to work, he had another one of his pathetic minions tell me that I was going to be "FIRED!" from Quatloos. That was even more hilarious, since I'm just a volunteer there and exposing people like him is what Quatloos does.
I figure that, at this rate in his bizarro game of reverse threats, he will eventually buy me something really nice in an attempt to intimidate me. LOL
Jim Norman does occasionally communicate for himself. When he does, it's like reading the output of a random word generator. He makes threats, he tries to intimidate people, he calls people names, he makes it clear that the people who loaned him money aren't as good as him, and he just generally terrorizes his investors and anyone else who dares to question His Good Self (if the term "My Good Self" sounds familiar, you picked it up off emails from 419 scammers, and Jim has repeatedly used that term in his "updates" and emails).
Just to give you an idea of his idiocy, here's a private message he had one of his "Team" members send to me:
CARM was also in direct relations with the perpetrator as stated on the Treasury Document, I state unequivocally in the world I work in, we don't need forgery charges refuted in chat rooms INSTIGATED BY PEOPLE WE HAVE FIRED, this is preposterous, TRITE, and not a place to have my International dealing subjected to.....PERIOD. I have LAWYERS AND LAW FIRMS FOR THAT. I have been on the net since its conception, "Jim Norman & Grafite" SEARCH WITH PARENTHESES, seen all kinds of forums that attract the sick that hide behind handles and false credentials, AND HOP FROM ROOM TO ROOM SPEWEING OPINIONS AS FACT, consummate GARBAGE. You think the FBI, CIA, ECOWAS, IMF, WBG, RCMP, ENTERTAIN THESE FORUMS AS A BASE FOR THEIR INVOLVEMENT? MUCH LESS IN MY CASE WHERE I AM IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THESE ORGANIZATIONS, ALL THROUGH LAW FIRMS, FORENSIC ACCOUNTANTING AND COLLEAGUES BECAUSE I CHOOSE TO, ALL PROFESSIONAL IN EXECUTION, MUCH LESS ABOUT MATTERS THAT A CERMELLA KYDD HAS NO IDEA OF AND ARE IN A TOTAL LEAGUE ABOVE AND BEYOND "INTERNET FORUMS". I AM NOT A NEOPHYTE AT ANY OF THIS NET STUFF AND HAVE MORE THAN ONE PRESENCE HERE, ARCHIVAL, MERCHANT CREDIT STATUS AT TIMES AS WELL; ONE DOES NOT GET MERCHANT STATUS ON LINE CASUALLY. WHAT IS ALL THIS FORGERY CRAP, WHAT CEO NEEDS TO GO TO SOME CHAT ROOM AND SEND PROOF?!?!?!?!?! NOT TO MENTION READ DEATH THREATS TO STAFF????? Ego is one thing but ID is totally out of whack here. THE GAME STOPS, CHARGES AS STATED BY KASSIE ARE BUILDING AGAINST CARMELA KYDD AND HER COLLEAGUE HAS FACED CHARGES AND LOST TO THE TUNE OF 3 MILLION. HE LIED BUT NEVER THREATENED, SHE HAS THREATENED, DO YOU THINK IN TIME SHE AND THOSE THAT ARE HER COHORTS IN WHAT IS A "CRIME" WILL GET OFF ANY EASIER? You think you are dealing with some subservient to your forum that needs to banter here? I have lawyers that are versed with Internet law; I have been here for DECADES. Not ONE person from the room has had the COURAGE to contact the email address that Kassie posted for dialogue with my Company and the fact that I would stoop to this level to facilitate myopic children with delusions of grandeur waste my staffs time. That a room facilitator con posture in some all knowing stance DEMANDING PROOF FOR HER FORUM IS DELLUSIONAL, I SUBPENA EVIDENCE AND GET IT WHEN I NEED IT, AND THE FORUM MAY SOON FACE WHATEVE LEGALITYS IT TAKES IF IT IS PROVEN THAT IT AIDS AND ABETS THREATS TO MY STAFF OR I. And wallowing in the rooms, facilitating garbage like "THE IMF AND WBG WILL LIE FOR HIS FOUNDATION TO PROTECT HIM...HE HAS VISITED THE VATICAN, HE IS A DANGEROUSE MAN" ?!?!?!....Listen, go edit comic books for a living, this forum is a DUMB UNPRODUCTIVE pastime. Go into the Health Industry and specialize in COLONICS, this is more productive at flushing out the truth, than the garbage you ALLOW, take responsibility for fueling in your...... FORUM????
Now, why would I contact this ass clown at his hotmail address, when I already know what I need to know about him? I wouldn't, because it's a waste of my time. I expose scams. I don't get into pissing contests with scammers unless it's necessary for my purposes. Besides, I already know that he harasses the hell out of people once he has their email address, and that he regularly traces IPs specifically for harassment purposes. Yeah, I know, I could mask my IP. However, he sent this message to me via the Quatloos internal messaging system, so why do I need to send him an email at all? The one and only reason he wanted people to email him is so that he could figure out which ones of his victims were blowing the whistle on him. I'm not a victim, but there's at least one in my area, so I'm not going to set them up to get harassed by a lunatic.
As for the comment about him being dangerous .... I never said that he is dangerous, so that might be a Freudian slip on his part. The fact is, I don't know that he's dangerous, but I don't know that he's not dangerous, either. The above message alone, however, speaks volumes about the extent of his anger management problem.
The lawsuit threats are especially amusing, though. Jim Norman can't even spell subpoena, and in fact couldn't subpoena his own ass. When I got this, I suggested that he stop talking about suing, and actually do it. I pointed out that there's a fax number for legal issues, which goes directly to Quatloos attorneys, at the top of each forum page. Not surprisingly, he hasn't contacted Quatloos attorneys, much less sued either me or Quatloos; nor will he reveal the names of his alleged attorneys despite repeated requests for that information.
It is absolutely hilarious that he brought up the crap about how I said the IMF and World Bank will lie for him. I never said that. He said that when I pointed out that both organizations had specifically stated in writing that they had no dealings with him and had never even heard of him. I also didn't say anything about him visiting the Pope. That was his lie, to make himself look important to the investors, and I just made fun of it. Of course, considering the wild tales he has told to back up his scam and explain why he hasn't paid anyone, it should come as no surprise to anyone that he has told so many lies that he can't keep them all straight.
Carmela Kydd, incidentally, is a victim of this scam who was for a short period of time a member of the "Team", but was "fired" for some reason which apparently makes sense only to Jim Norman. She doesn't like him any more than he likes her, incidentally. She discovered Quatloos and spilled the beans about this idiot, back when I was moderating the scam forums. When she did that, he lost what little bit of mind he started out with. He and his puppets are so obsessed with her that, at one point, one of his minions accused me of being Carmela Kydd. Why, you may ask? Well, because "ElfNinosMom" begins with the letter "E", and Carmela's husband's name also starts with the letter "E". Yeah, that's really good detective work on their part *eyes rolling*. I guess their conclusion makes sense in the BizarroWorld in which these frickin' 'tards reside.
As in the above diatribe, they also keep making weird comments about people making threats against Jim and the "Team". I have no idea what he's talking about. I certainly have never threatened anyone, nor am I aware of anyone else threatening any of them with bodily harm. However, it goes without saying that, if you're stealing people's money, you're going to majorly piss them off. So I guess it's possible that he and the "Team" been threatened, but if so, those threats aren't coming from me, or anyone I know. I don't want to see Jim or his "team" physically injured, I want to see them rot in federal prison. Big difference.
"Kassie" is a "Team" member who came onto Quatloos to lie about the scam on his behalf, and distribute his threats to me. He "fired" her just a couple of days after the above was sent to me, again for reasons which apparently make sense only to Jim Norman; and he also accused her of stealing. Apparently everyone steals .... except Jim Norman, naturally. LOL.
Of course, for all anyone really knows, that's just another scam and she really wasn't fired. It never ends with these people. There are scams on top of scams. There are cross-scams. There are people scamming Jim Norman in order to get his victims to give their money to other scammers. Even the victims scam other victims. It's just unbelievable.
At any rate, I'm still laughing uproariously about that bizarre private message from Jim Norman. I even printed it and passed it around at a party I hosted over Thanksgiving weekend, and my guests nearly split a gut laughing at this frickin' 'tard. It's now attractively framed and given a place of honor on my office's "Wall Of Shame", which includes a fake multi-million dollar judgment against "Elfninos Mom" from Paul Andrew Mitchell, this blog's namesake. But, I digress.
A few victims of the Jim Norman Project have asked for their original investment to be returned, which they were repeatedly told in "conference calls" they could do at any time. He has refused to return their money, always accusing them of malfeasance and claiming they instead owe him some astronomical sum (always in the millions) for reasons understandable only to him. To my knowledge, not even one single person has received a cent back from Jim Norman. I am, however, aware of a number of people who have requested a refund, and have been harassed and threatened. Here's a little peek into the way he responds to such requests:
FOLKS SORRY TO SULLY YOUR THANKSGIVING, BUT THIS JERK CALLED ME AT 10 AM MONGERING FOR MONEY, IN FULL KNOWLEDGE THAT HE EMAILED A COLLEAGE WITH THE CONTENT BELOW.
THIS IS THE NARCISISTIC GREED YOU HAVE SEEN HAPPEN WITH MY MONEY. THIS GUY HAS NO IDEA WHO HE MESSED WITH.
HE WILL BE CONTACTED AND BILLED LIKE THEOTHER MONGERING CRETINS SOME OF YOU BROUGHT TO ME, WE JNOW WHO BROUGHT HIM IN AND THEY ARE ALREADY IN THE DOG HOUSE AND ONE HAS BEEN CHARGED BY YOUR TREASURY DEPARTMEBT FOR 3 MNILLION….( some of you have seen the documentation). I AM WAITING TO SEE THE COMMENT FROM MY PERSON AT THE IMF IN REGARDS HIS EMAIL ADDRESS AND STATEMENT.
This ass had the GALL to call me after knowing that I had read his comments????????
Then of course the ass named Jim Norman had the gall to bother people on Thanksiving, in order to whine about how one of his victims had the "gall" to ask for his own money to be returned.
Of course the guy knew "who he messed with". He had messed with the creep who had stolen his money, by playing Master of the Painfully Obvious in saying that an alleged email from the IMF was a fraud (after he made a call to Geneva, from which the email allegedly originated, and heard this for himself). Jim Norman, however, doesn't seem to understand that the money he borrowed is not his money. The money belongs to the people who loaned it to him. So Jim Norman can bill the "mongering cretin" for a quadrillion dollars, and it's meaningless except for the humor factor. I am hoping, however, that he will forge yet another document from the US Department of the Treasury, claiming to have a judgment against someone else. There's nothing like a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, to get these scammers sent to prison where they belong. Two such forgeries would seal his fate.
Another common ploy he utilizes to silence his victim detractors is to falsely accuse them of committing an illegal act. See, he regularly accuses them of usury (i.e., charging an illegal interest rate). For some reason he doesn't understand that, since he as the borrower set the rate, usury laws don't apply. Unfortunately, this ploy works on most of the victims. Afraid of being sued or charged with a crime, and brainwashed by this idiot into believing that he is a world-class financial expert who can operate as a country, they simply resign themselves to their fate rather than contacting the authorities to make a fraud complaint against him, or contacting an attorney to file suit.
Sometimes he will get angry and tell a victim that he is giving them back only their principal, and not the interest rate he promised .... but, he's not going to send them anything until "after [his] business is concluded". Well, since there is in reality no account and no money, his "business" will never be concluded. Duh.
The interesting question is, what makes anyone think this guy has $156 million in the first place? He certainly didn't earn it, nor did he inherit it. He is a frustrated jazz drummer who has two self-released CDs. His music is New Age crap, basically. He didn't make that kind of money from his music, that's for sure. He didn't even make enough money from his music to invest it and make anything even approaching that kind of money. In fact, it's altogether possible that he lost money on those CDs, since he financed them himself.
Is it even possible that anyone is such a complete frickin' 'tard that they not only fall for a Nigerian scam, but fall for more than one of them and continue to fall for them over a period of years? The answer to that question is yes. I haven't seen it on this scale, but it is indeed possible.
Jim Norman's scam more closely resembles the Spanish Prisoner scam in which, to release the nonexistent funds, he must come up with large amounts of cash over and over again.
Jim has since been sued by Alterna Credit Union in Canada, due to an altered Spanish check he passed. The check was originally for a few dollars, and it was altered to hundreds of thousands. He sent most of it to 419 scammers, but decided to treat himself and buy a $170,000 car. The credit union put a hold on the check, but financial institutions can only hold funds for 10 days. It took a month for the credit union to discover that the check was counterfeit, since it had originated overseas. Jim claimed the money was due him as the result of a transaction involving diamonds, but he only knew the first name of the man with whom he was allegedly doing business, so obviously that was yet another scam. Jim lost the lawsuit, not surprisingly, but amusingly had convinced his attorneys (real attorneys) that he really did have all that money. ROFLMAO Eventually, because they hadn't been paid at all, they withdrew from the case. The vehicle was sold at auction, and Jim has made up all kinds of stories about getting multi-million dollar judgments againt the credit union, none of which is true.
His latest fish tale is that his "project" was mentioned on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Um, yeah. That never happened.
The saga continues, of course, and I'll update this blog as it unfolds.
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