Nearly everyone in America has an immigration story to share. Tell us yours.
“Unless you are one of the first Americans, unless you are a Native American, you came from someplace else. That’s why we’ve always defined ourselves as a nation of immigrants. And we’ve always been better off for it.”
A couple weeks ago, I was in a meeting with a group of community leaders and President Obama here at the White House. Before the discussion kicked off, one of the women in attendance handed me a letter. It was written by her dad, a 90 year old college professor from Cleveland.
He was born in China in 1923, and he came to the United States with $24 in his pocket. Two years later, he’d earned a masters in electrical engineering. Five years after that, he had completed his PhD. In 55 years of teaching, he’s trained 180 graduate students.
“I fulfilled my dream,” he wrote in that letter. “I light up a spot on the great nation of opportunity.”
His letter reminded me of my dad, who came here from Bolivia to study engineering, and lived his American dream in Michigan, where I was born. So many Americans have stories like these, and they’re all powerful. Each personal history is an important asset in the fight to reform the immigration system. To win the debate, we need more than statistics in a fact sheet or the rhetoric in a press release. Every time we put a face on the push for reform, we take an abstract concept and makes it real.
Which means your stories are crucial in this effort. Join the conversation now:
Share your own story to help remind Washington that we need an immigration system that lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.
View featured immigration stories:
Miha T.
“My family and I came to America in 1983. I was 17, my sisters 15 and 13, and we feel very lucky to be here. We left Romania because of the oppressive Communist regime, and my parents wanted to give us, their children, a chance to be free to make our own destiny. With patience and hard work, we now lead productive and happy lives. I feel that it is important for people to follow the laws of this beautiful country.
Those who came here illegally looking for work to help their families, if they lived here peacefully and have worked hard, and have contributed positively to this society, maybe a path to citizenship should be offered. It should be earned. My mom worked 3 jobs with long hours for food and to provide a roof over our heads. We focused on getting an education, and it helped us go from having nothing to being successful. We overcame personal and financial hardships by sticking together and being there for one another. All good people deserve the same chance and opportunities, and I wish President Obama the best of luck at reforming immigration.”
“I came here as an undocumented child in 1980 from Buenos Aires, Argentina. My father was a Travel Agent, my mother a teacher. I studied Audio Engineer and became a 13 time grammy award winning producer of Latin Music. Making Millions for American based multi-national corporations. Employing hundreds of musicians. I became a citizen last year. My brother is the President of a major real estate holdings company.
My sister is a psychologist at an arts college. We were all undocumented children. Under Reagan, in the 80′s there was a path to citizenship. There isn’t one now, not for children that didn’t come here by choice. Not for adults that are trying to find a better life for their loved ones. How many Grammy winners, CEO’s, psychologists are being denied by the current immigration policies?”
Al I.
“What strikes me about immigration, especially about the European immigration at the turn of the 20th century; my family’s journey, was how much our ancestors also received immigration backlash. We would do well to remember our past and allow others to share in the opportunity this nation provides. It is on the backs of those same European immigrants that our nation boomed and prospered, and the same is true of immigrants today.
My children are first generation Americans with their ancestry in Korea and they are only going to add to the beauty of our country.”
President Obama is committed to common-sense reform that fixes our broken immigration system.
Remember: Unless you are one of the first Americans, your family came from somewhere else. Where does your immigration story begin? Share your family’s immigration story.
Furman, who joined the Obama administration in 2009, brings a vast amount of economic experience to the role — and a track record of work for America’s middle class.
President Barack Obama announces his intent to nominate Jason Furman, Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, left, as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to succeed current CEA Chairman Alan Krueger, right, in the State Dining Room of the White House, June 10, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Today, The White House released the Great Gatsby Curve on its Tumblr.
“The Great Gatsby.” You’ve probably heard of it — a novel by F. Scott Fitsgerald and now a movie (again) that highlights the inequality and class distinctions in America during the Roaring 20s.
So what is it, then? As Chairman Krueger explained in his speech, The Great Gatsby Curve illustrates the connection between concentration of wealth in one generation and the ability of those in the next generation to move up the economic ladder compared to their parents.
The curve shows that children from poor families are less likely to improve their economic status as adults in countries where income inequality was higher – meaning wealth was concentrated in fewer hands – around the time those children were growing up.
So why does this matter for the United States? The U.S. has had a sharp rise in inequality since the 1980s. In fact, on the eve of the Great Recession, income inequality in the U.S. was as sharp as it had been at any period since the time of “The Great Gatsby.”
“While we will not know for sure whether, and how much, income mobility across generations has been exacerbated by the rise in inequality in the U.S. until today’s children have grown up and completed their careers,” he said, “we can use the Great Gatsby Curve to make a rough forecast.”
President Barack Obama delivered remarks at the White House on Tuesday, June 11, reiterating his strong support for commonsense reform legislation to fix our broken immigration system, and the economic and national security benefits that reform will deliver. His remarks come as the Senate debates immigration reform and has its first floor vote.
President Obama was introduced by DREAMer Tolu Olubunmi and jointed by law enforcement representatives, business and labor leaders, faith leaders and Republican and Democratic elected officials.
It’s been 50 years since President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, but its goals today stand unrealized. In 2013, full-time working women still make less than men on average. Yesterday, President Obama spoke at an event to mark the anniversary.
Yesterday, we marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Equal Pay Act with an event at the White House hosted by President Obama, the release of an important report from the National Equal Pay Task Force on the last fifty years since the Act was signed, a new web page with resources and information for women to make sure they’re paid equally, and a new video that gives an overview of our progress in equal pay.
“It is one of the great honors of my life to be able to address this gathering here today,” President Obama told the graduates. “Your generation is uniquely poised for success unlike any generation of African Americans that came before it.”
President Barack Obama is reflected in a mirror as he talks with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough prior to participating in the commencement ceremony at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., May 19, 2013. A painting of the President stands in the foreground. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
“It is one of the great honors of my life to be able to address this gathering here today,” President Obama told the graduates. He spoke about Morehouse’s history, and “ the unique sense of purpose that this place has always infused — the conviction that this is a training ground not only for individual success, but for leadership that can change the world.”
“Your generation is uniquely poised for success unlike any generation of African Americans that came before it,” President Obama said.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t have work — because if we’re honest with ourselves, we know that too few of our brothers have the opportunities that you’ve had here at Morehouse. In troubled neighborhoods all across this country — many of them heavily African American — too few of our citizens have role models to guide them. Communities just a couple miles from my house in Chicago, communities just a couple miles from here — they’re places where jobs are still too scarce and wages are still too low; where schools are underfunded and violence is pervasive; where too many of our men spend their youth not behind a desk in a classroom, but hanging out on the streets or brooding behind a jail cell.
My job, as President, is to advocate for policies that generate more opportunity for everybody — policies that strengthen the middle class and give more people the chance to climb their way into the middle class. Policies that create more good jobs and reduce poverty, and educate more children, and give more families the security of health care, and protect more of our children from the horrors of gun violence. That’s my job. Those are matters of public policy, and it is important for all of us — black, white and brown — to advocate for an America where everybody has got a fair shot in life. Not just some. Not just a few.
Graduates react as President Barack Obama delivers remarks during the commencement ceremony at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., May 19, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
“But along with collective responsibilities, we have individual responsibilities,” the President said. “As Morehouse Men, you now wield something even more powerful than the diploma you’re about to collect — and that’s the power of your example. So what I ask of you today is the same thing I ask of every graduating class I address: Use that power for something larger than yourself.”
So, yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and the powerful, or if you can also find some time to defend the powerless. Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business. We need black businesses out there. But ask yourselves what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood. The most successful CEOs I know didn’t start out intent just on making money — rather, they had a vision of how their product or service would change things, and the money followed.
Some of you may be headed to medical school to become doctors. But make sure you heal folks in underserved communities who really need it, too. For generations, certain groups in this country — especially African Americans — have been desperate in need of access to quality, affordable health care. And as a society, we’re finally beginning to change that.
“And finally, as you do these things, do them not just for yourself, but don’t even do them just for the African American community. I want you to set your sights higher,” President Obama said. “It’s not just the African American community that needs you. The country needs you. The world needs you.”
Success may not come quickly or easily. But if you strive to do what’s right, if you work harder and dream bigger, if you set an example in your own lives and do your part to help meet the challenges of our time, then I’m confident that, together, we will continue the never-ending task of perfecting our union.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks during the commencement ceremony at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, May 19, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
First Lady Delivers Commencement Addresses at Bowie State, Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School
First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks during the Bowie State University commencement at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md., May 17, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
On Friday, First Lady Michelle Obama delivered the commencement address to the Bowie State University Class of 2013. Bowie State, which opened just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, “was founded not just to educate African Americans, but to teach them how to educate others,” the First Lady explained.
And since then, generations of students from all backgrounds have come to this school to be challenged, inspired and empowered. And they have gone on to become leaders here in Maryland and across this country, running businesses, educating young people, leading the high-tech industries that will power our economy for decades to come.
That is the story of Bowie State University, the commitment to educating our next generation and building ladders of opportunity for anyone willing to work for it. All of you are now part of that story. And with that tremendous privilege comes an important set of responsibilities — responsibilities that you inherit the moment you leave this stadium with that diploma in your hand.
On Saturday, she traveled to Nashville to speak to the graduating class of Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School. The First Lady took the opportunity to talk to the students – all of whom are going on to higher education or the military – about some of the skills they’ll need as they make their way through college and through life: resilience, grit, and the ability to pick themselves up when they fall.
And here’s the thing, graduates: These qualities are not ones that you’re born with. They’re not like the color of your eyes or your height. They’re not qualities that are beyond your control. Instead, you can dictate whether you’ll have grit. You decide how hard you’ll work. So I want you to make those choices right now, today, if you haven’t already done so. Make those choices. I want you to tell yourself that no matter what challenges you face, that you will commit yourself to achieving your goals, no matter where life takes you.
But, she said, “do not waste a minute living someone else’s dream.”
Each of us has unique gifts. But it takes a lot of work, a lot of real work to discover what brings you joy. It just doesn’t happen; it requires you spending some time. And you won’t find what you love simply by checking boxes or padding your GPA. You won’t figure it out only by listening to your guidance counselor, or your friends, or even your parents. You can only find your passion by looking inside yourself. And that’s hard work.
First Lady Michelle Obama Delivers Commencement Address at MLK, JR. Magnet High School Commencement
Published on May 18, 2013
The First Lady, Michelle Obama, delivers the commencement address to graduates of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Academic Magnet High School for Health Sciences and Engineering at Historic Pearl High in Nashville, TN on May 18 at 1:00 PM. The school serves approximately 1,200 students in grades 7 through 12 with a curriculum that emphasizes mathematics and science. Housed in the historic Pearl High School building, MLK is consistently ranked among the best public schools in the nation for its academic rigor and high graduation rate.
The First Lady Michelle LaVaughn Obama At Bowie State University Commencement.
In Case You Missed It
Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog:
Weekly Address: The President Talks About How to Build a Rising, Thriving Middle Class
President Obama talks about his belief that a rising, thriving middle class is the true engine of economic growth, and that to reignite that engine and continue to build on the progress we’ve made over the last four years, we need to invest in three areas: jobs, skills and opportunity.
The federal government targeted this company (IRP Solutions) shut them down, prosecuted and convicted its executives.
I am sending this to you because you either have a blog or you have access to people, and I need your help. WE need your help spreading the word about this injustice.
I would like to enlist your help with something if you believe you are interested and can help a just cause. I am working with freetheirp6.org & a-justcause.com, 2 organizations involved with fighting a legal injustice done to 6 businessmen from Colorado. These 6 businessmen have been tried, convicted and imprisoned all because they invented a software program the federal government and the “big boys”, such as IBM, wanted. These 6 businessmen are now in prison, snatched from family and their lives, for being brilliant and following their American dream.
I am asking you to blog about this injustice done these 6 men. This subject may be off topic from what you normally blog about. The reality is this could happen yo you, me and anyone who stands up to the United States Government and our corrupt judicial system. No One Is Safe.
I am asking that if you agree with this cause please use all or part of this 3 blog post series. I’m not interested in you using my name, using the name of TheObamaCrat™ or linking back to my blog. This is not about personal recognition but about freeing these 6 men. PLEASE feel free to copy & paste what you need from my blog post or from the Free The 6 web site located here freetheirp6.org. You can find links to the original articles I used in my initial post here freetheirp6.org. The web site spearheading this project to free these 6 men is a-justcause.com.
I thank you in advance for whatever help you can give us. If you decide this is not your fight or that it is outside the scope of your blog, I fully understand.
This is a story about how prosecutorial tunnel vision created a tragic communication failure. The criminal justice system exists to give everyone a chance to tell their story. Juries decide who brings the best story to the table. Bad things happen when the system amplifies one story while silencing the other. (Dr. Alan Bean, Executive Director, Friends of Justice)
Community advocate H.A. Jabar and platinum music producer Larry Gates collaborated to produce a song to bring awareness to the IRP case.
The song entitled “IRP-6 Needs Justice” was released this week on YouTube as part of a new campaign supporting the fight to gain freedom for the IRP6 (Gary Walker, David Banks, Kendrick Barnes, Demetrius Harper, Clinton Stewart and David Zirpolo). Please visit H.A. Jabar and thank him for his work in helping The IRP6 (Gary Walker, David Banks, Kendrick Barnes, Demetrius Harper, Clinton Stewart and David Zirpolo).
The federal government targeted this company, shut them down, prosecuted and convicted its executives
Dr. Alan Bean, Executive Director of Friends of Justice, has partnered with A Just Cause to look into the wrongful conviction of six executives who ran a software development company. A synopsis of Dr. Bean’s initial review is shown in the following paragraphs.
This is a story about how prosecutorial tunnel vision created a tragic communication failure. The criminal justice system existsto give everyone a chance to tell their story. Juries decide who brings the best story to the table. Bad things happen when the system amplifies one story while silencing the other.
The IRP-6 case is characterized by an unusually deep dividebetween the government’s story and the defendants’ story.
Such a wide gap is rare, 95% of federal cases are resolved short of trial because few defendants ultimately maintain their innocence. If a federal case proceeds to trial it is eitherbecause the government isn’t offering much of a plea deal or because the defendants actually believe in their own innocence. There are two ways of approaching the issue and everything depends on where you start. It has been said that where we place our focus determines what we miss.
Following an FBI raid in 2005, a criminal investigation and two grand jury hearings in 2007 and 2009, six executives of IRP Solutions Corporation went to trial in the fall of 2011. The case was tried by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Kirsch in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. The defendants—David Banks, Demetrius Harper, Gary Walker, Clinton Stewart, David Zirpolo and Kendrick Barnes—represented themselves pro se after feeling they did not have accurate legal representation. The Honorable Christine M. Arguello served as the judge in this case.
Opening statements began September 27, 2011. In opening statements and throughout the remainder of the trial, Mr. Kirsch accused the defendants of running a scam by committing conspiracy, mail and wire fraud to gain $5 million worth of free labor from staffing companies. The prosecution insisted that the defendants openly lied to several staffing companies by stating that IRP Solutions had signed contracts with law enforcement agencies to sell their software, CILC; thus, the executives committed fraud.
The defense admitted that some of the facts in Kirch’s opening statement were true, but many were false. Mr. Harper told the jury that at no time did any of the executives tell staffing companies there was a final contract with law enforcement to sell the software. While the execs did say they were negotiating a contract—which was true—they did not tell staffing companies they had officially signed a contract with law enforcement agencies.
Following the FBI raid of IRP Solutions Corporation in February 2005, the FBI office in Denver still seemed to consider the case to be a civil matter. In August 2005, Special Agent Richard C. Powers and Supervisory Special Agent Jean M. Andersen wrote to one of the companies that had initiated legal action against IRP. The agents wrote that they felt “this case would best be handled civilly.”
Despite this fact, various attorneys and law firms continued to request further criminal investigations, accusing the executives of not having a legitimate business or software. It took two years before the criminal case reached a grand jury.
In 2007, a grand jury found no grounds to indict as the allegations that IRP Solutions was not a legitimate company with legitimate software was ultimately disproved—IRP was, in fact, a legitimate practice and its CILC software was fully tested. After the failure to indict, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Kirsch alleged different charges that apparently had not been cited in the initial warrants.
On February 9, 2005, 21 federal agents raided IRP Solutions Corporation and its 20 employees for alleged wrongdoing. The FBI presented a warrant stating that IRP Solutions and its six executives were being accused of mail and wire fraud.
The company, which was established in 2003 to develop software for law enforcement agencies, previously had become engaged with agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NYPD to make modifications to the software. Although no contracts had been drawn up, IRP began working on software non-contractually to meet the needs of state and federal law enforcement.
In order to meet the increased demand for software development, IRP began to explore the option of using staffing agencies, which act as liaisons between employers (like IRP) and often temporary employees. Staffing agencies initially pay employees or “contractors” for the hours he or she bills and then collect a fee that covers the pay rate to the contractor as well as the profit to the agency. Thus, the agency is usually reimbursed by the hiring client.
In this case, IRP was the hiring client that sought out the help of staffing agencies. While several agencies considered IRP a financial risk and did not team up with the company, several more chose to accept that risk and executed contracts with IRP.
Fraud or Injustice: Black-Owned Software Company Brought Down by Federal Government
November 5, 2012 | Filed under: Commentary | Posted by: Victor Trammell
A black-owned computer technology company called IRP Solutions based in Colorado Springs, Colorado was formerly what appeared to be a promising software development company looking to expand its base. Gary Walker (pictured left) is one of the company’s founders.
Along with four other black men, Walker conceptualized and worked on a vision to build IRP Solutions into a successful business that would compete fairly against the Lockheed Martins and IBMs of the world.
As a black man pursuing a professional degree and career, it is inspiring to see other educated black men pursue their dreams. It is also a rare feat for black-owned businesses that start small in industries other than music and fashion to become multi-million dollar entities gainfully respected in the corporate world.
I fully support and applaud such efforts because they inspire a new generation to do something our race is not normally known for doing.
However, in some fields of business, it may not be a good idea for blacks to dream big. That is only true if you hold the cynicist’s mind. IRP Solutions was given a terminal blow to its existence from the federal government.
This case may very well justify such cynicism, which is fueled by the deep-seeded racism in America to this day. Beginning in 2002 for reasons unknown, the FBI’s offices in Colorado began investigating IRP Solutions and six executives that ran the company.
Gary Walker, David Banks, Demetrius Harper, Clinton Stewart, and Kendrick Barnes are black. The sixth executive, David Zirpolo is white. The software developed by IRP specialized in investigative case management purposes, which is a function relied upon by various law enforcement agencies.
The primary goal of this company was to contract with big law enforcement agencies in order to help them advance their methods of drawing links between people and cases more effectively. Sounds like a good idea for a firm with a great product operating for the commendable cause of better law enforcement, right? Wrong.
In 2005, IRP Solutions’ offices in Colorado Springs were raided by the F.B.I. They confiscated software codes and other sensitive information. For reasons unclear, the agency also probed into the bank records of the executives’ family members. Agents then probed into the personal records of members of the Colorado Springs Fellowship Church, which is where the IRP executives attended service regularly.
Why would such an extreme action be carried out by what most people believe is a responsible federal law enforcement agency? In 2009, all six executives were indicted on multiple federal counts of fraud. In October 2011, Gary Walker and his business partners were found guilty. They are all serving sentences around 10 years and are working on appealing their convictions.
After researching the case by reading over documentation sent to me by an advocacy group called A Just Cause, I saw that at at some point IRP began contracting with temporary staffing agencies to perform the labor to develop the software.
However, when the software did not sell up to company standards, IRP was not able to pay its debt to the staffing companies. During a telephone interview with Gwendolyn Solomon (an attorney representing four of the IRP executives on their appeal), I began to suspect that this case should have never resulted in a federal investigation, let alone a criminal trial. “Typically something like this would have resulted in a civil case,” Solomon stated.
Solomon also told me: “Cases like this happen all the time and they are settled out of court, or the companies being sued end up filing for bankruptcy.” Matthew Kirsch, a U.S. Attorney in Colorado who led the prosecution of this case could not be reached for comment. Here is a link showing a video of supporters of Gary Walker and his associates: http://archive.org/details/dom-105068-ajustcause-episode3-irpsoluti The video was produced by A Just Cause, a advocacy group assisting with the appeals in this case.
Six IT professionals, five black and one white, had a dream of developing law enforcement software that would assist local, state, and federal agencies in sharing information. They built a small company that concentrated on developing a software application called CILC, which stands for Case Investigative Life Cycle. This software was developed to assist law enforcement in investigating a case through to prosecution. The necessity of this type of software was overly apparent as the government indicated the main reason 9/11 was able to occur was because of the inability of government agencies to share information.
Unfortunately for these six men (the IRP-6), their patriotic love for their country was rewarded with 7 to 11 year sentences in federal prison. On February 9th 2005, IRP Solutions (an 18 employee black owned company in Colorado Springs, Colorado) was raided by over twenty FBI agents. The FBI received a subpoena on the basis that IRP Solutions had “purported” software. In other words, the FBI alleged that IRP Solutions did not actually have software at all.
Coincidentally, the raid of IRP Solutions occurred a few days after the FBI had to explain at Congressional hearings why they wasted $400 million of the taxpayer’s money developing law enforcement software that did not work. The FBI was embarrassed in front of the whole world as being incompetent and wasteful.
During the raid at IRP Solutions the FBI attempted to herd all the employees into one room, while they went about imaging all of the company’s computers. The subpoena indicated that they were there for financial records, but oddly enough they left the financial records in the middle of the floor and opted to spend a day’s worth of time seeing what information they could retrieve from IRP Solution’s intellectual property.
Why would the FBI question whether IRP Solutions had real software when Police Technology Magazine reported on the functionality of IRP Solution’s Law Enforcement Software, CILC?
How does such a strange turn of the events come about for six highly intelligent, (some of whom were ex-military men) that never committed a crime before? These six men, who attended the same church for over 20 years, were competing with global giants, such as IBM, Deloitte, and Lockheed Martin for government contracts that were literally worth hundreds of millions of dollars, scaling into the billions.
IRP Solutions had a ‘secret sauce’ that the global behemoths did not. CILC was the brainchild of computer scientist Gary Walker who spent nine years developing law enforcement software previous to starting IRP solutions. He worked diligently with local agencies to understand the day-to-day processes of investigations all the way through to prosecution. CILC was software that was designed to work in accord with the daily procedures and tasks of law enforcement officials.
The large global companies that competed with IRP solutions develop their software from their own interpretations of how things should be done. So one company, IRP solutions, designed software around the daily operations of their users, while the other companies built software from the basis of ‘do it how we say do it’.
The result was that the Department of Homeland Security, Philadelphia Police Department, and New York Police Department advised large companies to partner with IRP solutions. What an insult! After numerous attempts to steal the software, other methods were applied.
The six executives that ran IRP Solutions (the IRP-6) are currently in federal prison in Florence, Colorado serving sentences ranging from 7 to 11 years for mail and wire fraud. The debt that IRP Solutions owed to staffing companies was used as a guise to eliminate competition and jail six innocent men.
The IRP-6 are fighting their unjust conviction with an appeal. They are being assisted by a nonprofit agency for the wrongfully convicted, A Just Cause. You can learn more about these six men at freetheirp6.org, you can like their Facebook page at Free the IRP6 and you can view many interviews on their YouTube channel freetheirp6.
Platinum producer and son of the late Roger Troutman, Larry Gates, has supported the IRP-6 by collaborating to produce a song and Music Video, ‘IRP-6 Needs Justice’ . The original song was inspired by the wrongful conviction of the six executives at IRP-Solutions and can be viewed on YouTube.
H.A. Jabar is the Founder and CEO of Jabar International, a Freelance Writer, a Motivational Speaker, Youth Advocate, and Author of A Well-Made Man: Building the Temple of Self. He is a graduate of Arizona State University where he was an NCAA All-America wrestler and Pac-10 Conference Champion.
In a series of sentencing hearings this week and last week, six former software company executives from Colorado Springs were sentenced to between 87 and 135 months in federal prison on fraud convictions.
They were convicted in October on mail and wire fraud charges that involved hiring 42 staffing companies in the state to test software for law enforcement, then left $5.1 million in unpaid charges from the company.
The men lied to vendors about government contracts and never had any income to pay the staffing charges, prosecutors said.
David A. Banks and Gary L. Walker were sentenced to 135 months each; Demetrius K. Harper, Clinton A. Stewart and David A. Zirpolo received 121 months each. Kendrick Barnes received 87 months.
They also were ordered to pay restitution to the staffing companies they defrauded.
Prosecutors said the executives lied to the companies to provide and pay employees to test software. The men were indicted in 2009.
Members of Colorado Springs Fellowship Church have protested the indictment and conviction. David Banks’ mother is the pastor there.
The software involved in the case was designed for law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the New York Police Department. But the contracts the six alleged to have did not exist, prosecutors said.
“The sentences handed down to these defendants appropriately reflects the seriousness of the specific crimes they committed,” said James Yacone. agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver office, said in a statement. “The number of victims and amount of loss were significant. Hopefully this will serve as a deterrent to others contemplating such crimes in the future.”
Weeks after six members of a predominantly black church in Colorado Springs were convicted of wire fraud by a federal jury, the church’s pastor continues to assert their innocence.
Pastor Rose Banks renewed claims that federal authorities unfairly targeted members of Colorado Springs Fellowship Church, alleging the prosecutions were tainted by racism and unfair tactics.
“I think at this point, we’re disillusioned with the system itself,” said Banks, whose son, David Banks, and son-in-law, Gary Walker, are among those convicted in a scheme that authorities say netted them $5 million.
The six face up to 20 years in prison and a $10 million fine. They are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 14.
Rose Banks’ daughter, LaWanna Clark, received a six-month sentence after a related perjury conviction in 2010.
The criminal case focused on the business dealings of a fledgling software company called IRP Solutions.
With offices just down the street from the church, and an employee roster rounded out by church members, the company said it was close to a series of lucrative deals when it was raided by FBI agents in February 2005.
A 2009 grand jury indictment alleged the company was peddling sham software while bilking staffing companies it relied upon to supply labor. The men profited by submitting phony work orders on nonexistent contracts, the indictment said.
The men countered they had accrued “normal business debt” while pursuing big-dollar contracts for software designed to help law enforcement agencies manage their investigative files and reports.
One sale could have paid the company’s debts, said Cliff Walker, an IRP executive, who said one potential payout approached $100 million.
Cliff Walker, who wasn’t charged, said the $5 million went to employees, consultants and contractors, not IRP executives. Drained of resources, the men defended themselves at trial after concluding their government-appointed attorneys had sided against them, Rose Banks said.
“If they’re going to run with $5 million, they would have done it by now,” she said.
Rose Banks and her supporters say the government investigators singled out company officials who belonged to the church, located at 451 Windchime Place off East Woodmen Road. The government also appeared focused on tying the church itself to wrongdoing, they say.
According to Banks, government investigators obtained church banking records in 2007 without subpoenas, a claim that forms the basis for a federal lawsuit still pending in U.S. District Court.
“You just don’t bring a church into it unless you have grounds for it, and (an assistant U.S. attorney) didn’t have grounds for it,” she said. The church wasn’t accused of participating in the alleged scheme.
Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver, has denied that racism played a role in the prosecutions. The company’s arguments that federal agents exceeded their lawful authority were dismissed by a federal judge, who permitted the government to use the disputed financial records at trial.
Pastor Banks — who believes that she too was an investigative target — said the legal trouble began when a small, black-owned business thrust itself into competition with much larger, and more powerful, corporations.
Money interests and racism tilted the court system against the men, she said.
Those arguments are likely familiar to worshippers at Colorado Springs Fellowship Church. Rose Banks said the legal saga was discussed at weekly briefings to the church members, and sometimes figured into sermons.
“If I’m preaching on Sunday morning and my message deals with anything referencing justice, that may come up,” Banks said.
Rose Banks founded the nondenominational church in 1981 when she and her husband took over a Bible study group hosted while he was stationed with the military in Bamberg, Germany. Later that year, they moved to Colorado Springs and opened a small storefront church on South Eighth Street with a congregation of about 10 members. The church now accommodates up to 700 worshippers a week, officials said.
Colorado Springs church accuses prosecutors of bias in fraud case.
Posted: 08/31/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
By Electa Draper
Members of Colorado Springs Fellowship say federal prosecutors have wrongly involved their church in a case in which the pastor’s son and other congregants stand accused of defrauding dozens of Colorado employment companies of millions of dollars.
The pastor and congregants have questioned whether the case was motivated by religious bigotry and racial prejudice.
However, federal prosecutors investigating David Banks, the 42-year-old son of Pastor Rose Banks, said clerical collars had nothing to do with it. They were after white-collar criminals.
“This prosecution has nothing to do with religion. It has nothing to do with race,” said U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Jeff Dorschner.
Nevertheless, the church filed an “abuse of process” claim against the U.S. attorney’s office in Denver and is asking for $75 million in damages for “vindictive” pursuit of the church and harm to the pastor’s reputation.
During the fraud investigation of David Banks’ software development business IRP Solutions Corp., church bank records and its members’ bank records and religious diaries were wrongfully seized, church board members said.
“I felt like they raped us,” Rose Banks said.
Neither she nor the church has been charged in the case, David Banks said, yet the prosecution focused much of the grand jury proceedings on the nondenominational church she founded in 1981, which has grown to 600 or 700 members.
“You have millions of dollars missing, and you have to find out where it went,” Dorschner said. “All records were lawfully seized.”
Churchwomen, in what looked like Sunday best, twice braved scorching heat to protest outside the federal building in downtown Denver against what they consider unfair treatment of the church.
Fellowship member Ethel Lopez called the government’s actions against the church “unbelievable” and “mind-boggling.”
Church members, Dorschner said, have a right to protest. “We respect that. But it’s a complex case. They might not know all that’s been going on.”
After six years of investigation, David Banks, who is IRP’s chief operating officer, and five others are set to stand trial in January for allegedly defrauding 46 temporary-placement or staffing companies in Denver and across the state between 2002 and 2005.
David Banks and two others indicted also serve on the Fellowship board.
Payments questioned
In June 2009, a grand jury handed down a 25-count indictment charging the defendants with federal mail and wire fraud because they mailed allegedly false invoices.
The alleged fraud totaled more than $5 million, paid by companies that placed temp workers with IRP Solutions. The workers included many that IRP and related firms had specifically identified as the software engineers, security guards and other qualified temps they needed to help them develop their product.
The placement companies also offered payroll service for these workers, generating the temps’ paychecks and thus advancing tens of thousands of dollars to IRP to pay a few dozen workers. But IRP then didn’t reimburse the companies for the payrolling.
When one staffing company would cut off services because it wasn’t getting reimbursed for paychecks or paid for services, IRP would find another.
However, David Banks said, the unpaid invoices were just overdue business debts, not a federal crime.
Court documents indicate that some employees were working for, and getting paid by, more than one staffing company for the same periods of work at IRP — apparent double-dipping in the same work period.
David Banks and other IRP executives, including some of his co-defendants, were among those who submitted time cards as temp workers to be paid by staffing companies.
Some paychecks were then deposited into personal bank accounts, but some were deposited into IRP accounts and others into church accounts, according to investigators. Investigators noted that many temp workers were members of Colorado Springs Fellowship.
The implication that the church was involved in a kickback scheme or money laundering is “absurd,” said Sam Thurman, who handles public relations for the church and IRP, and is on the church board. Some church members simply sign over checks to the church as a donation, he said.
“The FBI raided IRP Solutions (in February 2005) with 20-plus armed agents where their actions and language communicated a clear racial bias against the primarily African-American company,” IRP officials said in a recently released statement. “The only white executive in the company, Mr. David Zirpolo, never received a search of his person or his belongings and was simply allowed to leave with his laptop and documents, while the African-American personnel were corralled and forced into the cafeteria.”
Zirpolo is one of the six indicted, along with Demetrius K. Harper, Gary L. Walker, Clinton A. Stewart and Kendrick Barnes.All are church members.
Law-enforcement aid
Banks said the case is doubly strange because IRP’s software is meant to assist law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the New York Police Department, with case management.
“This was no scam,” Thurman said.
IRP was pursuing contracts with federal agencies potentially worth hundreds of millions that would have enabled it to pay its debts, David Banks said, but the process took too long and the company overextended itself. Nevertheless, Banks said, IRP is a legitimate business with a real product.
The FBI initially tried to show that IRP was just a front for this payroll scheme, but it couldn’t, because the software exists, Thurman said.
The indictment states that defendants falsely represented to staffing companies that they “had large current or impending contracts with one or more large government agencies.”
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
Issa is a self-made millionaire with a net worth estimated at as much as $450 million, making him the wealthiest currently-serving member of Congress.
Early life, education, and military service
Issa, the second of six children, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Martha (née Bielfelt) and William Issa, who sold trucks and grinded valves. His father was Eastern Orthodox and his mother was a Mormon. His paternal grandparents were Lebanese immigrants who both belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch known as the “Antiochian Orthodox” community and his mother is of German and Bohemian (Czech) descent. The family moved to the predominantly Jewish suburb of Cleveland Heights in the later years of his childhood. Many of his friends were Jewish, and Issa reportedly worked for a rabbi at one point. He became very familiar with Jewish culture.
Issa dropped out of high school, and on his 17th birthday he enlisted for three years in the Army. He became an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician, trained to defuse bombs.
He said his unit provided security for President Richard Nixon, sweeping stadiums for bombs prior to games in the 1971 World Series. A May 1998 investigation by Lance Williams of the San Francisco Examiner said Nixon had not attended any of that year’s World Series games. His unit did perform security sweeps for the World Series. The investigation said that Issa was transferred to a supply depot after Issa received poor ratings and after the World Series. According to Issa, the Examiner reporter misunderstood an anecdote he had related. A fellow soldier, Jay Bergey, said that Issa stole his Dodge Charger in 1971, and that “I confronted Issa…I got in his face and threatened to kill him, and magically my car reappeared the next day, abandoned on the turnpike.” No charges were ever filed. Issa has denied any theft.
Twice that year, he was arrested. In the first incident he was indicted by a grand jury for an alleged theft of a Maserati, but prosecutors dropped the charge. In the second incident, he was stopped for driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and a police officer noticed a firearm in his glove compartment. Issa was charged with carrying a concealed weapon. He pled guilty to a charge of possession of an unregistered firearm, and was sentenced to six months’ probation and a small fine. Issa has said he believes the record has since been expunged.
Issa attended Siena Heights University, a small Catholic college in Adrian, Michigan, followed by Kent State University at Stark, where he enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Issa served in the Army Reserve from 1976 to 1980 and was promoted to the rank of captain. While serving on active duty for training with the 1/77th Armor Battalion as an Assistant S-1 from September 9 to September 26, 1980, he received an evaluation report by then-Lt. Col.Wesley Clark, who wrote “This officer’s performance far exceeded that of any other reserve officer who has worked in the battalion” and “Promote ahead of contemporaries. Unlimited potential.”
Shortly before his discharge, Issa was again indicted for grand theft auto, but Issa insisted he was innocent and by August, 1980, the prosecution dropped the case.
Business career
Quantum/Steal Stopper
After leaving the military, Issa and his second wife, Kathy Stanton, moved back to the Cleveland area. They pooled their savings, sold their cars, and borrowed $50,000 from his family to invest in Quantum Enterprises, an electronics manufacturer run by a friend from Cleveland Heights that assembled bug zappers, CB radio parts and other consumer products for other companies. One of those clients, car alarm manufacturer Steal Stopper, would become the path to Issa’s fortune. It was struggling badly, and he took control of it by foreclosing a $60,000 loan he had made to it when its founder, Joey Adkins, missed a payment. Adkins remained as an employee.
Issa soon turned Steal Stopper around, to the point that it was supplying Ford with thousands of car alarms and negotiating a similar deal with Toyota.
But early in the morning of September 7, 1982, the offices and factory of Quantum and Steal Stopper in the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights, caught fire. The fire took three hours to put out. The buildings and almost all inventory within were destroyed. An investigation of the cause of the fire noted “suspicious burn patterns” with fires starting in two places aided by an accelerator such as gasoline. Adkins said that Issa appeared to prepare for a fire by increasing the fire insurance policy 462% three weeks previously, and by removing computer equipment holding accounting and customer information. Adkins said that he thinks Issa set the fire on purpose. The insurance company was suspicious of arson and paid only about one-tenth the insured amount.
Reporter Ryan Lizza writes that the fire insurance was increased by Issa from $100,000 to $462,000 but that only about $45,000 was paid out: $25,000 at first and then an out-of-court settlement of about $20,000.
Ethics complaint
In September 2011, the liberal advocacy group American Family Voices filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Issa, alleging he had repeatedly used his public office for personal financial gain. Issa’s office rejected the allegations.
However, the year before that the Project on Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, awarded Issa with its Good Government Award for his contributions to government oversight and transparency. These included publicizing documents produced by the New York Federal Reserve Bank in response to a congressional subpoena, publicly exposing the New York Federal Reserve’s secret “back-door bailout” of AIG‘s counterparties, and cofounding a Transparency Caucus dedicated to “promoting a more open and accountable government through education, legislation, and oversight.”
Oversight committee Chair
After becoming Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Issa has become a vocal advocate for investigations into the Obama administration, including the Troubled Assets Relief Program, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, corruption in Afghanistan, WikiLeaks, and the Food and Drug Administration, among other issues. In 2010 he told the press that he wanted the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to hold investigative hearings “seven hearings a week, times 40 weeks.”
On February 16, 2012, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services’s regulation requiring insurance plans to cover birth control, which Issa believed was a violation of the religious freedom of people who oppose the use of birth control. Sandra Fluke was submitted as a witness by Democratic members, but Issa did not permit her to testify, saying that her name was submitted too late, a claim Democrats challenged.
In February 2011, the Watchdog Institute, an independent nonprofit reporting center based at San Diego State University, published an investigation alleging that as leader of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Issa built a team that included staff members with close connections to industries that could benefit from his investigations. The Huffington Post also published the Institute’s investigation.
Papantonio and Ed Schultz Discuss Darrell Issa’s Criminal Record
Uploaded on Jan 5, 2011
Congressman Darrell Issa, the man with the nerve to call the Obama Administration “corrupt,” knows a thing or two about corruption. After all, the man has been arrested at least 3 times over the years for things like possessing an illegal weapon and stealing cars. That’s right – the man in charge of investigations for the House is a former car thief. Watch as Mike Papantonio and Ed Schultz uncover Issa’s criminal past.
REPORT: Media Ignore Rep. Issa’s Alleged Criminal Past
By MATT GERTZ & ROB SAVILLO
Rep. Darrell Issa’s past includes arrests for weapons charges and auto theft, suspicions of arson, and accusations of intimidation with a gun, but you’d hardly know it from the media’s recent coverage of the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. While Issa was substantially mentioned in 15 articles in the nation’s largest newspapers since the last election — including several major profiles — only one of those articles mentioned any of these allegations. Likewise, interviewers did not ask Issa about his alleged criminal past in any of the cable or network interviews he sat for during that period.
Network and Cable Interviewers Won’t Ask Issa About Criminal Allegations
In 11 Interviews Since Election Day, No Network Or Cable Anchor Has Asked Issa About The Allegations Against Him.
Print Media Largely Overlooks Issa’s Alleged Criminal Past
Only One Of 15 Articles Substantially Mentioning Issa Referenced Any Of The Allegations.
The Real Issa: Suspected Arson
1982: Issa Suspected, But Never Charged, In Arson Incident At Manufacturing Plant. According to the Los Angeles Times: “A suspected arson fire ripped through [Issa's Ohio] manufacturing plant in 1982. No one was ever charged in the fire, but authorities were troubled by a dramatic escalation in the facility’s fire insurance just weeks earlier. Even before the blaze was put out, investigators began peppering Issa and his partner with ‘crazy questions’ regarding their whereabouts before the fire, Issa recalled.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis, emphasis added]
Prior To Fire, Issa “Boosted” Fire Insurance And Removed A Computer From The Premises. According to the Los Angeles Times: “Weeks before the fire, Issa and [business partner Miles] Hunsinger boosted their fire insurance from $ 100,000 to $ 462,000 on property stored for other companies…At the same time, a separate company that contracted with Quantum to outfit bug zappers increased its insurance to $ 400,000, and, according to an insurance report, one investigator was ‘concerned about the coincidence.’ Fire investigators also noted that a computer was taken off the site eight days before the fire, ‘allegedly to be reprogrammed’ by Issa’s lawyer, and that business blueprints were put away in a safe — which was ‘not previously done before.’” [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]
“Suspicious Burn Patterns” And “Out Of Normal Practice” Behavior Alerted Investigators. The Washington Post reported: “Investigators reported ‘suspicious burn patterns’ and said the fire may have been set. A company bookkeeper, Karen Brasdovich, also told them that computers and records had been removed from the site days before the fire for no clear reason. ‘It was totally out of normal practice,’ she said in a telephone interview last week.” [Washington Post via FTLComm.com, 7/8/03]
AC Custom Fire: Flammable Liquid Had “Been Poured On The Only Area Not Covered By Fire Sprinklers.” The Los Angeles Times reported that “seven months after Issa took control,” a fire broke out at the “Quantum manufacturing plant.” “Case files from Maple Heights, the Ohio fire marshal and insurers pointed repeatedly to the likelihood of arson in the blaze, which officials estimated caused $ 800,000 in damage. Although an accident could not be ruled out, the uneven and unnatural burn patterns made the blaze ‘suspicious in nature,’ the state concluded two months later. Flammable liquid appeared to have been poured on the only area not covered by fire sprinklers, investigators found.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis, emphasis added]
The Real Issa: Intimidation With A Weapon
Former AC Custom Executive Claimed Issa Intimidated Him With A Gun.According to the Los Angeles Times: “One of Issa’s first tasks as the new boss [of AC Custom] was to remove an executive named Jack Frantz. According to Frantz, Issa came into his office, placed a small box on the desk and opened it. Inside, he said, was a gun.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]
Issa Allegedly Used Intimidation To Fire Executive Frantz. According to the Los Angeles Times, Frantz claimed, “‘He just showed [the gun] to me and said ‘You know what this is?’ Issa invited Frantz to hold the gun at one point and told him he had learned about guns and explosives during his military days, Frantz said. Because he was about to be fired, Frantz said he saw it as ‘pure intimidation.’” [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]
Former AC Custom Bookkeeper: “It Was Pretty Terrifying.” According to the Los Angeles Times: “The bookkeeper, [Karen] Brasdovich, also recalled Issa having a gun at the company that day. ‘It was pretty terrifying,’ she said.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]
Issa On The Incident: “Shots Were Never Fired.” The Los Angeles Timesreported: “Issa said, ‘Shots were never fired. If I asked Jack to leave, then I think I had every right to ask Jack to leave…I don’t recall having a gun. I really don’t. I don’t think I ever pulled a gun on anyone in my life.’” [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis, emphasis added]
The Real Issa: Auto Theft & Weapons Charges
Issa “Twice Arrested In 1972 On Weapons Charges.” According to the San Francisco Chronicle: “Issa was twice arrested in 1972 on weapons charges — once in Ohio, once in Michigan.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/2/03]
Issa Was Convicted Of “Possession Of An Unregistered Handgun,” Paid Fine, And Served Probation. According to the San Francisco Chronicle: “[W]hen Issa was attending college in Michigan, was fined $100 and put on three months’ probation after being arrested for possession of an unregistered handgun, Michigan court records show.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/2/03]
1972: Issa Was Arrested For Auto Theft. According to the New York Times: “In 1972, [Darrell Issa] and his brother William were arrested in the theft of a Maserati from a Cleveland car dealership.” [New York Times, 7/23/03]
1972: Issa Also Charged With “Carrying A Concealed Weapon.” According to the San Francisco Chronicle: “Court records…show that in March 1972, one month after getting out of the Army, Issa was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and auto theft. The court file doesn’t indicate the type of weapon involved.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/2/03]
Auto Theft, Concealed Weapons Charges Were Ultimately Dropped.According to the San Francisco Chronicle: “In May 1972, a grand jury indicted Issa on a larceny charge in connection with the car theft but dropped the weapons charge. Two weeks later, a prosecutor dropped the car theft charge as well.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/2/03]
Charges Were Dropped Despite Witness Reports. According to the Los Angeles Times, “a witness reported seeing [Darrell and William Issa] pushing the sports car down the street just before midnight, records and interviews show. But the charges were dismissed — months before the older brother, [William], was convicted of stealing another car amid a string of offenses.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]
Methodology
Media Matters for America searched the Factiva database for news articles fromThe Wall Street Journal and the Nexis database for news articles from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Postand all network and cable news programming* from ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News, MSNBC, and NBC between November 2, 2010 and January 10, 2011 for mentions of Darrell Issa. From cable, only interviews were included — news packages and short clips were excluded. From print, any article substantially mentioning Issa — beyond merely reporting his new position in Congress or other brief mentions — was included.
*ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox Broadcasting, and NBC transcripts include all news programming; Fox News and MSNBC transcripts include prime-time and select daytime interviews.
You want a real scandal: No vote in 2 years on The American Jobs Bill, that would put millions of Americans to work.
You want a real scandal: No vote or solution on the Sequestration, which was created by Congress.
You want a real scandal: No vote on the Universal Background Checks bill…..that ends in a result that 91% of Americans want.
You want a real scandal: Lets all celebrate The 5 Month Anniversary Of 28 Deaths In Newtown, Connecticut By Doing Exactly What Congress Has Accomplished Since The Sandy Hook Elementary Massacre…… N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Jack Shit. Oh Wait…..My Bad…..Congress HAS Taken 4 Breaks in 151 Days Since 12/14/12.
You want a real scandal: Today, the 16th of May, 2013, A TeaTardedRepubliCANT House voted For The 37th Time To Repeal ObamaCares…229 to 195, at a cost of $55 Million to American taxpayers.
I’m sick and disgusted with Darrell Issa AND his muthafuckin ilk.
First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks during the Bowie State University commencement at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md., May 17, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Jueseppi B.
