Michelle Obama visited the slave quarters at Decatur House — a red-brick structure that sits in the shadow of the White House — that once housed the black men and women who served 19th century politicians, military and business leaders who lived in the property. The first lady, who is the nation’s only first lady to have descended from people held in slavery, made the stop as part of an announcement that the historic Decatur House, which is located 150 yards from the White House, would receive a $1 million grant from American Express to preserve the house and accompanying slave quarters.
During remarks before she toured the quarters, Obama recalled the slaves “who spent their lives within shouting distance of one of the most powerful buildings on the planet — a bastion of freedom and justice for all,” noting that their “stories that are a part of so many of our families’ histories, including my own.”
MRS. OBAMA: Good morning. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Good morning, everyone. Thank you. I am truly delighted to be here.
But before I begin, I want to just take a moment to say that our thoughts and prayers are with all of the people in Oklahoma. And as you all know, my husband and his team continue to monitor the situation, and he has directed the full resources of the federal government to be there for the people of Oklahoma as they begin to recover and rebuild.
And it’s important to remember during these times that the spirit of unity and resolve and resilience that has defined that situation as we watch the people in Oklahoma recover and work together, that that’s the kind of resilience that has defined this country since its inception. It’s who we are as Americans. And it’s that history that brings us together today.
So I want to start by thanking Fred for that very kind introduction, but more importantly, for his leadership throughout so many presidents to tell the story of this country; as well as Ken and Stephanie for their leadership and hard work to make this day possible. We should give them all another round of applause for their efforts. (Applause.)
For nearly 200 years, as our country has grown and evolved, the Decatur House has grown and evolved right along with it. This house has hosted parties and social events with some of our nation’s foremost leaders. It’s been a residence for secretaries of state, and at one time, it served as headquarters for the Army Subsistence Department of the Civil War.
But from the back of the house, from a structure far less lavish, comes even more history — the kinds of stories that too often get lost, the kinds of stories that are a part of so many of our families’ histories, including my own. I’m talking about the slaves here at Decatur House who spent their lives within shouting distance of one of the most powerful buildings on the planet — a bastion of freedom and justice for all.
Yet, within this very place, about 20 men and women spent their days serving those who came and went from this house and their nights jammed together on the second floor of the slave quarters, all the while holding onto a quiet hope, a quiet prayer that they, too, and perhaps their children, would someday be free. These stories of toil, and sweat, and quiet, unrelenting dignity — these stories are as vital to our national memory as any other. And so it is our responsibility as a nation to ensure that these stories are told.
So more than anything, today, I simply want to say thank you. Thank you for coming together to preserve these stories for years to come. Thank you to everyone from American Express for making such a generous commitment to honor all of our nation’s history. Of course, thank you to the White House Historical Association and the National Trust for Historic Preservation for finding new ways to engage with our past.
And finally, I want to thank all of you for all of the educational opportunities you’re giving to our young people. I’m about to go on a wonderful tour with some students from Willow Springs Elementary School in Fairfax, Virginia. And what’s most exciting is that they’re not just going to look at some pictures on a wall, they’re going to take part in the re-enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation. I’m not sure what I’m going to do while they do it. (Laughter.) I’m going to look on.
So truly, it is this type of engagement that you all are providing for young people that will continue to draw them into these spaces and give them an opportunity to really grow and understand, and understand the stories that create this country and their place in that history.
So you all aren’t just teaching our young people about history, you’re inspiring them to believe that they can make history as well. And that’s really what history is for — it’s for the next generation, it’s for us to continue to learn and grow. So these spaces are critical. The work that you all are doing is vital. They would not exist without the work that you do, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
So with that, I guess I get to go do the fun thing — I get to go hang out with some kids, which is my favorite thing to do and one of the reasons why you’ve done all this work. But I want to thank you all for your continued efforts. There are many more spaces that need this kind of attention and this kind of support. I hear it all the time, and those conversations do not fall on deaf ears. I know that these resources are vital to this country, so you all should be very proud of the work you have done and I hope you continue to do for centuries to come.
Creating an Immigration System for the 21st Century
Our nation’s immigration system is broken. Fixing it is an economic and national security imperative. That’s why President Obama is working to pass a common sense, comprehensive set of reforms that ensures everyone plays by the same rules.
Immigration
America’s immigration system is broken. Too many employers game the system by hiring undocumented workers and there are 11 million people living in the shadows. Neither is good for the economy or the country.
Together we can build a fair, effective and common sense immigration system that lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.
The President’s plan builds a smart, effective immigration system that continues efforts to secure our borders and cracks down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants. It’s a plan that requires anyone who’s undocumented to get right with the law by paying their taxes and a penalty, learning English, and undergoing background checks before they can be eligible to earn citizenship. It requires every business and every worker to play by the same set of rules.
As the Senate debates bipartisan immigration reform legislation, the President and the Vice President hosted a meeting today in the Oval Office with young immigrants, also known as DREAMers, as well as with the siblings and spouses of undocumented immigrants. The meeting was an important opportunity for the President and the Vice President to hear directly from people whose families are affected daily by our nation’s broken immigration system.
The President and the Vice President were moved by the stories of courage and determination these young immigrants shared. The DREAMers shared how the deferred action changed their lives for the better and emphasized that they and their families need a permanent solution that will allow them to fully contribute to the country they call home. Their stories were both powerful and authentic, inspiring us all to remember the important task and responsibility we carry as public servants and members of the Obama administration.
From Justino Mora, Angie Kim and Mehdi Mahraoui, to Diana Colin and Kevin Lee, all of the stories they shared were full of hope and optimism that one day their family members and their broader communities could realize the dream of becoming citizens of a country that has provided them with the opportunity to work hard and to succeed.
Miguel Leal and Melissa McGuire-Maniau also shared their commitment to this country as veterans of the US Armed Forces and all expressed their desire to continue to contribute as volunteers, mentors, and leaders in their own communities.
As the meeting was wrapping up, the President reiterated his commitment to passing a bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform bill this year. And while he reminded everyone in the room that the bill is not perfect, he noted that it does represent an important step towards the broad principles that need to be part of any immigration reform package. He also encouraged them to continue to share their stories with the American public to move the hearts and minds of individual leaders and to propel the immigration debate forward.
The White House has joined a coalition of organizations in the March for Innovation (#iMarch), the largest-ever virtual march in support of bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform.
The march — which is set to take place tomorrow and Thursday — will bring together leaders from politics, business, tech, sports, and entertainment to create a digital storm across a variety of social media to back bipartisan immigration legislation that will help attract and retain the world’s best and brightest to fuel innovation and create American jobs.
Our nation has the best military force in the world due to theunwavering commitment and dedication of our service men and women. But standing right behind these selfless men and women is a strong support system made up of spouses, children, parents, and family members who also willingly sacrifice. Blue Star Families, founded in 2009 by a group of military spouses, is an established, chapter-based organization. To date, there are over 70 chapters on military bases and National Guard sites across the country, offering valuable wellness, morale, education, and employment programming for military families.
Blue Star Families has been successful in creating valuable programs for military families because they maintain awareness on the challenges families face. Each year, Blue Star Families conducts a Military Family Lifestyle Survey to take a proactive look at the current needs and priorities of military families and service members. This survey is a unique tool that not only assists their organization but also provides key decision makers with concrete data on the challenges military families face.
For example, Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Surveys have consistently revealed that military spouse employment is a key component of military family stability. In this year’s survey, of the 61% of military spouses that are unemployed, 52% want to be employed. So Blue Star Families seeks to empower military spouses in the difficult task of finding employment by providing a broad range of initiatives designed to support military families throughout various points on their career paths. This could be anything from building a resume to finding a job, and keeping that job despite unique challenges. To assist in military spouses navigate the job market, Blue Star Families launched three ground-breaking peer-to-peer networks: Blue Star Entrepreneurs,Blue Star Health Care Professionals, and Blue Star Educators. These groups encourage military family members to work together and share their experiences to help each overcome many of the challenges often faced.
Blue Star Families chapter directors also organize events to support military families across the country through programs such as Books on Bases and Operation Appreciation. In the first ever Books on Base event in September 2009, over 4,000 books were distributed to military base libraries and every DOD school in North Carolina, plus 20 military impacted schools in the local area. Since 2009, Blue Star Families in partnership with many generous corporations has distributed over 120,000 books and impacted over 140,000 military children worldwide.
Additionally, Blue Star Families and its chapters work diligently to continue to build partnerships in order to create programs that connect the civilian community to local military kids and spouses. Blue Star Museums is the result of a partnership between Blue Star Families and National Endowment for the Arts, Joining Forces, MetLife Foundation, and nearly 2,000 museums. This program allows all active duty military, National Guard, and Reserve military personnel and their families to gain free admission to participating museums from Memorial Day through Labor Day. This highly successful program led to the Blue Star Theatre program, where more than 90 theaters nationwide have joined Blue Star Families to offer discounted or complimentary admission to military personnel, their families, and veterans.
Through powerful programming for military families and children, Blue Star Families has made a significant impact in the lives of our military families and continues to be a shining example to all.
Press Briefing
May 21, 2013 | 1:02:47 | Public Domain
White House Press Briefings are conducted most weekdays from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing.
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
Insiders with ties to the Obama administration tell The Cable that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Ricehas become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon – a post at the epicenter of foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretary of state, a job for which she withdrew her candidacy last fall amid severe political pressure.
The report quotes a pair of sources who said that Rice will inevitably succeed current National Security Advisor Tom Donilon whenever he leaves the post.
“It’s definitely happening,” one source said.
Rice was thought to be the favorite to succeed Hillary Clinton at the State Department, but her would-be nomination never got off the ground ostensibly due to Republican criticism over her appearances on Sunday talk shows following the attack in Benghazi, Libya.
“It’s definitely happening,” a source who recently spoke with Rice told The Cable. “She is sure she is coming and so too her husband and closest friends.”
“Susan is a very likely candidate to replace him whenever he would choose to leave,” agreed Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Obama and counselor at the Washington Institute. “She is close to the president, has the credentials, and has a breadth of experience.”
Both sources said the timing of succession was uncertain. “I don’t believe Tom Donilon is about to leave but would be surprised if he were to remain for the whole second term,” Ross said. “But in answer to your question, [Rice's appointment] is very logical.”
Rice’s candidacy for secretary of state imploded in November after she recited talking points about the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi on five Sunday talk shows that turned out to be erroneous.
The question now is whether Benghazi’s return to the spotlight will affect her potential appointment at a time when the White House is reeling from revelations about the IRS’s scrutiny of conservative groups and the Justice Department’s subpoena of the calling records of AP journalists.
For now, prominent Republicans don’t seem inclined to make a fuss.
In November, Arizona Sen. John McCain pledged to “do everything in my power to block her from becoming secretary of state”; South Carolina Sen.Lindsey Grahamsaid, “I don’t think she deserves to be promoted”; and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corkersaid she’d make a better DNC chair: “I think most of us want someone who is more independent minded.”
But now — even as Benghazi fever reaches a crescendo following last week’s dramatic “whistleblower” hearing and Wednesday’s release of 100 pages of Benghazi emails — the GOP’s desire to check her rise has seemingly evaporated, and Republicans have few tools to prevent her appointment, which would not require Senate confirmation.
When asked if he was concerned about a future National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Corker, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Cable he was sitting this one out.
“In the case of national security advisor,” he said, “whomever serves in that position serves at the pleasure of the president. So it’s totally his prerogative.” When The Cable asked Graham and McCain the same question, their spokesmen declined to comment.
In some ways, the deflated interest in Rice is only natural. Though the testimony of State Department witnesses last week served to highlight the inaccuracy of Rice’s talk-show appearances, new details of the editing process of her talking points show her nowhere near the drafting process — just as the administration has long maintained.
Meanwhile, a more tantalizing GOP target has emerged in the form of Hillary Clinton, the overwhelming favorite to assume the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Democrats, Republicans and witnesses fixated on Clinton 32 times during discussions in last week’s hearing.
Rice spokeswoman Erin Pelton declined to comment for this article. White House National Security Council Spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said, “We don’t have any personnel announcements to make at this time, and Mr. Donilon has no plans to depart at this point.” She added that Donilon is “fully engaged in managing our national security agenda, from his recent trip to Moscow and major address on global energy, to planning for a trip to China in late May and more upcoming speaking events.”
The administration hasn’t shied away from heaping praise on Rice. Last week, at a gala for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Vice President Joe Bidentold the audience that the U.N. ambassador has “the absolute, total, complete confidence of the president,” and that when she speaks on issues of foreign policy, nobody doubts she’s speaking for Obama.
Back in March, when colleague Colum Lynch first reported whispers of Rice’s comeback, Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, spoke glowingly of Rice’s relationship with the president. “Susan always maintains close relations with the president and his national security team, and that continues to be the case,” he said. “If anything, the way she handled the Benghazi situation — and then the withdrawal — only enhanced her relations here, because she did so with grace and good humor.”
The president himself has gone out of his way to wink at an expanded role for Rice within his administration. “I have every confidence that Susan has limitless capability to serve our country now and in the years to come, and know that I will continue to rely on her as an advisor and friend,” Obama said in a December statement.
“It is inappropriate and too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of Congress,” the attorney general said. “It is unacceptable. And it’s shameful.”
“No, no, no, that’s — I am not going to stop talking now,” he said.
Issa called on the committe chairman to ask Holder to stop talking, but Holder refused.
“It is inappropriate and too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of Congress,” the attorney general said. “It is unacceptable. It is shameful.”
Holder is correct.
Holder Calls Issa’s Conduct ‘Shameful’ At House Hearing
Issa, as the Chairman of the Oversight committee, has gleefully attempted to find scandal and misdeeds within the Obama administration, and when unable to, after years of holding hearing, lied to the American people by claiming Hillary Clinton personally signed orders refusing security to diplomats in Benghazi.
Jueseppi B.
