# OKCpedia > Businesses & Employers >  Teemco

## Pete

TEEMCO LLC, an oilfield engineering company based in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, thrust themselves into the spotlight over the last year, signing huge endorsement deals with the Oklahoma City Thunder, The University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and local CBS television affiliate KWTV, among others.

TEEMCO made another big splash when they announced plans to purchase and renovate the historic Gold Dome building in central Oklahoma City, with their CEO Greg Lorson comparing the building's positive electromagnetic energy to golf bracelets and revealing plans that included massive aquariums and the world's largest salt crystal lamp.

But as these audacious deals were being signed and promoted, TEEMCO and it's chief executive were mired in legal and financial issues, and the troubles appear to be quickly escalating.

*CEO has checkered past*Gregory Damien Lorson, 57, is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of TEEMCO and has recently been portrayed by several publications and the company's press releases as a visionary leader of a successful, rapidly growing company.

In a December 2013 Executive Q&A published in _The Oklahoman_, Lorson was quoted extensively on his personal background and professional accomplishments, and said, For 25 years, I was an investment banker and bought and ran companies. 

Yet court and prison records tell a very different story.


Lorson has a long criminal history including two separate felony convictions for financial fraud and has been successfully sued over 30 times in Oklahoma alone, starting in the mid-1980's and with several cases still on-going.

According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and legal records, in 1990 Tulsa courts found Lorson guilty on two counts of obtaining cash by false representation and was imprisoned for the crimes until late 1992.

In 1994, court documents show Lorson started work for a financial services company in Tulsa which led to a 1998 conviction and 70 month sentence in federal prison for conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.  The 17-count indictment alleges that over a two year period Lorson and a co-defendant settled and collected on loans for the government's Resolution Trust Corporation and others, then diverted money to their own out-of-state bank account.  Federal Bureau of Prisons records indicate Lorson was released from incarceration in late 2003.

In 2004, legal filings show that Lorson became involved in a real estate venture near Guthrie, Oklahoma which soon failed and resulted in foreclosures, multiple lawsuits and substantial judgments against him.  Related legal matters are still pending in Logan County court.

*Questionable credentials*Lorson's self-proclaimed academic achievements seem to reflect several inaccuracies.

TEEMCO's website features this in a bio about Lorson: His undergraduate study was in finance at the University of Oklahoma, graduate studies in business & anthropology at Harvard, and holds a postgraduate certificate in Business Administration from Edinburgh Graduate Business School.

In the _Oklahoman's_ Executive Q&A, Lorson's education is listed as "University of Oklahoma, bachelor's in finance".  Lorson's LinkedIn profile claims a Bachelor of Science degree from the same school, with attendance dates from 1977 to 1981.

However, documents obtained from the University of Oklahoma indicate "No Degree -- Enrollment Only" from 1977 to 1982.

It is unclear how Lorson conducted "graduate studies" and achieved a "postgraduate certificate" without having earned an undergraduate degree.

Lorson's LinkedIn profile states "Harvard University, 1995-1998", yet according to court documents he was working in Tulsa throughout this time and was in fact under indictment in September of 1997 and convicted in March 1998.  The same profile lists "Edinburgh Graduate Business School, 2000 to 2002", while federal prison records show he was incarcerated during this entire time.

Research reveals that both schools offer a variety of programs, including on-line courses open to all.  However, it is not known what specific options were available during the time periods claimed by Lorson.

*TEEMCO assets in dispute*Lorson has stated in published interviews that in 2009 he started working for 8-employee Wellstar International, the predecessor to TEEMCO.

On 5/13/10, records indicate Lorson formed TEEMCO LLC and on 6/4/10 acquired Wellstar's operations and signed a purchase agreement for $130,000, an amount which included fixtures and equipment.  TEEMCO continued to operate in the established Wellstar offices at 1600 E. 19th Street in Edmond, which is still listed as the company headquarters.


Almost immediately, the terms of the Wellstar deal were in dispute and by September of 2010 Lorson had allegedly stopped making payments.  A new agreement was subsequently formed in April of 2011 but by May of 2012, a lawsuit claims Lorson stopped payment on two checks and made no further remittance.  The former owners of Wellstar are now suing TEEMCO and Lorson for millions, and the case is still pending.

Court filings also show that within two weeks of forming TEEMCO, Lorson entered into a lease agreement for a property on N. Kelly in Edmond but never occupied the space or paid rent.  The landlord filed suit and won judgment against Lorson, and currently has a pending appeal to increase the amount of the award.

*Suspect regional offices*As a part of this investigation, OKCTalk spoke to several former TEEMCO employees.

Acting on a tip that the purported TEEMCO regional offices were false fronts, we were able to confirm that all the locations touted on their website and marketing materials are in fact either executive suites that promote inexpensive phone answering in a company's name (Houston, Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh, PA), or in the case of Pittsburgh, KS, a residential duplex.


Greg Lorson told the _Edmond Business Times_ in a 4/13/13 article, Our regional offices are there to serve our clients locally.  Yet sources tell us that TEEMCO employees have never occupied these offices and they are nothing more than a phone number.

A recent TEEMCO publication advertises three more locations without addresses:  Golden, CO; London, GB; and Panama City, PA [sic].

*Gold Dome stalls*In the fall of 2012, local investor David Box purchased the historic Gold Dome building at 1112 N.W. 23rd in Oklahoma City after it had been seized through foreclosure.  The iconic geodesic dome structure was built in 1958 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Box had filed for a demolition permit in March of 2013, as previous owners and potential buyers had cited high renovation costs and the impractical nature of the unique building. 

Just three months later, TEEMCO made headlines when the little-known company announced their bold plans to purchase, renovate and occupy the building.

A large press conference was held inside the building, Box called TEEMCO "the perfect buyer and the company promoted itself as the building's savior, with plans to move it's ostensibly rapidly growing enterprise from Edmond.


Soon thereafter, the outside of the dome was painted and TEEMCO signs went up; the building seemed to be coming back to life.

But sometime after the first of the year, work stopped.  Pictures taken this week show overgrown weeds, incomplete improvements and little progress apart from the sign and paint.  TEEMCO had previously announced their intention to occupy in early 2014.


The Oklahoma County Assessor website confirms ownership of the property was never transferred to TEEMCO and that it is still in the hands of David Box.  A representative from Mr. Box's office referred all questions about TEEMCO's involvement with the Gold Dome back to Greg Lorson.

*Huge endorsements*On the heels of the high-profile deal for the Gold Dome, TEEMCO became an almost inescapable presence throughout Oklahoma.

The inside cover of TEEMCO's self-published Summer 2014 edition of _Service and Press Management Magazine_ shows a letter of commendation signed by Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin which sits opposite an introductory passage from Lorson.  In that same publication, TEEMCO claims a $12 million budget.


In March of this year, TEEMCO announced two huge endorsement deals: one for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA and another with Learfield Sports, which brokers sponsorships for many major universities, and in this particular case The University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Tulsa University.

Both deals were trumpeted by TEEMCO and their beneficiaries through press releases.  The Thunder announced that their partnership included naming rights to the TEEMCO Commons hospitality space on the Cox Club Level at Chesapeake Energy Arena.  Learfield revealed the deal with the state's three largest college athletic departments would span five years.

Another article soon appeared in _The Oklahoman_, where Lorson spoke of using the sponsorships and the Gold Dome to get young people excited about careers in engineering and the energy industry in order to meet the nations need for energy independence in the 21st century.

On April 17th, TEEMCO hosted a large fund-raising event called Uncorked within the Gold Dome.

A month later, white TEEMCO t-shirts were draped over each of Chesapeake Arena's 18,200 seats for the Thunder's playoff game with the Los Angeles Clippers.


Two more major endorsements in Oklahoma City quickly followed: one for music events at the downtown Myriad Gardens and another with Remington Park racetrack.

*CFO leaves amid allegations*OKCTalk has learned Lorson has told creditors and employees that former TEEMCO Chief Financial Officer Michael S. Dixon embezzled company funds and was fired for the same in June.  However, no charges appear to have been filed in this matter.

Dixon's LinkedIn profile verifies he left TEEMCO in June, 2014.  It also indicates that he started at TEEMCO's predecessor Wellstar International about the same time as Lorson.

Further investigation has revealed another parallel to Lorson:  Dixon has spent substantial time in federal prison for fraud. 

In September 2000, Dixon pleaded guilty to nine criminal counts of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering before a Kansas district judge.  Dixon had been president of South Kansas Title in Wichita and admitted in federal court that he devised a scheme to take more than a million dollars from south-central Kansas home mortgage holders and real estate investors.

Prison records show Dixon was discharged from incarceration in April of 2004, which means his sentence coincided with Lorson's for the majority of the time each man served.

OKCTalk was told by several former employees that CEO Lorson and ex-CFO Dixon met while behind bars.  We were also told that at least one other TEEMCO employee came to meet Lorson in the same way, and were able to confirm an overlapping federal prison sentence of a long-time employee who has recently left the company.


*Unpaid bills, near eviction*In addition to the issues at the Gold Dome, OKCTalk has learned that TEEMCO is currently more than 60 days past due on several debts.

At least three of their endorsement contracts are in serious arrears with two never receiving any payment whatsoever.

Multiple creditors report that after repeated broken promises to pay, TEEMCO will no longer return their phone calls.

Court records show that on September 7th, 2014, Lorson was served with eviction papers for warehouse space TEEMCO was renting on N. Santa Fe Avenue in Oklahoma City.  That matter was later dismissed when neither party showed for a hearing.


*Lavish spending*A reliable source told OKCTalk that the cost to TEEMCO for one endorsement deal alone is over $600,000.

Lorson has been recently seen driving a late model Jaguar.  A June photo of his residence shows a black Jaguar XJ in the driveway, a car valued between $75,000 and $100,000.  There is also a late model black Land Rover in that same driveway photo.  According to records, Lorson was ticketed early this year while driving a black Land Rover.  And in 2011, Lorson's then 16 year-old daughter who listed Lorson's home address as her own, was cited while driving a Mercedes Benz.

Records also indicate that TEEMCO purchased a 58 foot Hatteras yacht valued at $200,000 to $300,000 and that the boat is still registered in the company name.  A newsletter for a marina on Lake Texoma, Texas shows TEEMCO LLC is leasing two boat slips.


Social media reveals a TEEMCO private suite at Chesapeake Arena as well as courtside tickets for Thunder games, several extravagant company parties, and a Hummer vehicle with TEEMCO logo and contact information.


OKCTalk's investigation of TEEMCO is on-going and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

*

Related Information*3/13/98: Two Guilty of Fraud, _Tulsa World_

7/16/98: Tulsan faces 70-month term for fraud, _Tulsa World_

Lorson's failed appeal of prison sentence

9/26/00: "TITLE COMPANY OWNER ADMITS CRIMES", _Wichita Eagle_

6/20/13: "Landmark Gold Dome in Oklahoma City set to be sold, preserved, _The Oklahoman_

6/21/13: New Gold Dome owners prepared to do 'what it takes' to renovate OKC landmark, _The Oklahoman_

12/22/13: "Executive Q&A: Consulting company chief promotes positive energy, environmental harmony", _The Oklahoman_

3/13/13: "Thunder Partners with TEEMCO", Official website of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder

3/30/13: "TEEMCO calls new college sports agreement a victory", _The Oklahoman_

3/31/13: "TEEMCO UNDERWRITES MAJOR SPONSORSHIP FOR OKLAHOMA, TULSA AND OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITIES", Learfield Sports website

4/1713: "Outlook 2014: TEEMCO recruits next generation of energy industry with several tools", _The Oklahoman_

TEEMCO's _Services and Press Magazine_, Summer 2014

http://www.theteemco.com/

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## Pete

I'm placing this article in the Development forum because it directly pertains to the Gold Dome.

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## gopokes88

Dang. That's intense. This will really crank the heat up on them. I've seen Teemco's stuff everywhere but never really knew what they did.

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## Bellaboo

Dauum... Crooked astards...

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## DoctorTaco

Amazing work Pete.

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## HangryHippo

There was a poster in Steve's OKCCentral chat a long while back that was concerned about Teemco when they were first looking around the Gold Dome.  Based on his pointed questions, I got the feeling something was amiss back then.  Great work here, Pete.

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## adaniel

Great work, but I must say I'm not surprised this is coming out...this is pretty much an open secret in the industry. 

TEEMCO was more or less a competitor of my previous employer. We quickly learned they were little more than a paper tiger. I did wonder how they were funding themselves when for the life of me I have never known anyone to use their services extensively.

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## turnpup

Yes, very well done, Pete!  OKCTalk is now going to be a source for investigative reporting.  Love it!

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## Chitty

Great work Pete, keep it up.

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## Jersey Boss

Kudos. That is a fine piece of investigative reporting.

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## Richard at Remax

They sound like a bunch of $30K millionaires

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## CuatrodeMayo

Well done, Pete! It's a good thing you're in California =)

I've always had a sense of uncomfortableness about TEEMCO taking possession of the Gold Dome, but I never could put a finger on why. The shoddy nature of the renovations plus the tacky sign and Christmas decorations also gave me a weird feeling. Something was "off" but I have no idea what/why.

It's good to know my intuition is correct.

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## OKCisOK4me

In this instance there is an I in Teem and it stands for Indictment... geez!

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## metro

> Amazing work Pete.





> Yes, very well done, Pete!  OKCTalk is now going to be a source for investigative reporting.  Love it!





> Great work Pete, keep it up.


This! Great work Pete! I've asked some pointed questions about them on this forum from time to time, as it seemed fishy from the start, especially the work around the Gold Dome and the overnight sponsorships of this little known Oklahoma-based company and then act like they're Devon/CHK overnight. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but at first didn't they act as if they were a Houston company re-locating to OKC?

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## Of Sound Mind

Let me add my kudos as well, Pete. Not much more that I can say that others haven't. As a former journalist, I can only add that this is absolutely excellent work and an example of want journalism is supposed to be (but often can't be for the sake of the bottom line).

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## zookeeper

Just to echo what others have said. Wow - eye opening. Excellent job, Pete!

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## soonerguru

> I'm placing this article in the Development forum because it directly pertains to the Gold Dome.


Wow! Great work, Pete. This is extremely thorough.

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## David

So, does this mean the Gold Dome is likely to be back in the position of being up for demolition?

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## bchris02

> So, does this mean the Gold Dome is likely to be back in the position of being up for demolition?


Hopefully not.  I have never understood why so many developers are licking their chops to demolish that historic landmark.  It should be turned into something the entire community can enjoy.

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## bradh

always be wary of those who believe in magic powers of gold balance bracelets or power balance bands

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## Urban Pioneer

Wow. Just wow. Great work Pete! That is impressive journalism.

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## LuccaBrasi

> Wow! Great work, Pete. This is extremely thorough.


Ditto up and down the board....unbelievable effort nailing this down. Great work!

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## NoOkie

My wife worked for them for a couple of years.  It was pretty insane, and stressful.  Lorson seemed really...weird.  Egotistical, self-aggrandizing.  Not-very-subtle racist jokes in a power point presentation(To your employees and all their guests).  The 20 year old girlfriend was a bit creepy, too. 

I had to sit through their Christmas party/dinner/whatever.  It was full of the most self-aggrandizing bull**** I've heard outside of a political rally.  She still gets some messages from her former co-workers.  One of them said paychecks started bouncing a few months ago and that department that wrote the actual environmental spill plans(Their primary product) was entirely laid off.   At one point, we were invited to the yacht on Texoma(Some big departmental thing).  We declined,

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## soonerguru

TEEMCO has received a lot of very positive press from the Oklahoman.

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## hewi

> Yes, very well done, Pete!  OKCTalk is now going to be a source for investigative reporting.  Love it!


  Agreed. Great reporting sir.

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## JohnH_in_OKC

This thread should be award winning journalism. It wins my award for a top notch investigation. Congratulations, Pete, for your hard work.

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## bombermwc

WOW, I still can't believe all of it! Pete, amazing work there. If there is such thing as a Board at Teemco, surely they would toss him after learning about all of this and then how did they not know!? If someone doesn't run this story in mainstream, they are missing out on a MAJOR piece! Great job!

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## Pete

> WOW, I still can't believe all of it! Pete, amazing work there. If there is such thing as a Board at Teemco, surely they would toss him after learning about all of this and then how did they not know!?


TEEMCO is an LLC that operates more or less like s sole proprietorship.

As such, there is no board or real oversight.

I've seen them list a "board of advisers" but those are usually just friends without any power or authority.

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## Pete

Not many people understand what this company does -- I never did until I started researching this story.

From what I've learned they perform two major categories of services to oilfield companies:  1) compliance consulting and 2) remediation.

It terms of compliance, everyone operating a drilling rig is required to comply with many regulations, including those that concern the environment.  "Spill plans" were mentioned up-thread and that seems to be (or have been) one of the biggest parts of their business, where they basically take a stock plan and customize it for each client.  Basically, it's a plan they can keep on file in case there is a spill at the site.  I was told that they charge about $15,000 to $20,000 for these plans, so not a ton of money.

The remediation piece involves much more money both in terms of revenue and expense.  I know in one case they sold a contract for "flowback" -- cleanup of fluids from the fracking process -- that would have been for millions over several years, but had no equipment to provide the service.  So, they partnered in West Texas someone who already had the equipment, but things fell apart from there.


I would like to say more about all this but I'm being very careful to only post/publish what I can document and verify.

I hope to be able to share more in the near future.

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## RadicalModerate

Very interesting article, Pete.  Very sad, yet interesting.
Now I'm a bit concerned about The Gold Dome again.

Not to nag . . . Yet, this volume might help to put current events into perspective:

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## litt

> Not many people understand what this company does -- I never did until I started researching this story.
> 
> From what I've learned they perform two major categories of services to oilfield companies:  1) compliance consulting and 2) remediation.
> 
> It terms of compliance, everyone operating a drilling rig is required to comply with many regulations, including those that concern the environment.  "Spill plans" were mentioned up-thread and that seems to be (or have been) one of the biggest parts of their business, where they basically take a stock plan and customize it for each client.  Basically, it's a plan they can keep on file in case there is a spill at the site.  I was told that they charge about $15,000 to $20,000 for these plans, so not a ton of money.
> 
> The remediation piece involves much more money both in terms of revenue and expense.  I know in one case they sold a contract for "flowback" -- cleanup of fluids from the fracking process -- that would have been for millions over several years, but had no equipment to provide the service.  So, they partnered in West Texas someone who already had the equipment, but things fell apart from there.
> 
> 
> ...


pete,

i have been in the same business as teemco for 7 1/2 years.  there are ALOT of companies like theirs in this profession.  as far as i'm concerned, the couple that sold the business to them isn't any better, either.  it's nothing short of shocking to me that teemco has even gotten this far with their business practices.  i'm amazed that they've gotten the positive press they have over the years.  it's about time someone did an article on these guys.  they MORE than deserve it.  i would also say that ANYone that pays 15-20K for a spill plan has their head where the sun doesn't shine.  that's WAY WAY WAY more than they should.  even the most expensive jobs that i've done aren't ANYwhere near that price.  not even beginning.  

again, great work, pete.  this article nailed it on these guys.  i wonder what the over/under is on channel 9 removing them from their "teemco cam" stuff is?

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## NoOkie

> pete,
> 
> i have been in the same business as teemco for 7 1/2 years.  there are ALOT of companies like theirs in this profession.  as far as i'm concerned, the couple that sold the business to them isn't any better, either.  it's nothing short of shocking to me that teemco has even gotten this far with their business practices.  i'm amazed that they've gotten the positive press they have over the years.  it's about time someone did an article on these guys.  they MORE than deserve it.  i would also say that ANYone that pays 15-20K for a spill plan has their head where the sun doesn't shine.  that's WAY WAY WAY more than they should.  even the most expensive jobs that i've done aren't ANYwhere near that price.  not even beginning.  
> 
> again, great work, pete.  this article nailed it on these guys.  i wonder what the over/under is on channel 9 removing them from their "teemco cam" stuff is?


I think the deal may have just expired.  They started doing it about a year ago.  And if they blew all their money and laid off a bunch of people, they may not be able to afford re-sponsoring it.

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## Pete

Actually, I just learned from someone who works for Channel 9 that they are now using a collection agency to try and get money owed from TEEMCO.

TEEMCO was behind on a bunch of bills when they signed new endorsement deals in July.

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## CCOKC

I heard on of their endorsement spots while listening to the OSU game on the radio yesterday.  Took me aback a little.

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## Pete

> I heard on of their endorsement spots while listening to the OSU game on the radio yesterday.  Took me aback a little.


They just signed those deals this spring.

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## Pete

From Brianna Bailey's Twitter account; says there is a broken window at the Gold Dome as well:

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## Pete

The little video blurb they do on NewsOK said that Brianna Bailey is doing a story on how financial troubles at TEEMCO has "prevented the sale of the building".

I'm sure it will be posted later tonight.

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## ljbab728

Brianna's article.

http://www.oklahoman.com/article/5349252?embargo=1



> Work on Oklahoma City’s iconic Gold Dome building has been stalled by financial problems at the Edmond environmental engineering company with plans to renovate the local landmark at NW 23 and Classen.
> 
> 
> Edmond-based TEEMCO LLC. CEO Greg Lorson confirmed that the environmental company was experiencing “financial stress” after internal problems, he said in a phone interview.
> 
> Lorson said that while renovation has taken longer and cost more than originally anticipated, the company still plans to move into the building in November.
> 
> Lorson said the company is under financial stress after he fired TEEMCO’s Chief Financial Officer Michael S. Dixon in June. Although Lorson claims Dixon was fired due to “major dysfunction in his position,” Dixon disputes Lorson’s claims and says he resigned over disagreements about the company’s finances.
> 
> *TEEMCO’s financial problems were first reported by the website Okctalk.com.*


There certainly can't be any question about proper credit given in this.

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## soonerguru

> Brianna's article.
> 
> http://www.oklahoman.com/article/5349252?embargo=1
> 
> 
> There certainly can't be any question about proper credit given in this.


Pay wall. Thud.

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## TheTravellers

> Pay wall. Thud.


Oklahoma City landmark Gold Dome saga continues with financial problems, conflicting claims from buyer | News OK

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## Pete

> There certainly can't be any question about proper credit given in this.


They only say "financial problems were first reported" but not all the other things they mentioned in this article, such as the Gold Dome being stalled and the prison records of the two main TEEMCO executives.

Also, the advance blurb on the NewsOK website -- both the graphic and the words spoken by Dave Morris -- said "Financial Problems Halt Purchase of Gold Dome", but the article didn't say that at all.

There is much more to come on all this; still conducting interviews and research.

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## Urbanized

There has been a little activity around the place in the last 2-3 days; mostly grounds maintenance, which had been ignored for a while.

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## Pete

Reading back through the Gold Dome thread, posters reported all activity stopping in February.

Do they still have Christmas decorations up on the light poles in the parking lot?  I know they did in April.

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## Urbanized

I don't think so. I'll look later.

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## Canoe

> Reading back through the Gold Dome thread, posters reported all activity stopping in February.
> 
> Do they still have Christmas decorations up on the light poles in the parking lot?  I know they did in April.


Yes just on some of the poles.

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## ultimatesooner

great work Pete, i need to hit the powerball so i can buy that yacht @ Texoma when it goes up for auction  :Smile:

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## Plutonic Panda

*10/9/2014*

These stars were still up

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## macfoucin

Heard a Teemco commercial on 1520, just now, during the OU Texas game.

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## Pete

Earlier this month, OKCTalk.com posted a story about Edmond-based TEEMCO, a company which had received a great deal of positive exposure and press where bold claims of the company and its chief executive were published without scrutiny or verification.

We documented in great detail key information which had not been previously reported, including the extensive criminal histories of its two top executives, dubious academic claims, concerning business activities, stalled work on its proposed new headquarters and extravagant spending.  See our exclusive report: Troubled times at TEEMCO.

Now, our continuing investigation has uncovered something even more serious:  Allegations that TEEMCO has engaged in practices whereby millions in federal taxes have gone purposely unreported and unpaid.

*Unpaid employment taxes*OKCTalk was told by those with direct access to the TEEMCO books that the company has in fact never paid the federal taxes they have been withholding from employees since the company was formed in 2010, a cumulative amount of nearly three million dollars.

Through the normal course of business, TEEMCO  like most companies with full-time employees  issues paychecks which reflect government-mandated deductions for various state and federal taxes.  Laws dictate that those funds be held in trust for the government, and are often referred to as trust fund taxes.  There are specific rules that require expedient deposit to the Internal Revenue Service and other appropriate agencies on a strict schedule.  It is important to note that TEEMCO processes all payroll internally rather than using an outside service.

However, OKCTalk has learned that over its entire four years of operation, TEEMCO has yet to forward a penny of the federal trust fund taxes and has instead kept the money for its own use.

Furthermore, employees tell us Chief Executive Officer Greg Lorson gave specific instructions to not pay these taxes or to set aside any funds for future payment.  We were told the employment taxes have been used as operating funds and spent indiscriminately.

Reportedly, the issue first came to light in early 2011 when TEEMCO, having newly formed the previous June, skipped depositing the federal withholding taxes for both previous quarters.  The initial plan was to set aside funds to cover the obligation, but the reserve account was soon abandoned and the company proceeded to operate without reporting or paying an ever-growing mountain of money that was owed to the government.

Although a small amount of employees involved with the company's finances and payroll were aware of this issue, they say they were given strict instructions by Lorson not to pay these back taxes, as the company had other priorities.  As we also previously reported, just last year at the behest of CEO Lorson, TEEMCO splashed out hundreds of thousands for a 58-foot yacht and a private suite at Chesapeake Arena, among many other extravagances (see Lavish spending section from Troubled times).  The IRS expressly forbids using employment taxes for general operations or paying others.

OKCTalk was told an IRS audit of a TEEMCO employee for the tax year 2013 recently brought the employment tax issue to the attention of others in the company.    During the course of the audit, the IRS revealed it had no record of having received the taxes shown on the employee's W-2 form issued by TEEMCO, and thus a rebate was disallowed.  The employee approached Greg Lorson who then allegedly authorized a quick bonus payment to the affected employee.

*Social Security and retirement plan issues*Employees also reported problems with Social Security funds being properly credited to their accounts.  In the case of Social Security, an employer is required to withhold 6.2% of an employee's gross salary for every pay period, then match that amount with their own funds.  Similar to federal withholding taxes, Social Security is considered to be funds placed in trust by the employer and are to be deposited on a regular basis for each employee.

The Social Security Administration operates a website which allows individuals to monitor their running balance.  Several employees told OKCTalk that in the process of checking their accounts, they found no funds had been deposited by TEEMCO for 2011 and beyond.  The issue was reportedly raised to CEO Lorson early this year who only then authorized the payment of Social Security for first 2012, then 2011.  Employees still report no new funds in their account since 2012.

Social Security and Medicare taxes are typically grouped together as FICA deductions, but it is not clear if TEEMCO is current on its Medicare obligations, or its state and unemployment taxes; or for that matter, the company's own federal income tax.

Additionally, employees report not being able to verify account balances in their TEEMCO retirement accounts.  Employees told OKCTalk they have not received any sort of account statement and cannot get verification of where those funds are being held.

*Possible consequences*Failing to pay employment and Social Security taxes are matters taken very seriously by both the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration with possible civil and criminal repercussions.

When taxes are not paid in a timely manner, there are often significant financial penalties and interest charges added to any outstanding balance which can quickly turn a large debt into an insurmountable sum.

Under Sec. 7202 of the Internal Revenue Code, a willful failure to pay over or collect tax is a felony punishable by up to a $10,000 fine or five years in prison, or both.  There are many cases documented by the IRS where the failure to pay even a few hundred thousand dollars in a timely manner resulted in significant prison sentences.  

Employees may also suffer because they may not qualify for social security, Medicare, or unemployment benefits when employers do not report or pay employment and unemployment taxes. Consequently, taxes withheld and paid by compliant employers are used to pay the refunds and social security benefits of employees whose employers did not pay the withheld taxes.

Also, the persons deemed responsible for paying these taxes are often held personally liable for the entire amount owed to the government.  Bankruptcy laws do not provide protection in this area.

*Uncertain future*Compounding the situation are the current financial difficulties faced by TEEMCO.  Lorson told _The Oklahoman_ in a 10/7/14 article,  the company was experiencing financial stress.   We had previously documented the company being seriously past due on many bills.  (see Unpaid bills, near eviction section of Troubled times)

Records obtained by OKCTalk show only 28 employees have logged hours into the TEEMCO time tracking system in the month of October.  Although we have learned a handful of employees are not required to use this system,  it appears the total number of employees has dropped dramatically in just the last few months.

When Lorson first discussed moving TEEMCO headquarters to the Gold Dome he cited a rapidly-growing enterprise of 100 employees; now only a fraction of that number seem to be on the payroll.  Former employees confirm large-scale firings and layoffs in recent months.

In the 10/7/14 _Oklahoman_ article, Lorson said the company still intends to move to the Gold Dome.


OKCTalk's investigation of TEEMCO is ongoing.


*
Related Information*10/2/14: "Troubled times at TEEMCO", _OKCTalk.com_

10/7/14:  Oklahoma City landmark Gold Dome saga continues with financial problems, conflicting claims from buyer, _The Oklahoman_

June 2014:  "The consequences of willful failure to pay payroll taxes", _Journal of Accountancy_

10/3/11: "Fail To Pay Payroll Tax: Go To Jail", _Forbes_

"Examples of Employment Tax Fraud Investigations -- Fiscal Year 2012", Official website of the Internal Revenue Service

----------


## Pete

Bumping this to the top.

----------


## Lauri101

What a shock those employees will have when they try to draw SS in their golden years!

----------


## Mel

I had been reading all the info reported on this forum. Like a lot of others we are happy to see local companies do well. Then their shenanigans short getting noticed and now this. I feel for the employees who thought their SS fund was being paid into. What a load of corruption.

----------


## Easy180

Pros and cons working for small businesses....This would be one of the cons

----------


## BBatesokc

> Pros and cons working for small businesses....This would be one of the *cons*


Literally and figuratively!

----------


## Chadanth

> What a shock those employees will have when they try to draw SS in their golden years!


Not just that, they're liable for those taxes if the business doesn't have the assets (which seems likely here) to make it right.

----------


## Snowman

It is shocking they might be deluded enough to think they could keep that up for long, the IRS is has a history of finding even sole proprietors and partnerships malfeasance, how can you even contemplate get away with it with dozens of staff.

----------


## bluedogok

> Pros and cons working for small businesses....This would be one of the cons


It can happen to large companies as well, any place where corrupt people are in control.

----------


## OKCDrummer77

I work for a local payroll service provider, so this article was of particular interest to me.  As was mentioned above, it's surprising that they got away with it for so long.  The IRS, OTC, OESC, etc., are usually pretty quick to bring the hammer down on companies that try to pull stuff like this.

----------


## MadMonk

Man, that stinks for their employees.  I hope most of them are informed enough to know to bail out before the big crash.

----------


## bombermwc

Good reason never to work for someone that does their own payroll. There are a lot of layers of protection by letting another firm handle that type of thing. It keeps people from doing things they are supposed to (unknowingly or not) and makes them do things they're supposed to. It also keeps leadership from being able to do underhanded bullpoop like this. 

This guy needs his butt thrown in jail, he personally should be found liable for all the back taxes, and the company should close and be liquidated. Yes, that means some people will be out of the job. And they're getting messed with from all sides. If the company files chapter 11, perhaps those employees can be absorb by someone that could take the company over. But if the buyer has to assume the debt, it won't happen. My last employer purchased another company under similar circumstances and the CEO of the bankrupt company did go to jail. Unfortunately, he had made some many bad decisions and messed things up so badly with his clients that we ended up making very little off of the deal and only by absorbing their IT hardware. In terms of client base, there were so few left that they eventually all left from a decision to in-house their billing. At that point, the few remaining employees did lose their jobs, but all were able to get a new one. Not a small thing to do in California just a few years ago. They were great people and I felt badly for them, and was lucky enough to visit with them in person as I downsized and then closed their offices. But it's a good example of how even a buyer with the best intentions, can end up getting no where with this kind of mess.

----------


## soonerguru

How is this company still open?

----------


## FighttheGoodFight

As an employee would you know this was going on? I mean if you didn't work in HR or something how would you protect yourself from this?

Just trying to get some positive information out of this.

----------


## Spartan

So who owns the mortgage to the Gold Dome? Do we know anything about how it was backed?

I guess we'll be dealing wi whomever it is pretty soon...

----------


## Pete

> As an employee would you know this was going on? I mean if you didn't work in HR or something how would you protect yourself from this?
> 
> Just trying to get some positive information out of this.


As an employee you would not know, apart from checking your Social Security account on-line.

However, as this story continues to play out I think most will see that there were tons of things about this company that would put anyone on alert, especially the employees who worked there every day.

However, often in cases like this employees don't report the issues to authorities for various reasons, such as fear of getting in trouble themselves, not wanting to risk their job, etc.

Much, much more to come on this.  I may end up writing a book -- and I'm not kidding.

----------


## Pete

> So who owns the mortgage to the Gold Dome? Do we know anything about how it was backed?
> 
> I guess we'll be dealing wi whomever it is pretty soon...


David Box still owns the property.

Despite the deal with TEEMCO being characterized as a "purchase" by all involved, it clearly was some sort of lease-to-own deal that seems to have completely fallen apart.

Even though Box had pretty much thrown up his hands before TEEMCO came along, I've heard that Box is now committed to saving the structure and with the rise of 23rd and the surrounding areas, there is reason to be hopeful about the building's future.

----------


## Spartan

Well that's a surprise. Good for Box.

----------


## kbsooner

Saw TEEMCO advertising still on the scoreboard at the OU game this weekend...

----------


## BillyOcean

> Much, much more to come on this.  I may end up writing a book -- and I'm not kidding.


why?

----------


## Pete

Gold Dome still completely empty with no signs of work.  Also, unlike like year, no Christmas decorations.  (photo credit catch22)

----------


## catch22

It's very interesting. Weren't they saying to the Oklahoman they are still on track?

----------


## Plutonic Panda

Wow.

Pete, any idea how much the article has been viewed? I frequently view 'who's online' when I'm bored and I almost always see multiple people reading this article.

----------


## Bellaboo

Last year at the Thunder games TEEMCO was advertising heavy on the video ring in the arena. This year, not at all.

----------


## Pete

This is from that Oklahoman article:




> Lorson said that while renovation has taken longer and cost more than originally anticipated, the company still plans to move into the building in November.


Yet another broken promise, which was pretty obvious when he made it in that article.

----------


## bombermwc

I was at an OU basketball game last week and noticed some pretty heavy Teemco sponsorship there too.

I believe it's in the UK where there's a list of names of corporate blokes that sort of puts them on a sanctioned list for businesses. You get your name on this list because you're been convicted of naughty business practices like this fellow. Then you're prevented from being able to do certain things in the future. The whole Wall Street/Banker crisis seems like it would have been a good place to start this list, and put this guy on it.

----------


## Pete

It seems TEEMCO paid for at least one year (of a five-year deal) for the OU/OSU/Tulsa sponsorships.

----------


## Urbanized

FWIW, workers have been scurrying all over the roof of the dome all day today. I think they are putting up Christmas lights.

----------


## bombermwc

Explains why they still have stuff at football games too. At least OU is smart and made them pay upfront for at least part of it....but they wont' get another year out of it.

How is the IRS not on them so hard that they're not closed already!?

----------


## Pete

I've talked to people at the IRS and the FBI about this situation.

Obviously, neither will comment if there is an on-going investigation or what the status may be.

However, my contact at the FBI told me that in the case of white collar crime, they move very slowly, taking time to observe and collect as much information as possible.  He said such matters often take a year or more to move to the prosecution phase

In case of the IRS, I was told the only time they shut down a business is when the business activity itself is illegal.  Otherwise, they actually want the business to continue to operate as it's the only hope of them receiving any part of the money they are owed.

I would not assume that since their doors are still open that everything is fine.

----------


## Jersey Boss

Whatever happened to this story and the theft of social security funds by this criminal enterprise?

----------


## Pete

I know they have been reported to the proper authorities but the government will not comment on any investigation or if there is even one underway.

You usually don't hear about these things until charges are filed and that can take time.

----------


## John

They introduced the CEO on-field at the football game this past weekend in Norman, for their 'sponsorship' of the game. 

I boo'ed in his general direction.  :Kicking:

----------


## Bullbear

I did notice the Christmas lights are on the dome.

----------


## gopokes88

And they somehow sponsored the Bedlam trophy.

----------


## metro

Yeah saw their sponsorship everywhere for Bedlam, kind of weird considering......

----------


## GaryOKC6

They had a crew of Teemco employees out there yesterday putting up Christmas decorations like nothing has ever happened.  They looked like they were going all out.

----------


## Pete

Has anyone notice TEEMCO advertising at Thunder games this year?

I know there was a bunch last year and they signed a multi-year sponsorship deal.

----------


## Roger S

> Has anyone notice TEEMCO advertising at Thunder games this year?
> 
> I know there was a bunch last year and they signed a multi-year sponsorship deal.


I have not noticed them at Thunder games but I have seen their advertising at the LNC for OU basketball games.

----------


## Pete

Yes, their OU / Bedlam sponsorship has been running since the fall.

Seems like the Thunder stuff may have stopped at the end of last season.

----------


## Bellaboo

> Has anyone notice TEEMCO advertising at Thunder games this year?
> 
> I know there was a bunch last year and they signed a multi-year sponsorship deal.


Not at all.

----------


## gurantula35

I saw a TEEMCO ad at a thunder game very early in the season.  Remember explaining to my wife how they were a sketchy establishment

----------


## jef

more interesting news to come soon

----------


## Pete

More trouble for the embattled company:

OKCTalk - TEEMCO being sued for Channel 9 debt; facing evictions

----------


## ljbab728

It seems that, as per Brianna's article, they are still insisting they will be OK and they are continuing with their plans.

http://www.oklahoman.com/article/539...rice%20decline




> Despite a new round of financial problems, Edmond-environmental engineering firm TEEMCO said it still plans to move into Oklahoma City’s Gold Dome building later this month.
> 
> TEEMCO CEO Greg Lorson said that although lower crude prices have hit the company hard, the company still plans to move about 40 employees into the Gold Dome at the end of February.
> 
> “When times are tough financially, it’s not usual for us to be behind on some bills, but we plan to pay them,” Lorson said.
> 
> Tommy Garrison, a property manager for Gold Dome owner David Box, said the building is still under contract to TEEMCO.
> 
> “TEEMCO is still communicating with us and we’re still working with them,” Garrison said. “They have worked on the interior of the building and they are very close to having it ready to move in.”

----------


## jn1780

I have to laugh at the title of that article. I doubt there was much of Teemco before oil prices even decline. 

Are they even doing these days besides shifting debt around?

----------


## Pete

They have unpaid bills that are almost a year past due and have been bouncing checks (including payroll) for years -- has absolutely nothing to do with the price of oil.

All the debt mentioned in my last article (and previous ones) started to pile up before oil prices dropped.

Remember, the CEO previously blamed the old CFO for their "financial stress" but now that he's no longer a scapegoat (he left last year) they have to come up with a new excuse.

Also, just last month their top salesperson -- sold the huge majority of their new accounts -- left for a competitor.

----------


## Geographer

TEEMCO still had advertising at Lloyd Noble last night for the game.

----------


## Pete

They've been advertising at OU all year.

I believe they pre-paid one year of their sponsorship deal.  But they are gone from Channel 9, Remington Park, the Zoo Amphiteater, and seemingly The Thunder.

They had signed multi-year sponsorships with all.

----------


## OkiePoke

Back in September, I found out my neighbor worked for them. He mentioned their old CFO ran off with a lot of their money or something. If I see him around, I will ask about them.

----------


## Pete

> Back in September, I found out my neighbor worked for them. He mentioned their old CFO ran off with a lot of their money or something. If I see him around, I will ask about them.


The "CFO stole money" line has been used by their CEO many times yet no charges have ever been filed.

----------


## TheTravellers

> They have unpaid bills that are almost a year past due and have been bouncing checks (including payroll) for years -- has absolutely nothing to do with the price of oil.
> 
> ...


How do they still have anybody left working for them if they keep bouncing payroll checks?  I would leave as soon as I could after the first one bounced!

----------


## Pete

The number of employees has been steadily dwindling for some time.

----------


## zookeeper

That Oklahoman article....it's such a shame, but not surprising, that in the end it's all spin control for TEEMCO. It's just the oil prices after all. 

I think deep down, there may be some attempt at trying to "prove" you're wrong. I don't know, it just strikes me that way.

----------


## OkiePoke

> The "CFO stole money" line has been used by their CEO many times yet no charges have ever been filed.


I'm not refuting that. That is what the employees know/telling people.

----------


## Pete

> I'm not refuting that. That is what the employees know/telling people.


Understood.

Didn't mean to contradict you, just was elaborating.

----------


## Pete

From that Oklahoman article:




> “When times are tough financially, it’s not usual for us to be behind on some bills, but we plan to pay them,” Lorson said.


TEEMCO was evicted today from the warehouse property on N. Santa Fe, which they have been renting for several years and is the storage facility for all the materials they need to conduct their business.

And as previously mentioned, most their financial problems started well before the oil price drop and they owe many creditors debts which they haven't paid on for 9 months or more.

----------


## Pete

TEEMCO was evicted on Friday from the water bottling operation in El Reno.  They still owe tons of back rent and will owe the remainder of their lease amount as long as the property sits vacant.

That's three evictions in the last few weeks.

----------


## Pete

There was just a large ($200K+) judgement made against TEEMCO related to a recent eviction from a local warehouse.

The landlord had already won default judgment (meaning TEEMCO didn't contest or even appear at the hearing) for eviction and past due rent, plus late fees and other costs.

But they had also filed a separate suit for the value of the remainder of the 5-year lease term, and once again won a default judgment.

And in this case, CEO Greg Lorson had recently signed a personal guarantee on the lease, no doubt due to the fact the company had been behind several times.  They had staved off eviction at the last minute at least once before.


They don't even seem to be putting up a fight now.

Also, they told the Oklahoman they were moving into the Gold Dome in February, and that month has come and gone.

The latest excuse was a boiler, and I've yet to see a permit for a new one.

----------


## Pete

On Monday May 18th, representatives of the Oklahoma Tax Commission served Edmond-based TEEMCO with a cease and desist order in their offices, requiring the company to immediately close its doors and stop operating.

TEEMCO employees were asked to leave the premises and the offices are still closed at the time of this writing, 11:00AM on Thursday May 21st.


*Millions in unpaid taxes*At issue is years of unpaid taxes.

As OKCTalk had previously reported as part of our investigative series, TEEMCO has allegedly never paid any of the federal withholding taxes that had been collected from the paychecks of employees.  Subsequently, we also learned the same was true for the state withholding taxes and social security, as well as state sales tax.

_See our previous reports in this series:
Troubled Times at TEEMCO
TEEMCO implicated in massive tax evasion scheme
TEEMCO being sued for Channel 9 debt; facing evictions_

TEEMCO has been operating for five years and has amassed millions in back taxes, not including the inevitable and substantial penalties and interest.

At the same time, the company seems to have almost no assets.

*Unpaid employees, lapsed medical coverage, substantial judgments and evictions*Current employees report being owed several weeks of back pay and that the TEEMCO internet service was recently disconnected.  Currently, the TEEMCO company website is off-line.

Former employees tell OKCTalk that although deductions were made to their paycheck for health insurance, TEEMCO stopped paying the insurance invoices sometime around the first of the year resulting in a loss of coverage and unpaid medical bills.

TEEMCO has recently been hit with several lawsuits and judgments for unpaid debts.  In most recent cases, the company or CEO Greg Lorson did not even respond to the filings or show for hearings; default judgment were merely rendered by the court.

Recently, TEEMCO faced eviction from a warehouse for the second time in just a few months.  Employees tell us the company merely moved its inventory after one eviction, only to be sued for nonpayment at the new location.

Facing the second forced expulsion in early April, the company sold the majority of the warehouse contents, including the world's largest salt crystal lamp it had once promised as a feature of a flashy new headquarters.




Just a few weeks ago, the company announced it had scrapped its plans to move into the historic Gold Dome where the salt crystal lamp was to have been displayed.

*Alleged embezzlement of charitable donations*OKCTalk has learned Lorson accepted at least $35,000 in donations for a kidney transplant patient.

In various press releases and local media stories, Lorson spoke at great length about the TEEMCO Foundation, a nonprofit that was to help this particular kidney patient and other noble community causes. 

In fact, in 2014 the _Journal Record_ gave Lorson and TEEMCO a Golden Beacon award for its charitable work and published this in their story: "The TEEMCO Foundation is raising funds to pay for a kidney transplant needed by an individual with terminal kidney failure. 'Except for the TEEMCO Foundation, this person has no financial resources, nor family, organizational or community support,' Lorson said."


But there is no evidence the TEEMCO Foundation has never existed.

Former employees tell us that it was never created, and research through the Oklahoma Secretary of State has found no record of any TEEMCO Foundation or any other nonprofit formed by Lorson or anyone else at the company.

Employees also report that Lorson told them that the young woman no longer needed a transplant and thus no money would be issued to her.

We were able to confirm that one donation of $30,000 and another for $5,000 were never returned to the donors, nor were they notified of Lorson's intention not to forward the money to the intended recipient.  Both the large donations were deposited in TEEMCO accounts in 2013.

*Extravagant spending*Meanwhile, Lorson drove a new Jaguar, bought a stretch limousine and a large yacht on Lake Texoma and took lavish trips to Europe and Hawaii.


The company also inked huge endorsement contracts with the Thunder of the NBA and the University of Oklahoma, then completely defaulted on those agreements at the very early stages, while Lorson continued to enjoy premium tickets to sporting events.

Lorson himself was on the field in Norman on December 6, 2014 to present the TEEMCO Bedlam trophy to the winner of the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State football game.


Ironically, at that very moment Lorson was in the process of being evicted from his own residence.


OKCTalk's investigation of TEEMCO is on-going.

----------


## Pete

bumping this up as I just posted the article.

----------


## turnpup

Great work once again, Pete!

I've passed by the gold dome twice in the past couple of days and noticed a homeless person with a shopping cart living up against the front door.  Let's hope something good will happen to it now.

----------


## hoya

Hell of a job on this Pete.  You uncovered this thing while local media sat around on their butts.

Edit:  But to be fair to the Oklahoman, pictures of local celebrities don't just post themselves to the age-guessing website.  I'm sure that took a lot of time.

----------


## sooner88

> I've passed by the gold dome twice in the past couple of days and noticed a homeless person with a shopping cart living up against the front door.


Same, even after the sale was finalized.

----------


## jn1780

I guess TEEMCO is now unofficially no more. I don't see them paying their taxes and reopening.

----------


## Bellaboo

Lorson needs to go to jail - what a fake.

----------


## bradh

fascinating

----------


## Pete

It's going to get a lot more fascinating in the very near future.

Lots more to come out on all of this.

----------


## zookeeper

Great job on this series, Pete. Just to echo hoyasooner, it's hard to believe that local media did little to nothing on this story. And when they did, it was almost excuse making on behalf of TEEMCO. Just an amazing story of corruption and media complicity.

----------


## soonerguru

Fantastic reporting, Pete! Bravo!

----------


## Canoe

How could the paper of record miss such an important story?

----------


## baralheia

Fantastic reporting, Pete! Still amazed that the local media has pretty much ignored this story.

----------


## sooner88

OKC energy firm's misunderstanding with state Tax Commission leads to brief closure | News OK

Newsok is reporting that TEEMCO closed because of a paperwork mixup with the OTC. I don't know why time after time Newsok seem to defend them.

----------


## jccouger

> OKC energy firm's misunderstanding with state Tax Commission leads to brief closure | News OK
> 
> Newsok is reporting that TEEMCO closed because of a paperwork mixup with the OTC. I don't know why time after time Newsok seem to defend them.


Probably because Newsok is afraid they are going to be the next business to get exposed as a fraud by OKCtalk.

----------


## jccouger

BTW, Newsok really is a fraud. I got scammed by them not too long ago by a door to door "student" who had me sign up for 6 weeks paying in cash & before I knew it I was being charged for 6 months and threatened with a tax collector.

----------


## zookeeper

> Probably because *Newsok is afraid they are going to be the next business to get exposed as a fraud by OKCtalk*.


Not a bad project. The digital side has gone downhill while the print edition is - well - is there one? Just kidding. They truly were one of the pioneers in digital journalism (believe it or not) but it has tuned into a busy, ad packed (with no class), and a site that is filled with silly clickbait headlines. (Speaking of, have you seen the CNN site lately? Talk about downhill.)

----------


## jn1780

> "The whole thing was literally cleared up in 30 minutes,” Lorson said.


So why have they been closed since Tuesday? I guess it doesn't really matter since Teemco employees are probably not doing much these days anyway.

----------


## baralheia

I gotta admit, I'm more than a little perplexed with how far apart the OKCTalk and NewsOK articles are. Did someone at the OTC pass along some bad info to Pete or Brianna or something? I'd tend to believe a story I read here, but something with this situation just seems... Weird.

----------


## bradh

Is the only interest here in TEEMCO because they bought Gold Dome, or are there other motives?

----------


## Teo9969

> I gotta admit, I'm more than a little perplexed with how far apart the OKCTalk and NewsOK articles are. Did someone at the OTC pass along some bad info to Pete or Brianna or something? I'd tend to believe a story I read here, but something with this situation just seems... Weird.


There's very obviously some major issues at TeemCo or there would not be any of these allegations even remotely mentioned. Nobody talks about Hobby Lobby's or Paycom's tax issues because they probably don't have any. The fact that TeemCo is even under scrutiny that's addressed by several media outlets means that TeemCo does not have a particularly clean history.

Media, including OKCTalk, is not always right, so time will tell. Just remember that sources of information that report to media always have motives that are not always apparent to the reporter nor especially to the audience. 

I tend to think that Pete's reporting on this subject is more accurate than others given the fact that he was the first to report any issues and there was in fact some issue with the OTC…enough so that they actually posted a cease & desist letter to Teemco's offices. That said, no single source of information is infallible, so it's important to remember that reporting is never 100% accurate.

----------


## Pete

> So why have they been closed since Tuesday? I guess it doesn't really matter since Teemco employees are probably not doing much these days anyway.


They've been closed since Monday morning.  Much more to this. Stay tuned.

----------


## Pete

Just wanted to say I 100% stand by everything I wrote in this and the three previous stories.  I've verified everything from multiple sources.

If this company re-opens, it won't be for long.  I won't say more right now because there are legal processes underway and I don't want to interfere.

Soon, everything will come out in court records.


As a reminder, it's very easy to get people to tell you things once a big story comes out and they are forced to provide some sort of explanation, which is usually not the truth or the full truth.


I look forward to all this playing out so I can report many things I have yet to touch on.

----------


## jn1780

> Just wanted to say I 100% stand by everything I wrote in this and the three previous stories.  I've verified everything from multiple sources.
> 
> If this company re-opens, it won't be for long.  I won't say more right now because there are legal processes underway and I don't want to interfere.
> 
> Soon, everything will come out in court records.
> 
> 
> As a reminder, *it's very easy to get people to tell you things once a big story comes out and they are forced to provide some sort of explanation*, which is usually not the truth or the full truth.
> 
> ...


Very true, People need to remember what they told Newsok just last year regarding their plans to move into the Golddome.

----------


## jn1780

> Is the only interest here in TEEMCO because they bought Gold Dome, or are there other motives?


I think there is great interest in TEEMCO because of the Gold Dome and the fact their name was all over the place and it turns out the company was little more than an empty shell.

----------


## bradh

> I think there is great interest in TEEMCO because of the Gold Dome and the fact their name was all over the place and it turns out the company was little more than an empty shell.


That's fine, I was just curious if it wasn't some witch hunt, but then again, I'm new to OKC and don't know the full history behind the building.  I'm sure if I was a lifer it'd be more clear to me.

----------


## LakeEffect

> I think there is great interest in TEEMCO because of the Gold Dome and the fact their name was all over the place and it turns out the company was little more than an empty shell.


And then, with their advertising w/ the Thunder and OU/OSU related activities, their name is more upfront, which makes people more interested...

----------


## baralheia

I wasn't meaning to imply that I thought Teemco was just fine - obviously they're not. It just seems strange to me that the tax commission tells the Oklahoman one thing but Pete's sources say something different. Judging by Pete's track record, I'm almost positive he's got the right story... It's just weird, in my opinion, that the Oklahoman seems to be getting fed different information from a state agency. It will be very interesting to see how this story shakes out in the end.

----------


## Urbanized

It's entirely possible that the organization is shady and corrupt AND for there to have been a legitimate, innocent paperwork mixup. The two are not mutually exclusive.

----------


## ABryant

You are very trusted dude.

----------


## Pete

> It's entirely possible that the organization is shady and corrupt AND for there to have been a legitimate, innocent paperwork mixup. The two are not mutually exclusive.


Correct.

However, the tax commission closed them Monday morning so the quotes from the spokesperson from the tax commission do not align with hard facts, so that's all very strange.  I suspect there is lots of things they can't talk about publicly just yet.  I'm sure once our story came out and they were named, they felt compelled to issue some sort of statement.

Tax agencies are very weird about discussing the particulars or any one case, as you might imagine.  They wouldn't talk to me about this or the many employees who started calling them once they came and and asked them to leave on Monday.  They were actually made to leave the offices mid-morning on Monday and not even allowed to go back to their desk and get personal items, and the office has been closed since.

There is much more to this that I don't want to get into right now.

But I'll say it again, I stand by every word I wrote 100% and I guarantee you I know just about everything there is to know about this company and its operations.  I'm not simply making quick calls to a spokesperson and a CEO who has lied repeatedly.  I've interviewed almost 50 people over a period of more than six months.  I have full financial records and everything to verify what I've reported, I just have to be careful about revealing too much due to pending legal matters that I don't want to impede.

----------


## jccouger

> Correct.
> 
> However, the tax commission closed them Monday morning so the quotes from the spokesperson from the tax commission do not align with hard facts, so that's all very strange.  I suspect there is lots of things they can't talk about publicly just yet.  I'm sure once our story came out and they were named, they felt compelled to issue some sort of statement.
> 
> Tax agencies are very weird about discussing the particulars or any one case, as you might imagine.  They wouldn't talk to me about this or the many employees who started calling them once they came and and asked them to leave on Monday.  They were actually made to leave the offices mid-morning on Monday and not even allowed to go back to their desk and get personal items, and the office has been closed since.
> 
> There is much more to this that I don't want to get into right now.
> 
> But I'll say it again, I stand by every word I wrote 100% and I guarantee you I know just about everything there is to know about this company and its operations.  I'm not simply making quick calls to a spokesperson and a CEO who has lied repeatedly.  I've interviewed almost 50 people over a period of more than six months.  I have full financial records and everything to verify what I've reported, I just have to be careful about revealing too much due to pending legal matters that I don't want to impede.


Cliff notes/TL;DR summary : Pete is right. You doubt him & you'll be the one looking dumb. 

Now I'll just throw in some speculation that is probably complete BS :
Teemco is obviously tied to VERY major corporations. The 2 biggest state universities, a pro sports team & all the O&G companies they work for. I'm sure there are people at EACH of those institutions trying to minimize this story so they aren't also held accountable for doing business with a fraud company. It only takes a couple phone calls from the right people to major news outlets to let them know to they need to be hush hush about this.

----------


## jn1780

> Cliff notes/TL;DR summary : Pete is right. You doubt him & *you'll be the one looking dumb.* 
> 
> Now I'll just throw in some speculation that is probably complete BS :
> Teemco is obviously tied to VERY major corporations. The 2 biggest state universities, a pro sports team & all the O&G companies they work for. I'm sure there are people at EACH of those institutions trying to minimize this story so they aren't also held accountable for doing business with a fraud company. It only takes a couple phone calls from the right people to major news outlets to let them know to they need to be hush hush about this.


That's a little harsh. With that said, however, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know there is something more going then a little misunderstanding with the tax commission. This is a basically a week of what I'm guessing *unpaid* vacation they gave their employees because of "small" paper work issues.

----------


## Jersey Boss

With it being reported that this so called business failed to remit the Social Security witholdings to the government, I wonder if they paid into the u/e insurance fund?

----------


## Urbanized

> Cliff notes/TL;DR summary : Pete is right. You doubt him & you'll be the one looking dumb...


Where was anyone in this thread saying that they doubted Pete? I'm not sure that he needs anybody rushing to his defense here.

----------


## Teo9969

I also doubt that Pete is reporting something just be right or first. I think he's far less interested in people "trusting" him or those who oppose him looking dumb as he is just putting information out so the citizens of OKC know what's going on.

----------


## zookeeper

And he's already made it clear there is more he could say, but can't because of pending legal action. We should all respect that.

----------


## jccouger

> Where was anyone in this thread saying that they doubted Pete? I'm not sure that he needs anybody rushing to his defense here.


Sorry, I wasn't really directing that at individual naysayers (especially OKCtalk posters) as much as I was showing my confidence in Pete's reporting.

----------


## Urbanized

No question he's worked really hard on this, and no question the whole thing smells to high heaven. It will be fascinating to watch it unfold. Fascinating like watching a train wreck, I suppose. Lots of people who probably were not crooks who have lost jobs in this deal. Just glad that it didn't end up somehow dealing a death blow to the Gold Dome.

----------


## bradh

> No question he's worked really hard on this, and no question the whole thing smells to high heaven. It will be fascinating to watch it unfold. Fascinating like watching a train wreck, I suppose. Lots of people who probably were not crooks who have lost jobs in this deal. Just glad that it didn't end up somehow dealing a death blow to the Gold Dome.


and people who aren't even involved yet could lose their job.  what if you worked somewhere and you were giving this company your business, but had no idea they were a fraud?

----------


## Canoe

Does it concern anyone else that this is an environmental company?

----------


## Pete

> Does it concern anyone else that this is an environmental company?


They aren't really.  They are basically just a huge fraud. 

And hundreds if not thousands have harmed by them.  When this all comes down, people are going to be blown away.

----------


## PhiAlpha

> They aren't really.  They are basically just a huge fraud. 
> 
> And hundreds if not thousands have harmed by them.  When this all comes down, people are going to be blown away.


I can attest to the fact that they actually have done real environmental work (specifically spill plans) for a friends oil and gas company, but outside of that, no one had no idea what else they did or how they could afford some of the things they were doing.

----------


## bradh

> I can attest to the fact that they actually have done real environmental work (specifically spill plans) for a friends oil and gas company, but outside of that, no one had no idea what else they did or how they could afford some of the things they were doing.


I think adaniel has pretty much said the same thing, they've drawn up some spill plans, but other than that they were an industry joke.  I've heard the same from some others.

----------


## Richard at Remax

can't wait to read in the Oklahoman how "it's not their fault" this is all happeneing

----------


## soonerguru

> It's entirely possible that the organization is shady and corrupt AND for there to have been a legitimate, innocent paperwork mixup. The two are not mutually exclusive.


This seems like a mighty reach. This "company," formed by prison bros, stinks to high heaven, and this story has serious sex appeal. Sex, salaciousness, and salvation are the holy trinity of a good news story. Surprised OKCTalk is the sole outlet running with this diamond. It's as if the other outlets are just pissed they got caught with their pants around their ankles and are hoping -- even praying -- their laxity is justified by a non story.

I'm going all in with Pete.

----------


## Pete

> I think adaniel has pretty much said the same thing, they've drawn up some spill plans, but other than that they were an industry joke.  I've heard the same from some others.


Right, and a few spill plans (which are documents that have to be kept on file by well operators) IMO doesn't make them an "environmental company", and certainly not an "engineering company".

They have zero engineers on their payroll.

And while they actually delivered some spill plans early in their history, there are scores and scores of customers who paid them for various services and products who either never received anything at all, or only received something that was nowhere close to what was promised.

Not only do they owe millions to the government, they owe millions to various creditors, PLUS millions taken from companies for work never performed.  And they also owe current and past employees money.  Their internet service was cut off last week; their phone was cut off for a while, they've been evicted all over town, etc, etc.

This isn't just a simple matter of bad business, we are talking about many, many instances of all types of fraud.  Many cases where they took money up front and did nothing, etc.  Basically used the payments of one company to pay their bills instead of order products or pay employees to do that work.  It's a classic Ponzi maneuver.

And BTW, they were completely evicted from the Gold Dome.  The previous owner said and implied otherwise but I have a document that shows TEEMCO was $80,000 behind in their lease-to-own payments (which had already been reduced after Lorson claimed their CFO embezzled money) and told to either pay up in full or completely give up the property.  Even though this was not filed in court, it was an eviction.

Then you have things like claiming to have a nonprofit foundation (mentioned many, many times in media stories) that never existed, and using that ruse to solicit and embezzle a lot of money.

Another thing: Remember how Lorson originally blamed all this on their CFO and his ostensible embezzlement?  1. No charges were ever brought against him; and 2. the CFO continued to work as a paid consultant for TEEMCO after he was supposedly 'fired'.


Yet, they continue to operate and perpetrate fraud against virtually everyone they come in contact with.  I simply can't believe this has been allowed for nearly five years and there are a whole lot of stories to come about the massive failure of various government agencies and the furthering of the fraudulent claims by the local media that has helped them swindle hundreds of people and companies.

As long as their doors open, they are committing fraud and working on new ways to commit more.

----------


## Urbanized

> This seems like a mighty reach... ...I'm going all in with Pete.


My suggestion doesn't disagree with Pete's coverage in any way. It's only offered as a possible reason why OTC statements might have lined up with TEEMCO statements. If the company is as mismanaged as it appears to be, there is as much room for clerical error as there is for fraud. Also, just because a clerical error caused a notice doesn't mean that there aren't other, much more egregious matters keeping the doors closed. Again, the two situations are not mutually exclusive.

----------


## catch22

Great reporting per usual, Pete.

----------


## Pete

TEEMCO still closed today.

That's 8 days in a row.

They've been closed since Monday morning 5/18, despite what the Oklahoman reported.

----------


## ultimatesooner

any updates on this story?

----------


## Pete

OKCTalk - Over three weeks later, TEEMCO still closed

----------


## Of Sound Mind

> OKCTalk - Over three weeks later, TEEMCO still closed


Excellent reporting as always, Pete.

----------


## jccouger

And no follow up story from the Joklahoman on their botched report? Shocking.

----------


## Canoe

Online Journalism Awards - Online News Association. 

We missed the deadline. Maybe next year.

----------


## soonerguru

I have stayed relatively quiet on this story, but I must say that your reporting is what I was taught going to OU's journalism school. You are doing a great public service. **CONTROVERSY ALERT** I am utterly mystified at the silence of the Oklahoman. It is deafening. And embarrassing. *Seriously,* *WTF? JEALOUS MUCH?* Some folks need to grow up.

----------


## Jim Kyle

> I have stayed relatively quiet on this story, but I must say that your reporting is what I was taught going to OU's journalism school. You are doing a great public service. **CONTROVERSY ALERT** I am utterly mystified at the silence of the Oklahoman. It is deafening. And embarrassing. *Seriously,* *WTF? JEALOUS MUCH?* Some folks need to grow up.


I fully agree with this! The Skipper, Ralph Sewell, Dave Funderburk, (all past editors) and even Mister G himself must all be rolling in their graves at what has happened to The Great Moral Daily.

FWIW, subscribers received notification earlier this week that rates will be going up more than 10% effective in another week or so. I expect their subscription revenue to drop significantly as a result, although I'll probably retain mine for at least a month to see what happens.

Dead tree journalism is no longer an endangered species; it's rapidly falling below the tipping point of no return.

----------


## DoctorTaco

deleted

----------


## Bellaboo

I'd like to make a  mention about my service - In the past couple of months, at least 5 times, I've gotten the paper as incomplete. I'll get the classifieds and the Healthy Living sections duplicate, as in twice. No front page, business or sports ? Walking the dog on one of those days I checked a neighbors paper that was still on the driveway and guess what, it was complete.  Considering not renewing this January, after 40 years of service.

----------


## BillyOcean

> I'd like to make a  mention about my service - In the past couple of months, at least 5 times, I've gotten the paper as incomplete. I'll get the classifieds and the Healthy Living sections duplicate, as in twice. No front page, business or sports ? Walking the dog on one of those days I checked a neighbors paper that was still on the driveway and guess what, it was complete.  Considering not renewing this January, after 40 years of service.


my guess is that someone is obviously taking the meat of your paper.  put a game camera up and catch this person!

----------


## Bellaboo

> my guess is that someone is obviously taking the meat of your paper.  put a game camera up and catch this person!


I've actually checked several papers in the neighborhood over the last month and I'm not the only one getting shorted. They just need to learn how to load the sorters or whatever they are doing to get it right. My wife hands me her iPad and I read a few articles when this happens.

----------


## dankrutka

As much as everyone is focusing on the Oklahoman's shortcomings - which are nothing new -, it's worth pointing out that the Oklahoman going under would be disastrous. We need old media AND new media. What Pete does is amazing, but we can't rely on it.

----------


## Pete

OKCTalk - TEEMCO evicted from headquarters

----------


## Canoe

Well I guess the facts are in.

----------


## jn1780

They sure do how know to drag things out. That should be it though, right?  Unless there are some Teemco Hummers driving around that the repo men haven't found yet.

----------


## Pete

It's not over.

There are still Teemco assets of various types, Lorson is trying to keep the business going from his house, tons of legal issues still remain.

This will continue to play out for a couple of years, at least.

----------


## no1cub17

But I thought Brianna Bailey said they'd sorted it all out in literally 30 minutes!

Thanks as usual Pete. I have no vested interest of any sort in TEEMCO but it's still interesting news nonetheless, especially given their high profile endorsements, or what's left of them.

----------


## baralheia

> As much as everyone is focusing on the Oklahoman's shortcomings - which are nothing new -, it's worth pointing out that the Oklahoman going under would be disastrous. We need old media AND new media. What Pete does is amazing, but we can't rely on it.


I couldn't agree with this more. Old media still has a hugely important role to play. I just wish that their focus was bringing in readers with journalistic excellence, instead of (mostly) clickbait style articles. I've actually been considering buying a subscription to the Tulsa World because their investigative reporting seems to be a lot better than the Oklahoman.

----------


## TU 'cane

> I couldn't agree with this more. Old media still has a hugely important role to play. I just wish that their focus was bringing in readers with journalistic excellence, instead of (mostly) clickbait style articles. I've actually been considering buying a subscription to the Tulsa World because their investigative reporting seems to be a lot better than the Oklahoman.


Everything around Tulsa has been bought by Warren Buffet/Berkshire. Pretty much all of the "major" local newspapers with the exception of some of the smaller and more political oriented pieces. 
Not sure if The Oklahoman underwent the same buyout as up here or not. 

If you're thinking about TW, I've seen something called the Frontier or Tulsa Frontier, which apparently is made up of some former TW personnel. 
Any way, what I'm saying is, based upon what I've heard, it's relatively newish and they are starting up a subscription service and tend to offer better quality  stories with real depth. Just something to consider.

----------


## Canoe

Is there any other newspapers in OKC beside our Oklahoman?  How many papers should a city our size have in print?  I have never really thought about it before.

----------


## Pete

The Gazette and Journal Record, but they aren't full-featured publications.

The Oklahoma Journal was a direct competitor to the Oklahoman but folded in 1980.

Almost all the biggest cities are down to one main paper these days.

----------


## baralheia

> Everything around Tulsa has been bought by Warren Buffet/Berkshire. Pretty much all of the "major" local newspapers with the exception of some of the smaller and more political oriented pieces. 
> Not sure if The Oklahoman underwent the same buyout as up here or not. 
> 
> If you're thinking about TW, I've seen something called the Frontier or Tulsa Frontier, which apparently is made up of some former TW personnel. 
> Any way, what I'm saying is, based upon what I've heard, it's relatively newish and they are starting up a subscription service and tend to offer better quality  stories with real depth. Just something to consider.


I appreciate the information, thanks! I personally don't have much problem with conglomerate-owned papers, as long as their journalistic standards are still high. That said, I'll see if I can find the Frontier - I wouldn't mind giving it a read.

----------


## gopokes88

The Oklahoman should just admit they missed this story despite it being pretty easy to see. Brianna Bailey was wrong for the story and it should have been on the energy desk. A lot of my friends in the energy industry only knew of teemco from the gold dome purchase and sponsorships. They said they have never encountered them in the course of business.

----------


## Pete

The Oklahoman is now owned by Philip Anschutz; Gaylords sold out out to him a few years ago.

Anschutz is one of the richest men in the world and and extremely right-wing in his political views, which is why you see the Oklahoman linking to a lot of stories from the ultra-slanted Washington Examiner, another Anschutz publication.

----------


## Urbanized

Again, I honestly think there should be a separate thread dedicated to dissection of The Oklahoman's news coverage. I understand why this thread keeps deviating in that direction; the paper's coverage here has obviously been lacking.

But the last six or seven posts have had basically zero to do with TEEMCO, the topic of the thread and the reason I bother to visit it. The same with dozens and dozens of other posts in this thread over its history. But it's not just this one; other threads routinely turn into Oklahoman-bashing. I get it; their coverage is lacking in many areas and often frustrating. But just as frustrating is coming to a thread hoping to hear new info or discussion on a stated thread topic and seeing the same carping regarding the paper. No other off-topic discussion is so routinely tolerated or allowed to run unchecked.

----------


## Rover

> Again, I honestly think there should be a separate thread dedicated to dissection of The Oklahoman's news coverage. I understand why this thread keeps deviating in that direction; the paper's coverage here has obviously been lacking.
> 
> But the last six or seven posts have had basically zero to do with TEEMCO, the topic of the thread and the reason I bother to visit it. The same with dozens and dozens of other posts in this thread over its history. But it's not just this one; other threads routinely turn into Oklahoman-bashing. I get it; their coverage is lacking in many areas and often frustrating. But just as frustrating is coming to a thread hoping to hear new info or discussion on a stated thread topic and seeing the same carping regarding the paper. No other off-topic discussion is so routinely tolerated or allowed to run unchecked.


Amen

----------


## Pete

Back to topic...

TEEMCO was officially locked out of its Edmond offices this week.  Phones and website are still out of service.  Judgments and lawsuits continue to pile up against them and owner Greg Lorson.

I can also confirm there is an on-going investigation, but I can't say more at this time.


I suspect things will be quiet for a while but I would expect multiple charges to be brought down the line.  I was told by a friend at the FBI that in cases where there are multiple issues across various government agencies that a cross-functional task force is formed for collaboration purposes and so any indictments can be submitted to the district attorney at one time, and then everything is prosecuted as a single case.

I was also told a year or more is not unusual to do all the necessary investigation before anything is filed.

Lots and lots of issues here, some of which I've outlined in the articles but other things as well.

----------


## hoya

If I was Greg Lorson, I'd be getting on a boat to somewhere.

----------


## Pete

> If I was Greg Lorson, I'd be getting on a boat to somewhere.


He just sold the yacht and all his cars have been repossessed, so it would more likely be a bus.

Or I should say he's been trying to sell the yacht for a while, but he had wrecked it and did not have current insurance, so it's not worth nearly what he paid for it.

----------


## ultimatesooner

> He just sold the yacht and all his cars have been repossessed, so it would more likely be a bus.
> 
> Or I should say he's been trying to sell the yacht for a while, but he had wrecked it and did not have current insurance, so it's not worth nearly what he paid for it.


lol, the one on Texoma - I'd like to see this story

----------


## bombermwc

So should we start counting the days before his butt gets put back in jail? I mean obviously this guy isn't able to operate a business legally and spent time in jail once (but didn't learn anything). Maybe he's due for a longer term this time. Too bad you can't put some sort of flag on a person to prevent them from being able to operate their own business or even be an executive. It would be like having the Enron team come back out and start up another energy company.....something just isn't right about that.

----------


## Easy180

> If I was Greg Lorson, I'd be getting on a boat to somewhere.


Cuba maybe?

----------


## Pete

> So should we start counting the days before his butt gets put back in jail? I mean obviously this guy isn't able to operate a business legally and spent time in jail once (but didn't learn anything). Maybe he's due for a longer term this time. Too bad you can't put some sort of flag on a person to prevent them from being able to operate their own business or even be an executive. It would be like having the Enron team come back out and start up another energy company.....something just isn't right about that.


When you research white collar crimes, you see that it usually takes a year or two for charges to be filed even in the most obvious and egregious cases.  The wheels of justice grind slowly and they also want to be as thorough as possible so they can be sure to account for all the various crimes, and that is a long and arduous task often involving multiple government agencies.

Flagging a repeat fraud offender -- and Lorson has served two long prison sentences -- is an interesting subject.

It's rather amazing that the government requires someone who urinated in public to register as a sexual offender but seems to not be aware or track those with long white collar criminal pasts.

In the case of TEEMCO, the two main parties met while serving long prison sentences and all this started over 5 years ago.  There will be much more on this later but the company and the principals only were investigated after being reported multiple times and after our series of articles.  They actually ran themselves out of business, otherwise they would still be operating today.  The depth of everything they have done will be shocking when it all comes out.

I've also talked to friends of mine at the FBI and psychologists.  Both say that people like this are sociopaths to a certain degree; that they have little capacity for seeing right and wrong.  Most come from a place of great anger and feeling 'owed' and thus take whatever they want without concern about laws, morals and the impact on others.

With Greg Lorson, I put together a timeline that shows an uninterrupted spree of crimes (both large and small) starting in early adulthood and dozens and dozens of court judgments for defaulted promissory notes, unpaid debt, foreclosures, evictions, paternity suits...  Most people don't have one such incident in their past he has probably 50 or 60, starting from the time he was in his early 20's until now.  And those are just where he was caught and prosecuted or sued. I know there are dozens and dozens of people who aren't bothering to sue him now because they don't want the association and also know he has no assets.

If we know that once someone reveals themselves to have sociopathic qualities -- and I'd argue anyone convicted of white collar crime fits this category -- they are very, very likely to keep repeating this pattern.  So why on earth aren't we tracking this sort of thing better?

After Enron and the mortgage meltdown the government created all these new laws that are supposed to provide much tighter control over fraud.  But IMO it's all be a bunch of political posturing because the issue is the people doing these sorts of things, and they often reveal themselves to have that type of mind set at an early age.


I really want to write in detail about this subject once the TEEMCO stuff hits the courts.  It's fascinating and scary at the same time.

And personally, I've now seen several examples of outrageous fraud and can look back and clearly identify the people involved as sociopaths.  I hadn't really thought about the lifelong implications of all this until very recently.

----------


## Pete

One other story that really helped me understand the depth of deception white collar criminals operate under...

When I was in MBA school, we took a trip to Lompoc Federal Prison to meet with several white collar criminals.  It was more or less a 'Scared Straight' for business students and veyr forward-thinking by Pepperdine, as this was before all the more recent corporate scandals.

It was also in the early 90's, so there was no real Internet where you easily research just about anything.

First of all, that prison was scary as hell.  It was less secure than the huge, scary hard-core prison right next door, but it was no country club.  Tons of razor wire, big locking gates and lots of the inmates had committed violent crimes but were placed in the lower security block due to good behavior in the Big House.  We actually ate lunch there and it was harrowing.

One of the guys that spoke was the former CFO for ZZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning.  Some of the more mature readers here will remember it from 60 Minutes in the late 80's, as it was a huge Ponzi scheme before most people even knew what that was.

This guy went on and on about how it's easy to make a small mistake and end up where he was.  That he got caught up in the CEO's scheme (Barry Minkow, who recently got out of prison, became a pastor, then was promptly convicted for bilking a church out of millions) and that he was basically an honest guy who became entwined in something nefarious.

The whole thing rattled me and I still remember it clear as day.

So clearly in fact, that when the Internet became fully-realized I looked this guy up and read about his case.  And of course, it was completely different than what he had portrayed.  He was instrumental in everything and had falsified hundreds and hundreds of documents over a long period of time, costing people millions.  He was far from an average guy who just made a turn down the wrong road.


I later realized that even while serving hard time, he was still not taking responsibility for what he had done, even though the evidence was irrefutable.  Just another bunch of lies and attempts to con people, even when it really did him zero good.  Clearly, a complete sociopath.

----------


## Bellaboo

I worked for a man who was in this same boat back in the early '80's. No names here, but if it was easier to tell the truth he'd still tell a lie. His forte was bilking money out of investors on cutting edge technology (that really didn't exist). He had big money thrown at him and he'd take it and rent a motorhome for 10 grand and take his family on vacation. To keep his few employees happy, occasionally he'd pass out 'share awards', usually 5,000 shares at a time of the company. Well, we all knew what was going on after a while and it closed down when the FBI or someone had chased this guy to Phoenix. He also started going by a similar but different name. Not sure about the ending since it came after I left, but he was a master of the con game.

----------


## Jim Kyle

> I worked for a man who was in this same boat back in the early '80's. No names here, but if it was easier to tell the truth he'd still tell a lie.


So did I, but my brush with this was back in 1962. The con artist was publishing several magazines at the time, and to my knowledge he never paid a printing bill. When he had run one printer into bankruptcy, he would find another (usually a one-man shop, never one of the big boys) and convince him of the profit to be made.

He finally, I think, decided that I was asking too many questions, and fired me in 1963 (thank goodness). A few months later, there was an amazingly convenient fire that destroyed his offices (and several other businesses). Next thing I heard, he was on an island in the Caribbean, stealing TV signals from a satellite and selling them to the island's inhabitants. Most recently, he seems to be in New Zealand.

I later ran into some others, who were top executives in a firm that ostensibly manufactured mainframe computer equipment but which actually manufactured only stock value, and shipped unfinished hardware to its customers. It, too, is now defunct. It's flatly amazing what sociopaths can do before they're exposed.

Good work, Pete. I look forward to your details once it becomes possible to publish them!

----------


## soonerguru

What about the MLM craze? Geez. Just show up at a Zig Ziglar convention and you'll see all sorts of con artists in attendance. Some of the worst ones I encountered would often flout their religiosity -- just another way to get people to trust them and give them money.

----------


## catch22

Pete, you should get in touch with the people from "American Greed". If you have not heard of it, it is a show on CNBC sharing stories of these con artists.

----------


## dankrutka

Sounds like you've got a great subject for a book... TEEMCO could serve as an illustrative example for a larger problem. You even named a solution too. Write it up.

----------


## Pete

> Pete, you should get in touch with the people from "American Greed". If you have not heard of it, it is a show on CNBC sharing stories of these con artists.


I know the show well and they even have a form on their website where you can submit story ideas.

However, they only do stories about people who have already been prosecuted, so it's still early in this saga.  But I agree, it's exactly the type of stories they produce.

----------


## Pete

> Sounds like you've got a great subject for a book... TEEMCO could serve as an illustrative example for a larger problem. You even named a solution too. Write it up.


I've already started to outline a series of in-depth articles that could easily become a book.

Lots and lots of issues, such as this company being reported multiple times by employees with no action taken.

And the IRS knew they weren't paying their employment taxes because they denied the tax refunds of several employees.  How on earth does that happen without any further action?

Then, you have the Thunder and OU and OSU continuing to promote the company even though they defaulted on their endorsements almost from the very beginning; only paying a tiny fraction of what was owed, yet continuing to provide great tickets and promos during the games.  And none of them ever sued TEEMCO for millions -- literally, millions -- that they did not pay.

It's all fascinating and disturbing at the same time.  It's hard to believe a company could be so completely corrupt with so many people knowing about it, and absolutely nothing done.

And I will also say that Lorson is hardly a criminal mastermind.  He's not very smart and made a ton of huge, obvious mistakes and still nobody did anything about it.  You can't talk to anyone who interacted with him or TEEMCO who wouldn't say they knew something was very wrong. 

This will sound self-promoting but it's also true: They would still be in business and without any formal investigation if not for our reporting.  I'll document all this as well when the time is right.

----------


## Teo9969

> . . .
> 
> And the IRS knew they weren't paying their employment taxes because they denied the tax refunds of several employees.  How on earth does that happen without any further action?
> 
> . . .


WOW!

Unreal. Just unreal.

----------


## Pete

Here's another little tidbit...

A person who was working for TEEMCO at the time wrote an anonymous letter to the OK DA's office about a bunch of the crazy things happening at TEEMCO, and the DA's office merely forwarded it to Greg Lorson (!!) without taking any action.

And at least two different employees reported them to the IRS.  There were also complaints to the labor board, the state tax commission, the insurance commission, social security and the FBI.

----------


## jn1780

The TEEMCO story is peanuts compared to what probably is occurring on a daily basis in Wall Street.  Half the people there are sociopaths.   No one does anything about it because they are afraid of the short term consequences e.x. job losses, poorer stock market performance.  The only thing anything gets done is when the Ponzi Scheme blows up.

Just the other day Toshiba's CEO resigned because of a 1.2 billion dollar accounting scandal over a 7 year period.

----------


## no1cub17

Wow Pete - looking forward to reading more of your work on this soon. Again, deafening silence from the Jokelahoman as usual! Sorry to everyone who's offended by me bringing our state's most trusted news source into this thread again.

----------


## ultimatesooner

still wanna hear the story about the yacht crash, I spend a lot of time with some locals down @ Texoma and haven't heard anything about it

----------


## Pete

> still wanna hear the story about the yacht crash, I spend a lot of time with some locals down @ Texoma and haven't heard anything about it


The full story will eventually come out along with tons of others, but not quite yet.

----------


## Teo9969

Peteaser should be your handle, Pete. :-P

----------


## soonerguru

> The TEEMCO story is peanuts compared to what probably is occurring on a daily basis in Wall Street.  Half the people there are sociopaths.   No one does anything about it because they are afraid of the short term consequences e.x. job losses, poorer stock market performance.  The only thing anything gets done is when the Ponzi Scheme blows up.
> 
> Just the other day Toshiba's CEO resigned because of a 1.2 billion dollar accounting scandal over a 7 year period.


I miss getting to like posts here. I LIKE your post.

----------


## zookeeper

> The TEEMCO story is peanuts compared to what probably is occurring on a daily basis in Wall Street.  Half the people there are sociopaths.   No one does anything about it because they are afraid of the short term consequences e.x. job losses, poorer stock market performance.  The only thing anything gets done is when the Ponzi Scheme blows up.
> 
> Just the other day Toshiba's CEO resigned because of a 1.2 billion dollar accounting scandal over a 7 year period.


TEEMCO is important because it's happening here and highlights how blatant corporate thuggery can be hushed up so easily around here. Or, so they thought. What you say about Wall Street is very true. But, of course, wait a minute, we know that corruption and kickbacks only happen with "union bosses." Ha!
No, POWER corrupts.

----------


## no1cub17

> I miss getting to like posts here. I LIKE your post.


Was that feature removed?

----------


## Pete

> Was that feature removed?


Has never worked with the Wiki articles such as this one.

----------


## Pete

TEEMCO CEO under criminal investigation, files for bankruptcy 

TEEMCO may be out of business but its former CEO Greg Lorson is far from out of the woods.


*Criminal Investigation*

OKCTalk has learned Lorson is being investigated by multiple government agencies for possible tax and business fraud, embezzlement of charitable donations and numerous other crimes.

Several former TEEMCO employees have been interviewed by the Criminal Investigation unit of the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and representatives from other government entities.

According to those familiar with similar cases, investigations involving multiple issues across various government departments often take 1 to 3 years before it is determined whether indictment should be brought.  Often, a  joint task force is created and all charges  if any  are submitted to the district attorney at one time.

In May of 2015, TEEMCO was closed by the Oklahoma Tax Commission and never reopened.  Soon thereafter, the company was evicted from their Edmond offices and Lorson was forced from his residence for non payment of rent.

*
Tax Warrant Filed*

In March, the Oklahoma Tax Commission filed a lien and tax warrant against TEEMCO and Lorson in the amount of $509,149.27 for unpaid state wage withholding taxes through June 30, 2013.

This particular lien is only for the first 3 years of Oklahoma state withholding taxes but as OKCTalk had previously reported, TEEMCO and Lorson allegedly never paid any of the federal or state withholding taxes over its 6-year life, an amount totaling in the millions before interest and penalties.  

Failing to forward withholding taxes is a serious crime often resulting in extensive fines and prison time.


*Lorson bankruptcy*

In April, Lorson was to appear in court regarding possible eviction for overdue rent for the home he leased immediately next door to his previous residence.

Lorson filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy at 9:40AM that Monday; the eviction hearing was to be held at 10AM the same day.  Law provides for an immediate 30 day stay of eviction from a primary residence when bankruptcy is filed.

In the filing, Lorson lists his debts as $100,000 to $500,000, yet court records indicate current legal judgments against him alone amount to be over $1 million.

In addition to the legal filings, TEEMCO and Lorson owe millions more to creditors of all types for unpaid endorsement deals, vehicle leases, insurance premiums, property rent, attorney fees and various other bills.

In his bankruptcy application, Lorson listed his assets as $130 in cash, with total monthly expenses of $2,000.  He also stated he is currently unemployed with no source of income.

Lorson's landlord quickly filed to remove the stay from eviction, citing months of back rent and no ability to lease the home while Lorson continued to occupy.  The court ruled in favor of the landlord and Lorson is once again facing eviction, owing $5,250 to the property owner.

Bankruptcy does not provide protection from past or future tax liability.


*Possible business fraud*

From to 2010 to 2015, TEEMCO employed dozens of internal and field salespeople who solicited business in the oil patch, primarily well owners who were required to be in compliance with federal and state statutes regarding safety and environmental issues.

One of the company's biggest sellers was a so-called spill plan, which outlined a course of action in case of oil leakage at a well site.

TEEMCO marketed several automation and software tools and sold spill plans and related services to well owners who often made full or partial payment in advance.  In return, TEEMCO contracted to deliver documentation and provide monitoring and service and materials in case of a problem at the well site.

TEEMCO inherited a number of clients when it acquired the assets from its predecessor Wellstar, a company that had employed Lorson before entering into an agreement to sell to him in full.

A pending lawsuit claims that after taking control of Wellstar's assets and client base, Lorson never paid the previous owners and in fact stopped payment on checks he had given them.

According to former employees, TEEMCO often did not supply the services for which it had received payment, or did not fully deliver what they had promised through contract.

Employees in change of TEEMCO software development told OKCTalk that virtually none of the tools were functional and were at best prototypes that never approached the claims promoted by the company on its website and marketing materials.


*Long history of legal problems*

The entire series of OKCTalk articles on TEEMCO and Lorson can be found here:
10-02-14: Exclusive Report: Troubled times at TEEMCO
10-13-14: TEEMCO implicated in massive tax evasion scheme
02-09-15: TEEMCO being sued for Channel 9 debt; facing evictions
05-21-15:  TEEMCO closed by the State Tax Commission
06-11-15: Over three weeks later, TEEMCO still closed
06-30-15: TEEMCO evicted from headquarters
In 2014, Edmond-based TEEMCO rose to prominence when the previously obscure company signed large endorsement deals in rapid succession with the Oklahoma City Thunder, The University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, KWTV, the Myriad Gardens and Remington Park, among others.

The company also held a large press conference announcing it had purchased the historic Gold Dome building in Oklahoma City's Uptown area, with plans to renovate and occupy as their headquarters, complete with the world's largest salt crystal lamp.

All of these deals soon collapsed as did the company, leaving unpaid employees, massive debts and numerous legal problems in its wake.


Greg Lorson has twice spent significant time in prison, most recently serving a 6 year term at the Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno for conviction on multiple counts of fraud, money laundering and other crimes.

After being released from incarceration, Lorson almost immediately encountered more legal difficulties involving a failed real estate development deal near Guthrie, where one of his partners was a convicted drug manufacturer and dealer.

The former controller and main administrator of TEEMCO finances, Mike Dixon, had met Lorson while in prison where he himself was serving time related to an embezzlement scheme in Kansas.  Lorson claimed to have fired Dixon from TEEMCO for embezzlement in 2014; Dixon claims he left voluntarily due to disagreement with Lorson over the company's financial dealings.

One of the founding members of TEEMCO, Thomas Bierd, pleaded guilty in September of 2015 to embezzling hundreds of thousand of dollars from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Shawnee.


OKCTalk's investigation of TEEMCO and Greg Lorson is on-going.

----------


## Canoe

So is it hard or easy to scam people?  I used to think it would be hard, but then Greg happened.

----------


## Lauri101

Great job on this article and investigation, Pete!

The State Tax Commission is not the only taxing authority actively involved, so I've "heard.".

----------


## dcsooner

> TEEMCO CEO under criminal investigation, files for bankruptcy 
> 
> TEEMCO may be out of business but its former CEO Greg Lorson is far from out of the woods.
> 
> 
> *Criminal Investigation*
> 
> OKCTalk has learned Lorson is being investigated by multiple government agencies for possible tax and business fraud, embezzlement of charitable donations and numerous other crimes.
> 
> ...


Does Oklahoma have any honest businessmen?

----------


## dankrutka

> Does Oklahoma have any honest businessmen?


No, every businessperson in Oklahoma is dishonest. You have to move to Washington D.C. to find some good, honest folks in this crazy world.

----------


## chuck5815

sounds like it was a fun place to work. maybe not as fun as Enron, but pretty fun nonetheless.

----------


## Pete

The employees were generally treated very badly.  Verbal abuse, indiscriminate firings, failure to pay, etc.

Lorson prayed on people who didn't have many options and took full advantage.

The much bigger story -- which will eventually come out -- is how this was allowed to happen by the government and how the local media was completely complicit in helping them spin their lies and fraud.

I will write much more about all these topics as this continues to unfold.

----------


## jn1780

I'm sure this guy can get a job as a used car salesman if he needs money that bad.

----------


## Jersey Boss

> I'm sure this guy can get a job as a used car salesman if he needs money that bad.


Or run for public office.

----------


## Geographer

> or run for public office.


lol.

----------


## Jim Kyle

> I'm sure this guy can get a job as a used car salesman if he needs money that bad.


Or as a TV reporter....

----------


## OkiePoke

Pete,

Thanks for the reporting on this. The Gold Dome thread made me think about Teemco. Have there been any new revelations?

----------


## Pete

> Pete,
> 
> Thanks for the reporting on this. The Gold Dome thread made me think about Teemco. Have there been any new revelations?


A grand jury is being convened and testimony will soon begin.  Lorson and witnesses have been notified.

Those proceedings are private until such a time an indictment is recommended and the whole process can take months.

Indictment rate once something goes to grand jury is something like 98-99% and then subsequently conviction rates are almost as high.

They have a mountain of evidence against Lorson and the grand jury will serve to consolidate all of it as well as pertinent testimony.  I believe part of this is determining if anyone else will be charged.

There are also several different government entities involved (FBI, OSBI, IRS, OK Tax Commission; perhaps others) and while I have a good idea of most the potential charges, I'm sure there will be some surprises too.


This whole thing has been fascinating in many ways and not just because of the alleged fraud.  Lots of well-known and powerful people and businesses were arguably complicit.  Much more on that topic to come.

----------


## Pete

Lorson has been formerly charged in federal court with a felony.  More charges are likely to follow as there were other issues regarding fraud.

Below is from the court filing; I'll have much more on this later today:




> From the second quarter of2010 (ending June 30, 2010) through the first quarter of 2015 (ending March 31, 2015), TEEMCO deducted and collected from the total taxable wages of its employees approximately $2,179,673.22 in employees' federal income taxes, Medicare taxes, and Social Security taxes (collectively, the "payroll taxes"). LORSON, however, directed TEEMCO employees not to forward the withheld payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service ('IRS") and not to file with the IRS any Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Returns (Forms 941) for these quarters. A Form 941 should have been filed within a month after each calendar quarter ended.
> 
> At LORSON's direction during these quarters, TEEMCO also failed to pay over to the IRS approximately $823,547.25 for unemployment taxes and employer-matching portions of employees' Medicare taxes and Social Security taxes. In addition, LORSON caused TEEMCO not to pay approximately $542,162.53 to the Oklahoma Tax Commission for unemployment taxes and employees' withheld income taxes during this time.
> 
> Instead of forwarding the withheld payroll taxes to the IRS, LORSON used these monies to fund TEEMCO's extensive advertising campaign and to pay other creditors and expenses.
> 
> From in or around July 2010 through in or around April 2015, in the Western District of Oklahoma, willfully failed to collect, truthfully account for, and pay over to the IRS the federal income taxes, Medicare taxes, and Social Security taxes withheld and due and owing to the United States for TEEMCO employees for the second quarter of 2010 through the first quarter of 2015. In particular, for those twenty quarters, LORSON failed to file timely any Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Returns (Forms 941) for TEEMCO and to pay over to the IRS the withheld payroll taxes for TEEMCO employees.
> 
> All in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7202

----------


## MEvans

> Lorson has been formerly charged in federal court with a felony.  More charges are likely to follow as there were other issues regarding fraud.
> 
> Below is from the court filing; I'll have much more on this later today:


Just curious, how do they go FIVE years without paying federal or state payroll taxes before anything is done?

----------


## Pete

> Just curious, how do they go FIVE years without paying federal or state payroll taxes before anything is done?


That is a very good question and something I am going to write about.

It's absolutely even worse because employees reported them while they were still operating and nothing was done.

----------


## MEvans

Very interesting.  I look forward to reading more about this.

----------


## Pete

> Very interesting.  I look forward to reading more about this.


That they were able to keep a complete fraud of a company going, kept racking up taxes owed but not paid, let millions in debts...  There were lots of people who were complicit in them creating this false front of a legitimate company, including the local media.

I'll have much, much more on all of this.

----------


## chuck5815

Looks like the DOK was quite the TEEMCO cheerleader back in the day: 

http://newsok.com/article/3916659
http://newsok.com/article/4084146

----------


## stile99

I think the Oklahoman STILL believes this is just a temporary setback, soon to blow over.

----------


## Jersey Boss

What makes you think that?

----------


## no1cub17

> That they were able to keep a complete fraud of a company going, kept racking up taxes owed but not paid, let millions in debts...  There were lots of people who were complicit in them creating this false front of a legitimate company, including the local media.
> 
> I'll have much, much more on all of this.


Can't wait - it's truly mind boggling, especially given that they were able to secure agreements with OU, the Thunder, etc. And for the whole thing to basically be a racket that the powers-that-be let go for 5+ years ... I can't even.

----------


## Pete

> Can't wait - it's truly mind boggling, especially given that they were able to secure agreements with OU, the Thunder, etc. And for the whole thing to basically be a racket that the powers-that-be let go for 5+ years ... I can't even.


When people see the dollar values of those sponsorships and how they basically paid these groups next to nothing and they still allowed the company to big-dog it with their advertising, suites and even going down on the field of the OU/OSU game to present the Bedlam trophy with their logo all over it...  It will shock many.

It also raises some big questions, chiefly: What other scams and frauds are going on right now?  And: How would anyone in town know if something really bad was going down (basically everyone I talked to has said, "We wouldn't know").

I have all the financial records, all the contracts, all the details.  Have been waiting for this to go to court so as not to jeopardize the cases.  As I said, it's nothing short of shocking on many levels and most of it isn't due to TEEMCO but with the various high-profile organizations which continued to enable them long after they knew there were big problems.

----------


## Urbanized

^^^^^^
Pete, after many conversations on this topic here and in person I know that you see an even darker underlying streak to stories like this, but I will definitely agree that OKC is in many ways vulnerable to hucksterism and abuse due to our cultural tendencies toward trusting people, toward being outwardly polite, and also to being charmed by slick, self-assured "music men" (if someone is too young to get this reference I'd hope they might look up the movie The Music Man. Other examples of this were Oesman Sapta, the Indonesian business,am who came to OKC and swept everyone off of their feet with promises to revive the defunct and shuttered Skirvin, and the parade of out-of-staters who promised the same for FNC. There are other examples, including in Bricktown.

Point being, as we get bigger and appear on the radar more nationally and internationally - and in the era of business incentives and other pro-business policies plus a generally warm and optimistic pro-business environment - we are likely to see even more con men try to get rich using subterfuge. As a community obviously we need to be more vigilant.

----------


## wsucougz

*cough* tomward *cough*

----------


## Rover

> *cough* tomward *cough*


So what are you accusing Tom Ward of?  I know it is an internet board to hide behind, but instead of snarky insinuations, just have the courage to come out and cite what you KNOW.  Pete cites facts and witnesses and doesn’t just throw out personal accusations.  So, do you KNOW things, and if so, what do you KNOW?  Remember, rumors, suspicions, conspiracy theories don’t count as facts.

----------


## king183

> Looks like the DOK was quite the TEEMCO cheerleader back in the day: 
> 
> http://newsok.com/article/3916659
> http://newsok.com/article/4084146


My god....the first two paragraphs of that first story should have been a dead giveaway things weren't going to end well.

----------


## wsucougz

The guy was run out of his own company, and I'm making "insinuations."  A lot of folks put their trust in him and lost a lot of hard-earned money.  Google it yourself.  Several major financial publications did write-ups on what was going on over there.

----------


## stile99

As you suggested, I did Google it, and I'm not sure to what, exactly, you might be referring.  Run out of his own company, do you mean Chesapeake, SandRidge, or Tapstone?  I would guess you probably mean SandRIdge, in which case, Google it yourself.  That was without cause, which got him $90 million.  And if you do indeed mean SandRidge, while you're Googling see if you can tell us how it worked out for them.  You can start the search here.

You've put me in the awkward position of having to agree with Rover...if you have something to say, then say it.

----------


## Rover

> You've put me in the awkward position of having to agree with Rover.


Oh, the horrors. 😊

----------


## Rover

It’s just that it is very easy to smear people and I think it is reckless unless one has specific and verifiable information the public should know. Often it is just rumors or gossip from others with differing agendas. There are usually more than one perspective with every controversy, so the most public story isn’t always the true story. It is easy to publicly demean someone but harder to take it back when you discover it is wrong.

----------


## wsucougz

> Google it yourself.  That was without cause, which got him $90 million.


Interesting take.  Threw in a poison pill, TPG Axon, etc said 'f' it, and he got one last giant bag of money for himself on the way out while the shareholders (myself included) got hosed.  And yes... I do know how it ended.  They went bankrupt.  How those involved with the takeover didn't see that coming is beyond me.

----------


## wsucougz

Here's a glimpse into what was going on (wrapped in an opinion piece, I know).  Or you can dig up the TPG-Axon presentation from the time, or any of the other articles (There were a few).  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/richard.../#75a5d85b314f

The information is out there - Ludicrous compensation, family-dealing, wasteful spending, lack of fiduciary duty and a subservient board more than willing to let it all happen.  Sure, oil & gas took a hit and the Mississippian had some unfortunate setbacks, but this went way beyond that.

And I know, Rover.  These guys are always getting "smeared" in the name of one "agenda" or another.  It is awful.

----------


## Rover

> Here's a glimpse into what was going on (wrapped in an opinion piece, I know).  Or you can dig up the TPG-Axon presentation from the time, or any of the other articles (There were a few).  
> 
> https://www.forbes.com/sites/richard.../#75a5d85b314f
> 
> The information is out there - Ludicrous compensation, family-dealing, wasteful spending, lack of fiduciary duty and a subservient board more than willing to let it all happen.  Sure, oil & gas took a hit and the Mississippian had some unfortunate setbacks, but this went way beyond that.
> 
> And I know, Rover.  These guys are always getting "smeared" in the name of one "agenda" or another.  It is awful.


I get it... you lost money...must have been criminal.

----------


## soonermike81

About 8-9 years ago, I took a huge gamble and lost about half of my life savings on a single stock. It was my first significant loss in the market and it happened to be with an oil and gas company. At the time, I was looking for someone to blame and be angry at. Over the next few years, I got over it and understood that it was no ones fault but mine. I wanted to gamble and knew the risks involved when it comes to the market.

----------


## wsucougz

The money I lost was like 2 grand and it was a long time ago - small price for the lesson learned.  I only mentioned it in full disclosure and consider myself fully responsible for not performing the proper due dilligence.

On the other hand, you're basically making my point for me.  More people in Oklahoma should be aware of what went on at Sandridge back then.  I'll leave it at that.

----------


## Ginkasa

> The money I lost was like 2 grand and it was a long time ago - small price for the lesson learned.  I only mentioned it in full disclosure and consider myself fully responsible for not performing the proper due dilligence.
> 
> On the other hand, you're basically making my point for me.  More people in Oklahoma should be aware of what went on at Sandridge back then.  I'll leave it at that.


Regardless what your allegations are and whether they're true or not, this isn't really the thread for it unless this somehow relates specifically to Teemco in a way I'm not seeing.

----------


## onthestrip

> As you suggested, I did Google it, and I'm not sure to what, exactly, you might be referring.  Run out of his own company, do you mean Chesapeake, SandRidge, or Tapstone?  I would guess you probably mean SandRIdge, in which case, Google it yourself.  That was without cause, which got him $90 million.  And if you do indeed mean SandRidge, while you're Googling see if you can tell us how it worked out for them.  You can start the search here.
> 
> You've put me in the awkward position of having to agree with Rover...if you have something to say, then say it.





> It’s just that it is very easy to smear people and I think it is reckless unless one has specific and verifiable information the public should know. Often it is just rumors or gossip from others with differing agendas. There are usually more than one perspective with every controversy, so the most public story isn’t always the true story. It is easy to publicly demean someone but harder to take it back when you discover it is wrong.


I had a small amount of SR stock and got to see all the accusations made from bigger shareholders. Ward was self dealing, grifting, and conflicting of interest as soon as they went public. SR was one of the biggest advertisers with the Thunder (which Ward also owned part of), sold his free owner tickets back to SR, and thats on top of the numerous season tickets SR bought that he and family used. Super generous and over use of corporate jet, he might have even had SR buy one, cant remember. Lots of other crazy allegations that I cant remember. 

This was on top of a SR employee telling me that they worked on SR land work and Ward and sons personal land work, all while as SR employee. Ward and sons were also working and dealing in same oil plays as SR, and sometimes flipping deals to SR.

----------


## Pete

^

All that regarding Ward is strikingly similar to what Reuters uncovered in their investigation of Aubrey McClendon which in turn led to a shareholder revolt and ultimately his ouster.

----------


## stile99

I'm not involved with any of this at all, in any way. The literal definition of third party with no skin in the game. I'm curious though if this is true how his termination was found (twice, as far as I can tell) to be without cause, because to me this is pretty damn clear evidence of embezzlement at the very least.

----------


## onthestrip

> I'm not involved with any of this at all, in any way. The literal definition of third party with no skin in the game. I'm curious though if this is true how his termination was found (twice, as far as I can tell) to be without cause, because to me this is pretty damn clear evidence of embezzlement at the very least.


Because he stacked the board with his buddies? I really dont remember but this is a pretty good guess.

And it wasnt clear cut embezzlement, just self dealing and highly questionable ethics, all which he can claim some plausible deniability.

----------


## wsucougz

> Super generous and over use of corporate jet, he might have even had SR buy one, cant remember.


-SandRidge provides him with unlimited personal use of the companys four corporate jets
-Mr. Ward has used the planes for frequent trips to his vacation home in Scottsdale and weekend
 trips to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and the Bahamas
- The planes include a Falcon 900EX, one of the most expensive private business jets made
-SandRidge employs over 15 full time employees to maintain and fly the jets 





> Lots of other crazy allegations that I cant remember.


Given the importance of corporate governance, we thought we would highlight a few of the
compensation and self-dealing issues that we find most disturbing:

 The Board has sanctioned compensation levels for Tom Ward that are unconscionable in light of
company performance. For example, total compensation for 2011 was over $25 million -
representing a full 1/2 of the companys earnings. In fact, CEO compensation has been
between $15 and $26 million in every year since the companys IPO. This is simply astonishing,
considering 1) the stock has declined 76% over this period, 2) the relative stock performance has
been in the bottom 1% of all major US listed stocks, and dead last among energy companies,
and 3) Book Value per Share has declined by over 60% over this period. In fact, when
compensation is adjusted for market capitalization of the company, the figures become even
more appalling  relative to market capitalization, Tom Ward has been the single highest
compensated CEO among all energy companies, and among the highest compensated CEOs in
Americadespite destroying more shareholder value than 99% of other companies and CEOs.

 The company has been rife with self-dealing, at the expense of shareholders and for the benefit
of Mr. Ward. The most disturbing example has been the Executive Well Participation Plan,
(similar to the founder well participation policy at Chesapeake Energy that caused enormous
outrage earlier this year). When concerns regarding Mr. Wards ties to Chesapeake Energy
arose this spring, Mr. Ward repeatedly asserted to us, other shareholders, and the media that
SandRidge was different, and that over time he and the company recognized the
inappropriateness of this practice, and eliminated it to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
We investigated his claims, and were appalled by what we found.
It is true that SandRidge has eliminated their Executive Well Participation Plan. However, they
did so immediately after the market collapse in October 2008, by then paying over $67 million
to Mr. Ward, even as 1) markets were collapsing, and 2) the company had less than $1 million in
cash and was facing real risk of bankruptcy. Adding insult to injury, the wells that the company
re-purchased from Ward were natural gas wells, even as Mr. Ward and the company were
publicly proclaiming the need to abandon their natural gas focus and shift towards oil
exploration and development. When the company disclosed the purchase, it cited a desire "to
retain a greater working interest in future wells, thus increasing proved undeveloped reserves".
This declaration was preposterous, considering their publicly stated desire to abandon the initial
natural gas focus of the company and switch to oil. And, again, it was even more shocking when 

one considers the environment of that time  with markets collapsing, the company facing
collapse, and natural gas facing collapse. When the Executive Well Participation Plan was
initially established, the claimed purpose was to align executives interests with that of
shareholders. It is quite obvious that the only purpose was to enrich management at the
expense of shareholders.
What has Mr. Ward done with his wealth, including the $150 million in payments from
SandRidge? He has bought massive holdings of ranchland, and then turned around and leased
the land to SandRidge for future exploration. Therefore, some payments to Mr. Ward continue
 they have simply changed form. Cashing out of natural gas wells in October 2008 was a
spectacular trade, as was swapping into ranchland in the Midwest  unfortunately at the
expense of SandRidge shareholders who suffered massive write-downs on the well interests
purchased from Mr. Ward. There are also numerous smaller, but equally disturbing, other
examples. Mr. Ward purchased a sizable interest in the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball
teamonly to yet again turn around and have SandRidge pay him and other owners millions per
year in sponsorship and luxury suite payments. Despite its small size, SandRidge is one of the
largest corporate supporters of the Oklahoma City Thunder and the company that owns it.

** This is all from the TPG-Axon filings

----------


## Rover

I guess this is now a Tom Ward thread.

Let's see.... a hedge fund CEO calling out another company's risk and spending habits is rich.  The reason hedge funds can make (or lose) so much is they generally play pretty fast and loose with their investors' funds in higher risk and lower regulated investments.   

TPG got the changes at Sandridge that their chairman said was good.... How has that gone?  Like so many other Goldman Sachs exes, they think they know industries because they are... well... they are Wall Street Guys.  Problem is, so many of the financial guys who think they know so much actually know very little about the industries they put money in.  They want control without having knowledge.  They look at the books and think they know the industry.  Usually, they are just looking at how to get cash out and make a profit before the company is split up, sold, or goes down.  

TPG-Axon itself has been losing money for some time... the latest in a line of hedge fund operations in trouble.  I believe TPG Axon is involved in a money laundering investigation in Italy with a key Trump contributor... Barrak.    Also, at the end of 2016 TPG Axon investors had a big exit with their money out of their fund as they were taking big losses.  Their investment assets were way more volatile and risky than their investors were led to believe.

Be careful of buying into all of the stuff you read.  I'm sure not holding Ward up to be any kind of saint.  I have problems with quite a bit, but let's not make him out to be the devil and the other side to be exactly purveyors of the truth.  

This seems to be personal, so again I ask... What do you KNOW?

----------


## wsucougz

I really don't care about TPG-Axon - they are idiots for taking over a failing business and probably got what they deserved.  The evidence -- primarily in the form of cold, hard numbers -- speaks for itself.

And Pete -- I have no problem if you want to clean this thread up.  We are way off topic... My bad.

----------


## stile99

I'd call it "topic adjunct", in that apparently what may or may not have happened seems to echo what happened at Teemco.  Looking forward to that story.  Turning it back to what I think the original point was, it seems to happen a bit much in Oklahoma.  Does it happen more (or less) than it does in other areas?  I just don't know.  What I do know about local corruption is years back Mustang had some water issues that resulted in a city official at the time saying in response to people asking what happened to the missing money that "the money isn't missing, we know what we spent it on" when the point was it wasn't supposed to be spent at all.  Forward a couple decades, and Yukon had some money woes regarding water (and other things) just a couple years ago.  It seems we never learn, and another Teemco WILL be along presently.  It doesn't help that the Oklahoman tends to be their biggest cheerleader when it happens.

----------


## Pete

Former TEEMCO CEO enters guilty plea to felony tax charges

Today in federal court former TEEMCO CEO Greg Lorson signed an agreement to to plead guilty to tax embezzlement charges.



The agreement outlines over $3 million owed to the IRS and over $.5 million owed to the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) and was signed by Lorson, his attorney and the Assistant U.S. Attorney.  The amounts span the period of 2010 to 2015 – the entire existence of TEEMCO – where Lorson orchestrated the embezzlement of taxes owed to various government agencies.

By executing court documents which also waived Lorson's right to formal indictment and a jury trial, a process has commenced whereby the U.S. Probation Office will conduct a pre-sentence investigation over the next several weeks which will be ultimately submitted in the form of a report to the presiding judge to assist in deciding an appropriate sentence.

The maximum sentence is this case was stated as five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and supervised release of 3 years, plus the costs of prosecution.

The parties also agreed that the court will enter an order of restitution in favor of the IRS and the OTC for the more than $3.5 million owed and that Lorson will be obligated to make payments as decided by the judge.  Additionally, the agreement does not necessarily resolve Lorson's civil tax liabilities such as interest and penalties sought by the IRS.

Tax debts cannot be discharged or reduced by filing banruptcy or any other legal means.

Typically, a pre-sentencing report requires about a month to compile, after which Lorson will appear in court again to hear his sentence.

If  there is jail time, this would be the third turn in prison for Lorson, the first two for financial fraud including a 1998 conviction that resulted in a 70-month sentence in a federal penitentiary.  

In the Background Questions section of the the Petition to Enter Plea of Guilty filed with the court today, in answer to “What are your reasons for making this agreeement?”, Lorson wrote in his own handwriting, “Beause I'm guility of the information and do not want to create a greater burden to those involved by going to trial.”  And under the Conclusion / Factual Basis section Lorson writes “I failed to pay over taxes as required by law.”


OKCTalk was the first to report on TEEMCO and Lorson's many problems at a time when they were still claiming in other local media outlets that they intended to finish the renovation of the historic Gold Dome and make it their headquarters and while they ran promotional advertisments at Oklahoma City Thunder games as well as University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State sporting events.



Read our bombsell report “*Troubled times at TEEMCO*” from October 2, 2014 for extensive details on Lorson's background and a variety of dubious business dealings.  

On October 13, 2014, _OKCTalk_ published the second arctilce on TEEMCO and Lorson:  “*TEEMCO implicated in massive tax evasion scheme*”.  In that article we exposed the exact activity that resulted in today's guilty plea, including accurately stating the IRS was owed at that time almost $3 million.

_OKCTalk_ continued to report on the tribulations of TEEMCO and Lorson with four more articles, including the ultimate eviction and closure of the company and Lorson's mounting legal problems.

In addition to the millions owed for taxes, Lorson also has 9 pending judgments in Oklahoma courts totalling almost $800,000.  By working with former employees and dozens of creditors, OKCTalk estimates that under Lorson TEEMCO had unpaid debts in addition to the taxes owed of more than $5 million,  including money owed the Oklahoma City Thunder, Learfield Sports (representing OU and OSU) and the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

At the same time, Lorson orchestrated the purchase of a large yacht, a stretch limosine, international travel and other extravagances.



After the collapse of TEEMCO's plans to renovate and occupy Uptown's historic Gold Dome, Lorson's legacy is in evidence in the form of a matte-finish paint job on the structure's iconic roof and a TEEMCO sign that is now draped with a For Lease banner.

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## soonerguru

Fantastic reporting, Pete. You are to be commended for reporting on this and digging in when other news outlets provided Lorson with platforms for press releases and PR. What an egregious and embarrassing example of the unwillingness of some local news organizations to print anything negative about an advertiser or a member of the local business community. Thank you for doing this excellent work!

----------


## Pete

*Former TEEMCO CEO sentenced to five years in prison*

A federal judge handed down a 5-year prison sentence Thursday to Greg Lorson, the former CEO of Edmond-based TEEMCO, as punishment for a $3.5 million tax embezzlement scheme.


_Prosecutors claim Lorson lived lavishly on money owed the government_
The sentence exceeded guidelines for similar crimes. The judge and U.S. Attorney cited Lorson's long criminal history and other exacerbating factors such as the harm caused to TEEMCO employees, the lack of filing of a personal tax return since 1990 and an unpaid Internal Revenue Service (IRS) judgment regarding a similar issue in his immediately preceding job.

Last June, Lorson pleaded guilty to taking $3,003,220 that was owed to IRS and another $542,162 due to the state of Oklahoma, sums deducted from employee paychecks which law dictates must be held in trust for the government. Much of that money was spent on items such as a limousine, yacht, a resort condominium and international travel. Bank records show Lorson frequently made large cash withdrawals from company accounts.

Lorson also spent large sums on a failed plan to purchase, renovate and occupy the historic Gold Dome building at NW 23rd and Classen.  After the company covered the iconic structure in flat paint and installed their sign, OKCTalk was first to report that all work had stopped and the property had never actually transferred hands.  Ultimately, TEEMCO sold off expensive items acquired for the ostensible new headquarters at a clearance sale from a storge unit, including what was proclaimed as the world's largest salt crystal lamp.


From TEEMCO's inception in 2010 until the state tax commission forcibly closed its doors in 2015, Lorson admitted to directly instructing TEEMCO staff to not file quarterly returns, a period spanning 20 consecutive quarters. Under Section 7202 of the Internal Revenue Code, a willful failure to pay over withholding tax is a felony.

In a 14-page document filed with the court, the prosecuting U.S. attorney argued for a long period of incarceration.

“Undeterred by five prior convictions and an earlier 70-month stint in federal prison, Mr. Lorson is now caught in his largest financial fraud case yet—a $3.5 million tax scheme where he used as his personal piggybank a failed environmental services company,” the U.S. attorney wrote.

The document also cites “the particularly egregious harms to TEEMCO employees and clients” and that “Mr. Lorson's fraudulent conduct here can only plausibly be explained by greed, an exorbitant personal lifestyle, and a deliberate decision to play by a different set of rules.”

It goes on to note “concerns about Mr. Lorson's current business practices, possible discrepancies in his responses to the Probation Office, and the persistent challenges in getting basic financial records about his current business.”

Lorson previously reported to the court that he was running a construction company in Florida and research reveals several complaints to the Better Business Bureau regarding shoddy and unfinished work.


_Court records show Lorson spent thousands one evening at Boujis, a London nightclub_
Before sentencing, Lorson was given the opportunity to address the judge and asserted that the tax obligations “came out of nowhere” and that he was spending in an attempt to expand TEEMCO with the specific goal of repaying an ever-growing mountain of taxes.  He further claimed a high personal price, describing a near-homeless situation in the immediate aftermath of TEEMCO's collapse.

Judge Joe Heaton was not persuaded, declaring that the full body of evidence clearly demonstrated Lorson knew exactly what was expected by law, that he had never made any attempt to repay previous tax obligations and that he knowingly conducted a deliberate plan to defraud the government.

The judge noted that the embezzlement started from the very inception of TEEMCO and continued unabated throughout its entire corporate existence.  Particularly damning was evidence that TEEMCO employees had tried to submit at least some of the taxes owed – having drawn cashier's checks for that purpose – before Lorson stepped in and ordered the funds be redeposited into the company account.

Before announcing the final sentence, Judge Heaton explained that it was rare to exceed the sentencing guidelines but the evidence and circumstances in Lorson's warranted an upward variance.

At a time when TEEMCO and local media outlets where portraying the company as a healthy, successful business, OKCTalk was first to report on serious issues, starting in 2014.  A second article quickly followed (this is the eighth story in a series) and outlined the tax embezzlement in detail, as well as accurately reporting the dollar figures several years before charges were formally filed.


Lorson continued his tax theft for another year before the company was shuttered and ultimately dissolved amid a flurry of evictions and judgments totaling over $800,000, not including the millions in tax obligations. In reviewing court documents and interviewing former employees and numerous creditors, OKCTalk identified at least an additional $5 million in unpaid bills, including extravagant sponsorship deals with Oklahoma City Thunder, University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.

In total, Lorson used TEEMCO to defraud the government, employees, clients and businesses of in excess of $10 million.

Lorson was ordered by the court to report to federal prison by 1 PM on March 1st.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons will determine the specific facility. 

At the end of his incarceration, Lorson will be under supervised release for three additional years.  Due to his long history of committing various forms of business fraud, the judge also stipulated that before Lorson could form a new business entity or revive an existing one, prior court approval would be required.

Although the judge acknowledged significant restitution was unlikely, Lorson is required to reimburse the millions owed the government, an obligation that cannot be discharged through bankruptcy or any other means.


*Previous stories*

10-2-14
*Exclusive Report: Troubled times at TEEMCO*

10-13-14
*TEEMCO implicated in massive tax evasion scheme*

2-9-15
*TEEMCO being sued for Channel 9 debt, facing evictions*

5-21-15
*TEEMCO closed by the State Tax Commission*

6-30-15
*TEEMCO evicted from headquarters*

6-2-16
*TEEMCO CEO under criminal investigation, files for bankruptcy*

6-15-18
*Former TEEMCO CEO enters guilty plea to felony tax charges*

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## jccouger

Fyreco

Teemco Festival

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## dankrutka

It's astoundingly unjust that corporate CEOs who scam and harm hundreds of people with vast amounts of money get the same sentence as someone who commits petty theft or drug possession that does little harm to others. How is this guy going to be back out of jail within 5 years?

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## DoctorTaco

Pete when you gonna write that book about this case?

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## jedicurt

> It's astoundingly unjust that corporate CEOs who scam and harm hundreds of people with vast amounts of money get the same sentence as someone who commits petty theft or drug possession that does little harm to others. How is this guy going to be back out of jail within 5 years?


to me... the time in jail isn't the issue. i'm okay with that... but there should be a massively large fine that goes to help people

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## TheTravellers

> It's astoundingly unjust that corporate CEOs who scam and harm hundreds of people with vast amounts of money get the same sentence as someone who commits petty theft or drug possession that does little harm to others. How is this guy going to be back out of jail within 5 years?


Because he's a white guy that committed a white-collar crime, which aren't being enforced nearly as much as they should be and if the criminals are prosecuted, they usually have good lawyers and get a light sentence/fine.  Just SEC alone during the Trump admin (but this kind of thing has been happening for decades):

• A 62 percent drop in penalties imposed and illicit profits ordered returned by the S.E.C., to $1.9 billion under the Trump administration from $5 billion under the Obama administration;

• A 72 percent decline in corporate penalties from the Justice Department’s criminal prosecutions, to $3.93 billion from $14.15 billion, and a similar percent drop in civil penalties against financial institutions, to $7.4 billion;

• A lighter touch toward the banking industry, with the S.E.C. ordering banks to pay $1.7 billion during the Obama period, nearly four times as much as in the Trump era, and Mr. Trump’s Justice Department bringing 17 such cases, compared with 71.

Go USA!

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## Libbymin

Maybe we'll see this guy on American Greed.

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## chuck5815

> Because he's a white guy that committed a white-collar crime, which aren't being enforced nearly as much as they should be and if the criminals are prosecuted, they usually have good lawyers and get a light sentence/fine.  Just SEC alone during the Trump admin (but this kind of thing has been happening for decades):
> 
>  A 62 percent drop in penalties imposed and illicit profits ordered returned by the S.E.C., to $1.9 billion under the Trump administration from $5 billion under the Obama administration;
> 
>  A 72 percent decline in corporate penalties from the Justice Departments criminal prosecutions, to $3.93 billion from $14.15 billion, and a similar percent drop in civil penalties against financial institutions, to $7.4 billion;
> 
>  A lighter touch toward the banking industry, with the S.E.C. ordering banks to pay $1.7 billion during the Obama period, nearly four times as much as in the Trump era, and Mr. Trumps Justice Department bringing 17 such cases, compared with 71.
> 
> Go USA!


So a black guy would have received a longer sentence?

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## jccouger

> So a black guy would have received a longer sentence?


Based on statistics, yes black males serve longer sentences than white males who have commited the same crime.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.was...n-study-finds/

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## Pete

> It's astoundingly unjust that corporate CEOs who scam and harm hundreds of people with vast amounts of money get the same sentence as someone who commits petty theft or drug possession that does little harm to others. How is this guy going to be back out of jail within 5 years?


There are specific sentencing guidelines and laws the judge must follow.

Suffice it to say I followed this case pretty closely.  There was an entire grading process based on the crime to which Lorson pleaded guilty.  

They actually did the math to come up with a grade.  This was a level 22 crime and then they added points (again, by formula) based on Lorgon's previous record and prison sentences.  I believe it ended up being a grade 26.

Then, they apply guidelines based on that grade. Attorneys on both sides agreed with the finding of the probation department as to the grade and the resulting guideline, which was 41 to 51 months.

But due to other things -- mainly Lorson's felonious past -- the prosecutors sought and the judge agreed to an upward variance to the guideline, which was 60 months.  My understanding was that was the absolute maximum allow by law.

Now, all of this is framed in larger laws that govern such matters.  For those who feel this sentence was unjust (and I happen to be one of them), blame the over-arching laws, not the judge and prosecutor.


There were a bunch of other things that Lorson could have been charged with, such as embezzling charitable contributions and defrauding clients.  But in the end, they had him dead-to-rights on the tax charges, knew he would have no choice but to plead guilty, and everyone could be spared the time and expense of a long trial.


I have to say, this has been fascinating to follow all these years.  I have hundreds of pages of notes from research and interviews.  I believe there is still much to be told about this entire situation, including how this went on for so long, the complicity of local media and several important local businesses and how someone like this can keep repeating all types of blatant fraud without anyone even paying attention until its far too late.


One of the more interesting aspects of all of this is that Lorson is far from some criminal genius.  The judge almost laughed at his attempted explainations and plea for a light sentence; he's not even a good liar.  He's not smart or slick and if he had been either this could have been much, much worse.  What does that say about OKC?  I will explore that further in future stories.  More to come!

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## rezman

That’s a great question as to how this went on for as long as it did unchecked. The fact that “he is not smart or slick” may have something to do with it. Hiding in plain sight so to speak.  I’m sure there are others who were complicit that haven’t had their turn yet. 

As part of his punishment, upon release, he should be forced to work for a living like the rest of us. Another 10 years working minimum wage retail behind the counter of a Goodwill store, or Family Dollar,  or something along those lines.

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## no1cub17

> That’s a great question as to how this went on for as long as it did unchecked. The fact that “he is not smart or slick” may have something to do with it. Hiding in plain sight so to speak.  I’m sure there are others who were complicit that haven’t had their turn yet. 
> 
> As part of his punishment, upon release, he should be forced to work for a living like the rest of us. Another 10 years working minimum wage retail behind the counter of a Goodwill store, or Family Dollar,  or something along those lines.


Totally agree with the last part. Although I doubt someone like Lorson will ever learn.

It's really hard for me to believe TEEMCO and Lorson were able to get away with this without at least some complicity from the prominent local institutions. The Jokelahoman may have been the worst offender. Maybe the Thunder just didn't know, got their money, so didn't care, but I'll never forget Brianna Bailey's puff pieces.

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## Pete

> It's really hard for me to believe TEEMCO and Lorson were able to get away with this without at least some complicity from the prominent local institutions. The Jokelahoman may have been the worst offender. Maybe the Thunder just didn't know, got their money, so didn't care, but I'll never forget Brianna Bailey's puff pieces.


TEEMCO was way, way behind on their payments to the Thunder, OU and OSU yet they all kept honoring their suite tickets, running ads on the scoreboards...  OU even let him go on the field and present the Bedlam trophy one year even though TEEMCO had completely broken their contract months prior.  None of them ever filed against TEEMCO even though all were owned hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What will also come out is that TEEMCO* PAID* the Oklahoman for editorial content; not just advertising, but at least one story Brianna Bailey wrote for them.  Or I should say, they contracted to pay them and never did.  The Oklahoman was nowhere to be found on this story other than promotional articles and in fact giving Lorson a large platform to cotinue his lies without any fact-checking whatsoever.  And all the while, TEEMCO had defaulted on payment to them, too.  I have documents and interviews with Oklahoman personnel to back all this up.

Journal Record actually gave them a Beacon Award for chrarity work even though TEEMCO never even formed a nonprofit.   It's easy to verify a charitable organization, which they never did.  And Lorson went on to embezzle tens of thousands in the name of the 'TEEMCO Foundation' that never existed.

All of this helped Lorson and TEEMCO continue to defraud people even though all you have to do is meet him to know he's a very odd and dubious character. Or do a Google search which would show his felonious past or even check to see if the Gold Dome ever transferred to them.  As I said, he was no criminal genius and not even smart enough to hide tons of obvious crimes.

And it says a lot about our community that a guy with 5 previous convictions (now 6) would get out of federal prison and set up shop for his next scam exactly where he swindled others and committed many crimes.  Why not?  Just pay the local media to distribute a bunch of lies and know that no one is taking a hard look at anything done here...  Unless it's Chesapeake or a big oil company that eventually gets into a big enough mess Reuters and Bloomberg come calling.

Only recently did Lorson move to Florida (with former TEEMCO employees he met in jail) and started up a construction company that is in all kinds of trouble.


There is much more to all this and it will all come out in a future series of articles.

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## no1cub17

The mind boggles. Pete, can't say enough about the work you've done following this story. The entire thing is Netflix worthy IMO. I'd binge a docuseries about TEEMCO in a heartbeat. 

A true head scratcher - if I had Thunder season tickets and fell behind on payments, I'm guessing they'd be cancelled in 2 seconds. Yet Lorson continued to get away with fleecing everyone. Just wondering if you've ever been able to get an answer from either OU or the Thunder on how they could let this continue? I'm guessing they want no part of discussing it.

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## Pete

I will give them the opportunity to comment before I present details in a future article.


It's simply fascinating how this can go on in broad daylight and for years and years.  That is the part that is the most interesting to me and I'll attempt to provide some answers to the many questions that people have over this entire situation.

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## Of Sound Mind

> The mind boggles. Pete, can't say enough about the work you've done following this story. The entire thing is Netflix worthy IMO. I'd binge a docuseries about TEEMCO in a heartbeat.


I'd watch it!

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## Bellaboo

> The mind boggles. Pete, can't say enough about the work you've done following this story. The entire thing is Netflix worthy IMO. I'd binge a docuseries about TEEMCO in a heartbeat. 
> 
> A true head scratcher -* if I had Thunder season tickets and fell behind on payments,* I'm guessing they'd be cancelled in 2 seconds. Yet Lorson continued to get away with fleecing everyone. Just wondering if you've ever been able to get an answer from either OU or the Thunder on how they could let this continue? I'm guessing they want no part of discussing it.


I have club level season tickets and am required to pay almost a year in advance for the next season. Been that way for 8 seasons.

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## Pete

I have all the details of what was paid and when.

Prepare to be shocked.

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## stile99

> I have all the details of what was paid and when.
> 
> Prepare to be shocked.


I wouldn't even be shocked if you said he tricked the Thunder into paying HIM.

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## BoulderSooner

> I have club level season tickets and am required to pay almost a year in advance for the next season. Been that way for 8 seasons.


I am not sure if the thunder sells there sponsorships directly. But OU and osu. Do not sell there directly.  A 3rd party (learfirld IMG) does

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## catch22

Does the friendly nature of Oklahomans make them more vulnerable to a guy with a fancy car with nice promises? I dont mean that in a rude or offensive way, I just cant fathom how so many were sold on his ideas only to have him robbing them blind? 

Gullible is almost a too strong of a word, but it kind of fits.

Keep in mind many of us on the board were wowed also, with his grand plans with the Gold dome. Although I think we caught on quicker than others....

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## Pete

> Keep in mind many of us on the board were “wowed” also, with his grand plans with the Gold dome. Although I think we caught on quicker than others....


A big part of this is a press that is nothing but cheerleaders.

They all gladly re-write press releases, go running to press conferences, basically trumpet anything that is new and shiny.

Yet, there has been no follow-up; nobody even bothered to drive by and check on the Gold Dome.  Nobody asked a fundamental question:  "Exactly _what_ do you do?"  In fact, there are never any questions at all, they just print/broadcast what someone wants to tell them.


Even though I didn't even live here, I asked people to go by and check on the status.  I monitored building permits, design committee filings and the county assessor site.  It became very obvious to me that nothing was happening there and that TEEMCO never did buy the building.  These were FACTS not just something someone was saying.  Actions vs. words.

Then, I started asking around and actually researched Lorson and their business.  Tons of red flags were waving, so it went on from there.


How many times does someone print up some renderings and/or a press release and the local press gladly splashes it all over...  Yet never does any homework, asks any real questions and certainly never follows up. 

It's one of the reasons I take so many photos.  I have a huge database of things; many have already been announced.  I also do not put much stock in what one person tells me, even if they are the owner/developer.  They have huge incentives to at least fudge the truth or just out-right lie.  And why not?  Whatever they tell the media goes unchallenged.


And the other huge thing is:  I don't care if someone get pissed about something I post or report.  If I'm wrong, please correct me and I'll happily share the information.

I don't need a 'relationship' with people who are making the news; and in fact, that not only complicates things it more often than not leads to downright unethical behavior.  Why would a developer go out of their way to give something to the Oklahoman when they know if they just file their documents (permits, design review applications) it will get picked up?  They do it because they want to control the story, which is another way of saying the Oklahoman is just running PR for them.

It also creates this massive favor-trading mess, where when someone gives you something then want something in return.  It's called Access Journalism is it's wildly unethical.

----------


## Jim Kyle

> There is much more to all this and it will all come out in a future series of articles.


Will you be exploring the general history of the oil patch, and its development of a culture that lionizes successful rogues? Not to mention the history of our state, which named a county for the leader of a group that defied federal law repeatedly, and to this day seems proud of the way the group bent the rules to be early for the famous run...

Or, for that matter, why prior to 1959 rural politicians would spend many thousands of dollars running for an elective office that paid nowhere near that much -- but had ample opportunity for sub-table dealings that would be all profit? And the days when we had the best Supreme Court that money could buy...

There's plenty there for you, sir -- but keep in mind what happened to so many Osage chiefs when they became inconvenient to have around.

----------


## SoonerDustin

> Will you be exploring the general history of the oil patch, and its development of a culture that lionizes successful rogues? Not to mention the history of our state, which named a county for the leader of a group that defied federal law repeatedly, and to this day seems proud of the way the group bent the rules to be early for the famous run...
> 
> Or, for that matter, why prior to 1959 rural politicians would spend many thousands of dollars running for an elective office that paid nowhere near that much -- but had ample opportunity for sub-table dealings that would be all profit? And the days when we had the best Supreme Court that money could buy...
> 
> There's plenty there for you, sir -- but keep in mind what happened to so many* Osage chiefs* when they became inconvenient to have around.


I read that book.  Crazy little corner of OK history that not many these days even know about.  I had no clue and I grew up in the Bartlesville/Dewey area.

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## Lafferty Daniel

> I read that book.  Crazy little corner of OK history that not many these days even know about.  I had no clue and I grew up in the Bartlesville/Dewey area.


What happened?

----------


## stile99

> What happened?


Not the thread for this discussion, and it's already been had on this forum. Let's not rehash the Ree Drummond is Satan thing again please.

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## dankrutka

> What happened?


Here's the book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kil...n/1123721799#/

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## hoya

> Not the thread for this discussion, and it's already been had on this forum. Let's not rehash the Ree Drummond is Satan thing again please.


You can't pull that crap.  Can't bring something up all mysterious and then be like "oh this isn't the thread for it".

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## stile99

> You can't pull that crap.  Can't bring something up all mysterious and then be like "oh this isn't the thread for it".


If there's a book about it, AND it has already been discussed here, how mysterious is it, really?

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## Swake

> If there's a book about it, AND it has already been discussed here, how mysterious is it, really?


And to be a movie from Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. 

https://deadline.com/2018/10/martin-...on-1202488730/

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## Jim Kyle

> I read that book.  Crazy little corner of OK history that not many these days even know about.  I had no clue and I grew up in the Bartlesville/Dewey area.


Actually, my intent in mentioning them was to point out a pattern of corruption. That was only one huge instance of it. Another was the small-time crime figure over in Tulsa, during the 50s, who committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a .45. Twice. But it was ruled suicide, and nobody investigated.

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## Lafferty Daniel

> Not the thread for this discussion, and it's already been had on this forum. Let's not rehash the Ree Drummond is Satan thing again please.





> If there's a book about it, AND it has already been discussed here, how mysterious is it, really?


Just a simple question. Not all of us read every single post on this board. But thank you for being condescending about it.

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## Lafferty Daniel

> Here's the book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kil...n/1123721799#/





> And to be a movie from Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. 
> 
> https://deadline.com/2018/10/martin-...on-1202488730/


Thank you. Had no idea about any of that.

----------

