Opinion ID: 180347
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hulaman Management Services

Text: In early 1999, Bush paid unlicensed and self-proclaimed ecclesiastical lawyer Glen Stoll to start an ethereal legal entity known as a corporation soul. Stoll filed articles of incorporation in Washington state for an entity called Director of the Cornerstone Institute (Cornerstone). Bush began promoting securities known as mid-term notes under one of Cornerstone's auxiliary branches, Hulaman Management Services (Hulaman). Bush told investors that these notes generated profits from favorable interest-rate movements and that investors could reap substantial gains in just over a month. According to his investors, Bush promised an eight- to nine-percent return per year as well as a high probability of a twenty-five-percent return every four to six weeks. Rather than structure the notes and manage the money himself, Bush told investors that he was a facilitator for high-yield investments. Using his contacts from Global Prosperity, Bush reinvested money given to him in two trading programs: IFR Trust, operated by Larry Wilcoxson of California, and Mintus, Inc., operated by Carolyn Mintus of New York. At his trial, Bush explained his understanding of Mintus's program into which he was placing investors' money: Well, just thethat they made these tranches. These trades were down, and they bought and sold paper. I hear it called mid-term bank note. I don't know what it is. Quite frankly I'm not a financier. In addition to a return on his investments, Mintus offered Bush an $800 million guarantee for his planned investment in Cabo San Quintin. Although Bush testified that he made no promises about the returns he could provide and that his trading programs were based on his best efforts, his clients testified that he represented the investments as risk-free. He claimed the principal would remain in the investors' own accounts and was secured by real estate or promissory notes. Further, literature distributed by Bush indicated that his investment had minimal risk and could produce up to a 300-percent yearly return. According to a letter soliciting new investments, investor funds would be held in trust until the pool accumulated $1 million. At that point, the pooled funds would be transferred to Wilcoxson or Mintus who would then place the money with a private merchant bank. After investors sent money, Bush sent them a Hulaman Trust International Trust and Fiduciary Agreement, which catalogued investors' funds under the reassuring heading Assets Delivered in Trust. Soon after Bush began to invest with Mintus, she failed to make her first payment due to Bush. Despite this, Bush testified that he remained confident about the viability of Mintus's program and continued to place Hulaman-client money with her. Bush recruited several individuals to assist him in promoting Hulaman. Chief among them was his longtime marketing partner Marilyn March. Bush also tapped Larry and Vicki Webster to work as financial planners and promoters, paying them a percentage of any funds they raised. Bush hired March's friend Tammy Stuckey to work as his administrative assistant. She was paid $1000 per week in cash. For his part, Bush told investors that he lived an ascetic life and was merely a conduit for charity, using his profits from the trading program to fund his own charity, the From the Heart Foundation (Foundation). Beginning in February 1999, and despite not receiving dividends from Mintus, Bush directed Stuckey to prepare and send client account statements to Hulaman investors showing balance increases of approximately twenty-five percent per month. Bush also began paying some investors twenty-five percent returns on their initial investments. In July 1999, Bush and March purchased a property in Washington state known as View Park Golf Estate (View Park). Priced at $1.8 million, this 20-acre property included an 8,300 square-foot home, a golf course, tennis and basketball courts, and a fishing pond. Bush used funds from Hulaman's bank account to make the $250,000 down payment on View Park and pay the $10,000 per month mortgage. Bush and March used the home as a residence and meeting place for Hulaman investors and Foundation contributors. Bush hired groundskeepers, a chef, a masseuse, and a personal staff for View Park. In the summer of 1999, Bush hired new staff, including a personal secretary, to whom he paid a $125,000 salary into an offshore bank account. After several employees objected to being paid exclusively in cash, Bush began paying them through Kelly Temporary Services. Using Hulaman money, Bush also entered into leases with the Seattle Mariners baseball team and Seattle Seahawks foot-ball team for luxury suites at their respective stadiums. Bush invited prospective investors to join him in the suites for various sporting events.