Episodes
- My So-Called Life (Pi... - #1 »
- Dancing in the Dark - #2 »
- Guns and Gossip - #3 »
- Father Figures - #4 »
- The Zit - #5 »
- The Substitute - #6 »
- Why Jordan Can't Read - #7 »
- Strangers in the Hous... - #8 »
- Halloween - #9 »
- Other People's Daught... - #10 »
- Life of Brian - #11 »
- Self-Esteem - #12 »
- Pressure - #13 »
- On the Wagon - #14 »
- So-Called Angels - #15 »
- Resolutions - #16 »
- Betrayal - #17 »
- Weekend - #18 »
- In Dreams Begin Respo... - #19 »
Cast
Forum
Ross RojakRoss RojakMy name is Blair Gerod. I have just learned about the many scams that Ross
had been doing for so very long. Unfortunatly he has me caught up in another of his scams and as of last Monday, he was arrested by the FBI. I am in a very tough situation. Ross created a company called Face-It, with a facial recognition software product, that now seems to have never even existed. I met him through another group who was introduced in person to Ross and a cast of characters who were presented as former executives of Netscape. This other group raised money for the company. When they finished raising the money, Ross offered me an oppertunity to be his client relations firm, with a promise of a 5% ownership in the company, if I performed. Since I new people who had met Ross and these former Executives in person and I had talked to investors that had gone to Sacramento (where this company was located) and they had told me that they had actually seen the product work, I decided to do so. The kicker is that I financed the cost of doing so from my own pocket. I thought at the time that every base was being covered by me, including getting notorized documents from the founder of the company, Mike Jackson. I had even talked to him by telephone many times early on, until he had become deathly ill from a botched surgery at a hospital. This was all very plausable to me, so with the notorized documents in hand and a written contract to do so, I contacted his investors and relayed information that I recieved from both Mike Jackson and Ross for over 7 months. In January of this year, Mike Jackson contacted me and told me he was on the mend and wanted to move the company to the next level. He sent me stock certificates, making me an owner of the company, origional documents of the companies filing in California and a letter authorizing me, as his now co- managing director, to open bank accounts, contact all the investors and update them with the companies plans to move forward. It was all very exciting for me. I recieved a signed letter from Mike Jackson, directed to all investors and spent the past 3 months getting the letter to them, traveling around the Country, retaining Attorneys, Web Designers, and even a new group to raise capital for the expansion of the company. I also had the investors send in money for the still available investment in the company, that Mike Jackson mentioned in that letter. It was a great deal for the investors, as their cost on a share basis was .50 and in the letter they were told that the new value and price would be $2.00, a 300% profit, who would turn that down !! Looking back, (yes hindsight is 100%), I suppose that I should have noticed something was not right. I went to Sacramento in February to meet with Mike Jackson, waited in a hotel room for 4 days until he finally telephoned me, telling me he was too sick to meet and to work with Ross and move the company forward, however with all this history and all the documentation in hand I simply did not see it comming. After reading the press release on Monday and finding out that alI these men were created by Ross, I have now had to hire an attorney to act as a leasion to the FBI for me and on Tuesday I am going to see them and turn over all records, documents and give a statement to them. I am scared shitless that I will be painted by them as his co-conspiritor, but what can I do other that what I believe is the right thing to do and go to them before they come for me. Last week after I read the press release (sent to me by an investor), I closed down the Face-It operation immediatly and not only stopped recieving any more money from investors, I sent checks back that I had not yet deposited and cancelled funds in transit for over $150,000.00. In one instance I had an investor stop payment on a $25,000.00 check that was on deposit in the bank account before it could clear, knowing that if it did, I could not give his money back to him as it would become a part of the comingled funds I had collected. This is all so overwhelming to me. I cannot tell what the future will bring, my other business are being directly affected by this and I may even end up in trouble. I can only hope and pray that the FBI and any other law enforcement agencies that look into this, will be able to see the truth of the matter, with all the documation I am providing to them, which is that I am a victim also. Only time will tell. The reason for this email to you guys today is a plea for information, Anything you can get to me about this MOTHERF****R will be greatly appreciated. From what a I have read on the internet the past few days, there are hundreds of scammed, pissed off investors, who were lied to, double billed and from my calculations, taken for Millions of Dollars by Ross Rojak. If you would be so kind, spread the word and have any and all persons with any information contact me at bgerod@globeinternational.net. I promise to pass it on to the FBI and all law enforcements agencies that will listen to me. Kindest Regards, Blair I. Gerod You'd think investors would have the common sense to google a person's name who they're handing over thounds and thousands of dollars too.
If someone can't even do that amount of research...well... Anyone googling Ross Rojek in the last two and a half years would have realized what a POS he was, and would know to steer very very clear. "Your imagination, like a child, will explode with unrestrained possibilities for adventure."
Spoke with this guy today. Rojek was actually pretty cunning. He spelled his name differently in his communications with this guy who worked for him for over a year.
I asked him why he never googled Ross's name even once. He said he is not very web savvy (besides, the name was spelled differently, but still... I did post photos on auSUCKS). In any case, sounds like the real amount involved in the Face IT scam is closer to $2.5 million. Guy sounded pretty freaked out, kind of like I was when I realized that Ross never really had a complaint filed with his merchant provider. I can't say whether this guy here knew what was going on (I don't trust ANYONE anymore), but it is plausible that he was pulled into a much larger con. He thought he was working for a company and the entire company did not exist (if not for my experience with this DVD project, I would never believe him. However, i put nothing past Ross Rojek these days). And now for the worst kept secret ever. Yes, I did post the auSUCKS.org site. Had a lot of help with user generated content, though. Blah. Well for me, the arrest brings some closure.
The 2.5 million face fraud makes our dvd crisis seem like a de minimus hassle. It'd be nice to get the bonus dvd for a few $. I wonder, could ross have been caught earlier in this latest investor scam if only the fbi had paid attention to us or were they doing a long term investigation of him? I am going to try to put "Fair Use" to good use with the bonus material. As long as BF okays it, I am not going to ask AU for permission. I don't even know how one would do this now, to tell the truth.
Instead, we'll find a way to make them and fulfill them at cost and only make them available to those who ordered them. I can volunteer to be one of the stamp lickers and can probably find some cheap replication. As for lunchboxes, not a whole lot that can be done there. It is interesting that there were no lunchboxes at AU when AU was shut down. Perhaps they were shipped out... or perhaps they were sold "again." I was just interviewed by a reporter about all of this tonight. Should be in tomorrow's news (edit: looks like this might be pushed back to next week. there is a preliminary hearing on 4/26). It is amazing that the DVDs would even come up in light of all of the other stuff. Perhaps they are just painting a clearer picture. Not exactly eager to step into that kind of limelight but I do owe it to everyone to tell the DVD story, even though getting conned makes me look like an class-A idiot.
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