Feds Flip for Finboy?

Oh, dear.

Look who the F.B.I. Criminal Justice Information Systems is gathering data on:  the mastermind of Nazi trucks, vicious midnight fliers and a conspiracy of political operatives to sue 22 Reform bloggers- SLAPPITY SLAPP; now all that will get you some mighty bad karma.

Bad, bad karma.

But the Feds don't investigate karma. They investigate companies owned by an elected official that show no business activity (Newton Lao Leonard & Locke) that may be a shell to move money around undetected and  501(c)(3) charitable organizations that appear to fund political operations with tax-exempt dollars (Mason Civic League).

That's the kind of stuff the F.B.I.investigates. 

So when MSV got a visit yesterday from the F.B.I. gathering information on Mason's Newton Lao Leonard & Locke, and the Board Trustee for the Mason Civic League, James Barracato, no one should be surprised.

GA will show you that Barracato is at the nexus between Mason's NLLL and  the Mason Civic League.

Here is the business registration for Newton Lao Leonard & Locke, LLC   obtained by  super-sleuth, One-Eye.  Mason registered her LLC on April 16, 2010 at the address 10 Styvesant Avenue, Lyndhurst N.J.   Remember that address.

One-Eye  noted:

What I can say so far about Newton Lao Leonard & Locke.   Beth Mason claims to have founded the company  and worked there from 1993 – 2005.  She is listed as the registered agent as of April, 2011 and the office allegedly is located at 10 Stuyvesant Avenue, Lyndhurst, NJ, which is a generic office building with accountants and attorneys as tenants.  No listing of the company at that address per Google.  So it has to be that her accountant or atty is located there.  
 
There is no record of any person named Newton, Lao, Leonard or Locke affiliated with the company. 

It has all the earmarks of someone's "shell" or "front" company, i.e. a business in name only that is used to funnel expenses and make payments, receive payments that they don’t want associated with their name directly. 

GA's monocular wizard didn't stop there. He pulled a  Dun & Bradstreet report for Mason's Newton Lao Leonard & Locke, LLC.  D&B reports show a company's credit transaction history, purchases (office supplies, presentation materials, equipment, furnishings), payments to vendors, consultants, business travel, business entertainment and so on.

Here is the D&B for Mason's Newton Lao Leonard & Locke, LLP.

Result: no activity whatsoever. 

No credit records, no expenses, no payment to vendors, no payments to consultants, no office supplies, no equipment purchased, no business travel; nothing... ZERO.

Remember, Mason listed herself as Founder/President of NLL from 1993-2005 on her resume, along with a list of Fortune 500 clients and purported activities.  Yet the D&B for NLLL shows ZERO business activity, and was not even registered with the State of New Jersey until April 16, 2010.

Back in 2006 Mason used 720 Monroe Street, for her NLLL address.  GA was told she did have an office there.  Not any more.

Newton Lao Leonard & Locke, LLC is registered at 10 Styvesant Avenue in Lyndhurst.

Enter Beth Mason's non-profit 501(c)(3) Mason Civic League, Inc, filed with the NJ State Treasury as a non-profit corporation on July 21, 2010.  Here is their Certificate of Incorporation, and note the Trustees listed at the bottom who comprise the charity's Board.  There's Beth Mason, hubby Richard Mason...

And one more Trustee...

James Barracato.  His address: 10 Stuvesant Avenue, Lyndhurst - the SAME address as Mason's shell company, registered 5 months earlier.

Why is Finboy listing his address as the same for a Mason shell company (Newton Lao Leonard & Locke, LLP) registered around the same time frame as the  'charity' he is Trustee for (Mason Civic League)?

Here's what One-Eye had to say:

Note the names of the three Trustees which appear on the Certificate of Formation for the Inc. version: Richard and Elizabeth Mason along with James Barracato, who lists 10 Stuyvesant Avenue, Lyndhurst, NJ  as his address.

I don’t think that the IRS will like a political operative like him as a director of a charitable organization that appears to be nothing more than a front to shelter income to support Beth Mason’s political career.

The only available information relating to Barracato and that address was the Cratos Group, which appeared in some prior work I did for you related to Beth Mason and her ties to the 10 Stuyvesant address and her collection of shell companies. However, the Cratos Group is no longer listed as a tenant at that office building.

COINCIDENCE: Cratos Group used to have offices at 10 Stuyvesant Avenue in Lyndhurst.

So what does all this mean?

 N.J.S. 15A:2-8(9) requires the names of the trustees along with either their home address or an address which is not the same as the entity, but at which the trustee regularly receives mail. That is not a problem for the Masons, but is a potential issue for Barracato, given his current lack of affiliation with the 10 Stuyvesant Ave.

Remember, this information has to be updated annually, and amended in mid-year if there has been any change of address.

Let's recap.

• Mason Civic League Trustee Barracato claims to reside or collect mail at 10 Stuyvesant Street, the registered address for Mason shell company Newton Lao Leonard & Locke LLP and formerly for the  Cratos Group- Adam Alonso's company.  Alonso reportedly works for Beth Mason.   
• The Mason- Finboy 'charity' is on the record for employing political operatives (Matt Calicchio, Tanya Garcia) and underwriting political activities (such as hosting the Move Forward campaign at Mason Civic League offices).

So many questions....

How many political employees (other than Calicchio and Garcia) being paid by the charity with tax-exempt dollars?  Is the taxpayer underwriting any of the Mason Civic League political operations?  Yes?  No?

No one has accused Finboy of a crime. But he is at the epicenter of so many questions.    Which one can assume is why he's captured the attention of he Feds.

Here are some of the things the Feds might want to ask him:

1. What does he know about Newton Lao Leonard & Locke, LLP?  
2. Why did he give that address on the charity's certificate of formation?  
3. Can he tell us what NLLL does?  
4. Is he paid by NLLL, by the charity, by Mason or by another person or entity?  
5. What expenses does the 501(c)3 write off?  
6. Why does the 501(c)3 file an e-Postcard federal tax return for non-profits with gross receipts under $50K?  The Civic League's rent alone at 1200 Washington street probably comes close to that.
7. Who else has been paid by the 501(c)3 and what work did they do?

GA and MSV have been asking such questions for a long time- hence Mason's SLAPP to shut us up, and to silence the rest of 'Hoboken Questioners'.   GA predicted the Mason SLAPP suit months before it was filed. 

Screenshot courtesy of MSV