Thursday, June 21, 2012

Ron Weinland: You Too Can Buy Three BMW's, Just Follow My Easy Steps

2007 BMW



One of Ron Weinalnd's jurors revealed how Ron was able to buy three BMW's.  If you are in the market for three BMW's, here's how to get them on the same credit application.  Notice at the end how he conveniently lost his memory and blamed BMW.  It's always the other guys fault since no true prophet of God could EVER make a mistake.


Juror#215 says:
Trial tidbit of the day:
The Mystery of the BMW Credit Application
This was a particularly interesting subset of the trial testimony and evidence. When Mr Weinland purchased the three BMWs in 2007, he really only had to fill out the credit application for the first one; when he purchased cars 2 & 3, the BMW Store printed out pre-filled out credit applications from the data stored in the computer system from what he filled out the first time, and the Weinlands just had to sign them.

That first application was hand-written, filled out by Mr Weinland himself, but listing Laura as the primary applicant and Ron as a co-applicant. When you get down to the “income” section of the application, Gross Income is listed as $175,000, and Other Income as $60,000+ (just like that, with the + symbol on the app after 60K). However, two things are clear- First, that the credit application was obviously faxed back and forth, as the usual text that appears at the top of any faxed page is shown at the top of it. Second, that the $175,000 written in the Gross Income space is written with a different pen and in a different handwriting.

The prosecution called as witnesses both the BMW salesperson (now retired), and another person from the BMW Store who I believe worked in or with the Finance Department at the time. The prosecution asked them why another person would have filled out the Gross Income field in the application. They both stated that if one or more required fields of the application is returned to the store blank, either the salesperson or the finance manager would call that customer directly and get the details to fill in that field over the phone. It is perfectly legal for someone at the BMW Store to fill in the Gross Income on a credit application as long as they have received verbal confirmation from the customer as to the accuracy of the information. To fill in this field without consulting the customer is illegal, and they would not do that.

So, it was resonable to deduce that Mr Weinland had faxed the credit application back with a blank Gross Income field, and that someone at the BMW Store had called them directly to let them know that the $60K+ in the “Other Income” field wasn’t going to cut it, and they needed to provide their real income if they wanted to get that new BMW. It was also reasonable to deduce that someone in the Weinland household had given them that $175,000 figure, since they really wanted that car.

When Mr Weinland himself took the stand, the prosecution, on cross-examination, showed him this credit application again, and asked him where the BMW Store got that $175,000 figure for Gross Income. He claimed to not know WHERE that number came from, and implied that the BMW Store em

I think I will head down to the BMWdealer tonight and go shopping.

Ron Weinland: Bikini Hater



I had to laugh at a commenter on Mike's blog today that uses the name 'Budgie Smuggler".  He had this to say when asked what the meaning was:

Budgie Smuggers ( Australian slang ) for speedo sports swiming trunks, for which I am known for wearing around my home, and at the beach etc:, some time ago Ron banned the wearing of such garments, as well as the bikini ?  yeap , go figure ? ….. when I read this I thought it appropriate for this forum, as a kind of personal protest at this mans stupidity…… what I’m supposed to walk around naked ?

Meredith seemed to have an issue with them too.  Probably still does.  I remember when he went into a fit of rage when the music department in Pasadena, under direction of the Long's, did a ballet in the Auditorium.  Meredith start spitting and foaming that he could tell who was circumcised and who wasn't.

Sex always seems to be at the forefront with so many of these upper-class COG ministurds for some reason.   It was always the American preachers that were having fits about these things.  Their cultural norms were expected to be exported around the world. Dark wool suits with dress shirt and tie were the norm in may  tropical countries for decades until someone used their brain and asked "why?"

Forbes Magazine On Ron Weinland's Prophecy Failure and Conviction



Forbes Magazine is running an short article about the epic failure of Ron Weinland's end of the world prediction and his conviction for tax evasion.  Click on the article headline for the entire story.

Taxes

6/21/2012 @ 12:07PM |415 views

Man Who Touted 'End of the World' Guilty of Tax Evasion


Apparently, Weinland wasn’t completely convinced that he was going to heaven. In 2002, he announced that he would begin preparing for the second coming of Christ. And by preparing, he meant redirecting church funds to a Swiss bank account and carrying jewels and precious metals with him, since he would need liquid assets for bartering when the financial system crashed (I guess that was the back-up plan if the Swiss didn’t come through).

And all the time that he’s been preparing, the IRS and the Departmnet of Justice were watching with interest. On November 10, 2011, Weiland was indicted by a federal grand jury on five charges of tax evasion. The allegations included that he had understated his income on federal tax returns, used church funds for personal use and failed to report that Swiss bank account.

Despite the fact that he believed the world would end, Weinland set himself up pretty well. He lived in a nearly $400,000 home, where he used church money to pay for security. He wore expensive suits and went shopping at Nordstrom, allegedly on the church’s tab. On his taxes, he deducted stays at Las Vegas casinos and other tony venues, defending them as meetings with his followers.

My favorite lines from the story are:


Not surprisingly, the jury – who were all still on earth when Weinland’s trial arrived – didn’t buy his excuses.

The feds didn’t buy it. And more importantly, the jury didn’t buy it. Let’s hope God is more understanding when it comes to tax evasion.