Andre Muran and His Travel Club Scams...

Not that long ago, Andre Muran stood in front of a CQB Judge and explained that Mr. Low (the lawyer he had lined up to represent him, Kim Schram and Chateau World) had dropped him. He was however, seeking a new lawyer.

At the following hearing, there was still no lawyer. Andre Muran explained that he had a lawyer in Ottawa who was working on helping Andre find a lawyer in Calgary to represent him. (Makes sense- who better to find a criminal defense attorney in Calgary than one in Ottawa? That is just basic logic you can not argue with.)

At the next hearing, Kim Schram had retained her own lawyer, Jennifer Ruttan. I think that was a very smart move on Kim's part... and it makes me wonder if Kim is planning to throw Andre under the bus.

Jennifer Ruttan is, by all accounts a solid criminal defense attorney. I had the chance for some idle chit chat outside the courtroom with her and she was absolutely kind and lovely.

Andre Muran, at that same hearing, advised the court that he would be represented by Richard Bosada of Ottawa.

It would seem there are simply no Calgary based criminal defense attorneys willing to represent Mr. Muran.

I have not had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bosada, but I was able to learn a few things about him from internet sources.

Mr. Bosada has allot of experience at every level of court in this Country- AND he not only represented Richard Condo (a diagnosed psychopath who nearly beat his ex to death) but Mr. Bosada also appears on the promotional poster for Condo's self written, self directed movie about himself called Section 753.2.

[I have been contacted by Richard Condo, who objected to the above statement "who nearly beat his ex to death". He stated in an email to me "Although I did strike, punch, my wife once on the side of the head causing an injury. At no time was her safety an issue. She was never close to death.". (Not sure what degree of assault Mr. Condo would classify as placing her "safety at issue") I told Mr. Condo that I would take a new look at the matter to see if changing that tidbit was warranted. He has since made it clear in subsequent emails that he considers me to lack compassion for him and further, that I am an unfair person. As I promised though, I did check court records to see if he, in fact "nearly beat his ex to death" (a description I had taken from a news source when I was researching for this blog post.). What my checking into court documents revealed is that Mr. Condo entered his estranged wife's chiropractic office when she was 5 months pregnant with his child. According to court documents, he "severely assaulted" her and kidnapped her. After holding her for 12 hours, he released her and she was then taken to hospital where she required reconstructive surgery on her face. When I asked Mr. Condo if he would prefer I report that instead of "nearly beat his ex to death" his response indicated to me that he was indifferent. Not wanting to perpetuate any false information however, please be advised that the court record that I reviewed did not state that Mr. Condo "nearly beat his ex to death".]

IMDb lists Mr. Bosada as an "Actor" who plays the part of Judge Richard Joseph in Condo's flick.

On Youtube, Condo explains that Section 753.2 was an attempt to make a feature film for less than $1000.00. So it would seem that Mr. Bosada appeared in the movie pro bono.
Mr. Bosada also represented Mr. Condo on criminal charges during his very long criminal past.

So, there we have it: in the upcoming trial of Chateau World, Andre Muran, and Kim Schram, the part of Andre Muran's lawyer will be played by Richard Bosada.

I doubt Mr. Bosada is willing to appear in Alberta for Mr. Muran for nothing though- after all, it is not like Andre Muran is making a movie...

According to court documents, Mr. Bosada bills $300/hr.

I am not sure what to make of that. Andre's previous lawyer never reviewed disclosure documents in this case because he was insisting on being properly retained by Muran before proceeding on the file. It appears that a retainer was never paid and so Muran was dropped.

I can't imaging that Mr. Bosada is going to fly out to Calgary to represent Andre without the same requirement of a retainer.

On the flip side, maybe Andre is planning a film about himself and promising Mr. Bosada a starring role.

...If that is the case, I would like to be played by Cloris Leachman.

Welcome to the very first post that has nothing to do with Chateau World, Andre Muran, Kim Schram or Crelogix. I call it "I hate this world"... and I do. I really do.

So many issues, so many problems... the environment, the oil depletion, new emerging diseases, natural disasters, domestic abuse, child abuse, gangs, serial killers, crime in general, corporate greed, genocide, war, racial hatred and bigotry, dishonesty, lack of integrity, the willingness of some to exploit others for personal gain ... I hate it all. And for everything we brilliant humans create to make our lot in life better, it seems we create 2 or 3 new problems in doing so.

We humans seem to be just smart enough to get ourselves into all kinds of trouble that we don't know how to get out of.

Making matters worse, much (not all) of the scientific community and the intellectuals out there have created a black hole where God used to be. Which is really too bad because there is no human leader and no batch of scientists that can fix the disaster we have made for ourselves... It seems to me that under the current global circumstances, God is our only hope.

It is not that these scientists have actually proven there is no God. The theory of evolution remains a theory and (if you really think about it) there is no biological or biochemical mechanism by which living things could acquire genetic information to become more complex over time ... no matter how many mutations there are (genetic mutations are a result of a loss or corruption of genetic information, which goes backward from what popular evolutionary theory would require it to do.)

Professing atheism has become a way that some feel they show their superior intellect... I don't buy it though, I think that most people who profess to be atheists have been relying on a great deal of misinformation, and not really researching it to see if it has a basis in the realms of logic and reason... all the while, collectively agreeing that only what they believe can even be called "logic or reason".

The scientific community has created a paradigm now where, if a scientist, based on research, points to anything that would suggest the requirement of a superior being, they are simply brushed off as being unscientific- because, the popular scientists say so. It reminds me of grade school, where one very cute child can be labeled "ugly" by other children, and it is so, because the majority says so.

But there are questions that simply are not answered by popular evolutionary theory. DNA is a one dimensional blueprint for 3 dimensional living beings... Where did that information come from? Even a very basic (which is not so basic at all) cell requires preexisting DNA to function. Evolutionary theory can also not explain why or how, for example, it came to be that the universe is organized.

Anyway, I digress...

The other matter is that of religion. Nothing has defamed God as badly as religion has (you can not really blame people for not believing anymore). The bible has been painted with all of the lies and misrepresentations of hypocrites who have falsely claimed to represent it.

People these days brush the bible off as being of no account- and more seem to have very strong opinions about it... this old book they have never read or studied.

I have learned however, that when the vast majority of religions hold up the bible and claim to adhere to it's writings- they are lying.

I have also learned that when someone says "it is what the bible says"- I must respond with "can you show me that in a bible?" - because most often, people are reiterating what they have heard is in the bible and they heard if from people who were badly misinformed.

I hate this world...

The twists and turns in the on going Chateau World/ Travelers Acceptance/ Crelogix saga continue.

Late September 30, 2011, Crelogix posted media releases to a couple of web release services.

The message, to anyone who does not know the slimy guts of this case, would appear to indicate that the drama is finally over and that Crelogix is actually being a good corporate citizen and that once they do as per their promise to Service Alberta, they no longer holds any responsibility to former Chateau World members.

They announced: "Consumers affected by the agreement will be contacted directly by Crelogix. As a result of this agreement, Crelogix no longer has any accounts relating to Chateau World.

Chateau World provided some consumers with the ability to finance their membership costs. Crelogix later purchased some of these loans.

Chateau World ceased operating on February 26, 2010. Crelogix recognizes the actions of Chateau World and its principals left members with no access to the time shares they had bought.

Crelogix, in consultation with Service Alberta, agreed to stop collection activity on the loans with any outstanding balance after February 26, 2010 and directly refund to consumers all funds collected after that date. In addition, Crelogix will remove any negative credit reporting on accounts that were up to date as of February 26, 2010. "

The agreement they have arrived at with Service Alberta, and the way Crelogix PR department is spinning it, they did nothing wrong and understand that Chateau World screwed people over, so they will be good guys and pay back to Chateau World members what they took after February of 2010 (when Chateau World officially went belly up)

The problem with this story is that Crelogix did not have the right to collect money from Chateau world members to begin with... and they conveniently left that part out of their release.

Only 4 months after entering into purchase agreements with Chateau World for the above mentioned "loans", Crelogix sued Chateau World for misrepresentation, among other things, and they won. The judgement was awarded for the full amount that was paid to Chateau World- plus interest.

Crelogix (Travelers Acceptance at the time) continued to take advantage of the fact that Chateau World members had no idea- and continued collecting from them...

If Crelogix contacts you to let you know they are going to reimburse you the money you paid after February of 2010, I would hold off on accepting it for now.

This may be a strategic move on Crelogix's part now that Docken & Company has taken the case.

It may be (and I am not sure- I will check with the lawyers on this) that if you accept a fraction of what they took (that being what was paid after Feb. 2010) that maybe that will place you in a position of not being able to pursue them as a class member in the class action that will be filed shortly.

It strikes me as wise to hold out until we find out what our lawyers have to say on the matter.

Updates on this will be made at http://www.cheatauworld.ca

Really, Crelogix should have to reimburse all of the money it took from members from October of 2007 until those payments stopped.

On August 2, 2011, Service Alberta laid nearly 200 criminal charges against Andre Muran, Kim Schram and 4 corporations (all Andre Muran companies... even the one that Kim Schram is the named director of). I have been swamped since. This is the first opportunity I have had to post to this blog and really, I should probably be napping ;P

Unlike the 125 charges laid against them in August of 2004, this time, the charges include 168 counts of FRAUD... ooohhh, how I love to hear that word

We are receiving allot of emails and a few guestbook posts asking about a class action against Chateau World and Andre Muran; We have just uploaded a new FAQ section to the CHEATauWorld website that answers questions about that.

The whole website has been re-vamped and renovated (to see the new site, which is full of new information and documents) many people will have to go to the website and then re-load the page (your computer may be hanging onto an old version.)

Additionally, Service Alberta has publicly stated that they have a current investigation into Crelogix Acceptance over the money they were collecting from Chateau World members. Again, there is new information at www.cheatauworld.ca

If you have not seen it in the news, there are links to media reports on the new site as well... *yawn* I am going to go for a snooze now.

Congratulations guys! They got em!

Uh oh... it just snowballs from here.

In February of this year, RÉJEAN BREAULT vs GESTION DREYMAX INC. and CRELOGIX CREDIT GROUP INC. was heard in Quebec Provincial Court.

The judgement is in French- but if you use Google Chrome, the browser will offer to translate the page into English for you. A little is lost in translation, but what seems clear is that Crelogix was taking money from Mr. Breault when they should not have been, and damaged his credit rating when he stopped payments to them and refused to pay further. Doesn't that sound very similar to the claim former Chateau World members have against Crelogix? I am no lawyer, but I am going to say "yes- yes it is".

Beyond that, Crelogix appears to have been operating in Quebec without being licensed under their consumer protection laws... ooops.

According to the document on Canlii, nobody bothered to show up in court for the Defense.

I don't imagine that will be the case when the class action against them is heard. David Tupper from Blakes, Cassels and Graydon appears to be willing to go down that road...

I will be very interested to see what kind of defense he pulls out. The more I look into the matter, the more and more the deck seems to be stacked against them... but again, I am no lawyer.