May 27, 2009

Two years of extensive research and investigation into state income Tax frauds has already played a major role in the current federal investigation into the financial dealings of First State Bank Altus and subsidiaries.

That effort also produced previously undisclosed OTC documents exposing at least two false claims the Oklahoma Tax Commission failed to catch (the number will surely grow once the veil of secrecy is lifted).

1) a $200 million false claim by the same Altus bank group currently under investigation; and

2) a $90 million false claim by Scissortail. Both for the 2006 tax year.

Failure to catch the $200 million false claim is especially telling considering the controversy, legislative action and media attention surrounding this investment earlier in 2006. Tony Mastin, in charge of these tax credits at OTC's was interviewed during the controversy

The fact that the Altus group, would risk falsifying the largest tax claim ever in the midst of such high visibility and it not be noticed is beyond the realm of believability. Multi-million dollar financial commitments that had occurred before the controversy had the Altus group trapped in an untenable situation. The Altus group had to either hope or ensure the claim would not be reviewed, and held in total secrecy. Based on what we now know about the reasons for the federal investigation into the Altus group: scams, fraud and kickbacks are business as usually.

At the time already suspicious of OTC's part in the fraud, I felt with the federal investigation underway, the time was right to report the false claims to OTC. For the record, the individual I reported the false claims was surprised, and responded in a very professional manner, reporting back they had initiated action to investigate. In my view the problems at OTC are at a higher level.

Then comparing this new information with tax credit information OTC provided on OpenBooks revealed OTC has falsified the OpenBooks information to hide: the identities of those involved; OTC's own involvement; and tax revenue losses as a result of these schemes.

The falsifying was done by: 1) substituting a related list of those using tax credits for the list of investors required by the Taxpayer Transparency Act; and 2) reporting some receiving Rural Venture Capital tax credits (where the fraud is occurring) under other tax credit programs. Details only those intimately familiar with the program and having access to secretly held documents would recognize. Information required is now available online at http://prowlingowl.com

The end result? This prevented disclosing and discovery of the identities of key "so called investors" who were reaping 200% to 540% in unearned profits at the public expense.

Another example, is the differences between 3 OTC reports covering 2007 Rural Venture Tax Credits showing

Tax Expenditure Report	$3,529,952
OpenBooks	$17,556,597
Capco Report	$47,866,078