I read this weekend that federal authorities seized season tickets on the 45 yard line and four OU-Texas tickets from David Ray Gaddis, who owes the feds $309,000. The tickets were then sold through a ticket broker for an undisclosed sum.
My question is, for how much? According to stubhub.com, one could sell those tickets easily for north of $750/seat, and probably closer to $1k per seat. The OU-Texas tickets (which would be really nice seats, assuming same priority as the 45 yard line seats) are worth at least $400 each.
We know that the government has exhibited great business acumen in the past. The Mustang Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada and the largest of its kind, was seized by the feds initially in 1990. It was put up for auction - and sold for $1.49 million to the man they seized it from. In 1999, the feds seized the property again, while seeking restitution for a $16 million tax lien. The property sat padlocked for four years, then the Bureau of Land Management sold the property for $145,000. So, they got about 1% of their money back.
So, my question is, can we find out via the FOIA how much the feds got for the tickets? They should have easily recovered $4,000 from these tickets, which probably have a face value around half of that. With the feds long demonstrated business acumen, they probably swapped the tickets out for a Jason White autograph and tickets to the OSU / Grambling State contest.
Another interesting element here is that for the ticket holder to have secured four season tickets on the 45 yard line, the gent would have had to make a sizable donation to the Sooner Club. Clearly Mr. Gaddis hasn't bee focused on paying the federales back.
And some of you want the government to fix the banking, automobile and healthcare industries. Good luck with that.
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StubHub offers nice deals on tickets!! I got my favorite sports tickets from here!!
Not that you care, but I was innocent of those charges and I am writing a book about it now.
I do make a small annual donation to the Sooner Club and that helps, but time has helped a lot too. This isn't the first year and I didn't start out with seats in that location.
I borrowed the money to buy them and paid about $2k for the four seats plus Texas. And like your example, I even tried to buy them back when my objection was denied and the government took them. I offered to pay the government another $2,800 to buy back my own tickets. They declined my offer and insisted that I should pay $4,780 to buy them back, not including the Texas tickets. When I wouldn't pay $4,780, they sold them to the ticket broker for $2,800.
Now, since you read that article, you should also know that they reported collection of about $9.4 million in restitution over the last two years, and they singled out just one item from that amount to do a press release to the whole nation.
And if you have any sense, then ask yourself why? Why would they try to sell my own tickets to me for twice what they would sell them to a broker for, and why would they pick this one little $2,800 recovery out of $9.4 million for a press release?
Maybe you don't care, but it should be obvious that this is not simply about 'justice'. Someone has a hardon for me personally, and someday you will be able to read the book if you want the answers.
I understand that book publishers are showing keen interest in convicted fraudsters who say they didn't do it....let us know when Barnes and Noble will have a signing. Better yet, let John Grisham write it for you. His stuff really SELLS
The publisher says it will be out in about June or July of 2010, and I will have them send you a personal invitation to my book signing if you like. I would need your email address to give to them.
I will try to remember to check back here in a few months. If you have posted any email address that appears to be legitimate, I will add it to the list that I am providing to them and you will get an invitation. And then, all I ask is for you to read the book with an opened mind. I am confident you will understand what happened, not just because of what I would tell you, but because ALL of the witnesses confirmed my story. The prosecutor's story, which was told in closing arguements on the following day, was exactly the opposite of what the witnesses said. When you read the book, you will have the advantage that the jurors didn't have, because you can see and I even highlight what the witnesses said and which was obviously forgotten or overlooked when the jurors bought into the prosecutor's story on the following day.
Peace,
Anonymous
Mr. Gaddis - please email me at landthieves@gmail.com. It's a legitimate email address that I've been using for this blog for two plus year. And good luck with the book.
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