New Jersey’s Office of the Attorney General Looks at the SMARTgate of the NaFFAAgate Scandals

T he final offensive to get back the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA) for the Filipino-American community and prosecute the alleged crooks in the federation is proceeding smoothly. An Eastern Front of the crusade for reforms in, and the ATIC for, the NaFFAA has been opened . . .

ATIC, as this writer coined in 2000, stands for “Accountability, Transparency, Integrity and Credibility.

H ere’s a copy of today's e-mail to the Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey.

Hala bira, hala bira,

Bobby M. Reyes

Investigative Reporter

and Editor, www.mabuhayradio.com

3411 Paula St., West Covina, CA 91792

E-mail: mediabcla@aol.com

Tel.: (626) 825-0628

November 18, 2010

Ms. Catherine McLaughlin

Supervising Investigator

Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey

Division of Consumer Affairs

Charities Registration and Investigation Section

Tel: 973-504-6568

E-mail: McLaughlinC@dca.lps.state.nj.us

Dear Ms. McLaughlin:

Greetings from the City of Los Angeles, California. The undersigned has been looking at alleged financial scams in a Filipino-American public-benefit corporation in his role as an investigative reporter.

1.0           This correspondence is in reference to an alleged financial scam that has apparently been reported to you by some Filipino-American community leaders and which scam has been allegedly committed by the Region I chapter of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA), a 501 (C)3 entity.

1.1           The NaFFAA’s Region I covers New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and the New England states.

2.0           Our website has been conducting an investigation of the apparent criminal conduct of the controlling clique of the NaFFAA and several of its regional chapters.

2.1           We are now finalizing our report/complaint to the Internal Revenue Service for tax evasion and other violations and to the Department of Justice for violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

2.2           A sketch of our report to the IRS is contained in our Nov. 15, 2010, e-mail to Mr. Tito A. Cortez, the prime mover of the Citizens Rebelling Against Bogus Spending (CRABS) of San Jose, California, which is joining our website in reporting the alleged violations of federal and state laws by the NaFFAA’s controlling clique and several of its regional chapter officers to the proper law-enforcement authorities. The said e-mail to Mr. Cortez appears at the end of this instant correspondence and is self-explanatory.

2.3           Our website has devoted a section to what we dub the NaFFAAgate Scandals, which can be accessed at this URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/naffaagate/

3.0           RE: SMARTgate Part of the NaFFAAgate.

3.1           The Smart Communications is the Philippines' leading wireless-services provider. You can read more of its operations in its website, the www.smart.com.ph/. The company has ample advertising and promotional budget that it advertised in several boxing championship bouts of Filipino megastar Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas, Nevada.

3.2           On Sept. 13, 2009, our columnist, Romeo P. Marquez, who is also an investigative reporter, wrote about the deal of the Smart Communications with the NaFFAA’s Region I. Here is the link to Mr. Marquez’s report: NaFFAA's $50K Deal with Philippine Firm Raises Questions About Money Laundering

             URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/naffaagate/naffaas-50k-deal-with-philippine-firm-raises-questions-about-money-laundering

3.3           In spite of our demands and the requests of several members of the NaFFAA – within and outside of its Region I chapter – the NaFFAA’s ruling clique has not issued any financial report on the corporate sponsorship fund of at least $75,000 that the Smart Communications gave the federation, though the Region I officers, namely Atty. J. T. Mallonga (a practicing lawyer in New York and supposedly also in New Jersey), Nena Kaufman and Nimfa Tinana.

3.4           We will submit to the IRS and/or the Department of Justice the names of Attorney Mallonga, Ms. Kaufman and Ms. Tinana as “persons of interest” and/or as state witnesses or participants in a conspiracy to defraud the federation and the taxpayers.

4.0           We wish, therefore, to request most-respectfully your esteemed office to wait for a copy of our formal complaint addressed to the IRS and the Department of Justice – before you conduct a formal investigation of the SMARTgate.

4.1           On the other hand, since the esteemed Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey is the first legal entity to express interest in investigating the NaFFAA, perhaps you can take the lead in doing official investigations of the said federation in coordination with the IRS, the Department of Justice and the Attorneys General of California and Nevada.

4.2           The controlling clique of the NaFFAA also conducted fundraising drives in New Jersey and other states for the then-Philippine presidential candidate and eventual winner, Benigno S. Aquino, III.

4.2.1   The NaFFAA national and regional officers – supposedly acting in their personal capacities – have refused to render complete accounting of the funds raised and did not bother to issue even temporary receipts of Filipino-American donations for, and/or the political contributions to, the said Philippine presidential candidate.

4.2.2   You can read more of this latest scandal in this article, Loida Lewis Refuses to Account for Fil-Am Donations to Noynoy Campaign Kitty and Calls Bobby Reyes a “Fool”

URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/naffaagate/loida-lewis-refuses-to-account-for-fil-am-donations-to-noynoy-campaign-kitty-and-calls-bobby-reyes-a-fool

5.0           The national executive officers of the NaFFAA are some of the high-profile Filipino-American personalities in the country. Among them are:

5.1           Loida Nicolas-Lewis, a New York-based attorney and chairman-CEO of the TLC Beatrice International Holdings, Inc., of New York and reputedly the second-richest American of Filipino ancestry. She is the chairman emeritus of both the NaFFAA and the NaFFAA Region I chapter.

5.2           Lourdes Corrales, a Jersey City, NJ-based mortgage banker and former Deputy Mayor of Jersey City. She was the national treasurer of the NaFFAA when the SMARTgate Scandal happened. She was also a principal participant in the now-dubbed Menorgate Scandal in San Jose, California, which is one of the alleged biggest scams in the NaFFAAgate.

5.3           The NaFFAA’s national vice chair, Ms. Rozita Lee, who has recently been named a member of President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific-Islanders, as per this report written also by Mr. Marquez: Protest Sent to The White House Over the Appointment of NaFFAA’s Rozita Lee to the President's Advisory Commission

          URL: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/naffaagate/protest-sent-to-the-white-house-over-the-appointment-of-naffaa-s-rozita-lee-to-the-presidents-advisory-commission

We thank you for your interest in uncovering the alleged violations of state and federal laws by the controlling clique of the NaFFAA and some of its regional officers. We look forward also to working with you and the esteemed Office of the Attorney General of the Great State of New Jersey.

Very respectfully yours,

Bobby M. Reyes

Investigative Report

and Editor, www.mabuhayradio.com

===================================

Mr. Tito A. Cortez

Prime Mover

Citizens Rebelling Against Bogus Spending (CRABS)

San Jose, California

BCC: NaFFAA E-mail lists

           Filipino-American Media

Dear Tito:

1.0    Further our telephone conversation this morning, I wish to re-confirm that I will be mailing the completed IRS Form 3949A (Information Referral) to IRS Office in Fresno, CA 93888 any time now.

        1.1    I will send also an accompanying letter, which will further describe the violations by the ruling clique in the NaFFAA.

        1.2    I will mention also in the letter that you and the CRABS will be supporting fully the complaint and that you are willing to turn over to the IRS and the Department of Justice voluminous amount of information about the Menorgate portion of the NaFFAAgate financial scams. You and I are willing to go to Fresno, CA, to bring the documents in order to facilitate the prosecution of the individuals named in the information.

        1.3    I will also mention that you and I are willing to assist the IRS and the Department of Justice and guide the prosecutors in evaluating the documents in our possession and which will be turned over to them.

        1.4    I will also mention that a Filipino-American community leader, Regalado "Al" Alicante, who is a retired IRS supervisor, is willing to perform -- with the assistance of several Filipino-American CPAs -- forensic audit of all the documents and tax papers that the IRS and the Department of Justice will be able to seize from the respondents. The services of Mr. Alicante and the Filipino-American CPAs will be rendered gratis et amore and/or will share in the reward given to the whistle blowers. Mr. Alicante was the IRS supervisor in charge of all non-profit corporations in Los Angeles County when he was working with the Department of the Treasury.

        1.5    You and I will decide which Filipino-American associations will get the substantial portions of the reward that the IRS and the Department of Justice will give to us, the whistle blowers – after deducting of course the costs of aiding the prosecution.

2.0    As one of the two primary whistle blowers, I am accusing the following NaFFAA clique members of:

( ) False Exemption

( ) False Deductions

( ) Organized Crime

( ) Kickback

( ) False/Altered Documents

( ) Failure to Pay Tax

( ) Unreported Income

( ) Public/Political Corruption

( ) Failure to File Return

( ) Failure to Withhold Tax

( ) Other (Violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

        2.1    I will ask you, Tito A. Cortez, to sign with me an amended Information Referral that we will submit to the IRS and the Department of Justice – as soon as I receive a go-signal from the IRS and/or the Department of Justice.

3.0    I am naming the following individuals as members of the corrupt controlling clique in the NaFFAA:

Alex Esclamado

Lourdes Esclamado

Loida Nicolas-Lewis

Gregorio Macabenta

Alma Q. Kern

Rozita Lee

Rodel Rodis

Ben Benedicto Menor

Lourdes Corrales

Lourdes Ongkeko

Jon Melegrito

Armando Heredia

Aurora Cudal

Lorna Dietz

Does 1-100

        3.1    We will request the IRS and the Department of Justice that in coordination with the Attorneys General of several states, that the NaFFAA be placed in receivership and that the assets of its national executive officers (NEO-respondents, as named in Par. 3.0) be garnished, so as to protect the interest of the public and the NaFFAA members.

4.0    I will mail to you by overnight mail copies of the documents sent to the IRS, including the proof of mailing – so that you can distribute them to the NaFFAA members who will be meeting supposedly for their long-delayed national convention in San Jose and/or San Francisco, CA, this weekend.

5.0    I will also post in the www.mabuhayradio.com a reproduction of the complaint to the IRS.

        5.1    The reason for telegraphing our punches (by informing the public, especially the NaFFAA members and the NEO-respondents), is for the respondents to be given the opportunity to come to court with clean hands by turning as state witnesses and/or amending their tax returns. Of course the amended tax returns will bolster further our complaint. We do not want really Filipino-American community leaders to go to jail but they have to repent and do restitution of the moneys they stole from the NaFFAA -- aside from paying the taxes due, the corresponding interest and penalties. At least, paying back taxes and fines is better than going to jail and being made to pay also the said taxes plus stiffer penalties.

I guess this e-mail will be the subject of modest discussions about the impact on the federation of our allegations -- as submitted to the IRS and the Department of Justice -- during the supposed NaFFAA national convention in Northern California this weekend.

God bless you, the members of the CRABS, the honest members of the NaFFAA and our Filipino-American communities,

Mabuhay,

Bobby M. Reyes

Investigative Reporter

and Editor, www.mabuhayradio.com