can't wait to read in the Oklahoman how "it's not their fault" this is all happeneing
This seems like a mighty reach. This "company," formed by prison bros, stinks to high heaven, and this story has serious sex appeal. Sex, salaciousness, and salvation are the holy trinity of a good news story. Surprised OKCTalk is the sole outlet running with this diamond. It's as if the other outlets are just pissed they got caught with their pants around their ankles and are hoping -- even praying -- their laxity is justified by a non story.
I'm going all in with Pete.
Right, and a few spill plans (which are documents that have to be kept on file by well operators) IMO doesn't make them an "environmental company", and certainly not an "engineering company".
They have zero engineers on their payroll.
And while they actually delivered some spill plans early in their history, there are scores and scores of customers who paid them for various services and products who either never received anything at all, or only received something that was nowhere close to what was promised.
Not only do they owe millions to the government, they owe millions to various creditors, PLUS millions taken from companies for work never performed. And they also owe current and past employees money. Their internet service was cut off last week; their phone was cut off for a while, they've been evicted all over town, etc, etc.
This isn't just a simple matter of bad business, we are talking about many, many instances of all types of fraud. Many cases where they took money up front and did nothing, etc. Basically used the payments of one company to pay their bills instead of order products or pay employees to do that work. It's a classic Ponzi maneuver.
And BTW, they were completely evicted from the Gold Dome. The previous owner said and implied otherwise but I have a document that shows TEEMCO was $80,000 behind in their lease-to-own payments (which had already been reduced after Lorson claimed their CFO embezzled money) and told to either pay up in full or completely give up the property. Even though this was not filed in court, it was an eviction.
Then you have things like claiming to have a nonprofit foundation (mentioned many, many times in media stories) that never existed, and using that ruse to solicit and embezzle a lot of money.
Another thing: Remember how Lorson originally blamed all this on their CFO and his ostensible embezzlement? 1. No charges were ever brought against him; and 2. the CFO continued to work as a paid consultant for TEEMCO after he was supposedly 'fired'.
Yet, they continue to operate and perpetrate fraud against virtually everyone they come in contact with. I simply can't believe this has been allowed for nearly five years and there are a whole lot of stories to come about the massive failure of various government agencies and the furthering of the fraudulent claims by the local media that has helped them swindle hundreds of people and companies.
As long as their doors open, they are committing fraud and working on new ways to commit more.
My suggestion doesn't disagree with Pete's coverage in any way. It's only offered as a possible reason why OTC statements might have lined up with TEEMCO statements. If the company is as mismanaged as it appears to be, there is as much room for clerical error as there is for fraud. Also, just because a clerical error caused a notice doesn't mean that there aren't other, much more egregious matters keeping the doors closed. Again, the two situations are not mutually exclusive.
Great reporting per usual, Pete.
TEEMCO still closed today.
That's 8 days in a row.
They've been closed since Monday morning 5/18, despite what the Oklahoman reported.
any updates on this story?
And no follow up story from the Joklahoman on their botched report? Shocking.
Online Journalism Awards - Online News Association.
We missed the deadline. Maybe next year.
I have stayed relatively quiet on this story, but I must say that your reporting is what I was taught going to OU's journalism school. You are doing a great public service. *CONTROVERSY ALERT* I am utterly mystified at the silence of the Oklahoman. It is deafening. And embarrassing. Seriously, WTF? JEALOUS MUCH? Some folks need to grow up.
I fully agree with this! The Skipper, Ralph Sewell, Dave Funderburk, (all past editors) and even Mister G himself must all be rolling in their graves at what has happened to The Great Moral Daily.
FWIW, subscribers received notification earlier this week that rates will be going up more than 10% effective in another week or so. I expect their subscription revenue to drop significantly as a result, although I'll probably retain mine for at least a month to see what happens.
Dead tree journalism is no longer an endangered species; it's rapidly falling below the tipping point of no return.
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I'd like to make a mention about my service - In the past couple of months, at least 5 times, I've gotten the paper as incomplete. I'll get the classifieds and the Healthy Living sections duplicate, as in twice. No front page, business or sports ? Walking the dog on one of those days I checked a neighbors paper that was still on the driveway and guess what, it was complete. Considering not renewing this January, after 40 years of service.
I've actually checked several papers in the neighborhood over the last month and I'm not the only one getting shorted. They just need to learn how to load the sorters or whatever they are doing to get it right. My wife hands me her iPad and I read a few articles when this happens.
As much as everyone is focusing on the Oklahoman's shortcomings - which are nothing new -, it's worth pointing out that the Oklahoman going under would be disastrous. We need old media AND new media. What Pete does is amazing, but we can't rely on it.
Well I guess the facts are in.
They sure do how know to drag things out. That should be it though, right? Unless there are some Teemco Hummers driving around that the repo men haven't found yet.
It's not over.
There are still Teemco assets of various types, Lorson is trying to keep the business going from his house, tons of legal issues still remain.
This will continue to play out for a couple of years, at least.
But I thought Brianna Bailey said they'd sorted it all out in literally 30 minutes!
Thanks as usual Pete. I have no vested interest of any sort in TEEMCO but it's still interesting news nonetheless, especially given their high profile endorsements, or what's left of them.
I couldn't agree with this more. Old media still has a hugely important role to play. I just wish that their focus was bringing in readers with journalistic excellence, instead of (mostly) clickbait style articles. I've actually been considering buying a subscription to the Tulsa World because their investigative reporting seems to be a lot better than the Oklahoman.
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