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 Post subject: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:15 am 
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North's Internet money backer faces SEC charges
By Ted Cox | Daily Herald Columnist
Published: 6/16/2009 12:01 AM

David Hernandez, the financial backer behind Mike North's Internet radio venture, ChicagoSportsWebio.com, was hit by a federal Securities and Exchange Commission civil suit Monday accusing him of running a Ponzi scheme promising high returns on investments while diverting the money for other uses and for himself.

The complaint alleged Hernandez, of Downers Grove, has been shuttling funds between his ventures NextStep Financial Services, NextStep Medical Staffing and Spectrum Entertainment, the controlling firm of ChicagoSportsWebio, while also taking money for his personal use. It sought to immediately freeze all funds, a motion granted Monday by a federal judge in Chicago.

The civil case sought the return of all funds. A criminal case would be separate, although FBI agents reportedly executed search warrants at NextStep's downtown Chicago offices over the weekend.

Hernandez was convicted of wire fraud in 1998, the SEC complaint said.

"Hernandez bilked investors out of funds that he led them to believe were being invested properly and safely," said Merri Jo Gillette, director of the SEC's Chicago Regional Office. "Instead, he was paying investors in Ponzi-like fashion to keep his scheme afloat while he used their money for personal expenses and to start an online sports-talk venture."

North and his main staff from the simulcast of his Comcast SportsNet Chicago TV show "Monsters in the Morning" were fired from the Internet radio company last week after he pressed Hernandez on why paychecks were bouncing. North said Monday he had no inkling of Hernandez's past and that he had never had an ownership stake in the firm, as Hernandez kept control to himself.

"Thank God I didn't do anything improper. Thank God I wasn't handling the money," North said. "He would only sign the checks himself.

"We did a background check on the guy," North said. They never turned up anything, and the SEC claimed Hernandez raised $11 million from 100 investors in 12 states by saying he was running a highly profitable payday-loan business. In fact, he had no payday-loan contacts, and the complaint charged Next Financial is a "defunct" firm used as a conduit to shuffle the money.


ChicagoSportsWebio was still going on its Web site on Monday, but the future of the venture was in doubt after Hernandez abruptly left the studios following a staff meeting when news of the SEC complaint broke.

One ChicagoSportsWebio staffer said Hernandez was addressing the meeting when someone interrupted, saying, "You've been charged with fraud by the SEC."

"And his response was, 'That's old news,'" the staffer added. Hernandez left, saying they would reconvene at 1:30, but he never returned. "He's not going to call," said the staffer.

North and co-host Dan Jiggetts retain their "Monsters in the Morning" TV show on CSNC, an entirely separate entity, although even that's complicated as NextStep was the show's primary sponsor.

Published reports have suggested North could still save ChicagoSportsWebio by retaking the reins. After all, it was largely his idea to make a go at an Internet-based Chicago sports radio station. Yet he would have to find financial backing from a source not only with deep pockets, as appeared to be the case with Hernandez, but with legitimate deep pockets, which is rarer still.

"I want to do it. But I've got to find out legally what I can do," North said. "I want to help these guys. A lot of people went there because of me and Be," his wife, Be-Be North.

ChicagoSportsWebio had hired away talent like Jesse Rogers and George Ofman from WSCR 670-AM and Jonathan Hood from WMVP 1000-AM, and the early scuttlebutt in the industry wondered how the station was paying people from its position as a startup. It turned out, as ever, that when things are too good to be true, they probably are.


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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:23 am 
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He's a fucking liar. SID proved it. Can the North defenders defend these lies? Background check my ass!


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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:30 am 
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Ted Cox wrote:
"We did a background check on the guy," North said. They never turned up anything


I refer Messrs. Cox and North to my two posts related to due diligence. Thank you and have a nice day.


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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:28 am 
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North admitted on Roe Conn's show that his due diligence was limited to a quick Google search. Now he's trying to make it sound like more than it was. Pappy's Crappy has proven the ease with which Hernandez's dirty laundry was accessible via the web... 10 minutes and $3.95. Unbefrickinleivable.

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:31 am 
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Mike North called Mitch Rosen today on the phone and was
told,

Mitch - "Mike... Mike I like you. Just remember something. Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss."

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:32 am 
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CYA FAIL

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:34 am 
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Sarge wrote:
Mike North called Mitch Rosen today on the phone and was
told,

Mitch - "Mike... Mike I like you. Just remember something. Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss."


Image

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:35 am 
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Sarge wrote:
Mike North called Mitch Rosen today on the phone and was
told,

Mitch - "Mike... Mike I like you. Just remember something. Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss."


Sarge, that's unbelievable. Last night, I thought of that exact same scene as I was doing my "due diligence" on Hernandez.


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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:42 am 
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Score is doomed wrote:
"Thank God I didn't do anything improper. Thank God I wasn't handling the money," North said. "He would only sign the checks himself.


Did you ever see a more patheic, desperate, CYA line in your life?


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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:05 am 
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Pappy's Crappy wrote:
Sarge wrote:
Mike North called Mitch Rosen today on the phone and was
told,

Mitch - "Mike... Mike I like you. Just remember something. Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss."


Sarge, that's unbelievable. Last night, I thought of that exact same scene as I was doing my "due diligence" on Hernandez.




Yes, that movie is very similar, in that Greed is what ultimately killed this Webio thing from every angle. Atleast Bud Fox had some success before his world crumbled on him, North has
nothing to show for his work. North wishes he was Bud Fox at this point.

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:16 am 
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Sarge wrote:
North wishes he was Bud Fox at this point.


I wouldn't mind seeing him out in the rain in Grant Park getting punched in the face.


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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:24 am 
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By a nasty 6-year old? Ya know, since he was a loud opponent of Children's Museum relo to Grant Park since it would jeopardize the value of investments people put into the condos over by dare.

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:38 pm 
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Mr. Belvidere wrote:
He's a fucking liar. SID proved it. Can the North defenders defend these lies? Background check my ass!


Actually, you need to prove guilt, not innocence,

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:25 pm 
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"Thank God I didn't do anything improper. Thank God I wasn't handling the money," North said.

I want to help these guys. A lot of people went there because of me and Be," his wife, Be-Be North.


And proving innocense costs $$$$$ and I know he has it, but how does he have to defend himself, support Monsters and then buy CSwebio and float that? Guessing he does not have that much

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:31 pm 
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Don't Fade Me . com

Chicago Sports Webio . com

I'm starting to see a pattern here


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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:55 pm 
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NorthtoNorth.com is no great shakes either. He might want to lose the MNMS banner 12 months after that fuck up.

Just look at what the refusal of $800K has spawned, and how many people it's adversely affected. It's like the chain of events in Fargo after William H. Macy gets denied a loan from his father-in-law.

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:59 pm 
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Jalapenos and More wrote:
It's like the chain of events in Fargo after William H. Macy gets denied a loan from his father-in-law.


Fire up the wood chipper! You first Northy.

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:50 pm 
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After the most recent turn of events—Hernandez on the run—it does seem more like that he's going to get dragged, kicking and screaming, out of some motel like Macy was.

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 Post subject: Re: Ted Cox column today
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:55 pm 
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Jalapenos and More wrote:
Just look at what the refusal of $800K has spawned, and how many people it's adversely affected. It's like the chain of events in Fargo after William H. Macy gets denied a loan from his father-in-law.


I was just thinking that. About a year ago, North could have simply signed his name on a piece of paper for EIGHT HUNDRED FUCKING THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR in an industry that doesn't want to pay anybody much of anything anymore, done whatever the Score wanted him to do (I was even hearing rumors of a REDUCED workload--specials and interviews and stuff), and been living the good life right this very minute and NONE OF THIS would have happened.


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