From John Armor's Camp

Taylor Reports Have Million-Dollar Errors
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> By John Armor
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> Every Member of Congress, and every candidate for Congress, is required to file Reports with the House Ethics Committee on their financial holdings and transactions. Apparently, few people take a serious look at these after they are filed. The Reports filed by incumbent 11th District Representative, Charles Taylor, for the last seven years (the ones available on-line) show five errors in excess of $1 million each, plus one unexplained item for about $20 million.
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> These Reports are filed with the Clerk of the House but they "will be reviewed by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct [the House Ethics Committee]." The Reports must be signed by the Member or candidate, who must certify that "the statements ... are true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief." "Civil penalties and criminal sanctions [including perjury]" apply to anyone who "knowingly and willingly falsifies ... or willfully fails to file" these Reports.
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> Here are the five, million-dollar errors in Rep. Taylor's Reports since 1997:
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> Blue Ridge Savings Bank - this bank was listed as owned by Mr. Taylor's spouse and at a value of between $1 million and $5 million, from 1997 through 2000. In 2001 and 2002, the value was listed as $5 million to $25 million, after which it was merged with Financial Guarantee Corporation, also listed at $5 million to $25 million.
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> The merger took place on 31 December, 2002, and the new entity was thereafter listed at more than $50 million. This necessarily means that both the merging entities were close to their $25 million maximums, the prior year. His wife is no longer listed as owner. The sections of the Report on "Transactions" and "Income" are silent as to the change of ownership, and as to how Blue Ridge Savings Bank grew from a valuation of a maximum of $5 million in 2000, to a value of close to $25 million the following year. That is an increase of at least 400% in a single year.
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> Bank of Ivanovo, in Russia - Mr. Taylor's Report for 2004 shows "shares in Bank of Ivanovo - Held individually until transfer to Financial Guarantee Corporation is approved by Russian government." The value range listed is $1 million to $5 million. Nothing appears in the "Transactions" or "Income" parts of that Report to suggest where that purchase money came from. Also, the value may be understated by more than $1 million.
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> MoscowTimes.com, an English-language source about Russia, reported on 26 May, 2005, that Mr. Taylor purchased "an 80% interest in the bank in September, 2003." It also states that the value of the bank was "$7.7 million" and that it had "$200 million in outstanding loans." If that article is correct, Mr. Taylor's purchased interest was worth at least $6.16 million (80% times $7.7 million), and that interest should have appeared on his Report with a value of $5 to $25 million.
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> If the purchase date in the article is correct, this asset should have appeared on Mr. Taylor's Report for 2003. It did not appear there.
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> The MoscowTimes article references an investment company called "Columbia" which allegedly carried out the purchase of the Bank of Ivanovo for Mr. Taylor. There are no records of an investment company bearing that name and connected to Mr. Taylor, in either Russia or the US. The article also states that Taylor's minority partners in both Columbia and the Bank of Ivanova are "Boris and Marina Bolshakov." He is a former KGB General.
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> Transylvania Tree Farms - This is one of Mr. Taylor's core assets which appeared on his Reports from 1997 through 2000 with a value of $1 million to $5 million. This asset disappeared from his Reports in 2001 and has remained absent since then. There is nothing in the "Transactions" section of his later Reports to explain what happened to this asset. Transylvania Tree Farms remains in existence and active through 2006, as shown by land transactions in its name in several counties in western North Carolina.
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> Southeastern Real Estate and Discount Company - This is an asset listed as belonging to Mr. Taylor's wife, that appears in the Reports from 1997 through 2000 with a value of $1 million to $5 million. In his Report for 2001, it drops in value to $500,000 to $1 million. Nothing in "Transactions" offers any explanation of this reduction in value of more than $1 million. There was a spike in the "Income" section in 2001 which was mislabeled as "rent." Without clarification, this does not explain the reduction in value.
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> This article deals only with items of more than $1 million, because in reporting one's financial holdings, it seems unlikely that items that large would be neglected or forgotten. There are about 170 corporations, mostly involved in land transactions, which may be subsidiaries of Mr. Taylor's reported companies, but which never appear on his financial disclosures. All their transactions seem to be much smaller than that.
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> These range from the Asheville-Buncombe Development Corporation to Wolf's Crossing, Inc. For example, Financial Guarantee Corporation appears to have seven subsidiaries that are or have been financially active in the 11th District. They are: Financial Guarantee (noted as FG, hereafter) Credit Life Company, FG Holding Corp., FG Insurance Co., FG Mortgage and Discount Co., FG Realty Co., FG Securities Corp., and FG Title Co. From their names, these seem designed to capture every penny that can be earned from all aspects of any land transaction including financing, insurance, and title guarantees, as well as the sales themselves.
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> This article has detailed five instances of inaccurate financial reporting to the House Ethics Committee (which would be ethical violations if willful) that were made by Rep. Taylor under penalties of perjury. This article was also written by John Armor, the candidate who is opposing Mr. Taylor in the 2 May primary. Therefore, it should be read with a jaundiced eye, and every fact and figure should be checked.
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> Here are the sources of the information contained here: Rep. Taylor's official Financial Disclosure Statements from 1997 to present. These are available on-line at this web address:
> www.cspan.politicalmoneyline.com/cgi-win/x_candpg.exe?DoFn=H8NC11038*200...
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> Information on these companies from the Secretary of State of North Carolina are available at this web address: www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations
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> Here's Moscow Times article:http://www.ncdp.org/files/moscowtimestaylor.pdf
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> About the Author: John Armor is an author and attorney who is a candidate for Congress in the 11th District of NC. He lives in Macon County.
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> Editor's note: Further documentation is available upon request. - NCC
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> 03 Apr 2006 by Editor
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