So we went to various state and federal agencies that declined to get involved, finally ending up with the California Attorney General’s Office. They initially expressed an interest. Then after months of waiting (and dozens more people defrauded) they declined to take the case without stating any reason.

Finally we went to the media. CBS was interested and sent out a crew to interview me and the people who were renting my home from this criminal corporation and we told the story. Just before it was to air, the Attorney General’s office suddenly had a change of heart and decided to take the case. They told CBS to hold off two weeks while they got some search warrants and arrest warrants issued. Based on the information I had compiled, they set up a whole sting operation to come and raid Suma’s offices.

The day before this big raid was scheduled to take place, the TV reporter took a crew down to Suma to interview the owners (and of course, tipped them off)! When the police arrived the next morning all they found was curtains on the windows on phones on the floors. They had flown the coup. Some bright investigators found out that they had moved down the street and set up shop under a new name. After a few hours of helicopter flights to get revised warrants, they were in jail. The TV reporter lost her job. Seven of the 420+ people they defrauded got involved in the case and put them in prison.

Now let’s see what we can learn from this case. Would stiffer penalties have been of much assistance? I don’t think so. To them it was like Las Vegas, taking a chance figuring they could get out of it if they got caught.

Also, what does the public get by putting these people into prison? Really, most prisons seem to be just Criminal University. They learn how to be better criminals from the other inmates. Although the public is generally unaware of this, the psychiatrists “in charge” of correction or reform gave up on even trying back in the 1970’s. It has only been in the last few years that an old friend, Rick Pendery, and the non-profit Criminon™ organization he has helped popularize, have been introducing a real correctional technology into prisons worldwide.

But what could have saved a lot of people a lot of grief? More responsive and faster-acting organizations that would act to correct these types of cases when they came to light could have saved hundreds of homes. Having quick access to basic data about lawsuits filed against corporations would have made it possible for me and others to avoid them entirely. I did make several attempts to find out if they were legitimate and could not find anything on them. The record of all the lawsuits filed against them was unavailable to the general public. The California Department of Corporations did not have any black marks against them.

Why can’t the public have easy, well-publicized Internet or fax access to current data about corporations and companies? EBay provides a good study in this type of transparent transactions, where one has an easy opportunity to see how others feel about the person you are about to do business with before you spend any money.

KEITH: Those are some good suggestions, David. Let’s examine the larger ethics questions about the executives running any company. How do you evaluate the executives to know whether they are the types you want working for your investment of time or money? Well let’s have a look.

A good executive will be ethical himself and insist that those below him are also. Here’s an example. An executive discovers that there has been a substantial over-payment they would personally benefit from. The ethical executive will correct the over-payment and reorganize things so that it doesn’t happen again. He won’t take it and hope he doesn’t get caught. He will not be going to Vegas and gambling trying to get something for nothing. He won’t be messing around on his spouse. He won’t be using false statements to cover up a real situation. He won’t be using drugs and won’t be addicted to alcohol. He won’t be encouraging unethical or immoral behavior.

However traditional these things sound, they make a good executive and their absence means potential trouble. So keep your eyes open and stick with the bright, ethical executives and make yourself a better job and investment.

Keith Legg and David Sanders are Certified Master Consultants with 50 years combined experience in over 300 industries and professions.

Based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard.

Criminon is a trademark and service mark owned by Able and is used with its permission.